I just finished my first play through of the game, I spent a good bit of time exploring when given the chance for collectibles and finished the game in about 7 and a half hours. I am working out in my head the choices I will make in another run. I honestly thought most of choices made sense and would ensure the most number of people make it through. I was only left with 2 people at the end of my game though. Sam and Emily, oddly enough in the mid game psychiatric sessions I had picked Emily as my least favorite character so I wasn't actively trying to save her really. The part of the game that really bothered me was with Ashley and Chris. The fact that she left him to die and refused to open the door over the past circumstance in the game which they both realized was manufactured by Josh meant she was completely evil. She watches him die even after encouraging him to shoot her during Josh's test. I feel like I am ready to say that this game was worth the purchase, but some of that is going to depend on how varied the story plays out on my second game when I am picking completely different choices. I have already picked off my own logical process so now I want to see some real deviation that earned this game such high marks in multiple reviews. How are you guys enjoying this game?

On my second playthrough now, seeing a lot of variations and I'm only on act 5

I kinda just decided to not give a fuck about trying to keep anyone alive after the first person died. It's way more fun to watch as many fatalitys as possible, best waifu Sam has to live though.

@gaminghooligan: That's what I was afraid of, the actual game part of this thing isn't too great. For multiple play throughs for myself the story would have to evolve in a variety of unique ways, otherwise I would be more apt to just watch a compilation highlighting the minor differences on youtube.

@plainpenguin:I could see the appeal in that too

@wolfgame: just to clarify, I had a character that survived my entire game last time and played a huge role in the ending die before the halfway point of the game out of no where because I botched a button prompt. So I would imagine there are several ways this thing can play out, also I want to do a playthrough where I ignore all the clues since they play a huge part in the characters understanding of certain situations.

After watching the QL and reading up on it a bit, I kind of want them all dead. I wonder if there's a trophy for killing them all as quick as possible.

tl;dr I talk about what I've learn from seeing the game played out a half-dozen differnt ways via LPs..

But first! If you've not played/beaten/watched this game, perhaps more then once, by all means go and do so. Seeing the curtain pulled back like this might ruin the experience for you otherwise and its a game worth spending money on and experiencing for yourself (more then once I'd say).

Ok so, while i have yet to find the exact playthrough my previous post was searching for (The best or the worst) I did end up watching bits and pieces of about 4 differnt attempts at the game over the course of last night (pain that keeps you up with nothing else to do will do that folks). Here is what I have been able to gather from that. Obvious massive spoilers to both story and game mechanics.

First, story.

The very end of the game relies on two different characters, The guy from the love triangle, and the girl from the bath (My apology for not remembering their names). At bare minimum, these two will make it too your final end-game sequence. One preforms one action (crush the light bulb) one preforms the other (flip the switch). I've seen that done a few ways, either murdering everyone, or getting everyone still alive out or. Up until that point, I would say until the beginning of act 8 or 9, which characters you have alive matter as they have dialog, actions and such that would play out differently depending on who is alive or not.

Now game mechanics (also kinda story)

The trick is that, having seen the same scene multiple times it is clear that the role certain characters play is greatly diminished after a certain point. Example, the blond-nerd 'I've got a crush on a girl" guy can die in the run back to the house, very easily. Past that point, love or die, his role in the story is extremely reduced. There is a single choice involving him, that has little impact (i'll get to that) and in general you can notice that, for example, in group conversations and even shoots (i.e. which characters are shown on screen, his presence is very limited. The same is true with the 'old girl friend". whom at one point in the story you have the option to kill. If you do, ok she is gone, but if you don't the scene continues, but her model slowly slinks off to one side, has no dialog to add, is out right missing from some shots and in general has little impact on the story. And then, of course, towards the very final finally, where "must survive girl goes after must survive guy" every character left standing at that point (in the play through I saw) is told to turn back..and not heard from again until you either A-kill them by not holding out long enough for them to escape the house or b-in the after credits interviews.

Its a cleverly done game in a lot of ways and I think pulling back the curtain a bit like my tired brain did last night was not a detriment to it. Its absolutely worth going back and playing through at least one more time, if only because you go in knowing things you didn't before, or wish to try 'well ok what if i made this big obvious difference". Even though the above kinda dissects it in a "Well that's no fun' method, its still a good game.

Knowing the scope of the story after the first playthrough I'm going to play through at least again to see what hints and foreshadowing bits are peppered throughout. I wasn't actively trying to save people but I wound up saving 7 out of the 8 anyway.

I got out of the game on my first run with everyone intact. I think the general key to "success" in this game is act like you should act in any given situation and not act the way these characters in movies normally would. I found the experience super engaging and at times even found myself doubting the honesty of the game itself regarding the information the game was giving me to base my decisions on, something I later found to be half-true in some sense. I could see myself giving it a destructive run just for the hell of it.

