Until Dawn, a video game created by Supermassive Games and released in 2015 for Playstation 4, is an interactive horror game in which the player is in control of 8 characters and each decision the player makes will determine the fate of each character.
The development team took inspiration from a range sources, some of which were films such as: Evil Dead II and Poltergeist, and video games Heavy Rain, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. To ensure the game was scary, the team used a galvanic skin response test to measure playtesters' fear levels when playing it. Jason Graves composed the soundtrack and Guerrilla Games' Decima game engine was used for the graphics.
"When eight friends are trapped on a remote mountain retreat and things quickly turn sinister, they start to suspect they aren’t alone.
Gripped by fear and with tensions in the group running high, you’ll be forced to make snap decisions that could mean life, or death, for everyone involved.
Every choice you make in your terrifying search for answers – even the seemingly trivial ones – will carve out your own unique story." Supermassive Games.
The game has a total of 3 endings - No survivors, Partial survivors, 8 survivors, but there is 256 different variations to get to one of those endings:
No survivors - 1 possibility 1 survivor - 8 possibilities. 2 survivors - 28 possible combinations. 3 survivors - 56 possible combinations. 4 survivors - 70 possible combinations. 5 survivors - 56 possible combinations. 6 survivors - 28 possible combinations. 7 survivors - 8 possible combinations. 8 survivors - 1 possibility.
This makes the game a lot more interactive, each player can have a different ending to the last or a different way to get to the same ending each time they play the game. They will be able to encounter new game play moments or a new way the events are sequenced.
Key Features.
Choice & Consequence – Make the impossible choices, where every decision in your terrifying search for answers could mean the difference between life and death, but for who?
Next-Gen Horror – Harnessing the power of an evolved Killzone™ Shadow Fall engine, Until Dawn will shock you with realistic graphics and terrify you edge-of-your seat gameplay.
Butterfly Effect – Carve your path to survival with branching story lines that promise no two experiences will be the same. The choices you make may ripple unseen into moments of grave peril, or they may very well save a life.
Gripping Story – Immerse yourself in a truly spine-tingling story written in collaboration with famed cult writer/directors Larry Fessenden & Graham Reznick.
All of these features made the game incredibly interesting, emotional, immersive and terrifying. While you play the game you never feel at ease as you know you are being followed at all times and every decision you make will change the outcome. The lighting, music, sounds add camera angles also add to this, they make the game's atmosphere eerie and haunting. It reminds you that something is watching you and following your every movement.
The Monster.
The creature that is after you is a Wendigo, a horrifying creature of Algonquian Native American legends that would devour human flesh to survive a harsh winter. This mythological creature has many stories, but the one this game used is that the Legends say that Wendigoag were once human beings. But this version of the story is, a Wendigo is formed whenever a human being resorted to cannibalism, even if it were done in order to survive. When a person consumes the flesh of another human being, he or she is believed to be overcome by evil spirits and transformed into a Wendigo. The only way for a Wendigo to be killed is to set it alight as its skin is as hard as armour.
Here is the design of the main Wendigo in Until Dawn. The only way to survive being near the creature is to stand completely still and be silent. They can't see you if you are stood still, they only attack things that move.
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