Until Dawn

Welcome to a game, in which every single action can decide about life and death of your friends: Until Dawn. In this interactive horror movie, players must choose between morally acceptable and strategic decisions repeatedly. Binary decision-making paths and various quick-time events lead to different endings. Accordingly, this video game is ideal for an analysis from a media science perspective in the field of Game Studies.

About the Game

Until Dawn is an interactive survival horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2015 exclusively for the PlayStation 4. The age rating in Germany as well as in whole Europe is 18 years (according to USK and PEGI). There is only one goal in this single player game: survival. Players step into the roles of eight teenagers and must save themselves and their friends from death. Not only the decisions made are relevant. The relationships that the players build with the other seven teenagers during the ten chapters also determine the fate of every single character in a later moment.

One year after the release of Until Dawn, Sony Interactive Entertainment released a direct spin-off: Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. This first-person shooter is also marked with an age restriction of 18 years but can only be played with a PlayStation VR Headset on PlayStation 4. Players go through seven roller coaster rides (chapters), in which they must fight against various enemies and monsters, including the psycho who is also the antagonist in Until Dawn.

Story

The Story in Until Dawn is about ten friends named Josh, Hannah, Beth, Sam, Chris, Ashley, Emily, Matt, Mike and Jessica. For their annual winter trip, all ten teenagers meet at the Blackwood Pines mountain hut on Mount Washington which belongs to the parents of the three siblings Josh, Hannah and Beth. It is placed near an abandoned sanatorium and an old mine. After Ashley, Emily, Matt, Mike, and Jessica discover that Hannah secretly has romantic feelings for Mike, they decide to play a prank on her. As a result, Hannah runs out of the mountain hut into the forest and is overtaken by her sister Beth. When they both hear a terrifying noise, they flee from an unknown pursuer and slide down a cliff. The stranger holds out his hand to Beth, who is holding onto a branch with Hannah. However, the branch breaks off and both fall into the depths. Since they cannot be found by the rescue workers, they are declared dead.

A year after this accident, Josh invites the remaining seven friends back to the Blackwood Pines. But after the group decides to split up, strange things happen. While Mike and Jessica search for the guest hut, something unknown is following them. Shortly afterwards, Jessica is attacked and kidnapped by an unknown being. Through various clues, players can find out what these events are about. At first, everything looks like the main threat is the Psycho, a typical serial killer. But it turns out that Josh, who previously simulated his own death, is the psycho and wants to play a prank on his friends because of the accident that happened to his two sisters. However, this prank clearly goes too far for the other friends and various arguments arise. Shortly afterwards it becomes clear that the creature which had previously kidnapped Jessica was not him, but a so-called Wendigo. Exploring the sanatorium and discovering various clues educates the players about the nature of the Blackwood Pines. There is a bitter fight over life and death, as the rescue workers cannot appear until the next morning due to a storm.

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Characters

Player Characters

• Josh: Hannah’s and Beth’s Brother, described as complex, thoughtful and loving
• Sam: Hannah’s best friend, described as diligent, considerate and adventurous
• Chris: has a crush on Ashley, described as methodical, protective and humorous
• Ashley: has a crush on Chris, described an academic, inquisitive and forthright
• Emily: Mike’s Ex, described as intelligent, resourceful and persuasive
• Matt: Emily’s new Boyfriend, described as motivated, ambitious and active
• Mike: Emily’s Ex, described as intelligent, driven and persuasive
• Jessica; Mike’s new Girlfriend, described as confident, trusting and irreverent

Non-Player Characters

The Psycho:

The Psycho, also known as the Killer or Madman, is the main antagonist in the first half of the game. In the course of the game, it turns out that he is actually Josh, who is playing a prank on his friends. As the brother of both Hannah and Beth, who died in an accident, he wants to take revenge on his friends. But the name Psycho also reveals something about Josh's mental health. Josh has been mentally unstable since the incident a year ago. At the beginning of the game, the psycho is introduced as a stalker who watches the teenagers behind the trees. The traps he sets for his friends in the further course of the game are reminiscent of the horror film series Saw. Until his identity is revealed, he chases the others, stuns them and ties them up, only to give them the task of killing themselves or their friends.

