The latest trailer for Sony’s upcoming Until Dawn film adaptation has brought with it a slight shift in reception.
Where its debut trailer was met with vitriol for only marginally resembling the Supermassive Games hit, this one is being received slightly more positively.
Recommended Videos And yet, the vitriol is still bubbling underneath. Among the chill wait-and-seers and those who have wised up to the fact that this film is a standalone story set in the Until Dawn universe rather than a straight adaptation of the video game, some are transfixed on how this adaptation appears to be spitting upon the game’s narrative achievements.
Screengrab via YouTube Screengrab via YouTube Screengrab via YouTube Screengrab via YouTube But upon examining how games and stories actually work, it’s obvious that a direct adaptation of the Until Dawn video game would not only fall at the first hurdle, but illuminate a core issue with video game narratives that the medium at large refuses to address.
Until Dawn is defined by its butterfly effect system, in which players influence the beats and outcome of the story by making choices (for instance, in a life-or-death situation, you can choose to keep your current player character safe at the risk of letting another character die, or vice versa).