Weeks away from final release, the QTE horror game of Until Dawn outs a Gamescom trailer showing off the dire choices you must make. Action prompts like “Evade or fight? Burn or run? Leap or yell?” pop up throughout that force you to make snap decisions. Only, a camera whizzes by the aftermath of an encounter with the serial killer in sequence as you hear the sound effects-filled struggle.
Nail marks on wooden stairs, shattered glass from falling over a balcony, the sound of sliced skin and groans of anguish, all painful reminders Super Massive Games and Sony want us to remember: every choice in Until Dawn decides the fate of the eight campers.
Product Manager at SCEE Tim Hodges tells in a PlayStation Blog post of thousands of potential branches Until Dawn posses. Beyond death, Hodges notes characters could turn from jerk to hero based on one action. inconsequential or not, the ripple effect of you choosing orange juice over milk could save a life.
The way we have implemented this system in game means there are thousands of potential branches to every player’s individual story. Some of your decisions might appear to be inconsequential – a conversation choice that makes a character come across as a bit of an ass, for example – but if you’d made a different choice that character might have ended up the hero.
Everything you choose can affect how other characters react, potentially with dire consequences. Some choices are more obvious but much more difficult, like choosing which friend will live and which will die.
Until Dawn releases August 25th in North America, 26th in Australia and Europe, 27th in Japan, and 28th in the UK all on the PlayStation 4. What household item would you use to defend yourself from a killer?