Dr. Hill:

Dr. Alan J. Hill is a psychiatrist who only appears in the sessions between the chapters. In the first few sessions, the player takes on the first-person perspective of the patient, who is still unknown. In the course of the game, it turns out that the patient is the psycho (Josh). Thus, the player consequently takes on the role of Josh / the psycho. By answering questions and completing tasks, a psychological profile is created in the background, which can be identified in the chapters through individual moments. While Dr. Hill leaves a professional and serious impression at the beginning of the game, his own state of mind becomes more and more unstable influenced by the actions of the psycho. In keeping with this, the treatment room is transformed into an even darker, more frightening and neglected place. With the character of the psychoanalyst, the strong self-reflexivity in the game becomes clear.

The Stranger:

Jack Fiddler, better known as the Stranger or the Flamethrower Guy, lives in isolation on Blackwood Mountain and has made it his business to hunt down the Wendigos. He is also the one who held out his hand to Hannah and Beth just before they both fell down the cliff. In chapter eight he meets the group of teenagers and enlightens them about the history of the Wendigos. When he accompanies Chris to the hut in which Chris and Mike had previously tied up Josh, both are attacked and the stranger dies.

The Wendigos:

"There is a curse. That dwells in these mountains. Should any man or woman resort to cannibalism in these woods the spirit of the Wendigo shall be unleashed." - The Stranger

They are the antagonists of the second half of the game and were originally normal people. According to the official history of the Wendigos, an indigenous native tribe called the Cree lived on Blackwood Mountain. The Cree worshiped the mountain and the animals and were convinced that harming the creatures of the mountain would bring bad luck. When miners came to Blackwood Mountain in 1893 to mine raw materials, the mountain screamed and released the wendigo spirit. If a person then succumbs to cannibalism, they are taken over by the Wendigo-spirit and turn into one of these creatures. Towards the end of the game, players in the role of Sam can find Hannah's diary. As a result, the characters find out that Hannah survived the accident which happened a year ago and, after several weeks of starving, she ate her deceased sister Beth, who she had previously buried. Hannah turned into a Wendigo. In the tenth chapter she meets her brother Josh as a Wendigo. Josh recognizes Hannah because of her tattoos but is still dragged into the old mine by her. After the end of the tenth chapter and the subsequent interrogation of the teenagers who survived, players see rescue workers searching the mines for survivors. In this scene, Josh, who was previously in a mentally unstable state, is about to eat the body of the deceased stranger and attacks the rescue workers in a half-transformed state.

Research-Relevant Topics of the Game

Core Game Mechanics

Until Dawn is divided into a total of ten chapters, each of them representing an hour of the time until the young people are rescued. These chapters also take up just under an hour of playing time, which means the game can be played through in around nine hours. Between the individual chapters the players go to a session with the psychoanalyst Dr. Hill. During these sessions various questions must be answered and smaller tasks have to be completed. Before the next chapter starts, there is a sequence titled "What happened before" in which not only the past events are recapitulated, but also relevant insights into the prehistory of the Blackwood Mountains are given. In the third-person perspective the game is played alternately by the eight young people. In addition to the main goal of saving all eight teenagers from death, players explore the area and collect important clues, totems and objects, but also weapons. The appearing tutorial not only explains these hints, but also constantly refers to the butterfly effect, which plays a key role in the outcome. Furthermore, various kinds of quick-time events must be mastered to ensure the survival of the characters. Depending on the decision made and the successful completion of the quick-time events, trophies can be won.

Quick-time Events

The first version of the in-game quick-time events is the common form of pressing the triangle-, circle- and square-button in time. The second type of quick-time event occurs when decisions must be made under time pressure. The players must press either to the left or to the right and hold the button until the decision is "logged in". The third form of quick-time events is always used when the players in the role of a character hold a weapon in their hands and must shoot or strike under time pressure. Here, the goal is captured with „R“ and the action is carried out with „R2“. In the fourth quick-time event, the players must hold the controller still as long as a blue light bar is displayed.

