Until Dawn

[Spikeyroxas]

I'm quite surprised I havnt seen this been mentioned yet.

UNTIL DAWN

Spoiler: opening credits and song

This game as you may or may not know is more story driven than gameplay driven (it's like watching a film unfold before you)

This game has advertised is primary gameplay mechanic as the butterfly effect where your actions no matter how small will change the course of the story.
Including relationships between characters or even who survives.

The game features 8 characters and your choices can either make none of them live until dawn or have everyone survive.

Slight plot point summary :

8 friends have gone on a get a way break on the anniversary of two twin sisters who had gone missing. Although there seems to be more mystery surrounding their visits.


This game has now released in most countries.
Japan gets it tomorrow (27th)
And UK Friday (28th)

Is anyone else getting or excited for this game?
Please refrain from spoilers.

 

[Jen]

I've pre-ordered it, can't wait to play! I'm avoiding most spoilers though.

 

[MartinMilk]

Got the game today, haven't tried it yet but will later ^^

 

[Spikeyroxas]

Got the game today, haven't tried it yet but will later ^^

Cool, Let us know what you think
Please refrain from posting any spoilers though

 

[Cheer]

That game is amazing. It has this old Alone in the dark feel to it. and when i say old Alone in the Dark i am talking about the first three games in the series.

 

[KevinStriker]

The first few hours were really annoying thanks to all the clichéd characters and barely-there gameplay, but it got really fun towards the end. I'd probably give it a 7/10 at best.

 

[Hel]

This is a game I would definitely have played myself if it wasn't a PS4-exclusive. I have yet to watch a full playthrough on YouTube, but I like what I've seen so far.

By the way, has anyone noticed that half of the playable characters have Resident Evil names? Chris, Ashley, Jessica, Josh, and I'm sure there must be a Sam somewhere in the long history of RE, considering how common that name is.

 

[Jen]

By the way, has anyone noticed that half of the playable characters have Resident Evil names? Chris, Ashley, Jessica, Josh, and I'm sure there must be a Sam somewhere in the long history of RE, considering how common that name is.

I noticed this too!

 

[Cheer]

By the way, has anyone noticed that half of the playable characters have Resident Evil names? Chris, Ashley, Jessica, Josh, and I'm sure there must be a Sam somewhere in the long history of RE, considering how common that name is.

Yeah i noticed that too. and have you noticed how most of the game they keep splitting up the characters into a team of two just like what they are doing in the newer Resident Evil games.

Well there is a character called Sam in the Resident Evil universe but he is from the movies.

 

[KevinStriker]

I definitely made some "LEON HELP" jokes whenever Ashley was in trouble.

Or when she got herself killed...

 

[MartinMilk]

So my first impressions is. It's great. So far better than i thought it would be. I'm happy to say it's not only quick time events, there is actually alot of actual gameplay. Even though the game as a whole is played out like a movie. It's gorgeous the voice acting is solid and i enjoy the story. I'm very happy with the game so far. That being said i am somewhat early in to it so my opinion might change.

 

[Spikeyroxas]

I know there's thr main story including prologue which happens before the opening credits song.

Is the DLC story a part of the main story too?

 

[Loki]

I've got it pre-ordered but I don't get back home until the 31st, so I can't play it until then. Can't wait!

 

[jayshizzo]

I want to play the game on morpheus

 

[Spikeyroxas]

Got the game today can't wait to play it!

Also I found out that the "dlc" is actually an extra episode section within the game of a part where two characters go to fetch a bag or something.
I was on my dashboard for ages trying to figure out why there was no download after entering the code.

 

[e_etu]

I dont have ps4 yet but i wanna play this game so badly D: i have watched already so many walktroughs from youtube and its probably best game in this year so far. Oh and my fav characters are jessica and emily xD they both are hot and i like their attitudes

 

[blivvy]

Got the game today can't wait to play it!

Also I found out that the "dlc" is actually an extra episode section within the game of a part where two characters go to fetch a bag or something.
I was on my dashboard for ages trying to figure out why there was no download after entering the code.

Same here, was also wondering why the dlc wasn't downloading. On disc dlc strikes again! lol

Good game so far. I like how they create tension at certain parts when nothing bad actually happens at all. The jump scares got me a few times already xD

 

[Spikeyroxas]

Okay so Me and a friend played an all nighter and I just played it most of today (I got really into it)

And i got to the ending:

My review:
I tried not to write any main spoilers but obviously contains some.

Spoiler

Looks:
Okay so first of all the acting, charcater models, and graphics in this game were amazing. I literally could watch this several times over and still be in awe.
The level design and basic setting were all beautiful even when it was dark and scary.