I think the most exciting thing about this game is the "What happened" video that fills in as you find clues and totems. I really want to try piecing that thing together. Also for those wondering about foreshadowing I've found some here and there throughout on a second playthrough.

My whole post contains spoilers that I'm not going to mark with the white stuff because this whole thread is spoilers!

I finished the game with Ashley and Josh dying. Josh I'm not certain if there is a way for him to live - maybe if I got more collectibles? Ashley I got killed in the stupidest possible way, I'm really pissed at myself for having her go off by herself to investigate something. What a dumb, typical horror movie decision that led to her dying.

Things I'm curious about: Where people can die, and what leads to it. How much character relationships and collectibles play a role in people surviving. How far reaching decisions go - for example, I thought it was really cool that having the machete intact let Matt free Sam, even though I let Sam get caught. I'm also really curious about how much dialog changes from scene to scene.

This is also one of the few games where I really enjoyed reading the lore and collectibles. I think the backstory really made the revelation of the wendigo much less silly. I also thought their movement and sounds remained creepy even after you know what they are and that they can't really hurt you without a QTE popping up first.

The other thing I'm curious about is the first major decision - If you choose to kill Ashley over Josh does Ashley become the Psycho? Because that would be a major plot change.

I definitely want to do another play through!

SPOILERS:

Yeah, so I got out with four people. Mike, Ash, Chris and Emily (what an odd mix). Jess died first, like 20 mins into the game. I wasn't fast enough with Mike it seems like. Matt was put on a meathook by a Wendigo. Don't really know what I did wrong there. The Butterfly effect said that he didn't have a weapon but he left his axe in the tower, and shot away a flare, so I would be interested to know what the rest of you did (I didn't get a QTE or anything to be able to save him). Josh died in the cave (by the "hands" of his sister no less!) right at the end. And Sam died when I couldn't keep the f-in controller still in the house right before the explosion. I had some REAL problems with that, it seemed to keep drifting all the time. That one stinged I have to admit.

Like previous posters, I also wonder how the psychologist plays in to the story (if at all). I told him early that I feared the dark and he kept berating me for keeping running into the dark.. Which hit home in some strange way.

All in all, I'm happy with the experience, and I liked how "my" story played out. But some of the things Brad speculated about in the QL seems off. Like there can't be different psychos, right?

@l1ghtn1n said:

From what I've seen, it seems like that stuff judges how the other characters will react. Mike having 0 honesty might mean that nobody trusts him, but if he keeps being honest, his honesty might raise and people will trust him again. I haven't looked into the actual mechanics or anything, though, so I could be wrong.

I was doing fairly well, right up until the final chapter. Then everything went to shit.

So Matt was the first real death. He fell off the cliff after killing a deer. That was a dumb choice made by me and the only casualty before the very end.

Ashley died checking a trap door for Jessica. That was an extremely dumb choice on my part, but it was a pretty fun bait and switch by the developers. Kudos.Josh was killed by Wendigo sister and although I was extremely tired at the end, I have no idea how he might have not died? Maybe I fell asleep for a second and missed a prompt? I don't know.Fucking Sam died because I couldn't hold the controller still during the last QTE.

It's interesting reading other people's experiences because it sounds like you guys had wildly different choices and encounters that led to deaths somewhere along the way. I'm real curious about playing this a second time.

Edit: One weird thing I've noticed is that sometimes the chapter names are different. The first time I played Chapter One (post prologue) it was called Memento Mori. I ended up restarting my game because I got distracted and missed some stuff but the second time I got to Chapter One it was called Friendship. It's really bizarre.

SPOILERS about saving Josh:

Josh either turns into a Wendigo or dies from his sister. He never actually escapes the mountain. If you find all the clues involving his sister, he'll recognize her and she won't kill him.

Just finished it, it was okay. Not really worth a second playthrough I think; the choices seem to only really affect the soon after (like hide, or run), or smaller things later, like picking up scissors, or having a character place a knife down, but it wasn't necessarily needed, and also it'll make it so the characters feel and say certain things about you. Beth got killed in mine, not sure what happens otherwise; the flame thrower dude got killed; Ashley got killed (I tried to make that not happen, but wasn't quick enough on reloading), and Josh got killed. I was most bummed about Ashley getting killed. Any time after that, if someone got killed, I quickly quit the game and started it back up. Also, not sure how others felt about it, but to me, the twists were somewhat predictable.

Right when you meet Josh, and he says something like 'I want to hang out with all of you', I just thought 'he's probably the bad guy'. Then, when you read about how his dad was a horror film director, I started to think that what is happening is just a game, and that Josh probably didn't die. Plus, the imaginary doctor gave some clues. And then when it came to the flame thrower guy, you could have guessed he may have been good, since he reaches out to grab your hand (that said, I wasn't sure, so I instead made Beth fall to her death), but he also doesn't really attack you as you're Mike, and his dogs get to like you, at least it's possible. Once the 'this isn't a slasher/torture porn horror' was revealed, while I thought all of that was quite interesting, and well presented, the actual horror and threat of the Wendigo was very uninteresting, and not very scary at all.

