1) Until Dawn
Before I reviewed video games, I was a horror movie reviewer for a website that focused on the genre exclusively. It was a great gig, and something that I did during high school, which is when my interest in and love for horror started to develop and flourish.
Over the years, I’ve played many horror games and been scared by some, but not once have I played a game that feels as much like a great scary movie as Until Dawn does. It gripped me from the get-go and never let go until its credits started to run. Never did I feel safe, and I was continually on the edge of my seat wondering what awaited me next.
Until Dawn is the game that succeeds in mixing interactivity and gaming with the best elements of horror movies, and though it does have some cliches and relies on jump scares a bit too often, it’s a masterful experience that far exceeded my expectations; so much so that I played through it twice within my first week of owning it.
My hope is that Until Dawn will continue to receive the recognition it deserves, and appear on others’ Game of the Year lists. It’s such a polished and well-made game that it deserves to not fade into obscurity, and is something I look forward to playing through again with someone beside me. Maybe then I’ll be able to make sure that all of the characters survive.