Out of all the horror remakes we’ve seen through the years, from Resident Evil 2 through 7 to Dead Space and the upcoming Silent Hill 2, Until Dawn felt like the least likely, and yet, most deserving choice for the treatment. After all, it launched in 2015 for the PS4, and despite the utter lack of marketing, the sales exceeded Sony’s expectations. It also put Supermassive Games on the map, though it would go on to develop The Dark Pictures Anthology.
Until Dawn has languished on the PS4 for all these years and never received a remaster or PS5 upgrade. Cue the upcoming release of, well, Until Dawn for PS5 and PC on October 4th. It’s a remake, rebuilt from the ground up for modern hardware and retailing for $59.99, offering new features, vastly improved visuals, and much more. Here are 15 things you should know before picking it up.
Developed by Ballistic Moon
While it’s a ground-up remake of Supermassive Games’ original title, the latter isn’t involved in the remake. Instead, Ballistic Moon is leading development. Though this is their first project, the studio was founded by three developers who previously worked at Supermassive (and on the original Until Dawn). Perhaps one can consider the studio participating in spirit, for whatever that’s worth.
Reworked Prologue
While the rest of the story remains the same at its core, the Prologue has seen some new additions and changes to “enhance” the “emotional impact,” as per the developer. We’ll see the Washington family spend more time together while some other scenes have been reframed. There’s even more context around the infamous incident leading to the game’s events.
Unreal Engine 5
Unreal Engine 5 was used to bring the Until Dawn remake to life, providing a massive jump in visual fidelity, details, and rendering. On top of texture and material improvements, it allows for more realistic fluids in real-time, which means even more realistic blood spatters. With how prominent snow (and, by extension, water) is throughout the story, it’s all the more interesting to see how these things will affect the characters.
Visible Injuries and Updated Character Deaths
Another noteworthy improvement can be seen in the injuries suffered by characters, resulting in more realistic bruises, cuts and more. But the best part is that character deaths have been updated. Whether they’ve undergone significant changes or look better (or more grotesque, depending on your level of squeamishness) due to all the new systems remains to be seen.
Improved Facial and Body Animations
Overall, character models have seen some hefty upgrades and appear far more realistic and detailed. They’re also more expressive and natural in terms of animations when compared to the original, whether it’s their gestures or the more nuanced body language.
New Third-Person Camera
Certain scenes benefit from cinematography changes, which look drastically better. However, the biggest change on this front is a third-person camera, adding a whole new perspective to events while allowing for closer storytelling. The original’s fixed camera angles (which channeled the old-school survival horror titles of yore) are still present. However, you’ll have to get used to seeing them alongside the new point of view.
New Hunger Totems
In the original game, players could discover collectibles called Totems. Divided into five colors, these signified different events that may occur, like playable character deaths, choices, brighter outcomes, and even dangerous situations. However, the remake adds a sixth Totem to the equation known as Hunger. What these entail is unknown, but they’ll provide another reason to travel off the beaten path.
New Locations for Original Totems
Don’t think you can just waltz in and collect all of the other Totems easily. The locations of the existing 30 Totems have changed for the remake. It may seem tedious for experienced players, but at least there’s some excitement in not knowing their whereabouts and thoroughly exploring environments to find them.
New Areas and Interactions
While you’re unlikely to come across fresh, sprawling environments, Ballistic Moon has touted “small new areas” to discover. You can experience new interactions, and while it may seem like a small touch, they’ll provide “extra context and detail to the world” while rewarding exploration. If you’ve ever wanted an expansion on the lore behind some locations, then this is good news.
New Score and Overhauled Sound
Sound design and music are key elements of any cinematic horror experience. To further immerse players in its terrifying atmosphere, Until Dawn’s remake sports an overhaul to its sound and a new score courtesy of composer Mark Korven. The latter may be familiar to those who watched classics like The Lighthouse, The Witch, and many more, which means we’re in for a treat as far as the soundtrack goes.
PC Features
By now, PC players will be accustomed to the features included with PlayStation Studios’ ports. Until Dawn is no exception, packing support for Nvidia DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 3.1. It also supports an unlocked frame rate and the DualSense controller (though other devices and Steam Input are also viable). Ultrawide monitors with a 21:9 aspect ratio are also supported, though the PC version also supports 16:9, a cinematic 23.9:1 ratio, and even a “Free” aspect ratio for more customization.
PC Requirements
Until Dawn can be a heavy title to run on PC, depending on the quality you’re after. Windows 10/11 and 70 GB of installation space on a solid-state drive are required right out of the gate.
To achieve the bare minimum of 720p/30 FPS on Low settings, you need a Core i7 4790K or a Ryzen 5 1500X, 8 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1660, Radeon RX 470 or equivalent card with 6 GB VRAM. To play at 1080p/60 FPS on Medium settings, a Core i5 8600 or Ryzen 7 2700X, 16 GB RAM and a GeForce RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 6600XT are necessary.
From this point on, you need an NVMe SSD. Gameplay at 1440p/60 FPS or 4K/30 FPS on High settings demands a Core i5 8600 or Ryzen 7 2700X, 16 GB of RAM and a GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 6800 XT. Finally, for the coveted 4K/60 FPS at Very High settings, you must have a Core i7 11700K or Ryzen 7 5800X3D, 16 GB RAM, and a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or Radeon RX 6900XT.
Ray Tracing
If you want an even spookier experience, ray tracing is available for shadows, ambient occlusion and reflections. The problem is that Ballistic Moon hasn’t outlined the hardware necessary to use it on PC. Based on the limited footage thus far, however, you can’t deny how much better the lighting and shadows look.
New Accessibility Options and Stay Calm
Ballistic Moon confirmed new accessibility and “usability” settings for the remake, though it didn’t detail them. However, it did outline an alternative for Don’t Move – the mechanic where players must not move the controller to affect some outcomes. It’s called Stay Calm and targets those with third-party peripherals lacking a gyroscope.
Mandatory PSN Account on PC
Unfortunately, just like previous PlayStation ports, Until Dawn requires a PlayStation Network account to play on PC, even though it’s a single-player title. Given that it’s also mandatory in forthcoming titles like Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Lego Horizon Adventures, it’s unlikely that Sony will remove it anytime soon.