Collectibles

Clues

In Until Dawn there are a total of 79 clues, which are divided into three categories: The clues about the twins Hannah and Beth, the events of 1952 and the stranger. The clues about the sisters help the players to uncover the fate of these two girls. The references to 1952 provide information about what happened on Blackwood Mountain during this time and what the wendigos are all about. The clues about the stranger give the players the opportunity to find out which person hunted and tortured the characters in the first half of the game.

Totems

During the game, players can find 30 totems from five different categories named death (black), leadership (yellow), loss (brown), danger (red) and luck (white). These are based on the belief of the indigenous population in prophecies by butterflies, which have a different meaning depending on the colour. The totems not only show possible dangers and fates, but also provide information about the past.

Specific objects

Certain items that are part of the clues not only provide information that are very important for the game but can also be crucial for the survival of the characters. For example the diary of the missing Hannah. When players in the role of Sam find the diary in the old mine, they find out that Hannah survived the accident a year ago and ate her dead sister Beth instead of starving to death. Since she has consequently turned into a wendigo and faces her brother Josh in chapter 10, it is crucial that Josh gets to know about her fate. This is the only way he can recognize Hannah because of her tattoos. If players cannot find the diary, Josh cannot recognize his sister and will be killed by her.

Weapons

Depending on the role in which players are in, they are able to find different weapons that can save their life in a conflict situation. When Chris and the stranger are attacked by Wendigos on the way to Josh and the stranger dies as a result, Chris can save himself by using the firearm that the stranger gave him to defend himself. Chris must successfully master all quick-time events with this weapon in order to survive the attack. The machete that players in the role of Mike find in the sanatorium is also very important. Mike can use it to free his hand from the bear trap and defend himself against the wendigos. The approximately 20 weapons in total also include scissors, an ax and various firearms.

Trophies

In Until Dawn there are a total of 19 trophies that players can acquire. These are divided into the categories gold, silver and bronze. If all these trophies have been obtained, players receive the secret platinum trophy A Symphony of Horror. The names of these various trophies are also interesting because they refer to well-known horror film titles. For example, the trophy named The Fateful Descent refers to the British horror film The Descent or Scream Too! to the popular second part of the Scream series.

In order to get a trophy, players have to fullfil various tasks, such as collecting all totems or clues in a category or arriving at a certain starting situation through the decisions made (for example You Let The Wrong One In!: Ashley or Chris opened the trap door and let a wendigo in). Since certain trophies are mutually exclusive (This Is The End and They All Live), all trophies can never be unlocked within one playthrough. After the prologue and the ten chapters are unlocked individually after the first playthrough, players can select the respective chapters and play until they have acquired a missing trophy. It should be noted, however, that the individual chapters are only available as they were played through the first time. It is therefore advisable to let all figures survive in the first playthrough. In retrospect, all trophies won and at the same time the percentage of players who were also able to get hold of the trophy can be viewed in the menu. For example, while the platinum trophy is labelled ultra rare, bronze trophies such as You Let The Wrong One In! are achieved more often.

Butterfly Effect in Until Dawn

Butterfly Effect and Decisions

The term Butterfly Effect is due to the meteorologist Edward N. Lorenz and his lecture Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas? The resulting chaos theory deals with the order in dynamic systems. Accordingly, deviations from the initial state of a system that appear very small can lead to unpredictable, non-linear processes over time. In relation to the game Until Dawn, this means that every small decision and action can have big consequences at a later point in time.

Butterfly decisions

Among the countless binary decisions there are 22 decision situations of particular importance for the course of the game. These butterfly decisions, like the butterfly effect, are highlighted repeatedly in the game to make the players aware that the decision made will have consequences in the further course of the game. Decisions of particular importance, in this case the butterfly decisions, are highlighted both visually and narratively to consistently draw attention to the relevance.

On the visual level, Until Dawn shows the butterfly decisions with a swarm of butterflies, which flies across the screen after the decision is made. In the game, the butterfly becomes a symbol through which the player immediately recognizes particularly relevant decisions. A narrative framing to highlight particularly important decisions is made at the beginning of the game with the tutorial. It explains the butterfly effect to the players and gives tips in the first chapters on how to make the right decision. As soon as the effects of this decision are redeemed in the game, a paratextual overlay with the words Butterfly update appears.

