Until Dawn

[Brando70]

Anyone else playing this? I picked it up over the weekend and have played the first couple of chapters. I'm really drawn into it. Calling this a "game" is not really correct, as it's much more like an interactive movie. There's enough Scream-style winking at the tropes of the genre that the cheesiness of the dialog is entertaining, and enough Resident Evil-style spookiness that it's been suspenseful for me. Right now it's hooked me enough that I can't wait to play the next chapter.

[TCrouch]

Very few games I damn near played from start to finish in one shot.

This was one of them, although it took two days to do it. It was like one long movie. To make it stranger, my wife has only watched every SECOND of a game twice in her life. The first was The Last of Us, for obvious reasons. The second was Until Dawn, because she was invested in what happened.

The thing that made me a little less into it was every character was a stereotype, and some I WANTED to let die. If they made the characters slightly more realistic and less of a caricature, it could have been even better, but it was the biggest surprise game I've had lately.

[ScoopBrady]

So is it something akin to Heavy Rain?

[Murph]

I've been looking for the next Silent Hill, since they pulled the plug.

[Brando70]

So is it something akin to Heavy Rain?

I never played that, Scoop, but the reviews I read have mentioned it is similar in the gameplay.

What I find intriguing is that there is no save system at all, you just play and what happens, happens. I also like that the choices you're given often don't feel black and white like in a lot of games.

Also, in terms of Murph's comment, I don't think it's like Silent Hill exactly. That game is far more surreal and horrifying in a very different way. But Until Dawn is like playing a very suspenseful horror movie like I Know What You Did Last Summer -- complete with the cheese that comes with it. So far, though, I really enjoy it. I'll be curious to see if I find it worth full price when I'm done.

[TCrouch]

It's similar to Heavy Rain, Scoop. You still have lulls where you roam around and look for collectibles and just check stuff out, but it does the "Campy B-Movie Horror Vibe" really well. It's really closer to watching a movie where you choose how some of the scenes play out, and as soon as it was done, I started it up again to see if it was really choice, or illusion of choice that I witnessed the first go-round.

[ScoopBrady]

Well, I will definitely pick this one up when it comes down in price. I have too much Metal Gear ahead of me and still Witcher 3 to consider getting this one at full price. Thanks for the heads up.

[Phototropic]

I did one playthrough, and it's one of my favorite games this year. I will go back and try some other routes later.

[Brando70]

Things have kicked into high gear now, and I had to make my first really difficult choice that was very tense and pretty horrifying.

I also have come to like the QTEs. The game does a good job of stringing them together during certain scenes, and it really adds to the tension while letting this be a game instead of cut scenes and decision making. I really see why they went this route now -- because there is no going back to a save point, allowing too much freedom or requiring a lot of controller work would probably be very frustrating.

[webdanzer]

... I started it up again to see if it was really choice, or illusion of choice that I witnessed the first go-round.

Did you replay enough to come to a verdict on that?

[TCrouch]

Yes, but I can't give much info out without spoilers left and right.

[webdanzer]

Yes, but I can't give much info out without spoilers left and right.

You can say your choices do or don't seem matter without giving examples, though, no?

[TCrouch]

Not really. They do matter, but it still is something of an illusion of choice, because the story itself doesn't change much.

[Brando70]

Finished the game. The story goes off the rails somewhat, but the immersion factor helped keep me riveted. It is really short, one of the shortest games I've played in recent memory, and I tried to hunt around for objects you could find. Overall, though, I loved it. The mix of choices, character interaction, and QTEs worked really well for me. I love that a lot of decisions or actions required fast action, and the speaker on the PS4 controller did a great job with amplifying the intensity.

I only managed to save half the characters. One of the things I really like about this game is that it often doesn't have a clearly favorable choice, and occasionally, taking NO action is the correct move. I want to go back and play some of the previous chapters to try and save everyone.