Until Dawn AAA Title and Companion App

What was the project?

Two projects in one, the goal being to create a four-dimensional experience with the AAA title on PS4 being more of an interactive horror movie and a companion app that you could install on your phone. As you explored the world of Until Dawn, the app would update with your progress and – when you least expected it – characters from the game would ‘call’ you! This is a surprise feature of the app and is meant to bring the game out into the world as you would initially receive clues from the other characters and, later, hear them calling for help or just screaming in fear!

It has been my only horror suspense title created to date, a genre of gaming that I haven’t made part of my own gaming library, but the thrill and adrenalin of Until Dawn was incredible!

One memory that will always stay with me from this project was how, at Euro Gamer, a large man in his late 20’s took the controller off of his girlfriend saying that she would find this experience too scary and entered the booth on his own, leaving her outside – clearly feeling embarrassed and annoyed to have qued up for so long and might miss her chance to play.

The booths were intentionally dark and had night vision cameras, with the feeds shown to those outside and queuing (the gamers were made aware ahead of time that they were on camera). Within 5 minutes of play, the man had curled up into the fetal position on the chair and his girlfriend had to go in and ‘rescue him’. She made sure to finish her turn first though!