Using the data extracted from the game, the findings of this study might offer some insights that could be helpful for future butterfly-effect game design and implementation. For example, which tells game designers exactly how to design game characters with personality traits and the game script following specific causal relations. Although this study mainly focuses on Until Dawn, the proposed visualization methodology and analysis metrics are applicable to other kinds of games as well. Furthermore, this work is just an initial step in the interest of understanding butterfly-effect games in multiple scenarios. This analysis can be used as an intelligent tutorial or hint bot to reverse the game narrative process, helping players to have a better understanding of butterfly-effect games. With the technologies showing great performance in the construction of the storyline of a butterfly-effect game, we believe ours is a valuable study that surely will attract growing interest in game analysis from an academic viewpoint.

In recent years, horror games are becoming more and more popular among game players. Their impressive atmosphere and storytelling draw more attention than any other kind of game. To explore the secret of such popularity among different kinds of horror games, in this paper, we focus on an extreme horror game named ‘Until Dawn,’ which represents the most successful kind of ‘Butterfly-Effect Game’ in recent years. More precisely, we visualize and analyze the data related to this horror game from two different perspectives. We investigate its plot structure and provide a holistic characterization in a graph-based manner. Moreover, we visualize its script metrics, including scene interactions, speech condition factors, and prop interactions.

1.1. Background and Overview of ‘Until Dawn’

Until Dawn is a choice-based survival horror game with significant moral choices. Designing playthroughs has completely changed speedrunning. Until Dawn is unique in the way that it actually punishes the player for playing perfectly, which lengthens the game. Downtime between quick time events, required percentage of exploration of the area to trigger cutscenes, etc., make the run of Until Dawn studyable and reviewable. This makes it especially hard to learn, which is the biggest barrier for non-perfect runners to join the community of running this game. There are almost no resources on this game, and the WR run with cheats, so it would be a perfect speedgame for people who can’t play longer than 3 hours. The game physics are straight boring and not timing related, which makes it especially comfortable for learning. Personal differences on decisions make possible routes solid, and my commentated routing live stream recording of this game is allowed to be used to a much bigger extent in the onboarding process of potential runners. The game does not promote heavy grind since the early game part will always be a challenge because of the battle with Saintcream.

2. Narrative and Storytelling

Several players report they don’t even feel like they are playing a game when control is given over completely in the mode of watching cinematics of a movie; however, there are others who find relief in this form because while they love horror movies, they don’t like to be scared themselves. When not in this control-intensive mode of the game, others were searching for as many clues as they could, using knowledge gathered for multiple playthroughs to solve clues for acquiring elusive «secret» trophies. Their experience seemed more game-like in that they were exploring the environment or bravely confronting predators. While basic unlockable costumes can be earned by working your way through the game, greeting cards, the nature of their motifs, and final quizzes illustrate skills and expertise in the game’s themes. Simply replaying it over and over doesn’t reveal a whole lot of extra length or lore to Until Dawn, but skillful mousing through the different storylines pays off in works such as the Trophy Completion Rate that rewards knowledgeable gamers.

So far, this chapter has given special attention to story as a commonly cited strength of Until Dawn in the game’s marketing materials, and discussed why gamers might be particularly interested in horror game narrative. While its password system only allows us to indirectly measure the narrative effects of the game, we would like to offer some reflections from interviewing players about narrative experience and story elements. The complex set of choices one makes as a player throughout the game is similar to watching a horror movie at home, where people express a desire to have influence on the story. At the same time, some of the allure of the horror film is reduced because suspense may have been broken, as the gore/no-gore button or other horror-specific choices are made throughout the film. The virtue of Until Dawn is that it is possible to strike a balance between these two opposing forces, and go back to see if different plotlines can be followed or different survivors can be produced. Many other studies have been written about the choice-based narrative systems in interactive horror literature and how the password system for Until Dawn enables players to loop back and replay different portions of the game, lending credence to this kind of connection as valuable.

