Ballistic Moon’s remake of Until Dawn is proving one of our most difficult review assignments of the year. Here’s the rub: Supermassive Games’ cult interactive movie is still very much one of the best examples of the genre you can find on any console, and we highly recommend you play it. However, the PS4 version is just nine-years-old, and while this new-gen re-release does demonstrate some seismic graphical upgrades, it’s largely the same experience at its core – with no discounts or incentives for existing owners. To make matters worse, the original runs at 60fps with PS5 backwards compatibility, while this new edition targets an inconsistent 30fps, which feels like a downgrade.
First, the good stuff: this is still a fantastic game. Inspired by teen slashers, it’d mostly be forgettable in movie theatres (good luck to its upcoming big screen adaptation, then), but its interactivity makes it memorable and unique. You play as a group of different dislikeable teens, all hateable for a variety of reasons. After a prank goes awry in a remote log cabin, the cast decide to meet in the winter wilderness a year later to pay their respects to their fallen friends – and also frolic in the snow while they’re at it. Things take a turn for the worst when a series of grisly murders unfold, and a host of red herrings emerge to keep you on your toes.
The writing and performances are pitch-perfect, and it’s a surprisingly social experience, as friends and family will all want to share their opinion on who you should save – or, indeed, leave to die. The game is also paced brilliantly: the constant switching perspectives and gradual foreboding really draw you in, before the figurative sh*t hits the fan. With a running time of about eight hours, the game is approximately the same length as four horror movies, but it never outstays its welcome – and there’s replay value in repeated playthroughs, as you explore different outcomes.
While the story mostly follows the same beat-by-beat structure as its predecessor, the opening has been extended to give a bit more context to the prank played on Hannah Washington, which leads to her untimely demise and overshadows all of the events that follow thereafter. We actually went back to the original to compare, and we much prefer this new opening – especially with the inclusion of La Roux’s In for the Kill, which fits perfectly. However, it should be noted that not all of the music alterations hit as hard as this one, which is a shame.
The other big change to this version, visuals aside, is how the camera has been brought in closer to the characters. While there are instances where the original fixed angles persist, other moments offer an over-the-shoulder perspective, similar to what you’d find in third-person shooters like Resident Evil 4 or The Last of Us. Personally, we’re indifferent to this change: it does feel more modern, but the controls are still largely quite slow and sluggish, so we’re not convinced it makes a meaningful improvement to the game. That said, it doesn’t ruin the experience either, so it is what it is.
Graphically, this is a powerhouse, though. Running in Unreal Engine 5, the character models and lighting are extraordinary – even if the original motion capture feels a bit outdated these days. Ballistic Moon has made some minor artistic changes: the blue hue of the original has been abandoned in favour of more natural colour grading, while the lighting of the opening scenes has been changed to convey a more gradual progression into night. Going back to the original, all of the characters look like porcelain dolls compared to this native PS5 version – it really does look sensational.
But that comes at a cost: the original, while inconsistent on PS4 hardware, runs at a largely smooth 60fps through PS5 backwards compatibility – while its remake struggles to hold a steady 30fps. It’s not a game that relies on a high frame rate – it’s filmic in nature, after all – but even with the new visuals, it does feel like a step backwards to effectively cut performance in half. The problem is perhaps exacerbated by the fact the title takes regular plunges, meaning you’re looking at under 30fps a lot of the time. This is a game that feels like it needs the PS5 Pro, which is never going to go down well.
At least the other PS5 specific improvements fare better. The DualSense’s haptics are well incorporated to add extra tension to dramatic moments, while the adaptive triggers are used to demonstrate indecision in difficult moments; pulling either L2 or R2 to make a choice will require some physical exertion, forcing you to commit. All of these features can be toggled on and off in the settings, along with a suite of other accessibility options that make QTEs easier to complete and so on. As always, it’s good to see Sony’s commitment to accessibility extended here.
But other than that, aside from a small change to one of the game’s endings which potentially sets up a sequel, this is the same campaign you’ve played before. And that makes recommending it tricky: clearly a lot of work has gone in to overhauling the visuals and tweaking the gameplay in certain instances, but we’re not sure it represents an increase in price from $19.99/£15.99 to $59.99/£59.99 – especially with no upgrade path. In fact, while we personally like and appreciate a lot of the improvements, we’re not even sure we’d recommend this remake over the original considering the costs involved. That’s a huge problem.
