Genre: Interactive Horror
Modes: Single Player
Developed by: Ballistic Moon
Published by: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release Date: October 4th 2024
Platforms: PS5, PC
Reviewed on: PS5
First released on the PS4 in 2015, Until Dawn is an interactive story game that was a hit for Supermassive Games and remains their most beloved title. Taking control of eight different characters, Until Dawn plunged you straight into the setting of a supernatural/teen slasher movie. The game nailed its aesthetic and gave us one of its generation's most unique cinematic horror experiences. The game was flawed, mainly due to its below-average performance and played-out jump-scares, but it remains a staple horror experience for gamers. Now, we have a ground-up remake of Until Dawn from developer Ballistic Moon (Supermassive did not reprise their role for the remake). If you have never played Until Dawn before and want to try the game, I'm not sure I can recommend this version for its state. A new epilogue opens the game for more (a sequel, perhaps). But the remake's underwhelming performance, glitches, frustrating controls, and steep price tag are factors I keep in mind.
NOTE
This is not a typical review of Until Dawn. Ninety per cent of the remake's content is untouched by the original. If you enjoyed the original game, you will likely enjoy this remake. This review will discuss the game as a remake/remaster, what Ballistic Moon has changed or improved, and whether these changes warrant paying the game's high price.
A BRIEF SUMMARY
If you did not play Until Dawn back in the day, I will give you a brief synopsis of the game's story. The game follows a group of friends invited to Blackwood Mountain for a reunion hosted by Josh (Rami Malek). A year before, Josh's sisters Hannah and Beth disappeared, never to be seen again. They are long presumed to be dead. In the present day, the group make their way to Josh's family lodge at the mountain's peak. A night of horror follows, and every character's life is on the line. A masked psychopath and mysterious monsters roam the mountain, and it's up to you to guide the characters through the story—every decision you make matters and could be the difference between life and death for the protagonists.
The writing is as cheesy and corny as possible, but it works in the game's favour. The characters are all memorable, even though most are snobby, brattish, and not lovely. The game's writing and world suck you in and make you feel the tension and weight of the situations the characters are in. It's a fantastic story, and a replay makes it even more impressive. You can go through the game the first time, going with your guts and making what you assume are the right decisions, but on a replay, you can make the opposite decisions, and the story would turn out very differently. Until Dawn makes the choice decision gameplay of Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain and evolves it. Each replay has a conclusion, and everything is consistent (in my experience) with each storyline.
A NEW COAT OF PAINT
The most obvious change is the game's updated visuals. Utilising the power of Unreal Engine 5, Until Dawn's graphics look more polished than ever. Blackwood Mountain is even more picturesque than the PS4 version, and the atmosphere becomes much darker and more foreboding throughout the playthrough. The original game's visuals were impressive, and its cinematic approach to cutscenes and characters is what made the game memorable. Ballistic Moon has attempted to take this idea to the next level. They achieved it in one area but still need to catch up in several others.
Firstly, I like the added letterboxing to the game to create a more cinematic feel. Letterboxing is the term given to black bars on the top and bottom of a screen. Usually, filmmakers employ this when a film is shot widescreen and then reshaped to fit the size of modern TVs. Until Dawn was always a cinematic gaming experience, and the letterboxing is a subtle but very nice touch that adds to the game's mise-en-scene.
Where the letterboxing adds a layer of subtlety, the new camera perspectives ruin that cinematic flair. In the original game, characters would explore areas through a fixed camera perspective. Resident Evil uses this technique brilliantly. The fixed camera helped the original in its cinematic approach and was also a brilliant metaphor for the game's themes. Throughout the game, a masked killer and monsters constantly watch you, and the fixed camera acts as a fly on the wall for the player. The camera was often in obscure positions, stalking the player. Therefore, Ballistic Moon's decision to use a modern third-person perspective ruins a particular element of horror in the game. Whilst the game is still tense during gameplay, the new camera lessens the horror. The remake's camera is functional, but it has nowhere near as much of an influence on the player as the fixed camera.