All 22 butterfly decisions

Tracy Fullerton's Decision Scale

The decision-making situations in Until Dawn involve different types of consequences. Some have direct or indirect effects; others do not have any decisive consequences for players. According to current game research, this exactly is a decisive factor in what makes a successful adventure game. Game designer Tracy Fullerton agrees to this assumption. In the following the different decision situations in Until Dawn are presented in relation to Fullerton's Decision Scale. She assigns various decision-making situations and their effects in a five-level pyramidal scheme.

Tracy Fullerton's Decision Scale

Fullerton also undertakes a more precise subdivision of these five levels into the following sub-items:

• Hollow decision
• Obvious decision
• Uninformed decision
• Informed decision
• Dramatic decision
• Weighted decision
• Immediate decision
• Long-term decision

Chris and Ahsley being trapped by the Psycho (Josh)

Main Decisions

Within butterfly decisions, players must decide, inter alia, whether to save their own character or their friend from death. This dramatic decision comes to a head when players are given the choice of killing themselves or another character with a weapon. Such decision-making situations cannot be resolved in an ethically correct manner. The moral pressure is often increased by a time pressure in the form of quick time events. But even if in one of these decision-making situations it turns out that everyone survives regardless of the decision made in the sequence, it still influences the further course of the game and can therefore be described as Necessary - Indirect or Delayed Impact. Since these often also determine the life and death of a character, they are also to be classified in the category Critical - Life and Death.

Dialog decision in the role of Matt

Dialog Decisions

Shortly after their arrival at the lodge, an argument breaks out between Jessica and Emily who is Mike's ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend of Matt. In the role of Matt, players must decide whether to defend his girlfriend Emily or to take sides with Jessica as an arbitrator. According to Fullerton's Decision Scale, this decision-making situation can be referred to as minor - small impact, direct or indirect because the effects do not have any decisive consequences for the lives of the characters and the outcome of the game. The only thing that changes is Matt and Emily's relationship when he tries to calm Emily down during an argument.

Players have to reveal their fears

Decisions made at the Psychoanalyst's Sessions

In the individual sessions with psychoanalyst Dr. Hill, players must answer various questions, which also have only a minor impact on the game. The decisions made only affect the titles of the episodes and future sessions. In the first session, Dr. Hill shows various images to the players. Depending on how you feel when looking at the pictures, the first episode is called either Friendship or Memento Mori. In the second session, Dr. Hill tries to understand the roots of their fear. This is done through a test in which players have to reveal their fears. These fears appear both in the following sessions and episodes. If the choice falls, for example, on the fear of scarecrows, then these appear in the fourth session as a mannequin in Dr. Hills office. If players indicate in another decision-making scene that they are afraid of spiders, this chosen animal will appear in a glass on Dr. Hills desk. Consequently, all decisions made in these sessions have only minimal, indirect and delayed effects.

Mikes finger gets caught in a bear trap

Further secondary Decisions without Consequences

In episode five the players are in the role of Mike. While exploring the Sanatorium, Mike's hand gets caught in a bear trap. Players must decide whether to cut off the trapped finger with the machete or whether to use it to open the bear trap to free the hand. If the players cut their finger in the role of Mike, the machete can be used against a Wendigo attack later in the game and Sam can be freed from her bonds. If the machete is used to open the bear trap, Mike can free his hand, but the machete breaks. The decision of the players, however, has no decisive influence on the game and therefore has no consequences. If the machete breaks, Mike can unleash Sam with the help of a lighter. Instead of defending himself against the Wendigo attack, Sam comes to the rescue. The encounter with Sam in the escape scene is only postponed by a few seconds. The decision is therefore insignificant for the outcome of the game. According to Fullerton, this can be described as Inconsequential - No Impact on Outcome in combination of a Hollow decision and Weighted decision, because during the decision-making situation the players does not yet know that it will not have any consequences for them.