2.1. Branching Narrative and Player Choices

Another aspect of branching that should not be underestimated is the production thoroughness and time benefits gained in creating multiple-scenario systems. The narrative is composed by the system – regardless of how much the story is emphasized, the player should be allowed to use game mechanics and choose between options. The intended story diversity, which is provided by the system or through the system, increases as time goes by. When characters are made with a character editor in an open-world role-playing game such as Skyrim, the narrative will remain linear. At what point does the character emerge as a narrative building block? Properly designing synergetic systems, just as 3D graphics bring higher believability to the project, brings a substantial addition to design thoroughness. That being said, the biggest branch-cutting enemy in a decision-making adventure game is if the player cannot save the game whenever she wants.

The fact that branches can reach more complex elaborations both qualitatively and via the number and extent of relations constitutes one of the success points of the eight interwoven stories in Until Dawn. The narrative in these short stories, which becomes able to be separated into parts, has almost no relationship with the opening days of horrors and is straightforward if compared with the multiple depth of story experience. This narrative complexity, which is created by the criticisms made academically and in industry, could only be achieved technologically with the advent of both hybrid assets technology and suitable middleware. A different point that should be made here is that many are similar, with a portion of the significance of the diminishment of the gameplay experience seen in the story differentiation loadings that break the player’s concentration from time to time. With Until Dawn, the player uses the gameplay code even in the loading scenes, which allows the player to cook beetles with the ability to change how he can interact every time, utilizing the advantages of the QTE utilized in QTT and…

Although a large number of branching games can be found previously, Until Dawn marked a milestone in this aspect. It offers a multilayered branching hour-and-a-half narrative in the context of an eight-hour game. It follows the concept that decisions made by the player may lead the narrative to other directions. In the beginning of the game, decisions are continuously made and narrational spectrums widen. The number of action prompts, QTEs, controller input requirements, and decrease in hostility after the halfway point combined with the reshaped and narrowed down remaining playing space changes this branching structure into one resembling a funnel. However, it should be noted that this decreasing hostility is meant to build tension and emotions more efficiently, not to avoid alternate paths up to the point of breaking the concept. The last chapter holds the most oppressive and aggressive conflict in narrative and gameplay, which contrasts with the calming, story-driven rest of the game.

2.2. Character Development and Relationships

One of the many reasons I liked the character development so much was that I developed the character’s relationships myself. This is helped as other team members had other characters that they liked and wanted to develop themselves. A full recording of each of your choices is available after completing the campaign. There is a simple option below all the chapters the player can click into and look back. The development of each unique story arc is also shown in the graphs and stats in this section. It is mentioned before, but the essence of the feature was developed very well in the funny scenes and mini-games, whether that was an important fight that the player successfully completed or the character chasing the butterfly to death.

Another quality of the game in regard to story structure and its likes is the character development and their relationships. The game developers made a very bold move in casting Hayden Panettiere and Rami Malek as the main characters in-game. I also believe that the script was very well written to enhance the effect. After the player meets the characters, everything else is by interaction from the player themselves. As the game progresses, character development especially takes effect, ranging from our main characters but also to less developed characters. This comes to the characters that I believe are permanently joined together by the last chapter, which I will go over in more detail. This feature is personally very interesting as I had a personal liking and which characters I would rather conquer.

3. Gameplay Mechanics

C. Cut-Scenes and Quick Event Time Cut-scenes display the cut-scenes provided by the game engine, which flow on the screen. These deliver the standard methods of delivering narrative in video games, such as non-interactive snippets of animation sequences. Quick time events, as also mentioned in the game mechanics, refer to moments in the game where the players are required to perform specific actions at precise moments to progress, actions that are required for quick success in a fight or some other action performed in a cinematic. In this game, pressing a particular button at a bad time will result in a hazard or lead to quick death.

B. Tension Meter The tension meter is used to gauge how tense the player is and has an effect on both the story and the player’s experience. It is the primary factor triggering the scenes in the game. When the meter is low, the players will have a «good time» while playing the game, but as tension grows, more and more scary events will trigger. When the meter becomes full, the game characters and objects will start attacking the player.

