History VideoGame / UntilDawn

* CanadaEh: The game takes place in the Canadian Rockies of western Alberta. The main characters, though, are all American, specifically from Los Angeles, California.

* {{Deconstruction}}:

** In ''The Events of the Past'' (the short video unlocked by finding all of the game's hidden totems), it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Stranger killed the Makkapitew, Blackwood Mountain's strongest Wendigo, partially in retaliation for forcing Beth and Hannah over a ledge and into the mines. He does this in violation of his general policy, which is to trap and confine Wendigos rather than killing them outright, since the death of the spirit's host body results in it being free to possess someone else. Unfortunately, he's unaware that Hannah is still alive underground, trapped alone in the dark with no food source besides Beth's cadaver. His decision to kill the Makkapitew results in her being possessed by it when she eventually becomes desperate enough to eat what's left of her twin sister, and this in turn results the release of all the monsters he'd locked away]].

In January 2024, a [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/until-dawn-video-game-movie-in-the-works-1235790911/ film adaptation]] was announced. Creator/DavidFSandberg will direct from a script by his ''Film/AnnabelleCreation'' writer, Gary Dauberman. That same month, an UpdatedRerelease for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 and PC was announced.

** Depending on player choices, a Zippo lighter is the first and last tool used in the lodge. In the beginning, Chris uses one as a light source to unlock the main doors for everyone else. At the climax [[spoiler:Mike will use one if Sam is killed and he's not already at the door to ignite a gas line rupture, destroying the building and [[TakingYouWithMe killing everyone and everything still inside, himself and Wendigo!Hannah included.]]]]

* ButterflyOfDoom: The developers refer to the game's branching paths as the butterfly system, with a butterfly motif appearing in the trailers, as well as butterflies flying on the screen when a choice or consequence of a choice is revealed. And sure enough, some changes can end in doom.
** Throughout the game, the player can encounter various Native American totems with butterfly symbols. These predict various events that will happen in the game (unless the player makes a different decision). Yellow and white butterfly totems are good, as they offer guidance and fortune. Black, red, and brown butterfly totems are bad, as they predict death, danger, and loss. Incidentally, Hannah's butterfly tattoo is black, [[spoiler:which ends up being particularly ominous considering her ultimate fate...]]

* DeathsHourglass: The logo.

** Chris will stay with the main group but be conspicuously sidelined, chipping in with conversations occasionally but no longer actively participating in driving the plot. Possibly {{Justified}} in that his last heroic action ended so badly (with his leg getting injured and [[spoiler:the Stranger getting killed right in front of him]]) that he could well be just too deeply in shock to keep up with Sam, Mike, and the other survivors.

* ForWantOfANail: The game’s main gimmick is small events affecting larger ones.
** The prank at the start of the game. If the characters involved in it didn’t set the prank up, Hannah and Beth would still be alive. Additionally, [[spoiler:Hannah wouldn’t have turned into a Wendigo after cannibalizing her dead twin out of desperation.]]
** If Chris chooses to shoot the squirrel in the shooting range, Sam will be attacked by a raven. This in turn will affect her during the lodge chase where the Psycho will find her in the elevator shaft she can hide in since she is bleeding from the wound obtained earlier.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sam.

* GenreBlindness: If ''you're'' like this, the game will show no mercy.

* {{Gorn}}: Almost every death in the game qualifies, from a case of HalfTheManHeUsedToBe with the victim's [[{{Squick}} organs]] falling out of their chest cavity, to one potential death involving caving in someone's face. It really says something that some of the least terrifying death sequences are the decapitations.

* InkSuitActor: The cast in general, but particularly Creator/HaydenPanettiere, Creator/RamiMalek, and Creator/PeterStormare.

* JawBreaker: This can happen to [[spoiler:Jessica in all of her possible deaths.]]

* JumpScare: These serve to break up the NothingIsScarier moments.

* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:The most effective way of killing the wendigos.]]

* LaughingMad: [[spoiler:Josh, after TheReveal.]]

* MalevolentMaskedMan: The Psycho, natch. [[spoiler: Josh seems to have a thing for horror movie cliches.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: During the spirit board scene in Chapter 3, a silent female figure goes by in the background behind Ashley and Chris. It's later revealed that Josh has a puppet ghost prop set up to [[JumpScare Jump Scare]] the two of them, but during that scene the figure doesn't draw any attention to itself and Josh doesn't point it out or even seem to notice, leaving the possibility open that it's a real spirit.

* MoeGreeneSpecial: [[spoiler:Can happen to Emily, courtesy of Mike.]]

