Back to the Dawn ★★★☆☆

Back to the Dawn, better than never seeing the light of day again.

When I first saw this pop up on Steam I was really intrigued to play it, but now that I’ve played it I’m not quite as invested as I’d thought I’d be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really good game if you’re good at managing what you’re doing…but I’m not.

Maybe I was thinking this would be too along the lines of A Way Out?

Who is this game for?

LGBQT community
Story-driven gamers

Game length

20+ hours

Where can you buy?

Available on Humble Bundle

Pros:

Fleshed out characters
Offers a challenge

Reminds me of Darkmore Penitentiary series
Select your past
Variety of skillsets

Cons:

Difficult to get things you need
Heavily reliant on dice roll RNG

Explanation to Negative Feedback

Difficult to get things you need

I could barely maintain a 30+ mind and health, and half the time I was always only one point or so under the line where I had to be. And it was so aggravating not being able to do anything about it. I just had to go through the day, trying to find things to do and then go to bed, and end up having nightmares, and then going to the infirmary…and it’s the most frustrating part of the game.

I get we’re in prison and things can’t be easily obtained, but man, when every person you come across to try to steal a small item from is a 3% chance–probably due to me low mind?–and the fact that if you’re caught your mindset gets even lower made it not worth it.

So really that meant the one mechanic that I think would be the most fun…was not.

My combat was super low so I couldn’t brawl anyone, and my health was always super low, so I couldn’t work out or go into the boxing ring, or fight anyone for quests anyway.

Honestly, I lost the urge to play the game three hours in just because of this ordeal.

Heavily reliant on dice roll RNG

I did not expect this game to have a DnD style to it with its dice rolls, and while I was really interested in the concept at first–after all, I really like Baldur’s Gate 3–I found that the dice rolls combined with the super duper low percent chance of me actually rolling a favorable number was more aggravating than fun.

Like, I wanted to go to the laundry room to actually do my job, but I didn’t want to go into the area that would deplete my health due to the bad air quality, but I couldn’t iron anything because the work instructions are behind a piece of equipment that you have to roll the dice to move.

Are you kidding me?

I have to roll the dice to see if I’m able to move this hunk’a crap, and if I can’t, then I’m sh*t outta luck when it comes to doing a paid job? Just because I don’t want to my already 10HP to drop even lower?

There are certainly other ways to make money…but it’s disheartening when you can’t do something simple because dice rolls are standing in your way.

Explanation to Positive Feedback

Fleshed out characters

There are so many inmates that you can interact with by either talking to them, befriending them, listening in on their conversations, buying from them, giving them gifts so they can sell better things to you.

They each have their own personalities too, and when you do befriend one, you get a bit of paperwork for a brief overview of them.

Offers a challenge

It’s definitely not a game that you can easily get through if you start making mistakes that really screw you over–whether it’s your lack of money, lack of items, lack of health, or lack of mind. Obviously you can have a lack of a helluva lot and the game can end quite early if you can’t try to put yourself on the healthy path.

It happened to me on the third day, I think?

After going to sleep, I had 0 health and 0 mind so I just…died.

You can make the game a little easier at the beginning by choosing the easier mode, that’ll start you off with two extra items, but…I don’t know how well that’ll help you in the long run if you do start making mistakes on what you’re doing in prison.

Reminds me of Darkmore Penitentiary series

Darkmore Penitentiary is an adult dark fantasy book series featuring supernaturals and the main character trying to escape prison with specific people.

Basically the prison in Back to the Dawn is almost the same as the one in Darkmore.

You’ve got your gangs that control specific areas of the prison, and gang fights going on. The main guard Bruce reminds me of the main guard in Darkmore. There are animalistic humans in this one and humans with animalistic traits in Darkmore. There are a lot of places to Darkmore, just like in this game, as well as jobs that can be taken and given in secret, both in a different way, but same idea.

They’re almost mirrored and its fascinating to me, and kind of made the game more fun, in my opinion, even if the devs know nothing about the book series.

Select your past

Before actually starting the game, you’re able to choose your character’s past, which will influence the Positive Ability, Negative Effect, and Initial Specialties of yours. There are only three different paths to choose form, but that’s okay, because each one is sort of unique to what kind of gameplay you’d like to have.

Make sure you choose wisely, because…you’ll be pretty reliant on your skillset, though you accrue more as the game progresses.

I’m just happy these selections actually benefit you in a specific way to how you play the game, rather than what Cyberpunk 2077 did with their starting selection, which merely sort of opens up different dialogues depending on the choice.

Variety of skillsets

You’ve got four different categories where you can learn skills from. These skills can either be acquired by your choosing, once you have enough points in one of these categories or by doing things in prison life–such as reading books, watching TV, eavesdropping, etc.

But you’ve got a variety to choose from in each category so you can find one that helps with your current playstyle.

Links Worth Checking Out

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