I finished my first playthrough on the release day and just finished my second playthrough. The first time around I got a couple of people killed, but this time it was just one. So here's how I feel about the game--it's pretty fucking good.
Let's start off with the visuals and art direction. The game is definitely a looker. Facial animations are top notch, if a bit overdone at times, the skin looks realistic, and most of all the character's eyes feel natural, and not dead, unlike in a bunch of other games. At certain times, the game looks absolutely photorealistic and you forget you're playing a game. Sure, some shadows and backgrounds can be rough at times, but the characters always remain highly detailed, more so than any other game I have played. Now I'm a PC guy who prefers a solid 60FPS, so I was pretty disappointed by the highly variable framerate that this game has going on. I'd much rather they implemented a 30FPS cap, so it wouldn't feel so erratic. Snowy areas also tend to choke the GPU, often dropping the frames down to mid teens, but thankfully, that's not too frequent. As for the art design, it's decent, if not spectacular, sometimes bordering on great. It's more than serviceable, but the tech implemented in the game is far more significant to the visuals and greatly amplifies the visual fidelity. That Killzone engine is gorgeous.
Great sound design as well. The first time around I didn't use my headphones, and to be honest, TV speakers don't do justice to this game's sound design and score. It's definitely worth playing with a decent pair of headphones on. The atmosphere is brilliant, and you feel like you're actually playing a teen slasher. It's oppressive and eerie, and the graphics definitely help out a lot there. The gameplay is, well, not traditional, but it's very tense and enjoyable, with a mix of QTEs, exploration, and decision making. I have played Heavy Rain, Beyond, a couple of Telltale's games, and Life is Strange, but none of those games had gameplay as tense as Until Dawn. The developers have absolutely nailed the gameplay they were going for with this game. At times my hands were sweating 'cause of all intensity.
The game has cliched, yet believable, and honestly, enjoyable character arcs and interactions. You want to keep playing to find out what happens to these people next. You care for them, even though you'll only be interacting with them for about eight hours. The pacing is impeccable. So much so that I finished my first playthrough in two sittings on the release day. I just couldn't put it down. Now, as exciting and fun as the game is, I didn't think the story was anything special. It was good, but it wasn't great. Also, I didn't find it scary. I mean, a couple of things here and there were a tad creepy, but I found the jump scares to be annoying more than terrifying. I guess it's more of a thriller than a horror game.
In conclusion, I loved it, and I might go back to it next month after I'm done with MGS V and Mad Max, since there's nothing between those and Halo 5. Might even go for the platinum, even though I'm not a trophy hunting person. A solid 9/10 for me, and you if enjoy a fun eight to ten hour game, you should play this. It might not be worth $60 for you if you didn't think Heavy Rain and Beyond were "real games worth $60", but you should at least give it a shot when it hits $30 or lower. Cheers!
