Description

Until Dawn is an interactive drama in which players assume control of eight young adults who have to survive on Blackwood Mountain until they are rescued at dawn. The gameplay is mainly a combination of cutscenes and third-person exploration.Players control the characters in a linear environment and find clues and items. Items can be inspected to discover additional information. Players can also collect totems, which give players a precognition of what may happen in the game’s narrative. An in-game system keeps track of all of the story clues and secrets that players have discovered, even across multiple playthroughs. Action sequences feature mostly quick time events (QTE). One type of QTE involves hiding from a threat by holding the controller as still as possible when a “Don’t Move” prompt appears.

The game features a butterfly effect system, in which players have to make choices. These range from small decisions like picking up a book to moral choices that involve the fates of other characters.