Multiple Endings

Basically the game has two opposing endings: all survive or all die. Even if all characters except Sam and Mike died in the lodge up to the end scene, the last scene is only minimally different from when everyone survived up to that point. After Sam and Mike also die and all eight characters are dead, the end scenario All Die differs from the end All Survive as the credits do not show interviews with the survivors, but the scenes in which the teenagers have died. But apart from these two endings, there are hundreds of ways to end the game despite the short playing time of nine hours. The eight playable characters can die in a total of 26 different ways and also survive and die in different combinations. Due to the variety of choices in the game, players can also get to the end/survival of the individual characters through countless combinations.

Related Research Approaches

Self-Reflexivity

The Self-Reflexivity in the game Until Dawn is particularly evident in the self-theming of the game mechanics, i.e., the butterfly effect, and in the content level itself.

In the first chapter, the character Chris talks about the butterfly effect. He sits with Sam in the cable car and tells her on the way to the lodge on Blackwood Mountain how a mere change of seat at school led to him being friends with Josh after all these years. It is just because of this small change many Years ago he is now sitting with Sam in the cable car. While the game already explained the butterfly effect in the opening credits, an explanation can also be found within the story of this scene. Thus, Until Dawn addresses its own game mechanics several times.

"I am trying to help you. And this 'game' you're playing ... you understand that it's not good for you .. It's not good for anyone. And I can't say that you're being particularly honest/charitable/loyal in the way you're 'playing'!" - Dr. Hill

As the game progresses, it becomes clear how the psychiatrist Dr. Hill repeatedly draws attention to the game itself. Unlike in the episodes, players are in the first-person perspective of the psycho. However, since players only find out in a later session that they are playing the role of the psycho, it feels like the psychiatrist was addressing them directly. While Dr. Hill is actually addressing to the psycho (Josh) and the revenge game he is playing on his friends; thus, referring to a game within the main game – a second sensory level is created at the same time. On this second sensory level, Dr. Hill directly speaks to the players and confronts them with their own playing style. The feeling of being a patient is also reinforced by the fact that the players must reveal their fears (of dangerous animals, etc.) and feelings about the characters.

"Oh Joshua ... you should have listened to me. Because of your choices people have died. I don't know which is worse, actively triggering events that lead to someone's death, or passive allowing a tragedy to occur. Because you couldn't lift a god damned finger to help someone else." - Josh hallucinating Dr. Hill

In this quote from the psychiatrist, the parallelism between Josh’s game of revenge and the actual game becomes clear. Only the players and the decisions they make determine whether the teenagers will die that night or survive. With the character Dr. Hill, self-reflective moments constantly appear in the game. By making the players aware of their personal responsibility and style of play, he keeps addressing the game itself.

Player Agency and Free Will

Since players in Until Dawn can choose from certain options, the plot is neither completely arbitrary nor determined. The interactivity between players and the game conveys to the players that they, as consciously acting and rationally thinking actors, have an influence on the story. With the game's constant reference to the butterfly effect, this impression of the relevance of every bit of decision is reinforced. In this context, Janet Murray describes the strategy of exposure. Accordingly, explicit decision-making situations are highlighted in order to give players the feeling of agency. According to Murray's agency concept, players are to be viewed as actively acting, moral subjects. But how does this assumption agree with the agency in Until Dawn?

Since the 22 highlighted butterfly decisions determine the fate of the playable characters and can be crucial about life and death, a certain impression of control is created. Nevertheless, many aspects in Until Dawn indicate a limitation of agency. First of all, attention should be drawn to the very limited game world. It is not only characterized by the fixed ten hours until the morning of rescue, but also by the restricted place of action. Aside the meetings with Dr. Hill and the path of Sam and Chris up the mountain, players are on Blackwood Mountain for the entire game. The scope of the game only captures scenes in buildings (not all buildings in the game can be accessed by players), mines and forest (Blackwood Pines). In the forest, players can only follow a certain path. If they are in an escape situation, they can occasionally opt for a risky shortcut. Inside a building, such as the sanatorium, the initially suggested freedom of exploration is again thwarted by closed doors. The game thus actively limits the players when it does not want them to take their respective path. When exploring the sanatorium, the lodge, the mine and the forest, players must pay attention to certain objects and notes that could be decisive for the outcome of the game. Here it becomes clear that the game has a strong influence on the exploration possibilities of the players by setting visual light points. In addition, the preview of found totems leads to a more conscious decision by the players, as they are warned in advance. This also applies to the butterfly effect menu. By looking at the butterfly effects after the first playthrough, players can see which of their decisions have a greater impact. After the first playthrough, players hardly ever make their own, uninfluenced decisions again.

