Is Until Dawn the moment where videogames get movies better than movies get videogames?

My very first proper job in writing and editing was putting together the content for a magazine calledPC Mart.

Not many people read it, but I still loved it.

The very first review I commissioned to another author for that magazine was ofThe X-FilesCD-ROM game.

This wholeChoose Your Own Adventureconcept is nothing new.

Those of us who grew up withChoose Your Own AdventureandFighting Fantasybooks will know all about it.

The review came back forThe X-Filesgame a week later, and it was a flat-out rave.

Top marks, a magazine award, and a gushing 500 words of prose.

500 words of prose that contrasted with every other review of the game Id read to that point.

In the gaming press,The X-Fileshad been slammed.

This wasnt a game, ran the argument.

It was at best a decent video episode, sold at a premium price with limited interactivity.

The reviewer in question, though, was anX-Filesfanatic, and genuinely loved it.

But he loved it, I realised in conversation with him, as anX-Filesepisode.

Hed ultimately reviewed it as such.

Until Dawnis what thatX-Filesgame was trying to do, but was at the time limited by the technology.

At least to an extent.

Apparently, if I carried on doing so, lots more different eventualities would occur.

Its an interesting game to watch, if not one to always actuallyplay.

Because its patently clear that this one hinges on what you bring to it.

Furthermore, you cant help but admire how it looks and is set up.

In that sense,Until Dawnis more effective than many films, although not as many games.

Videogaming, for some time, has done tension exceptionally well.

Here,Until Dawnseems to get a pass.

I couldnt help but admire the storytelling triumph here.

Those cursed interactive movies of old ultimately had very few genuine forks in the story.

I couldnt help but get curious when that happened: had I messed up?

Had I consigned someone to a gory death?

Did I actually have fair control over what was happening?

Perhaps more than anything, I found myself excited as to whats now possible.

ThatUntil Dawnmight just launch the proverbial door for better stories to be told in as interesting a way.

A lack of investment in characters is fatal for a film, and not helpful for a game.

Im pleasedUntil Dawnhas hit, and hit well.

Its where things go from here that may just be the most exciting thing about it.

Oh, and one thing.

In the spirit of modern movies, its worth sticking through the end credits ofUntil Dawn.

Theres no Thanos, but these is that blockbuster movie staple, the post-credits sting.

Although whether it appears does, of course, depend on the choices you make in the game…