Supermassive Games have made quite a name for themselves in the horror genre. The Guildford-based studio has already terrified gamers with efforts like The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Quarry and The Casting of Frank Stone. However, I don’t think they have been able to truly recreate the feeling and thrills of the title that set them on this blood-soaked journey. I would even go so far as to say that Until Dawn has been a monkey on their back. No matter how many solid games they craft, that first outing’s shadow still looms large.
Read More: Phasmophobia (Xbox) preview – Phinally
So it’s not a surprise to hear the campy teen horror smash is getting a remake for the PS5.
Dawn Again
There are two things worth noting straight out of the gate. Firstly, the remake is being handled by Surrey-based Ballistic Moon studios, not Supermassive Games themselves. Second, this is a full-fat £59.99/€69.99 release. At this price, the question of ‘Do I really need this?’ rings louder.
For the most part, the core game is untouched. There have been some tweaks to the beginning prologue, and a few changes made to the ending. Some of these changes hint that there may be something else in the pipeline. Beyond these tweaks and changes Until Dawn is a faithful recreation.
Another Teen Movie
You get a horror popcorn tale, grounded in the teen slash genre, with a few twists along the way. An all-star cast of characters lends a further level of movie authenticity. Until Dawn features the likes of Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere, Brett Dalton and Call of Duty’s ‘The Replacer’ Peter Stormare live or die by your decisions and ability in Quick Time Events.
Until Dawn is light on gameplay in ways. The experience is more of an interactive movie with a story you can shape as you see fit. What’s more, your choices have a true impact on the tale. You can easily kill everyone off due to poor timing and bad decisions.
Read More: Alone in the Dark review – Safe Reboot Misses Mark
Until Dawn is the type of game that want to go in blind. The carefully crafted jump scares and pant-browning moments work best with a fresh brain to terrify.
Same Ol’ Words
For better or worse, the writing is the same as the original version. There are some rough edges, especially around the teen dream element of the tale, that you would hope would be smoothed off for the remaster.
Gameplay is a mix of wandering around areas, looking for items and having to choose options in conversations. Conversations are spiced up with a timer that often leaves no time to truly think it over. And then there is a QTE action section, which helps to break things up.
Read More: Choo-Choo Charles review – Creepy Hollow
These also make sure you are paying attention as they can pop up out of nowhere at any time. The Until Dawn remake adds some new accessibly options to tweak the QTE prompts. A nice touch. Also new to the remake is a third person camera as well as some new fixed camera angles.
Remix
The remake also sees remixes to some areas and changes to certain sections. There are also new totems to find along as changes to locations of original totems.
Until Dawn‘s visuals improve having been rebuilt in the Unreal 5 engine. Improved animations, lighting, facial models, gore and snow effects are readily visibly. However, it’s far from a massive graphical leap forward from the original.
Read More: Endless Ocean Luminous review – Lacking Depth
The changes also see a few of the games more memorable screens being changed. And this may not sit well with the hardcore but overall, the bloody bits look better, as do the talky bits.
Engine Swap
There are also a few new issues the remake has picked up along the way. The framerate can pitch and roll at times, and can be very choppy. This also can be seen in character movement at times, both in game and cut scenes, as they are far from smooth at times.
These technical issues are small potatoes, but given the interactive nature of the game, it does sometimes break you out of it.
Read More: The Devil in Me review – Movie Homage Plays it Safe
If you are new to Until Dawn and want to see what a fully operational Supermassive Games game is truly capable of, then this remake is worth the sixty pounds/seventy euro entry fee. If you’re a fan returning, it’s a harder sell.
Until Dawn remake is solid update of a cracking PS4 exclusive, that is well worth firing up on the PS5 of a Friday night.