Impressions of the Until Dawn Remake: A Missed Opportunity for Accessibility
On October 4th, the highly anticipated remake of Until Dawn from PlayStation Studios and Ballistic Moon was made available on PlayStation 5 and PC. As someone who played and loved the original 2015 release on PlayStation 4, I had high hopes for this remake—especially now that we’re deep into the Halloween season, when a great horror experience is just what many gamers crave. However, while the new version promises revamped visuals, enhanced gameplay, and the haunting atmosphere fans loved, the remake unfortunately misses the mark for players like myself who are totally blind.
For fans of the original game, Until Dawn needs little introduction. It’s a branching narrative survival horror game where every choice you make could lead to deadly consequences for the characters. Your decisions during tense moments determine who lives, who dies, and how the story unfolds. From ethical dilemmas to terrifying action scenes filled with intense violence and gore, this game has always been about gripping suspense and the thrill of navigating life-or-death scenarios.
The remake has been rebuilt from the ground up using Unreal Engine 5, with stunning new visuals, refined gameplay mechanics, and a cinematic quality that elevates its horror. Fans of the original will feel right at home in the isolated mountain setting, where eight friends return to a lodge a year after two of their group mysteriously disappeared. The story quickly spirals into a nightmare, filled with twists, fear, and gruesome fates.
Sadly, my experience this time was far from the excitement I felt back in 2015. Since then, I’ve gone blind, and I was really hoping to experience Until Dawn again through new accessibility features. Unfortunately, while there are some helpful tools like working menu narration, haptic feedback to signal interactions, auto-completion for Quick Time Events (QTEs), and other mechanics to assist gameplay, the overall accessibility falls short for totally blind players.
What’s missing? Most critically, there is no navigation assist or audio descriptions for the environment or action scenes. For a game that relies so heavily on its atmosphere, environmental clues, and decision-making, this lack of assistance makes it nearly impossible for a blind player to fully enjoy or even complete the game. Without proper navigation aids, I found myself lost, unable to engage meaningfully with the story or the world that once drew me in so deeply.
While it’s great that some accessibility features are included—like haptics to signal when to interact with objects—they don’t go far enough to make the game truly playable for blind gamers. In contrast, many recent games have included full audio descriptions and navigational tools, demonstrating that the industry is capable of doing better. Until Dawn’s remake feels like a missed opportunity to make one of the most engaging horror experiences accessible to a wider audience.
Beyond accessibility, the remake is also plagued by technical issues. There are numerous reports of bugs and crashes that make the game frustrating for all players, not just those with disabilities. Until these problems are addressed, I would recommend waiting before picking up the game. In fact, if you’re a fan of the original, the 2015 PlayStation 4 version, developed by Supermassive Games, still works beautifully without the technical hiccups.
In conclusion, while the Until Dawn remake is a visually stunning and atmospherically rich horror game, maybe it’s not quite that ready for prime time. For totally blind players like myself, it’s simply not accessible enough to enjoy. My hope is that the developers will release updates to fix the bugs and crashes, but also introduce more robust accessibility features in the future. Until then, if you’re blind or rely heavily on accessibility I recommend steering clear of this version. For others, Until Dawn remains a chilling and memorable horror experience that fans of the genre shouldn’t miss out upon!
Review copy provided by PlayStation Norway
Victor Dima
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