A. Turn-Based Rendering The game’s camera remains static, which is a unique feature in first-person horror games, where developers have moved towards placing the player inside the game. The game uses a turn-based panoramic rendering system, which allows the frame rate to be doubled. Throughout the game, the player’s movements are used to determine when to display the correct image.

3.1. Quick Time Events and Decision Making

It is known that quick time events have some psychological effect on subjects, such as negative emotions, more fear or stress. They immerse subjects into faster character’s actions, and subjects associate themselves with virtual avatars; it’s like they feel the same fear or stress the virtual characters do. Therefore, quick time events and decision-making, situated in one of the most delicate moments, can also predict which type of user gratification is aroused while playing the game.

As previously mentioned, Until Dawn, as a blend of a horror game and interactive film, has many quick time events (buttons require a quick reaction in order to avoid threats) and a lot of options or choices to be made for different decision-making, such as moral dilemmas or supporting some characters. The response time in making the decision has been taken into account by the game’s implementation. Late choices can cause the death of a character or have serious consequences. Most of the players argue that the majority of possible decisions and actions are made through intuition and some kind of empathy with the characters in unpredictable or stressful situations.

3.2. Exploration and Environmental Interaction

This way, the traditional stealth game array is not influenced directly by popular categories of horror games, but it’s clearly observed that the game authorship is aware to give some pure horror taste or perhaps more tension to the game world settings – usually a dark, «end of the world» thematic paradigm. These are probably the most effective main action progress evaluations that people understand today. There’s a personal idea on the limitations of existing exploration and horror content scenarios: the popular desensitization about pop games. It can be noticed on how main news are well commented on than others presented inside entertainment magazines and broadcasts.

As it was previously mentioned, the gameplay features from the exploration genre are mostly interactive movies with a focus on detective/narrative elements like the Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire games. Close to the topic is the development of horror games with interactive and NPC elements in the environment – using graphic resources with realistic characters can lead to a closer sensation of dealing with the game entities using their available AI capabilities. Moreover, most of the game interactions don’t include precise performance from game entities – value segments include either passive observation/game exploration or decisive acts on the central plot elements with the presence of clearly noticed gain/penalty from the game process. The successful correlation between terror and narrative elements improvement with a focus on the proactivity ratio of the player was reported, linking it to the player’s engagement in the assets of a game.

4. Visuals and Atmosphere

Every move, every decision of the player changes its outcome and delivers a more personal story to those involved, including the cabin, the mountain, and the ancestral history of the game’s plot. All characters have reasons and psychological behaviors beneath their surfaces, making all backstories and character descriptions as relevant as including the story. Every action results in one of many possible plot points, and since the game’s AI adjusts the course based on previous choices, not even the player reaches a consensus on all possibilities and events. All possibilities are described for the player’s enjoyment, and every character has its own deconstruction related to Freudian psychoanalysis, helping development at any stage of the game.

Visuals and atmosphere are considered one of the most important aspects of horror games, often being more important than actual gameplay. ‘Until Dawn’ is no different in this manner, employing visual cues and atmosphere shifts to make the game scarier instead of relying on jump scares. The story itself is shaped by the choices of the player, with exploration and interaction being essential to discover all the story that ‘Until Dawn’ offers. This gives a scary premise to the game, with not many scripted jump-scare events, which the game does very well. These shifting mechanics employed in it make it one of the scariest games of the last generation. Attention to player posture, like if they are bored of rushing through the sections, would positively impact the number of jump scares and subtle scary moments using psychological horror techniques instead of loud noise and dark flash indicators.

