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I love that we are in an era where games from the past get a chance to shine brighter with remasters and remakes. Unfortunately, not every one of these is built the same. I am not sold on the idea of remastering, or especially remaking games released in the PS4 era. This just feels too new, not to mention these games still look and play really well. The case in point is Until Dawn. The original game was released in 2015 to quite a bit of success. I loved the original, it put Supermassive Games on my radar, and it was genuinely one of the coolest horror games of that generation. So, when I heard it was coming back, I was excited, but after playing it I definitely feel like this release was a bit unnecessary.
If you have never played Until Dawn, think of it as more of an interactive movie. Players take on the role of various characters in different situations where they can move around, investigate things, and make choices that alter the path of the narrative. It is really well done, and being able to save every single person becomes the challenge. What makes it interesting are the performances and how things can change depending on the decisions. Supermassive has honed this craft over the years, but Until Dawn remains their best effort to date.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
This new remake retains the entire experience of the original with some upgrades in various areas. The most notable thing is that the game is now running on an entirely new engine. Everything has been upgraded, this is an entire remake and not just a remaster. That said not everything was worth it. The original game had a specific art direction where everything had an intentional blue tone to it. That has been completely removed for the remake. Instead, everything is using a more realistic lighting effect. While it all comes down to choice, I prefer the original simply because it has a unique look to it. This remake just looks and feels like every other horror game out now.
That said the new engine does bring some really cool effects to the table. Things like snow deformation, realistic lighting, and environmental detail. The game looks great when not in motion, but to be fair the original did as well. This comes with a price though; the frame rate is all over the place. The original game got a PS5 upgrade that allowed it to run at 60fps and it looks fantastic. This new version has dropped down substantially. It never holds a constant tick, and it makes the experience all the worse for it. It can be hard to play at times as sequences jump in frame rate making crucial choices harder to execute.
A lot of the other changes are puzzling to say the least. The original game had a system where players could see a premonition of a character’s death in hopes to avoid it. This was done by simply clicking on a totem and seeing the sequence play out. For the remake you have to pick it up and do some motion waggling to get it to trigger. It just feels unnecessary and cumbersome. The movement has also changed to a more over-the-shoulder perspective, which is nice, but the run option has been completely removed. Some of these choices are just baffling. Why remove core functions? Was it just to feel different, because they certainly have not enhanced the game play.
The good changes are additions to the story. The intro is longer with more setup for some of the characters and the ending is stretched out to hint at a possible sequel. This is cool, but if it plays like this one, I am not sure I am as excited to play more.
It is a weird package that feels like it made decisions to feel different as opposed to making it a better experience. I loved the original game; I still feel it is the best Supermassive game of this type. This remake feels unnecessary and at times worse than what is already available on the PS5 patch. I am all for remakes and remasters when they give players a chance to check out games not available on that platform. Until Dawn Remake is neither of those things and in fact is a worse experience than the game already available.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.