Conclusion
Until Dawn drags a contemporary classic into a new generation, and its interactive teen slasher silliness more than holds up today. With vastly enhanced graphics and minor gameplay tweaks, this is still a highly recommended game. The problem is it costs three times as much as its nine-year-old predecessor, and doesn’t have an upgrade path. For all of its grisly glamour, that makes this remake a tough sell – especially when it runs at half the frame rate of its predecessor when played using PS5 backwards compatibility.
Comments 37
Tough game to review! Any questions, shout me!
"To make matters worse, the original runs at 60fps with PS5 backwards compatibility, while this new edition targets an inconsistent 30fps"
How does a game like this require all the power of the Pro to be able reach the same frame rate as the 9 year old PS4 version? This would be a hard sell with a $10 upgrade option, I'm going to be happy with my old copy and pretend this "upgrade" doesn't exist.
I've yet to play Until Dawn, but by the end of this review I've been convinced to play...the original. I love PS5 controller features, but they just don't seem necessary for a game like this, and frame drops for the absurd jump in price is pretty appalling. I'll grab a cheap copy of the PS4 game and play it on my PS5 later this month!
@get2sammyb
Seems you marked down for price. I never agree with that. Especially as you won’t change the score when the price drops. I remember enjoying it hugely. Definitely better than a 6. Frame drops are sad, but visuals are more important in a game like this, and I’m sure they’ll be fixed with patches. I’d give it an 8 just based on the game and improved graphics.
Thanks for the review, it really covered all the points. Even if I don’t think that a game’s price should impact the score (as it will inevitably change, in time) it’s weird they are not offering the 10$ upgrade for this after getting customers used to it.
Maybe I will get it in the future, on a deep sale, as it seems something fun to play in company.
@Tecinthebrain Because it's running on Unreal Engine 5 and looks a lot, lot, lot better than its PS4 predecessor. But I agree — it's a weird situation.
@thefourfoldroot1 It's a tough one to review but I felt value had to be part of the equation when a version of the game already exists on the system and is a third of the price.
Ultimately, I concluded that, while I like the remake and agree it's a great game, I'd probably recommend people get the original right now.
Them removing O Death and the blue tinted atmosphere is what will keep me from buying this remake. Such a waste of resources that could have benefited something else.
Good honest review and a remake nobody asked for. Sony are all over the place with their upgrade paths
@Nepp67 what resources are they wasting? they gave ballstic some work to redo the game , and clearly they wanted to make game more in line with their not so secret sequel firesprite is working on. what on earth would it have benefited if they didn't do this?
Shame it doesnt include a remaster (just a port would do) of Rush of blood, then I would have seen some value in this remake.
But hey I'm sure there is an audience somewhere and I hope they enjoy it as it is a good game....just be sure that nobody makes it out alive.
I wonder why they didn't use the new version of the decima engine for this game they might have been able to hit a smooth 60fps.
I don’t consider myself a framerate snob but going from 60fps last gen to 30fps this gen seems pretty poor better visuals or not.
What a strange world.
For sure a wait for £10 or Plus kinda game since I've played the PS4 game.
The only reason this got remade is because Sony wanted to bring it to PC and wanted to improve it for the PC crowd, and wanted to appease PS5 owners with also releasing a console version.
I heard that some of the dialogue has been altered to make the characters more endearing and likeable than they were in the original. Is this true? If so, that's a horrible change to make. One of the best things about Until Dawn (2015) was how downright awful and hostile to each other some of the characters were, to the point of hilarity. Smoothing over the rough edges of Emily and Mike is a cowardly thing to do.
Cannot imagine paying full bob for this. Possibly the most creatively bankrupt project in video game history.
Loved the original and I'd love to play this but the price is way too high and Silent Hill just came out...
I'm usually quite into remasters (big fan of TLoU pt.I) but this one genuinely puzzles me. Was Until Dawn really that popular? Surely it would have been cheaper to upgrade the original for PC (higher frame rates, better textures etc.) rather than remake the entire game in a new engine - and one that struggles with high frame rates at that.
@Dman10 im pretty sure it was remade to be like the sequel they are working on
Awful remake. My friend got it and we spent the day playing it and yeah its a really bad remake. So much music removed including the main theme, poor framerate, new lighting kills the atmosphere and the new camera angle is just mind boggling dumb. The OG version played on PS5 is the best way to play Until Dawn.
