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Preview: Until Dawn

Despite not being a fan of either horror or gore, there was something about the Saw franchise that I loved. The acting in each of the films was never great – from what I remember it got progressively worse with each new installment – but their storyline and puzzles kept me hooked. Since then I’ve longed for a Saw-inspired game… but not an actual Saw game, as the two last-gen titles felt rushed and poorly made.

Enter Until Dawn which much like Saw, combines a successful balance of horror, suspense and gore. Sure, the story won’t win any awards and the characters are a little lame, but it makes for a gorgeously-looking and interesting experience. The only problem is that everything else is… well, kind of horrible.

As part of the introduction you’re shown that the game utilities the PS4 controller’s accelerometer. In Until Dawn this is used to inspect objects, select on-screen choices, move your character’s head within cut-scenes (which I only did for my amusement to make my character look possessed) and point your flashlight as you’re walking around. Now tilting the controller to select an option on the screen or check out something you’ve picked up is all fine and well, but it’s when you get to controlling your flashlight with the accelerometer that it starts to become a little fiddly.

The game takes place in an abandoned mountain retreat, and during the preview we played as one character in a duo that are attempting to find a missing friend, suspected to have been murdered. With each room and corridor containing an item to inspect, clues to find or set pieces to interact with, Until Dawn encourages the player to search around and investigate, but with the accelerometer functionality it doesn’t at the same time. Rather than being able to comfortably control your torch with the right stick (which is instead reserved for camera control, despite the fact that doesn’t work very well either) you’re forced to twist the controller to point it around. The problem here is that it becomes a nuisance instead of feeling interactive. Much like motion controls with the Wii, I care not for fumbling around with the position of my controller when I’m gaming, and forcing me to shake my hands or point them in a particular direction just to see something on a table or wall is never fun. I ended up just letting the torch point at the ground for the majority of the time. It’s a gimmick gameplay tool and one the game would benefit without.

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Unfortunately the restrictions with the flashlight controls are also felt with the movement of your character. For the duration of the preview I was constantly struggling with moving  in the direction I wanted to go. Combined with the fact that the camera is sometimes fixed and that it changes whenever you enter a new room or corridor, I found myself walking into walls or back and forth rooms far more often than I would have liked. It’s surprising how a game can play so badly in 2014.

Poor controls aside, the strength in Until Dawn lies in its story. The game features characters out of a stereotypical teen horror film, but truth be told, I didn’t mind it. Yes, there are times when I felt a little detracted as I heard cheesy dialogue from the female character about how scared she was or from the male character about how dismissive he was that there’s a ghost or potential killer lurking around, but I kept finding myself wanting to press on to see what would happen next. There was the occasional jump-scare during the preview, but I still wanted to go on. At the end of the demonstration was a SAW-inspired scene that really made me want to continue – alas, this was where it ended. Sufficed to say, looks like some characters are going to die as you go along.

I’m undecided as to whether the Heavy Rain-esque style gameplay suits, but I enjoyed that there was no combat involved in the preview. It’s a shame that the controls feel so broken, but I’m interested to see what happens with the story.

Until Dawn is set for release in 2015 on the PS4.


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About the author

Nicholas Simonovski

Events and Racing Editor at Stevivor.com. Proud RX8 owner, Strange Music fan and Joe Rogan follower. Living life one cheat meal at a time.