Story:
The story was good, it wasn't amazing and really embraced the typical cliché moments.
From my story experience (as I only played through once and it could change depending) the story at the start reallocate a good impression and kept you hooked wanting to know more.
However the games pretty much divided into two plots. After the first plot does its thing your onto the real main plot which honestly took me by surprise.
The supernatural theme took over When I thought it was a horror slasher psycho game. But despite that it was still somewhat believable and you just get on with it. However I do feel like this made it less scary as a serial killer plot is much more on terms with reality.

The butterfly effect:
I like the concept of this but I have gone through the game myself only once but I have watches my sister go through it and pick different choices in places.
And honestly I do wonder if the changes in options actually so alter the story in any significant way.
On my first playthrough 2 characters died but not until really close to the end
One was due to a bad choice I made and another due to controls but I'll explain that below.
Other than that, the relationship effects only seemed to decide how nice or bitchy charcater statements came out to each other and whether or not a certain charcater gets semi naked ;D
How charcaters connect and talk to each other is interesting though and quite fun to watch.
But as I said this is based on one playthrough and partially witnessing some of another.

Controls:
There's two control options:
Traditional and motion.
This is based on traditional controls :
The majority of the game is quick time reaction commands.
If you don't like this than this really isn't the game for you to play
The moving around controls feel quite sluggish but you get used to them.
The reaction commands do seem to have some pattern to them but none that I bothered to remember.
Then there's the "don't move" control.
Sometimes you have to not move thr controller at all which you can imagine how hard that could be in times of crisis.
Buy honestly this control gave me the most grief since I felt like it was so unfair.
I play with my arm rested on something so the controller is slanted in my hands slightly. But this makes the controller think I'm moving it seems so as soon as the don't move option suddenly appears I literally had no time to prepare unless I knew it was coming. As soon as the sequence started it automatically failed and said I moved even when I didn't.
This eventually led to a charcater death.
Thr way I sort of countered this was to rest the controller flat on my leg and play whixh worked, but made it hard to use other controls.

Characters:
The characters are all unique and have their own personalities.
Theres typical characters, ones you like and ones you hate.
These pretty much stay consistent but oddly your opinion of them is what changes.
You actually get attached to characters (some more than others) and this kind of affects your choices you make which makes you think "am I playing the way I would react, how these characters would or because I care for charcater A more than charcater B"
There are some characters combos whixh get alot of time together and some which don't seem to but you wish they would.
There doesn't seem to be an obvious way to get two charcaters to hook up romantically (who were not involved before) so charcater relationship progression does feel slightly linear but that's based on one and a bit of playthroughs.

System:
There's some noticeable frame drops but the ps4 handles it really well
The game uses buttons, motion, touch pad and controls sticks.
L2 button I don't seem to recall ever pressing it and it took me ages to stop accidentally pressing R1 which is the charcater relation menu (which can be pressed at any time and not disrupt any cutscenes which was really cool)

Other notes:
I will replay this game to try and find all collectibles (collecting these actually affects the story progression as charcaters remark on ones that link to each other every so often)
The totems which foretell future events are seemingly unhelpful but when you get to those moments you do see the relevance.
Theres also another story cutscene you can play in the totem menu but it's all blanked out unless you find collectibles which all fill in a few seconds of cutscene and paints a backstory picture.
I also will change my actions and see if the butterfly effect does live up to the name and change things extremely in the story.
When you complete it there's an option to go to any episode and replay it to change the outcome of future events. Luckily for me both charcaters that died in my playthrough happened in the last episode so I replayed that and saved them which gave me the trophy to rescue them all.

Overall I would rate this game:
9/10

Spoiler: Pros:

+ Character, setting and area design
+ gripping story
+ relationship choices
+ collectibles have relevance
+ replayability

Spoiler: Cons:

- Occasional frame drops
- Controls (Sudden don't move controls)

Once again this is based on one playthrough
An alteration in the final episode
And watching my sister play some

Okay: so played this game through some more

Spoiler: more experience

And the butterfly effect system is pretty interesting.
The game changes small things but keeps to the same path more or less, at least forster beginning half. But these choices do indeed change some important narrative plot points in the future chapters depending on relations with characters.
For example
You could save every charcater but some might have indifferent feelings about some characters or events.
Or you could give a charcater an item which may be used later to change a whole other plot point later on

 

[blivvy]

I just completed the game but things didn't go as planned.

Spoiler

So I really wanted to keep everyone alive but only two people survived, Sam & Chris. The reason for this was mainly because it was my first playthrough and I made some bad choices. I would say it's nearly impossible to keep everyone alive on the first playthrough because you won't know which are the best choices to make (unless you youtube it) and sometimes it'll just be too late.

For example: Matt was the first person who died for me. It was the part after the radio tower collapsed and Matt tries to save Emily. After Emily falls, Matt gets attacked by the wendigo and is dragged off and killed. I was ****ed about that because it said Matt had nothing to defend himself with so I had to just watch him get killed xD