4.1. Graphics and Cinematics

Since it is developed exclusively for PS4, Until Dawn has such detailed textures that you wouldn’t even recognize the resolution if questioned. It is very nice to see in terms of graphics, except for some hair bugs and lip synchronization. The character models remain stable in general. As a negative side, I can list some fiber problems and the graphics layer does not stabilize in every position. Also, the motion blur effect can be strong for some people’s love. The game has wonderful shadow layers, reflecting surfaces, and lighting effects. The level of detail is really high. The clarity on the model surfaces and environmental structures is the first thing that marks a game. These are details that make gamers the most enjoyable in terms of the sense of vision. Whether these elements are blurry depends on the polygon and texture count of the work. Another factor that determines the result is the memory bandwidth performance of the GPU. The overall game visual is really pleasant, particularly the refreshing light effects on the model. Especially sight, the sense of vision is paramount in a horror theme, adventure game. Film modes are the same detail, the texture quality of the characters, the lighting, color, and shadow details. The escape success of the dialog synchronization, the camera angles, and the directing that reflect the atmosphere, the appeal of the game, of course, the technology of craftsmanship.

4.2. Sound Design and Music

In this regard, use Left 4 Dead 2 as an example – being out in the open was filled with birds, crickets, wind, and other soft sounds, but when the zombies were coming, the bells started to ring, smoke signals were going up, creating a sense of instant panic. The anxious music was the first thing to tell the players that the zombies were coming. Making references to real reality or movies, and creating a reasonable atmosphere, either by adjusting the audio level or the user’s sound image, would be a good way to create a sense of anticipation of reality, helping to strengthen the player’s fears. From another perspective, the game starts with the sound and/or music of high intensity, exciting to get players involved. Such excitement or tension follows the beauty of the game, which is combined with fear to correctly capture the unforgettable scripts and gory events in the game.

One important element in affecting the players’ emotional state, keeping them in suspense and uncertainty at all times, is sound design. Sound design has its own ways in offering players ideas and thoughts by simply using symbols through sound. Another important element in sound design is the association of the cues triggering deadly events. Sounds can be embedded with various characteristics such as unpleasantness, disturbance, murkiness or darkness, affecting the way the brain processes a stimulation or perception. Not only should designers use sound to create suspense early in the game’s development, it must also communicate the content to the user, at times foreshadowing what is about to happen.

5. Reception and Impact

The character depth and the story’s impacts were found to be socially relevant. The game’s positive critical reception led to its noteworthy financial success. Regarded as a sleeper hit, Until Dawn far exceeded the developer’s sales projections. The game’s success had a noticeable impact on the perception of the Until Dawn series, the kind of games that Supermassive Games was expected to release, and contemporary horror games as a group. Additionally, Until Dawn’s impact affected Sony’s investment in IP that the public had largely forgotten. Not even taking into account the frequent appearance of Until Dawn’s logo in conversations and the continued awareness of the title within online and print horror communities, the game’s commercial performance makes Until Dawn a top-tier horror gaming property.

Upon release, the game was met with generally positive reviews. Critics praised the engaging story, variety of characters, and the choices they make. The impact that player choice impressively has on the plot and the significant number of ways the story can play out. Elements that came under criticism included shortcomings in the story’s writing, characters drawing too closely from recognizable horror film tropes, oversights and unevenness in the performance capture and animation, and some mechanical constraints while escorting certain characters. Critics mostly oscillated between identifying the game as a perfectly enjoyable interactive take on cliché horror and a largely gripping dramatic experience that lightly touches on horror.

5.1. Critical Acclaim and Awards

First of all, in order to start this discussion, the concepts of horror game and survival horror game must be properly understood. The horror genre is popular in many areas, such as books, movies, and games. It encompasses works that evoke fear on purpose. While the concept of a horror movie is very well-known, a horror game may not be as familiar. But it is possible to say that horror games are growing in popularity in the world of digital entertainment, with some titles achieving remarkable success. These are games focused on evoking fear in the individual by presenting content that is part of the traditional culture of horror narratives, like ghosts, monsters, murderers, and similar elements. Accompanied by a soundtrack to help set the feeling, games of this genre are great for those who want adrenaline rushes, but in the comfort of their own home.

