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Don’t Pre-order Until Dawn Just Yet

Don’t Pre-order Until Dawn Just Yet

Last week, I reminded you all that it’s okay to place pre-orders sometimes . There are certain developers and publishers you can always trust, which means giving into hype is more than okay. Which means it may seem a little hypocritcal to now say that it might be best if you don’t run out to secure a copy of Until Dawn for the PS4 right now. Give me a moment, however, and I’ll explain.

A big part of my skepticism comes from experience. I played a bit of Until Dawn at Sony’s 2014 PlayStation Experience. It was an entertaining experience, one where it was clear decisions I made throughout the game would have greater implications. In terms of the demo, the resolution was pretty much set, but the full game will have players determining the fates of eight people on a horrifying cabin trip. Yet, I couldn’t help but take away a certain sense from the game. It felt a lot like Heavy Rain .

Which isn’t a bad thing. Heavy Rain was a fantastic game. But, like many adventure titles, it’s also the sort of title where if you play once, maybe even twice, you’ll have experienced everything you want out of the game. Sure, Until Dawn will have multiple endings. But these sort of adventures tend to have a certain audience they appeal to. Everyone might enjoy them, but it’s a dedicated few who will return to explore every nook and cranny.

This means that these sort of games tend to appear on the resale market fairly quickly. Many people will ascribe to the “one and you’re done” mindset. It happened with both Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls . In each case, the games were heavily hyped, full price at launch, but quickly saw the retail and used value drop once people beat it once and spoilers appeared online. There is no doubt in my mind this will happen with Until Dawn .

Don’t Pre-order Until Dawn Just Yet

Keeping Supermassive Games’ track record in mind is important too. The developer hasn’t done much. There was Start the Party , a middling PlayStation Move minigame collection that is also, honestly, the developer’s “best” endeavor to date. It also made Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs , but that was a Wonderbook game and we all know how that experiment went. The only “major” release was Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock . As someone who played it, I can assure you it isn’t the best Doctor Who game you can get. Until Dawn does seem promising, Supermassive Games is still young, and it’s always possible for this to be the developer’s first runaway hit. The fact that it doesn’t have a pedigree backing it encourages a healthy sense of skepticism, though.

I suppose I’m calling for a call to caution again. Until Dawn could very well prove to be an extraordinary PS4 game. It may end up being a system selling exclusive for some. But, there are too many unknowns at the moment. Supermassive hasn’t proved itself as a household name. These sorts of adventure games have been shown to have a short shelf life. People should wait until reviews come in and fellow gamers offer accounts of their experiences before boarding this hype train.

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