STACK NZ Aug #65

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AUGUST 2015 JB Hi-Fi
28
visit FEATURE GAMES
Supermassive Games are trying their hardest to scare the living daylights out you. Cabin Fever
W hy on earth would you want to go
and stay in a cabin in the woods for
the night? Do these people not
watch films? Clearly not.
Until Dawn is a horror survival game
from Supermassive that has been gestating
for a number of years. Development was
originally undertaken for the PlayStation 3,
but it soon became clear it would be a good
fit for a PS4 exclusive – thus the project was
moved to Sony’s latest platform.
We were fortunate to get some hands-
on with the game in early July and can
confidently report that it will certainly scare
the life out of you.
The elements of your stereotypical slasher
movie are all in place, but this time you’re
playing one instead of watching it, and that
is a totally different proposition altogether.
On the anniversary of the disappearance
of twin sisters, a group of eight friends head
to the cabin (why?) for a morbid reunion.
The characters – all controlled at some point
by the player – are typical horror film teen
stereotypes. The big twist in Until Dawn is,
ultimately, players are directly responsible
for keeping these characters alive, or
alternatively leading them to the slaughter.
In what is known as the ‘Butterfly Effect’,
each choice that is made in Until Dawn
has a direct consequence that will shape
the outcome of the game. Once someone
dies, they stay that way, so repercussions
are ruthless. This becomes clear early in
the demo, where players are tasked with
making a significant decision whilst dangling
precariously off the edge a cliff face.
While it soon becomes apparent that
the eight are being stalked by a killer, clues
Bring in the experts
“We have Larry Fessenden
and Graham Reznick as our script
writers,” explains Harris “They
are horror encyclopaedias in
human form and have worked
on all sorts of acclaimed horror
movies, like The Innkeepers and
Stakeland. ”
The element of surprise
“What we’ve tried to do is
ensure that if you’re a fan of
horror movies it will feel familiar –
and that’s absolutely deliberate,”
says Harris.
“What we want to do is put
you in a playable horror movie.
We want to make you feel like
you know what’s going on and
that you’re in your comfort zone.
Then we can yank you out of it
extremely hard as the twists and
turns play out.”
Always have willing test
subjects
“One of the things we realised
very early on is that once we’ve
been scared by something, that
scare quickly diminishes every
time you play,” Harris explains.
“And of course we play the
game an awful lot, so you start
questioning whether something
is scary, forgetting the fact that
it scared the life out of you six
months ago. So we do a lot of
user testing. We get players in
that are completely fresh to the
game, so we can check that
we’re still making an impact.”
Harness the science of fear
“We do a lot of work with
galvanic skin response,” Harris
continues.
“We have testers strapped
into apparatus that monitors
their temperature and the level
of moisture in their skin. We’ll sit
and watch the data as the person
plays the game, and if we get a
Producer
Jez Harris
talks through
his five-step
formula for
guaranteed
scares.
Once someone
dies they stay
that way, so
repercussions
are ruthless