Until Dawn review
What is it? The first truly successful interactive horror movie, finally getting a PC release.
Release date October 4, 2024
Expect to pay £60/$60
Developer Ballistic Moon
Publisher PlayStation Publishing
Reviewed on Radeon 5700 XT, i5-9600K, 16GB RAM
Steam Deck Unknown
Link Official site
Something magical happened in 2015. Prior to Until Dawn's original release, nearly every attempt to produce a genuinely compelling interactive movie (an ideal games had been pursuing for decades) would invariably fall in one of two categories: either a noble failure or a spectacular one. And then, almost inconspicuously, Supermassive made it happen. The irony is it didn't need much to improve upon the schlocky FMVs of the 1990s, just a tech upgrade and some better-written dialogue. Oh, and attach its ambitions to the single cinematic genre that perfectly complements the idiosyncrasies of an interactive medium: the teen slasher.
Nearly a decade later, we're finally able to experience all the grisly murders and bickering on PC, in a new, remastered version featuring a visual overhaul and some slight narrative additions.
Eight high-school friends arrive at a remote mountain lodge on the anniversary of a tragedy that drastically changed their lives—most of all Josh's, their host and scion of famed horror director, Bob Washington. It's a gathering meant to heal old wounds and reinvigorate waning relationships. In other words, a search for closure. But familiar bitterness resurfaces and new causes for antagonism emerge in the group's ever-shifting social dynamics as the reunion starts under the worst auspices.
Blackwood Mountain itself seems inimical to the kids' presence: heavy snowfall obscures their surroundings, the path is pockmarked with deadfalls, and even the front door to the Washington mansion has frozen shut as local wolves and stags become increasingly restless at the intruders' presence. And that's before the real dangers start revealing themselves in forms both
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