The game does some interesting, well presented stuff, but it's more of an interesting film than it is a fun game to me. When it came to the death of the characters, it felt like none of the choices mattered until you reached chapter eight. I guess some of it could happen when the Windego first appears, but doesn't reveal; that didn't happen for me though. And one last thing, I feel like this game is more satisfying depending on the outcome of the players choice, rather than how many choices can be made, so it seems weird to me, because there are many moments in which something can and probably will happen in which the player doesn't approve of, and then they'll regret that point, so there's really only one way of a satisfactory end. I'm wondering if the developers thought the game having as many choices as it does, will impress enough for one to look past that that's not what makes it a good, fun game, at least to me.

There were points in which I just wanted a rewind feature; for instance, I accidentally didn't align the reticle up in time so I kicked the wolf in the mental institution place; there was a lot of previous walking, and I just stood there wondering what I had to do, even though it was obvious. I guess I went brain dead there. At least you can give the wolf a bone to make up for it. Now, it's also obvious that that's probably the point, that your decisions affect what happens, just as any game that has decisions in it, but here, I didn't really enjoy it, as for me, there was only one possible, ideal outcome. Some choices, just because I didn't press a button, didn't coincide with how I felt either, which sucked, though in the end, that hardly mattered.

Anyways, yeah. The game is alright. Glad I finished it before MGS5.

I just want to rent it to see how quickly everyone can die

My play-through ended with me saving Sam, Chris, Emily, Matt, and Josh (sorta?). My three dead were a bit bs though which put me off the game a bit. I lost Jess early, like most people probably did, but the other two (Mike and Ashley) died on the last choice in a way that I felt wasn't justified . The run for the switch or stay put choice. All in all though I'll probably be doing another play-through if only to see what happens with Jess if she's kept alive deeper into the story.

That one isn't actually a proper decision. The saw goes for Josh either way. I think it just affects the conversation with Chris in the shed later on.

On my first (and only, rented it through redbox) blind run through the game, I only had three people die, and they all died in the last 30 minutes so that was pretty disappointing coupled with the revelation that I thought I was gonna make it out with everybody for a while. I understand I did pretty good in comparison to a lot of people.

@petiew said:

Ah, I see. yeah, that would change way too much.

One day they'll make a relatively big budget game that has a million variations in plot and the way it plays out based on your decisions.

My buddy and I played through this together, we ended up losing Ashley and Mike. I got this game as a drink beer and make fun of it with my friend kinda thing, but we ended up really liking it.

I only picked this up on a whim yesterday and just finished it. I only managed to save Mike, Emily, Chris and Sam. Matt and Jessica died in the mines because I hit the wrong button when hiding from a wendigo, Josh I missed one clue that apparently would have saved him and Ashley died because I went to investigate what sounded like Jessica.

I think Matt would have died regardless of my missed button prompt because I only realised later that the guidance totem showing Emma giving him the flair gun was basically telling me to give him it, but you still use it as Emily in an escape so I'm interested in seeing that play out differently.

I am going to play through it again to see different choices and then I might look at a guide to get all of the collectables because the handful I missed I don't know where they could have been as I every time I was being led one way I went the opposite just to see if there was something these.

As for Ashley telling Chris to shoot her during Josh's test, in mine she was still pleading for her life, the only reason I didn't pull the trigger on either of them is because I found the totem a few moments before that showed Chris with a gun at his head placing it on the table in front of him, I didn't even think about having him shoot himself.

With the Chris/Ashley gun scene it seems if you sacrificed Josh, and point the gun at yourself she says something along the lines of "you spared me once, now let me save you" and tells you to shoot her. The thing I'm curious is, if you do as she tells you to and "shoot" her, does she still lock you outside w/ the Wendigo.

I platinumed the game over the weekend so sadly there's not much left to do in the game, but I really enjoyed my time with it and look forward to whatever the team does next.

I made it out with Sam, Jessica, and Chris.

I enjoyed it, but not enough for a second play-through (though I would watch someone else's probably). With MGS coming out tomorrow, there is just no time to dig into this further.

It was an enjoyable rental (Redbox has this game).

@bezerker85: Not seen it myself but from a complaint someone else had earlier. Something akin to "She is clearly evil cause I did what she told me too and she wouldn't unlock the door!" I would assume its that moment they are responding too.

Just finished my first playthrough last night and made it out with Sam, Jess, Matt, and Chris. Lost Ash due to checking out some noise in the end which I immediately regretted after making that decision and lost Mike and Emily in the ending. Of course lost Josh in the caves but have no idea how I could've kept him alive.

