Horror game Until Dawn asks players to make up their mind

A screengrab from Playstation 4 game Until Dawn.

A big budget new game promises to subvert horror cliches — and involve players at every turn. Chris Schulz delves into Until Dawn’s troubled world.

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A bullet-ridden squirrel lies motionless on a tree stump. A bird, stunned by a snowball, sits dead on the ground.

Meanwhile, the broken and bloodied bodies of two girls are at the bottom of a cliff, the result of a tense encounter with a masked predator that didn't go their way.

Two girls and two animals is TimeOut's body count after playing PlayStation's great new horror hope Until Dawn for just half an hour.

Larry Fessenden, an indie-horror veteran and the game's scriptwriter, thinks that's hilarious.

"You shot the squirrel? Yes! You've gotta get the squirrel just to prove your manhood," he cackles down the phone.

Fessenden is used to laughing about death. Decades of experience writing, directing and acting for B-grade horror movies had Supermassive Games knocking on his door, asking for help with their ambitious new game.

"It's been quite a journey," sighs Fessenden early in our interview. Has it what. In the style of David Cage's narrative-heavy titles Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, Until Dawn proved to be a massive undertaking with a script he estimates to be as long as 40 movies.

That's because every decision a player makes - there are hundreds over the game's 10-hour play time - contributes to the ending. How many conclusions are there? So many Fessenden says he can't even guess.

A scene from new Playstation game Until Dawn.

First announced for the Playstation 3, Until Dawn then got promoted to take advantage of PlayStation 4 technology, meaning reshoots and rewrites. That delayed the project a futher two years.

It was finally released this week, and Fessenden believes the delays have been worth it. It's certainly ambitious. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, it promises to use "the butterfly effect" to challenge horror's stereotypes and immerse players in the game.

That means gamers face snap decisions at every turn - from what to say during a conversation, to running or hiding from foes - with just seconds to choose an option.

"We're talking awful deaths and moral choices - the kind of stuff you hope you never have to encounter in real life," says Fessenden. "We have boyfriends and girlfriends deciding whether they should shoot each other or shoot themselves."

It's also an incredibly good-looking game. Actors were filmed in Los Angeles using motion-capture technology - "the full Star Wars," says Fessenden, a The Shining-era Jack Nicholson lookalike who also plays a character in the game.

Still, this is horror, and genre stereotypes are evident early. The eight characters gathering at a snowy cabin in the woods include a jock, a geek, a loudmouth and a sexy blonde - some played by familiar TV faces like Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Rami Malek (Mr Robot).

A scene from new Playstation game Until Dawn.

They're there to mourn the death of friends who died during their last visit - and it quickly becomes apparent they're being stalked by a masked psycho.

There's a darkened basement, a disused mine, a rickety tram and creepy photos with clues scrawled on them. Veteran character actor Peter Stormare shows up as a creepy psychiatrist. So far, so every horror movie ever made.

But Fessenden promises that in Until Dawn, "nothing is as it seems". He says he relished the opportunity to mess with cliches and force players to "confront things you don't want to deal with".

"Your choices really matter," says Fessenden. "This is a game of high stakes. If somebody dies that's it. You have to start over to play as them again.

"And the deaths have meaning, and that always makes them more harrowing."

Fessenden is yet to play the final version of the game. But when he does, he faces his own moral choice.

"Should I play it straight or live vicariously? I find the whole thing psychologically stressful."

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Game: Horror expert Larry Fessenden
Platform: PlayStation exclusive Until Dawn
For fans of: Beyond: Two Souls, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain
Release date: Out now
Rating: R16