Sony and Ballistic Moon have announced that the Until the dawn remake officially releases on October 4 for PlayStation 5 and PC.
This version of Supermassive Games’ 2015 interactive horror game has been rebuilt and enhanced for current-gen consoles and PlayStation PC. It features improved visuals rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, among other improvements.
In a new PlayStation Blog PostBallistic Moon creative director Neil McEwan highlighted some of the many improvements coming Until the dawn when it launches later this year.
McEwan revealed that the team has updated all character models, environments, interactive props, visual effects and animations using Unreal Engine 5, improving all textures, rendering and animation performance. This will all contribute to “higher fidelity characters that we hope will resonate with both new players and existing fans of the game.”
“We’ve completely overhauled the game to take full advantage of Unreal Engine 5’s rendering capabilities, including ray tracing and improved materials, with a focus on delivering a more atmospheric, ‘modern horror’ experience,” the developer said.
Until the dawn is one of the best horror games of recent years and is known for its immersive movie-like atmosphere, impactful decision-making and quick time events. In the remake it seems like all of this has been improved.
According to McEwan, the remake will combine the cinematography of the original with a modern third-person camera to bring the characters and locations to life.
“The flexibility of the camera allows us to emphasize key moments and tell the story from a perspective closer to the characters,” he said.
There have also been some minor changes to the story. McEwan explained that while Ballistic Moon stuck to Supermassive’s original story vision, “we felt that the Prologue would benefit from some adjustments to the story pacing.”
To that end, the game’s memorable prologue has also been revised, giving the Washington sisters additional screen time and reframing several original scenes by giving the infamous prank more context.
New collectibles have also been introduced, including ‘Hunger Totems’, a special type of totem that ‘has a different vision than the others’, with new interactions and contexts scattered throughout the world.
Players can also expect new accessibility and usability settings. One of the key gameplay features of Until the dawn is a mechanic called ‘Don’t Move’ that forces the player to stand still when confronted with danger.
With the remake, Ballistic has created an optional alternative to this mechanic, called “Stay Calm,” which is designed for third-party peripherals “that don’t have a gyroscope or for players who prefer a different challenge.”
Pre-orders for Until the dawn on PS5 and PC from August 21.