How a schlocky teen horror confounded everyone’s expectations
Until Dawn makes you wait a while before it springs its first big surprise. A masked psychopath has bound the bookish Ashley and the creepy Josh into a Saw-like deathtrap; as affable nerd Chris, you’re forced to pick which one to save. Girlfriend or best friend? In any event, your choice doesn’t seem to matter: the buzzsaw blade automatically heads towards Josh regardless, cutting him in two at the waist. It’s the moment at which Until Dawn makes good on its promise that no one is safe – not least since the victim, played by Mr Robot star Rami Malek, is one of the cast’s biggest names – and reminds you that choices don’t always have the expected consequences. It’s also, as it turns out, a total fake-out, the first shock of many in a game that rarely plays by the rulebook.
Then again, for a while, Until Dawn seemed to confound its makers, too. Initially planned as a comparatively limited, motion controlled, first person horror game for PS3, things soon changed after its developer, Supermassive Games, took a demo build to Gamescom in 2012. An unexpectedly warm reception forced the studio to sit down with Sony and discuss making a Move-required title into something everyone could play, before development shifted to PS4. If on occasion the finished game bears the scars of its difficult birth, abandoning Move certainly paid off. Indeed, Supermassive knew it was on the right track when, two years later at Sony’s PlayStation Experience showcase, an onstage demo saw a rowdy audience participating in each decision.
Denne historien er fra March 2018-utgaven av Edge.
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Denne historien er fra March 2018-utgaven av Edge.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
BONAPARTE: A MECHANIZED REVOLUTION
No sooner have we stepped into the boots of royal guard Bonaparte than we’re faced with a life-altering decision.
TOWERS OF AGHASBA
Watch Towers Of Aghasba in action and it feels vast. Given your activities range from deepwater dives to climbing up cliffs or lumbering beasts, and from nurturing plants or building settlements to pinging arrows at the undead, it’s hard to get a bead on the game’s limits.
THE STONE OF MADNESS
The makers of Blasphemous return to religion and insanity
Vampire Survivors
As Vampire Survivors expanded through early access and then its two first DLCs, it gained arenas, characters and weapons, but the formula remained unchanged.
Devil May Cry
The Resident Evil 4 that never was, and the Soulslike precursor we never saw coming
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has made a deeply self-conscious game, visibly inspired by some of the best-loved ideas from Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
SKATE STORY
Hades is a halfpipe
SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION VII
Firaxis rethinks who makes history, and how it unfolds
FINAL FANTASY VII: REBIRTH
Remaking an iconic game was daunting enough then the developers faced the difficult second entry
THUNDER LOTUS
How Spirit farer's developer tripled in size without tearing itself apart