Back in August, Supermassive Games teased that their upcoming PS4 exclusive Until Dawn is a "horror game unlike any other." Well, after some brief hands-on time with the game at PlayStation Experience, I don't think that's entirely true; based on what I played and saw during the two-day event, Until Dawn seems very much like a Quantic Dream title. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either.
Even at first glance, the similaries between Until Dawn and, say, Heavy Rain or Beyond: Two Souls are pretty apparent. It's very a very-story driven game that focuses on creating an emotional experience by having the player make the major decisions for its characters. Sound familiar?
The similarities are more transparent in the gameplay, which is comprised mostly of simplistic, gesture-based commands. During moments of a sequence, you'll be prompted to choose between two actions — like running or hiding from you stalker. To do so, you simply direct the DualShock controller towards a specific reaction and press "X". Sometimes you'll be prompted with some sort of quick-time button-pressing event. It's all pretty simplistic controls that create a more fluid experience that doesn't seem to break the narrative. It all feels very natural.
The game will then react to your decision and play out accordingly. But it doesn't always play out in your favor. In quite a few of my playthroughs, my decisions resulted in Samantha — one of the game's main characters (played by Hayden Panettiere) — being caught by her chaser. It was proof that Supermassive Games wasn't lying when they said any character can die based on your actions, and it will react and unfold accordingly.
Adding to the unique player experience — and you didn't see this during the PlayStation Experience keynote — I was asked a series of questions before the playthrough began. They were questions like: "Are you scared of creepy crawlers or massive crowds? Do you find needles or suffocation more disturbing?" Taking my answers into account, the demo actually changed according to what I answered. For example, when I chose needles, the killer chased me with a needle instead of the mask to suffocate me as we saw in the PlayStation Experience keynote playthrough. This is just another way Supermassive plans to make each playthrough unique to you.
Again, my playthrough was based on the same demo we saw during the keynote. For those who missed it, this portion stars Panettiere as Samantha. Relaxing in some sort of resort, Sam is taking a bath and listening to music while someone lurks in the corner watching her. Even without seeing the creeper, Samantha senses something isn't quite right, gets out, and proceeds to investigate. After roaming the resort in towel for a few minutes, the game throws your typical scare tactics at you (like a startling clock chime). The tension throughout this portion is extremely intense as you wait for the stalker to reveal himself.
Upon entering the next room, the door slams shut and a video starts playing, showing footage of Sam from her bath earlier. Her friends are shown being slaughtered while a creepy voice taunts her. And then, the masked figure appears in the doorway and the chase begins. It's a very intense chase that ended in my being caught several times before I finally figured out the correct decisions to escape unharmed. I don't know if being caught necessarily means Sam's death, but it's clear that the story will change based on your decisions and actions.
The demo I played wasn't the longest, but it was enough to make me want to see more. If anything it established Until Dawn as a game that definitely has the potential to send shivers down your spine. As a fan of both Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, I'm eager to see how Supermassive Games pushes this genre — this sort of Butterfly Effect to storytelling in which your decisions change the course of the narravite and ultimately the outcome — forward and expands upon the experience established by games from Quantic Dream or even Telltale Games.
