Highlights
- The $60 price tag for the Until Dawn remake has polarized fans—some think the price is justified, others say it’s too expensive for a remake of a 9-year-old game.
- The visual improvements in the Until Dawn remake are significant and include improved character expressions, new lighting, and a brand new score.
- Concerns have been raised about the impact remakes have on the creativity of the industry – resources are diverted to prettier remakes rather than new projects.
According to leaks, the Until Dawn remake will cost $60 at launch, and fans are split on whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. One side says they can’t justify buying a remake at full price considering it’s a remake of a game that many people have already bought or even played for free over the past nine years (it was a PlayStation Plus title at one point and was also part of the PS Plus Classics catalog). Especially since the original game still looks good and runs well.
But there are also people like me who think the price of the Until Dawn remake is completely fair. I understand why some people are hesitant to pay full price for what they perceive as a mere graphics upgrade – after all, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered was available for just $10 if you already owned the PS4 version. On the other hand, this particular remaster was also completely unnecessary and much more current than Until Dawn at the time of release.
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Until Dawn’s changes are important
Until Dawn, on the other hand, is perhaps one of the few PS4 games that I’d argue deserves a PS5 remake. In fact, my colleague Andrew King did just that here. Until Dawn relies more heavily on its graphics than most other games due to its film-inspired style and gameplay. The expressiveness of a character’s face, the cinematography of a shot, and the movement of a character are all crucial.
The remake has improved and refined all of these things, and to great effect – just watch the comparison trailer. Environments and characters look much more realistic, and the exterior scenes in particular are beautifully lit. The interior of the house is now actually lit, and certain scenes have now been filmed differently, revealing different things about the characters. There’s even a whole new musical score. You can also use a third-person camera for improved And new locations with “new interactions and collectibles,” says a PlayStation blog post.
Remasters and remakes are two different things, and Until Dawn is definitely a remake recreated using Unreal Engine 5. While it doesn’t change its signature, iconic mechanics much, just looking at the trailers and blog posts, it seems to look and feel different, so it should be treated as a full-fledged game and priced accordingly. This is much more than just a new coat of paint.
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Remakes are still bad for the industry
However, I am still hesitant about the reason for the remake’s existence. While it is true that the Until Dawn remake is not a remaster disguised in a big cloak, it Is still a PS4 game that is doing well and has been re-released to boost hype for the upcoming Until Dawn film adaptation. After all, what better way to boost hype for a game adaptation than to re-release that game with an unprecedented level of graphical fidelity, even more Cinematic footage and a stronger tendency towards complete photorealism?
The tendency to remake old media rather than focus on newer projects has affected not only games but movies as well, and while the Until Dawn remake does a lot to improve the gaming experience, that’s still time and money put into beautifying a game rather than developing something new. The same goes for adaptation – instead of putting those resources into new IPs, we get a movie about a game that intentionally plays out like a movie. Is this the bad ending where creativity dies?
Until Dawn (2024)
Until Dawn is a remake of the hit horror game for PS5 and PC with updated graphics, lighting and new content thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 5. It is about five people stranded in a ski lodge and hunted by a terrifying killer.