Just finished the game. Everyone except Josh and Sam survived.

But man, those fucking don't move sequenses was kinda bs. I sat there like a fucking rock at the end, squeezing the controller as hard as I could, trying to save Sam, but nope, apperently that wasn't enough. Not sure how I can move any less :P

And I have no clue on how to save Josh, if that is even possible.

@phantomgardener: Maybe I'm way off on this but aren't you meant to move during the 'Don't move' sequences? Isn't the point to keep the image of the controller within the white outline as it drifts around? I've only watched the gbeast let's play so this is just my assumption

The ending was bullshit that didn't play fair*, so I redid the last chapter and saved everyone but Jess on my first playthough. I was pretty happy with the outcome.

@spaceinsomniac: My girlfriend finished a play through this weekend and I watched with her. She got that ending and honestly it felt kind of cheap. She was worried from about episode 8 on that such and such would die because of X event when she had been trying to save them all. So when it got to that part of the game and everyone bar 3 people are still alive, for all but 2 of them to die because they all decide to stand around as if it's not obvious that they should be running the fuck away felt like a cop out.

Tell your girlfriend that she should just replay the last chapter. More detailed advice:

@spaceinsomniac: We'll probably go through the game again, because we want to try save everyone but yeah maybe we'll just finish chapter 10 again first.

It just felt lame that what ultimately killed most of the group wasn't the killer, or the wendigos, but flicking a light switch and none of them being clever enough to do a runner before you hit the switch.

Great, I thought I was screwing up because people were dying on my first play through!

I admire the games save system that pretty much keeps you in a track with the repercussions of your choices...but man....it really makes you want to throw your controller when you miss a button press in a clutch situation.

A really amazing game, I hope all the people playing Metal Gear remember to circle back to this game. Until Dawn is not a game for everyone, but it is certainly a fun ride for those who like this sort of gameplay.

It's really bugging the hell out of me that this game isn't getting more attention. What with MGSV out, I can see how it's getting buried, but I thought it was fantastic.

@arabes: No, if you don't move, then it actually holds still. but it is super sensitiv. After I was done with the game, I've read on some other forums, that actually just putting the controller on a flat surface is a valid solution to pass those sequenses.

But if it does move, then yeah, you can move it to try to keep it within the outlines.

I'm pretty surprised with how well my buddy and I did in our blind playthrough. We both played specific characters. (I was Chris, Mike, Emily, and Sam) The only person we lost was Matt, and that was because I decided that Emily would be more likely to keep the flare for herself than give it to Matt. We never felt like it was hard to figure out what the correct choice was, but we were kinda just trying to logic our way through it and do a bit of roleplaying as well. The final sequence in the house is really messed up though. It's really hard to know the full consequences of picking the light switch option too early. No where does the game spell out that people are escaping one at a time in between each choice you make, and no where does it tell you that Sam will hit the switch after running to it (I think the prompt was just "run to the switch" or something along those lines).

I found the QTE's to be pretty forgiving. The ones that were life or death gave enough time to get it right, and the few that I missed either didn't make a difference in the end or gave me another option to get out of the situation.

I was planning on multiple playthrough's to go back and get the best ending possible, but at this point I'm not really feeling like replaying it just to save Matt. I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. Really great game overall.

Oh and the secret ending was pretty cool, but its kinda a bummer that it is not possible to save Josh and get a good ending for him. I feel like him dying is better than him becoming a Wendigo, so it's weird that its the secret reward for exploring.

[Update] On my first play through, I seem to be on the brink of ending with only two dead. Maybe, just one...or it could be the last three - I don't have a full account of yet. I will be satisfied with three un-saved on play through # 1, but I think I can easily complete the game with nobody gone. This is definitely a game I will play through AT LEAST once more, they set it up pretty nice for re-plays.

On my first playthrough only 4 of the people in my game survived, I almost had 5, but I screwed up at the end with the stay still QTE, and Sam bit the dust.

I don't know HOW anyone playing the game can have Mike die their first time around, since the only requirement to have him survive the game is to have Sam yell out at the end to distract the enemy. Really, the only way for him to die is if you intentionally want him dead. Honestly, outside of Matt and possibly Josh, it's very easy to keep everyone alive assuming you don't make dumb decisions. I was surprised at how simple it was to keep everyone to live when looking it up.

As for the game in general, I don't know what the advertising for this game was like, since I didn't watch any of it, but when the Wendigo first appeared, I actually cried out "What the fuck?!" because I wasn't expecting any super natural things to happen in the game - I thought it was all just a serial killer. If that was spoiled at all in the advertising, then I'm SO glad I didn't watch any of it.

It's a fun game, and I really liked it.