For a further analysis of the freedom and restriction of action in Until Dawn, the aspect of Immersion and Involvement must be considered more closely.

Sam being attacked by a Wendigo

In contrast to comparable video games, further information on the characters and on one's own achievements during the game is created in an extra menu and thus does not disturb the player's immersion in virtual reality. Introductory video sequences and the avoidance of complicated button combinations also make it easier to immerse oneself in the game world. To further increase the immersion, exciting game sequences are combined with corresponding music or scary noises such as the wendigo screams. However, by highlighting threatening situations, the fear again leads to a limitation of the ability to act, since players are tense and the execution of certain actions is inhibited. Quick-time events, which often must be mastered during an escape, increase this tension and hectic pace. By a short vibration of the controller before a dangerous situation begins, sensory impressions of the real world are linked with the game world. This connection with virtual reality results in an intensification of fear and tension. A special form of quick time events, which also mixes the outside world with the game world, are the so-called don't move moments. In these quick-time events players must keep the controller completely still and are not allowed to move so that their character does not move either. A connection is created between the player and the playable character. The complete restriction of the ability to act therefore takes place not only inside the game world, but also in the real world.

With the strategy of emphasizing the butterfly effect, Until Dawn repeatedly underlines the freedom of action and interaction of the players. However, after explicitly analysing the game, it can be concluded that this freedom cannot be realized. Various aspects in terms of content and game mechanics show that there are always strong restrictions on the options for action. Even the butterfly decisions do not change the essential story in the game.

Decisions and Morality

In Until Dawn, there are several appeals to the morale of players on different levels. In the trailer attached at the beginning it already becomes clear that the speaker is addressing the players directly and reminding them of their maximum responsibility towards the fates of the eight teenagers:

"Imagine a night where every decision and every single action affects your faith and the faith of those around you. Could you live with the consequences? Only your choices determine who will survive.“

Dr. Hill, the psychiatrist from the sessions between the episodes, consistently appeals to the morale of the players. This goes so far that he also makes them feel guilty about decisions that have already been made. Individual fears, which players reveal during the sessions with Dr. Hill, will reappear as the game progresses. The increase in immersion by switching to the first-person perspective also reinforces the feeling that Dr. Hill does not speak to any character in the game, but to the players themselves as moral beings. Even when it turns out that the patient is none other than Josh, the perspective and context make the impression arise that players play with the lives of teenagers just like Josh does. With this, a second level of meaning is created.

"You have gone too far now. Don't you see ?! […] Now what gives you the right to play God, in these people's lives ?! What makes you so special then ?! Huh ?! You're sick! You're a sick fuck! Now what the hell have you done to them ?! Huh ?! What the hell have you done to them, you psychopath ?! Psychopath! " - Dr. Hill

As self-reflective beings, players must repeatedly face binary decision-making situations, which often turn out to be difficult-to-solve dilemmas. With their decisions they determine the life and death of the eight teenagers. If they choose a provocative answer in conversational situations, this can change the relationships between the characters significantly. Even “doing nothing” can lead to the death of the characters.

Since most characters are complicit in Hannah and Beth's deaths, players can also decide whether they want to take revenge on them like Josh and let the characters suffer. Thus, players can also play against the eight teenagers and let them die cruelly on purpose. This is even necessary to get certain trophies. Therefore, it can be said that the game forces players to make immoral decisions if they want to get all the trophies. According to Miguel Sicart and his concept of Ludic Phronesis, players go through a learning process as moral beings while playing; they critically reflect on their own actions and decisions with the help of their own moral values ​​that have been appropriated from the outside world. If the game confronts the players with a moral dilemma, their ethical behaviour is put to the test. This leads to thinking about themselves as moral beings outside of the game world.