Back in 2015, Until Dawn managed to capture the hearts and minds of gamers, even if it faced heavyweight competition from the likes of The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V and Life is Strange.
Nonetheless, this game by British studio Supermassive Games was a standout thanks to its bone chilling atmosphere, superb characters and choice and consequence gameplay. Set in the sinister Blackwood Mountain, you took control of eight different characters, all of which could finish the night alive or dead depending on player choice.
The game sold millions of copies and was a sleeper hit for Sony, its many fans hoping that someday a sequel would hit the shelves.
So given how great Until Dawn was, it must have been great news to many that a sequel was announced at this year’s Summer Game Fest. More recently, at Sony’s State of Play show, it was revealed that the game would be arriving early next year (January 28, 2027 to be exact).
The game stars a ghost-hunting group known as Dead True, who despite having a popular YouTube channel on the paranormal, are a bit down on their luck lately, and are looking for a great story to turn things around… As seen in the trailer below, this takes them to Blackwood sanatorium, where they look into the events happening on Blackwood Mountain a decade ago.
The game’s main setting, though, is the sunny tropical Akishima Island, which was showcased in this summer’s announcement trailer. As expected, this tropical paradise soon turns into a sun-drenched hell, with the game featuring plenty of grisly deaths like the original Until Dawn.
Like the original, this will seemingly offer a mix of a slasher and monster movie story, with Until Dawn’s fearsome “wendigo” creatures making a return as seen in the latest trailer. The thing is, will this be as great as Until Dawn’s riveting story? It seems this will be the case, as the people behind last year’s Dispatch game (AdHoc Studio) will be collaborating with developer Firesprite in order to give the game’s narrative a boost.
There’s also the question of whether Until Dawn 2’s cast will be as great as that of the first game. The original featured the likes of Rami Malek, who played main character Josh, and Hayden Panettiere (who sadly passed away this summer, and was Samantha in the game).
Nichole Sakura as Emily, Noah Fleiss (as Chris) and, of course, Peter Stormare as the edgy Dr. Hill were good in their roles too. And judging by the trailers we’ve seen so far, Until Dawn 2 also appears to feature some pretty cool characters. Dead True host Owen Baines (played by Dacre Montgomery) and Mina Aurellio (“the best medium in the business”) could be the standouts here…
The game’s production values also appear to be top-notch judging by the trailers, this could be another visually stunning, great sounding game like Until Dawn was back in the day. Some have mentioned the game’s relatively low price (it will retail for $49.99 US dollars) as evidence that this could be a rushed, poorly made effort, but that’s no the impression I’m getting from Until Dawn 2’s trailers.
Dead True are after their next big paranormal story…
But the truth is that gamers have been waiting for a true Until Dawn sequel for a very long time. The people behind the original, Supermassive Games, are no longer a PlayStation Studio after they went multiplatform with their Dark Pictures games. The Quarry (which they released in 2022) was meant to be a true sequel to Until Dawn, but it was never called that, and ended up being a good spiritual successor instead.
As someone who has completed Until Dawn several times on PS4 and PS5, and even played 2024’s much-maligned remaster, I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel’s release in 2027. So hopefully this will live up to the original and end up being a great game when it arrives next January, then.