Why Until Dawn is the Multiplayer Game of the Year

Paste: "Until Dawn, a game about a group of unlucky teenagers staying in a cabin on a remote mountain, is actually a single-player game. It’s like a multiplayer game, though, because it successfully emulates what it feels like to watch a horror movie, which is a shared experience. It brings people together and sparks conversation. What’s more beautiful than that?"

[Neonridr]

Whether or not you interpret it as a Multiplayer game it is in fact, by definition, a Single Player game. Only one person is actually holding the controller playing through the story.

[UserNameIsNotTaken]

Yeah, it's a SP game.

[saywat247]

seems like the author is trying to get hits by making a stupid ass title. this author played himself.

[SpinalRemains138]

I read the title and thought I missed an entire portion of the game, prior to reading the article.

Definitely not a multiplayer game.

[Wallstreet37]

Replayed this game three times and loved it.

[Hoffmann]

Well, the first time I played it, I was together with my gf, her sister and her bf and let them yell the decisions. It was a great experience and we four played it through together more or less. But I was always the one holding the controller so I would say its still a strict one player experience.

[gangsta_red]

It is a single player game but just like the author stated I also played this with a group and had a blast.

[jb227]

Nice to see that someone actually read the article before a kneejerk comment saying "but it's not multiplayer!"

I like the way she presented her article, we need more write ups like these in games journalism, I like to see how authors personally connect w/ a title...that always tells me much more than the same old bullet points that we hear about every title regurgitated in the same fashion article after article, review after review.

To me games should defy boundaries of labels, and like the article pointed out & like you said, it's a great game to play in a group setting, which makes it as successful if not moreso than many other actual mp games. Not sure too many friends would care to get together & watch 10 hours of someone playing CoD...there is also plenty of opportunity for the old controller swap type of play. Seems like experiences like these are the closest thing we tend to get in terms of couch co op these days, and I'll take what I can get in that arena. Until Dawn was a gem for me.

[zsquaresoff]

Usually it's pretty irritating to platinum some games but getting a platinum trophy for this game was actually fun.

[Hoffmann]

The whole Platinum system is quite flawed for many games already because they require something like 50 or 200 online matches or wins...and often enough you don't even find opponents after a year. Trophies that require you to have friends that have the same game also suck.

[zsquaresoff]

Agree. I missed on a platinum trophy for far cry 4 because I had to dual play with an online friend on a jeep.

[cfc83]

It's not a multiplayer. It's a single player contolling multiple chracters.

[GrimDragon]

Strange hybrid game that I suppose technically can be considered multiplayer but passing the controller to a guest in my house so they can save a character is not technically what multiplayer is by definition today. but this was multiplayer 30 yrs ago so I'd have to say the author is trying too hard to make this game what it is for him and not what it is in general.

On a side note this game for me was good until the whole wendigo nonsense took over than it went from slasher movie to monster movie in a flash and I lost interest just as fast.

[jb227]

Did you read the article? I only say that because the author was obviously a female, and she wasn't trying to make the point for classifying the game as "multiplayer", she was only talking about the cooperation she had w/ her boyfriend in playing the game together, and that it helped bring them closer & learn new things about each other. That's even more commendable than the majority of brainless online mp these days. Game design should strive for experiences like those over trying to fit in the same rigid borders of hitting target demographics. It just makes for more unique & memorable experiences. Better to be shoot for being everything to someone than to just be something for everyone imo.

Beyond that, I dig when authors relate their own experiences gaming in ways like these, it's a lot more personal & makes for a better read than the same old articles we typically see.

[GrimDragon]

I agree with your comment. Iam just solely responding to the misleading title of the article. The author should have called it why until dawn is my game of the year.

[jb227]

That definitely makes sense. I really dig the article, but the headline is definitely worthy of the click bait title. I guess for me I've just never really dug the traditional mp fps game, so games like these, even though they aren't necessarily "multiplayer" just hit me more as social experiences than the traditional idea of just mowing down random strangers in an mp lobby. I look forward to more unconventional games this gen, and Until Dawn wasn't a perfect title, but to me it was the closest this interactive drama genre has come for my tastes. Heavy Rain is a close second, but the plot holes kinda diminished it a bit...seems like that was one of the lessons Supermassive learned, and maybe one of the reasons why they didn't follow through w/ the slasher idea for the entire campaign. It would've resulted in a very similar scenario & I think it would've been criticized for it, but this way they got to use the slasher model for a good chunk of the game then pivot into something out of left field to elevate it while avoiding those criticisms & still being able to bounce around control of the characters.

[moegooner88]

Agreed, loved watching my cousin play it, and seeing his choices, following my playthru. Brilliant game.

[Realms]

Stop it it's a single player experience by the way more people should try it it's really good.

[digitalpariah]

By definition this is a single player game but every one I knew that played this played it with someone else by their side (friends, wives, etc.) In fact, I played this one myself entirely through Share Play with my friend's "controller"

[DigitalRaptor]

I like the spin on this one. I personally played it through myself, but it's definitely one of those games where you can pass a controller around and have someone else pick up when you die.

[nix]

That's how we used to play almost all the SP games. Pass the controller around... Things like that.