Until Dawn Remake review: A classic horror returns with new scars

The wendigo's scream pierces through the night once again, but this time in 4K. Supermassive Games' cult classic horror adventure has been resurrected by Ballistic Moon for a new generation, rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. Like the mythical creatures that stalk its snowbound peaks, this remake emerges as something both familiar and transformed – beautiful on the surface, but hiding complications beneath. So, does this return trip to the mountain peak with new heights, or should it have stayed buried in the snow?

The party's back (and they still make bad decisions)

Nine years haven't dulled the sharp edges of Until Dawn's narrative blade. The setup remains deliciously familiar to horror fans: eight friends return to an isolated mountain lodge on the anniversary of a tragedy, where choices made in panic and darkness will determine who lives to see the morning.

The remake's expanded prologue adds welcome depth to this foundation, providing new context for the fateful night that set everything in motion. Set to a haunting remix of La Roux's "In for the Kill," these additional scenes make the characters' complicated relationships feel more authentic before everything goes terribly wrong.

The stellar cast – including Rami Malek, Hayden Panettiere, and Peter Stormare – still delivers compelling performances, now enhanced by improved facial capture technology that brings new subtlety to every worried glance and terrified scream. The script's occasional cheese remains perfectly aged, walking that fine line between genuine tension and B-movie homage that made the original so engaging.

Mountains of detail, valleys of performance

Blackwood Mountain has never looked more treacherous or beautiful. The shift to Unreal Engine 5 transforms every environment into a masterclass in atmospheric lighting. Moonlight catches individual snowflakes, shadows dance realistically across worried faces, and gore (of which there is plenty) glistens with unsettling authenticity.

Character models have received particular attention, with improved skin texturing and more detailed damage modelling making every scrape and injury feel painfully real.

However, beauty comes at a cost. Frame rate drops plague intense sequences, occasionally transforming smooth gameplay into a stuttering slideshow at crucial moments. While the original's distinctive blue colour palette has been replaced with more naturalistic tones that serve the photorealistic approach, some may miss the dreamlike quality it lent to the proceedings. It's a trade-off that exemplifies the remake's central tension: technically superior but occasionally losing pieces of the original's distinctive character in the process.

New perspective, mixed results

The most controversial change comes in the shift from fixed camera angles to an over-the-shoulder perspective. Like a teenager's decision to investigate a strange noise, this choice has consequences. The new viewpoint offers greater environmental exploration and detail appreciation, but sacrifices the original's masterfully crafted tension.

Those classic horror angles that kept you guessing about what lurked just off-screen are gone, replaced with more modern but less atmospherically effective framing.

The remake stumbles most noticeably in its character movement. The puzzling removal of the run option forces characters to move at an eternally measured pace – romantic during quiet exploration, frustrating when fleeing for their lives.

Character control feels like navigating through deep snow, with an awkward turning radius that makes even basic navigation more challenging than intended.

Fresh blood in old veins

The signature butterfly effect system returns largely unchanged, still effectively tracking how small decisions ripple into major consequences. The totem system, which provides glimpses of possible futures, has been expanded with new "hunger" totems that add compelling story context. However, the new requirement to rotate and examine totems feels like unnecessary busywork that breaks pacing rather than enhancing immersion.

A significantly expanded suite of accessibility options proves more successful, allowing players to customise various aspects of gameplay to their preferences. The ability to adjust or disable quick-time events and "Don't Move" sequences makes the horror more accessible without compromising its impact.

When night falls again

Until Dawn's 2024 remake stands as a technically impressive but occasionally uneven return to one of gaming's best interactive horror stories.

For newcomers, it offers the most visually striking version of this beloved thriller, complete with meaningful additions to the prologue and intriguing new endings that hint at future possibilities. The core experience – making split-second decisions that determine who lives and dies – remains as compelling as ever.

However, veteran players may find themselves weighing the value proposition more carefully. While the visual improvements are substantial, some design changes feel like missteps, and technical issues can disrupt crucial moments. The absence of an upgrade path for owners of the original version particularly stands out given the relatively modest scope of mechanical changes.

This is still Until Dawn at its core – a masterful blend of player choice and cinematic horror that knows exactly what it wants to be. The remake succeeds in preserving that essence while updating it for modern hardware, even if it doesn't quite reach the heights it could have. Like the best horror stories, it's not perfect, but its flaws add character to an experience that remains uniquely engaging.

Our rating: 3.5/5