Until Dawn gives the PlayStation 4 a frightening release in August

Until Dawn, the story-based horror title with lifelike graphics from Supermassive Games, debuts Aug. 25 on the PlayStation 4.

I’m usually not a fan of horror games, but this one seems more like a movie, with frightening anticipation of noises and bad things moving around in the dark. Eight friends stay overnight at a big dark home, and that’s a big mistake. The overall effect is spellbinding.

Until Dawn should make for a good summer release, as the schedule during the middle of the year seems characteristically light in terms of console releases.

Supermassive also said that the cast of voice actors includes Peter Stormare, who is best known for his roles in the films Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and the television series Prison Break.

“He gave some incredibly powerful performances in the motion capture studio and you can tell from the end result in the game that he had some fun with the character. We couldn’t be happier to have him in the games and I can’t wait for you to see him in full flow,” said Pete Samuels, the executive producer at Supermassive, in a post on the PlayStation Blog.

The game uses motion capture, facial animation, and voices to deliver an almost-perfect rendering of the actors with their own animated likenesses. This was originally conceived for PlayStation 3 as a PlayStation Move gesture-controlled game. But you’ll be able to use the PS4’s DualShock 4 tilt control to make choices.

Here’s a new trailer below.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.