Until Dawn

Until Dawn (アンティル ドーン -惨劇の山荘-) is an survival horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It was originally scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 3 and feature PlayStation Move support, but in August 2014, the game was reintroduced as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, and was released worldwide in August 2015.

Until Dawn is designed to be played multiple times, as players cannot see all content with a single playthrough. Each playthrough lasts about nine hours in length and the game mechanics utilize an in-game system called the "butterfly effect" in which any choice of action made by the player may cause unforeseen consequences later on. For example, locating a weapon in an earlier chapter may allow the player to pick it up down the line when a chase scene leads back to the same room. Throughout the game, players make difficult decisions during ethical or moral dilemmas, such as sacrificing one character to save another.

Until Dawn was met with a positive critical response upon release, with praise directed at the visuals, 'choice' mechanic, horror elements, music, characters, voice acting, and gameplay design. Most of the criticism the game drew concerned the second half of the story, the camera angles, character movement, and the game's partially linear plot.

As Until Dawn features graphic violence, all death scenes were censored in the Japanese version of the game.

Set in Western Canada, Until Dawn centers around a group of eight teenagers who decide to have a holiday for a night in a cabin on the fictional Blackwood Mountain, exactly one year after the disappearance of two girls, the twin sisters of a member of their group. Shortly after arriving, the gang find themselves under attack by a psycho and must attempt to survive until sunrise. Throughout the adventure, players alternate between all eight characters, making critical decisions as the story advances which drastically affects the game's outcome, leading to hundreds of different scenarios.

The gameplay is focused on exploration, quick-time events and discovering clues as well as making decisions. There is an in-game system that keeps track of all of the clues and secrets players have discovered in total, even if there are multiple playthroughs; these clues allow the player to piece together the mysteries of Blackwood. In terms of the gameplay mechanics and theme, Until Dawn has been noted to be similar to Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.