* NoPeekingRequest: After Sam frees Mike and finally finds some clothes so she can change out of the ModestyTowel she's been stuck wearing for a while, she walks into the back of the room to change and gestures Mike to turn around so she can change.

* OhCrap: Every character, at least once.
* OldDarkHouse: The Washington family's lodge might not be very old, but it definitely fits the description. The house was built on [[IndianBurialGround Indian Burial Ground]], is isolated atop a wintry mountain, and it even has a [[SecretPath secret room]] [[BookcasePassage behind a bookcase]]!

** [[spoiler: ''VideoGame/TheInpatient'' confirms that the police has a pretty damn good idea of what happened in 1952 and did everything to hide it]]

-->'''Josh''': Very good, ha ha, every one of you got my name.

** In Chapter 6, Chris and Ashley turn a chair around to find [[spoiler:an unconscious Sam]]. The angle of this reveal is a direct homage to the climax of {{Film/Psycho}}.

* StockFootage: There is one for nearly every character's death.

In January 2024, a [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/until-dawn-video-game-movie-in-the-works-1235790911/ film adaptation]] was announced. Creator/DavidFSandberg will direct from a script by his ''Film/AnnabelleCreation'' writer, Gary Dauberman. The same month, an UpdatedRerelease for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 was announced.

In January 2024, a [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/until-dawn-video-game-movie-in-the-works-1235790911/ film adaptation]] was announced. Creator/DavidFSandberg will direct from a script by his ''Film/AnnabelleCreation'' writer, Gary Dauberman.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Chris has a huge crush on Ashley.

At the 2018 Gamescon, Supermassive Games announced a SpiritualSuccessor called ''VideoGame/TheDarkPicturesAnthology'', a series of standalone horror games beginning with ''VideoGame/ManOfMedan'' which released in 2019, followed by ''VideoGame/LittleHope'' in 2020, ''VideoGame/HouseOfAshes'' in 2021, and ''VideoGame/TheDevilInMe'' in 2022. Also in 2022, Supermassive released ''VideoGame/TheQuarry'', a surprise SpiritualSequel even more closely patterned on ''Until Dawn''.

The answer to that depends on the player and the choices they make throughout the story, which can drastically affect the way events play out and [[RelationshipValues how the characters react to each other]]. The player is given two forms of aid: a "Butterfly Effect" journal that catalogues [[ForWantOfANail the links between your actions and consequences]], and collectible "Totems" that offer prophecies of potential futures. There are hundreds of possible story paths and endings: [[EveryoneLives every character might make it out alive]], [[EverybodyDiesEnding everyone could die]], or [[BittersweetEnding there may only be a handful of survivors]]..

The game was originally announced for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 in 2012, intended as a showcase of Sony's new [=PlayStation=] Move system, but little was heard from it afterwards and many people suspected that it had become {{Vaporware}}. It finally resurfaced two years later with a heavily overhauled story, production values, and gameplay. The trailer can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdWelbl9B9w here,]] a gameplay demo from Gamescom 2014 can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCpES5O5pvo here,]] and a demo from E3 2015 can be viewed [[http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/06/18/until-dawn-gameplay-demo-ign-live-e3-2015 here.]]

A spin-off game / tech demo for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation [[VirtualRealityIndex VR]] called ''Until Dawn: Rush of Blood'' debuted with release of the peripheral. It acts as a somewhat literal rail shooter as you ride through a carnival-themed roller coaster while dodging traps.

''Until Dawn'' is a SurvivalHorror AdventureGame made by Creator/SupermassiveGames and published by Creator/{{Sony}}. It was released on August 25, 2015 exclusively on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4.

** The fact that the police were never involved before the events of the game makes no sense. [[spoiler:After the cave-in, where a dozen miners went cannibalistic on their colleagues and were brought to the sanatorium, most of them turned into wendigos and proceeded to massacre everyone. They killed all the staff and other patients in the sanatorium, and then traveled from the sanatorium to the hotel and killed everyone there. This hotel was for wealthy families on vacation -- by all logic, a major public investigation should have began when 100 people were suddenly killed on a remote mountain. And yet, the game does not suggest that there was ever any actual investigation into why everyone in the sanatorium and hotel suddenly died. If the government had investigated, they would have discovered the dead bodies and wendigos and locked the whole mountain down forever. And if they hadn't investigated, that means the friends and families of the 100 people who died there did not say a single word about the sudden mass disappearance.]]

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: As Ashley lampshaded, Hannah ''really'' should’ve known better than to run into the dangerous, cold wilderness. This imbecilic decision is what really kicked off the game's events, and it ''all'' could've been avoided if she just hadn’t stupidly overreacted to a prank.