Read our review of the Until Dawn: Remake, the revamped version of the classic horror game. Dive into the enhanced graphics, gripping storyline.
In this whirlwind of re-releases that we never know exactly what to call, when they announced the new remake of Until Dawn , I thought it would be more of a remaster. After all, Supermassive ‘s work was still quite attractive and perhaps it only needed an increase in resolution and effects. But nothing could be further from the truth: Ballistic Moon, the new studio in charge of this edition, has changed everything from the foundations, that is, the game engine itself, moving from the Decima Engine to the fifth iteration of the Unreal Engine. The game changes much more than it seems at first glance. To the point of making us question whether so many changes were necessary.
The lighting and textures are the best. Everything is much more defined, nothing appears blurry on the screen, but the new lighting is what undoubtedly changes a large part of the experience. And, in my opinion, not always for the better. Although it is more realistic, it is noticeable that the new lighting has been applied in some moments in a way that is too general, making some scenes dark and their characters not stand out as they did in the original game . This had very marked backlighting that highlights our survivor of this teenage horror odyssey against the darkness, while here the new, more natural light makes everything blur too much with the background.
Other times, it’s actually served to create a more progressive game . The opening is perhaps the best example of all these modifications. The arrival scene at the house after the prologue does more justice to the game’s name, going from dusk to dawn, offering the last rays of sunlight and completely changing the tone, than what happened in the 2015 game, which already had us starting in the middle of the night. I honestly don’t mind that these moments aren’t nighttime, since we’ll soon have plenty of darkness in the rest of the game.
Changes not only visual
The prologue also hints at Ballistic Moon’s intentions to provide more context. For those who haven’t played the game, Until Dawn is the story of a group of teenagers who, yes, behave like a classic American teen horror movie. After the disappearance of one of the protagonists’ sisters on a getaway to a house in the mountains, the group decides to return a year later to the same place to help the surviving brother, close that chapter of their lives and, in the process, have a good party that will end, as you can imagine, in a nightmare.
In this prologue, the joke that was played and led to the tragic events at the beginning is better contextualized, since before everything happened too fast. In my opinion it is still like that, but perhaps I think that is already something intrinsic to the Until Dawn style, which I will only give a few brushstrokes: it was a very interesting game due to its possibilities and consequences, but also somewhat forced in some of its plots or decisions.
Like the original, Until Dawn seems to me to have some good ideas, but not all of them are impressively executed. Yes, the deaths and the internal challenge of trying to keep the kids alive are very interesting, but sometimes it has more to do with trial and error over successive playthroughs than a conscious decision on the part of the player. Character stats, such as bravery, charisma, etc., seem more like internal variables of the game design than something that can serve the player, while the vision offered to us in the totems , while it is refined for the remake, is not always too enlightening for the situation we are going to face.
Change of perspective
So, we have some decisions in this remake that can be questionable and that do not quite capture the essence of the original. The soundtrack has introduced alterations in many of the chapters, changing, for example, the strident strings that generated tension for more generic drums. But, personally, after just a few days of writing a few similar lines for Silent Hill 2 Remake , I am surprised to write again about the replacement of the fixed cameras. Although in the case of Konami’s game it is something I can understand more, I see it less justified in the case of Until Dawn. It was one of the aspects that I liked the most; that use of fixed cameras at different angles that had less to do with appealing to the classic style than with achieving better atmospheric shots, which was also very well set in the mood with the use of the flashlight with the second stick. They reminded me of one of the best things that Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare had.
Here, however, while we sometimes get a fixed angle almost as a legacy, it has been replaced by the traditional shoulder camera. It’s a change that, as I said, I see as more necessary in a game with combat like Silent Hill 2 Remake or Resident Evil 2 Remake , but in a title where reactions are based on cinematics and quick-time events, it seems to me an attempt to offer a modern, comfortable and mass-market perspective , rather than a good design decision. I think it’s a substantial enough change to keep the original relevant, but, as I write these lines, I’m checking its page on the PlayStation store to see that the reduced-price 2015 game has been removed from the store to be replaced by this full-price remake. In this case, there isn’t even the option to upgrade the game for a reduced price, as we’ve seen with other Sony products.
It’s true that, being a remake on this generation, you could have chosen between the classic quality and performance modes, but that’s not the case. There’s only one mode and it’s at the best quality possible with 30 frames per second. What you can choose, however, is whether you prefer the anamorphic 2.35:1 mode or the traditional 16:9. I know that people generally hate black bars and it’s possible that some games have used them to hide a lack of performance, but I also don’t think that’s the case for Until Dawn, which looks better in this aspect ratio. We’ll have to wait and see how the PS5 Pro version improves, as the title will have some improvements for this version.
All in all, I think that perhaps the Until Dawn remake is not the most necessary in the world for a title that is perfectly playable ten years later. Also, some changes may be welcome, but others may end up altering the spirit of the original work too much. Sony, however, has taken into account a key factor: that more than four million copies of this horror title were sold. Therefore, it is possible that there are many fans who are curious about the changes and will want to take the opportunity to give it another go, or new potential players who never approached it and have started their journey with a PlayStation 5. Both will discover a very cinematic title that Supermassive itself has continued to perpetrate almost uniquely during this decade, but not always in the most successful way as the studio intended. All this makes me leave this remake with the same question that I entered with: was the original game really so outdated that this remake was necessary?
5 things you should know:
- It is a teenage horror story where our decisions and actions are influenced by quick-time events.
- It’s more of a remake than it seemed, although I’m not sure if it was the most necessary one.
- There are graphical changes, especially in lighting, and also gameplay changes.
- Some scenes such as the prologue have been modified to improve the context.
- Fixed cameras (more uncomfortable, but more atmospheric) have been replaced by the traditional over-the-shoulder perspective.
This remake of Until Dawn has more changes than it first meets the eye, starting with its engine, which has been transformed with Unreal Engine 5 to offer more detailed models and, above all, a new lighting system. Not all the changes are visual, although these are certainly the most noticeable. Some moments and dialogues have also been modified. In particular, the prologue, to be better understood.
However, not all the changes are for the better, and sometimes the composition of the image is ruined by trying to apply a more natural light or by changing the original strident soundtrack. The most profound change in the design is that the fixed camera system has been replaced by an over-the-shoulder camera. I don’t think it was as mandatory this time as in other games and the original atmosphere can be lost. Other changes include the new location of the totems as well as some new ones. Despite some good ideas, I still wonder if a remake was necessary.