It is also important to note that the game’s success is not only measured by the economic performance, but also by the positive reception among the critics and the awards received. The game’s creator, Super Massive Games, and publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment, must be extremely proud of the overwhelming positivity in the game’s reception. It is no wonder that this game is on top of popularity rankings and it is a commercial success. The game was a nominee or won over and over again in numerous categories of gaming industry awards. They include some of the most prestigious awards such as The BAFTA Games Awards, The Golden Joystick Awards, The SXSW Awards, and The GameRant Video Game Awards. With this in mind, it is safe to say that ‘Until Dawn’s fame is not only because of fans but also because it truly deserves such distinction as was recognized by the gaming industry.

5.2. Cultural Influence and Fan Community

In 2016, 42.8% of all horror games released were among this selection. According to Windahl et al., the figures above can be explained by prior sales figures. The increase in the number of titles released in the first period confirms the popular appeal indicated in the established order of sales. The percentage of titles found in the second period is close to that which involves games that stand out from the rest, something that was correctly published. Hate to be that guy, but I covered that exact same idea when considering how parasitically on the concept of the launch window. The existence of a fan community was evident in pre-release marketing. Prior to the launch, particular teaser trailers for social media, level-up display advertisement, augmented reality Snapchat filter, promotional rate pre-order, featured introductory marketing releases.

To analyze influences imposed by social media, it is essential to apply a broad perspective in order to comprehend the wide range of behaviors associated with it. One way of classifying behavioral modes is presented by Windahl et al., which indicates that individuals can act as receivers, users, interpreters, and creators. Applying this classification, Windahl et al. reported certain types of usage activities by social media users until 2015. The vast majority of gamers prefer shooting games, and in 2015, twelve new shooting games were released. The 3rd most popular genre was action games. It is worth noting that in 2015, only Until Dawn was released among horror games.

6. Conclusion

The aim of this study is to understand the popularity of a popular horror game within the horror games. The popularity of ‘Until Dawn’ was the focus of our research, and this research represents an attempt by the literature to understand the popularity of a specific video game in comparison to its popular counterparts. The popularity of a video game is not just a characteristic of the game; it is also related to segments of society. However, in general, most of the top-selling video games are not within the genre of horror video games. Moreover, playing video games has become one of the important daily activities for individuals. Therefore, understanding the popularity of video games, especially horror video games, has become an important issue.

Since the literature is rather limited when it comes to the popular horror game ‘Until Dawn’, in conducting this research, our aim is to understand the popularity of another product of popular horror games. According to our findings, ‘Until Dawn’ is found to be more popular than some other titles like ‘Outlast 2’ and ‘Dead By Daylight’, and is less popular than ‘Layers of Fear’ or ‘Evolve’ as a horror game. This study has important implications for video game players, game designers, and researchers. Video game players are considered one of the most affected groups among technology users. The fantasy offered by video games and the emergence of this fantasy in the real world can cause serious problems for both individuals and societies. Moreover, the effect of fear and the pleasure we get with this emotion in video games is not clearly understood, and there are not enough articles on the popularity and implications of fear-centric video games.

6.1. Summary of Key Factors

First, and possibly most importantly, «Until Dawn» is the only real horror film game with an extremely rich plot that keeps the player deeply emotionally involved throughout the entire game playing experience. Second, «Until Dawn» is a single-player, one-handed game with an interactive genre, which is a rare and exotic feature among existing horror games nowadays. Third, the game is a PS4 exclusive production, like «Heavy Rain» and «Beyond Two Souls», making it unavailable for a large number of potential game fans who are less focused on consoles. Fourth, «Until Dawn» is a perfect piece of art, packed with first-class game source materials and an exciting game story, featuring the best of low-intensity action and the best of storytelling games.

To conclude, «Until Dawn» achieved an extremely high level of popularity among similar horror games due to a variety of unusual game features it has implemented. In fact, some of these features break existing traditions and stereotypes in the games business, which provides clear and vivid proof that innovative games succeed in the crowded, highly competitive games market when they have outstanding content and features.