If the camera was not disappointing enough, the controls of the remake will make exploration a chore. The input during quick-time events is instant and never feels delayed, but the game's traversal controls could be better. It has been several years since I played the original Until Dawn, but I do not remember the game's controls being as sluggish and delayed as they are in this remake. If you are walking in a straight line towards a particular area or object, the controls for this game are perfectly fine. The problem comes if you turn incorrectly or want to backtrack to a location to find hidden totems or collectible clues. Every character's turn is so heavy and sluggish, it feels like you are driving a bus. An example of this is at the beginning of the game; I was playing as Chris and was finding a way to open the main door to the lodge. I took a wrong turn in the garage and had to turn around to get back on track. I turned the camera around and tried to head back to where I had come, and it took Chris several seconds to finally turn around and go where I wanted him to go. The longer into the campaign I got, the more I began to avoid branching collectible paths because of the controls. Having to fight the direction your character goes makes the remake controls worse than the original.
As I neared the halfway point of my playthrough, I was almost always avoiding branching paths that led to evidence and totems. This is a shame because the totems can be a necessary collectible to obtain if you want to keep your characters alive. The same can be said about the evidence, as they are essential in piecing together the lore of Blackwood Mountain and discovering the truth behind the Wendigo and the Psycho. The totems, in particular, have been altered so that each time you find one, you must change its direction to find the premonition. I am still trying to understand why Ballistic Moon added this puzzle; it adds nothing to the game and is bland and pointless. Its unnecessary nature drags and kills the flow of the game and its narrative. In the original game, you picked up the totem, and it instantly revealed its contents. The new mechanic for the totems is ridiculous. On top of that, there is a new category of totems to collect, the Hunger totems. I did like the idea behind them, showing an added layer of descent and transformation for a specific character, but I only managed to find one of these totems during the playthrough because of my frustrations with the controls.
AN UNTOUCHED REMAKE
For the most part, Ballistic Moon's Until Dawn is a carbon copy of Supermassive's original, but there are some slight differences. The game's prologue is slightly altered and sets up the events better. We have a new perspective on the 'prank' and see more of Josh's relationship with his sisters. The game also comes with two new endings, available if Josh or Sam survive at the game's conclusion. I could not save Josh during my nine-hour playthrough, but I kept Sam alive. The post-credit scene with Sam does leave more avenues open for a follow-up. This new ending is the biggest takeaway from the remake: the hope and possibility that Ballistic Moon will return with a continuation of the story set years in the future. I would love to see this, despite my gripes with the remake.
While the remake gives Until Dawn a welcome facelift in terms of visuals, the game's performance is underwhelming, considering the PS5's performance capabilities. The game runs at 30fps on the PS5. I do not consider myself a frame rate snob; if a game performs at a consistent 30fps, I can still enjoy it. Saying that the PS5 is more than capable of running games at 60fps, and most (if not all) first-party games run at this frame rate. Having Until Dawn run at 30fps is disappointing; it deserves 60fps performance on the PS5. The original game could have performed better on the PS4; the PS5 remake performs better, but it does still drop in frames during exploration, not all the time, but enough to notice.
Continuing with the game's performance, I also encountered a couple of hilarious bugs during my playthrough. The glitches were not game-breaking, far from it, but they were jarring. The first was when I was playing as Mike in the Sanatorium. I had just encountered the wolf for the first time and walked towards what I thought was an unlocked door. It turned out to be locked. I went to turn around, and Mike got stuck in the door, causing his character model to shake erratically, almost like a seizure. The glitch lasted around three seconds, and then Mike was released and walked in the direction I intended. The second was when Matt and Emily were climbing the tower. During a cutscene, Matt walks towards the radio, and just as the cutscene ends, Emily disappears from the shot. It was only for a split second, but it did take me by surprise and seemed entirely out of place. I did not encounter any more glitches for the rest of my playthrough.
VERDICT
Ballistic Moon's Until Dawn is a disappointing remake. The developers could have improved the frame rate, but they left me wanting more. The new Hunger totems are an excellent addition, as are the new visuals, the post-credit scene and the extra touches to make the game more cinematic. However, the game's awkward camera and frustrating controls make it less enjoyable to play than the original. Calling this a remake is also grounds for controversy. I understand Sony's decision to charge the high price for this game, given that it was built from the ground up by Ballistic Moon. But at the same time, I do not agree with their choice. The game is the same as the original and does not feel like a brand-new experience. I do not consider this the definitive experience of Until Dawn. If you have never played Until Dawn, I advise you to buy the original PS4 game. Wait for a discount if you want to experience the PS5 version.
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