With those saying a review score shouldn't reflect it's price because it will ultimately become cheaper, rendering the review score outdated - doesn't the same ring true for games that receive major updates or had huge bugs squashed? Star Wars Outlaws will probably require brand new reviews by next year, for instance.
It's amusing that some people felt Broken Sword Reforged's initial price was too much, but this game absolutely takes the biscuit with it's price being double the amount. Oof. I enjoyed completing the original but in all this time never feltinclined to go back to it, so this remake is a hard pass for me for that reason alone, regardless of future discounts.
@Areus The original was on Decima, so yeah, it’s a bit odd. But Unreal 5 is also really nice. The game looks great and, while it’s a shame to see the poor performance, I don’t think it really affects the gameplay in something like this.
@Acquiescence They all seem pretty dislikeable to me so I can’t say I noticed that if it’s true. I’d be surprised if they changed the dialogue because I assume they’d have to re-record it to do that.
@Dman10 rumours of a sequel and in the short term more likely because of the movie?
The fact PC hasn’t got it is probably just an added bonus.
@BecauseBecause We’re looking at how we can do re-reviews for games as it’s going to get more important moving forwards.
This whole notion of "games that were released last gen shouldn't be remade" is total hypocritical double standard BS.
Resident Evil 1 was remade after only 6 years, same with Metal Gear Solid and they are among the most celebrated games of all time. Nobody complained about it back then either. Same with the remake of Tomb Raider which became Anniversary. All full price remakes, released 10 years or less after their originals and nobody complained about it.
Yet today people complain about full price remakes of games from the previous gen (in the case of Last of Us 1 even of two gens prior). Why is this so bad today but wasn't 20 years ago ?
RE 1 Remake also cost full price at release, only 6 years after the OG had come out. And everyone praised the F.... out of it (Deservedly so, its a fantastic game). But today remakes are only worthy to be made if the OG is 20 years old ?
Bull.
@Octaslasher I want to clarify I’m fine with remakes. But I suppose the difference is that tech evolved faster in the examples you shared. The jump between Resident Evil PS1 and Resident Evil GameCube is MASSIVE, even though there’s only a few years between them.
The other thing is you can play Until Dawn on PS5 already with a great frame rate. Same with The Last of Us 1.
As I’ve said already, I like both remakes a lot. But that does create a strange situation where the remakes can seem more “unnecessary”.
I dont care how many graphical touch-ups there are here, even if it was free, this is such a 'supermassive' downgrade from the PS4 version running at 60fps (on PS5), that if I wanted to play this game again I would hands down pick the PS4 version.
@get2sammyb Hey just wondering if this is the "complete" version. When the game originally came out they took a section of the game out to make it a pre order bonus (for whatever dumb reason) so just wondering if that was put back for this release. Thanks!
@Octaslasher your examples where from a time with huge differences in the generations and no way to play the OGs on the current hardware.
Completely different situations now. Especially with Until Dawn that is even on PS Plus in it's (good) PS4 version.
@JackiePriest Yes, it has that scene!
@Dman10 Yep. A lot of people don’t realize that.
This has no real purpose except that it's also running on pc.
@twitchtvpat Ballstic working on a game of their own bud.
lol i knew this game would bomb.
This is odd. FPS I question as if it's cinematic sure 24FPS nah 30 is closer but in terms of mo cap/audio that is odd they didn't work on that or whatever the case to improve it. I get it requires more work but it feels more remake like then. But remaster it is then I guess.
It can probably fit the horror still but can be noticeable probably. I don't know I haven't played it.
Focus on accessibility is nice to have for sure.
Music eh can vary.
But frame rate I get it's filmic/cinematic but yeah if it pushes too much the visuals aren't worth the push to look good and run terrible. Them having done a 60FPS via PS4 BC on PS5 with an update does say a lot though to make that case here.
I hate devs doing that, you want it to be choppy to look good and terrible presentation by all means. XD Your visuals regardless of shadows/textures aren't enough to cover it up it being a horror game and all.
Seems expensive and wasteful to not improve it, sure costs more but would land better 'being new'. Cutting corners?
Over the shoulder has a place but you don't need it for EVERYTHING.
Just visuals/to be in articles/resold is a bit eh.
I'm happy with my copy of Hidden Agenda for Playlink thanks. XD
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