None of the characters can even be killed for the entire first half! The choices you make affect one thing: the number of people left alive at the end and some conversations which don't matter in the long run. The plot itself cannot be controlled at all. This game would've been better if it had just removed all mentions of the Butterfly Effect and not lied about its contents. Until Dawn advertised itself as a horror Stanley Parable but the end result was more every other horror game.
People can too get killed in the first half! Jessica can get killed when she's pulled out of the cabin if you're not fast enough chasing her, Matt can die by getting charged off of a cliff by deer...
And of course the plot can't be changed. What, did you think you could turn a wendigo to your side?
edited 7th Nov '15 11:29:07 PM by theLibrarian
Until Dawn is a great horror experience but when I see 'Butterfly Effect', I think Stanley Parable. Now THAT is how you do multiple endings!
Small random things creating huge impacts down the road. Which Until Dawn failed at. There are SO many more games that don't advertise the Butterfly Effect at all that do it MUCH better than Until Dawn does.
edited 7th Nov '15 11:40:07 PM by PushoverMediaCritic
I'm not sure why Dawson Casting is considered a minus. It's probably the most genre-accurate thing about the game.

Those are the laziest interpretations of 'multiple endings' I've ever seen. The game itself is really good, don't get me wrong, it's a cool send-up to classic horror movies and seeing Wendigos is always a treat but the game really pushes the Butterfly Effect when all the big choices in the game you have no control over. You can't have Mike and Jessica not leave the cabin, you can't keep the Psycho from getting everyone the plot says he should get, you can't keep the fire-guy from dying at all, you can't keep Jessica from getting taken by a Wendigo in the least. You can't change anything, plot-wise, in a game that rams the Butterfly Effect down your damn throat!
I like the idea of a game that really focuses on braching paths and the finished product is a solid horror experience, but it never utilizes the idea in any meaningful way. The whole Butterfly Effect thing seems shoehorned in and wasted.
edited 7th Nov '15 10:59:11 PM by PushoverMediaCritic