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Over the course of 90 hours and 9 playthroughs, I can finally say that I'm "done" with this game for the time being...until they release Bob's campaign for free in a little over a week from now, which is my cue to start all over again! Needless to say, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game so far, and am super excited to go on another journey in this beast of a game, both narratively and mechanically.
I don't really know where to start when it comes to all the little things I appreciate about this game. Yes, there is a 21 day time limit that can be stressful to work around, but I have no idea how something like this could exist without some sort of "end" to it all. The developers worked extremely hard to make each day feel special with the announcements, prisoner conversations, and events that happen on a daily basis. There is Thomas' story that has to naturally progress, and my god, don't even get me started on all the subplots and shenanigans that the other inmates (ALL 46 of them) get themselves in that are developed over the 3 week period. I find the attention to detail on display staggering, especially when it comes to how consistent each inmate's interactions feel with their personality and backstory. The game is definitely meant to be played and appreciated to its fullest on subsequent playthroughs; there's no way you'll see everything on your first time around. Personally, I loved the feeling of being able to point out all the little nuances in the conversations I was eavesdropping on after knowing each prisoner's story from bonding with them before. It was so cool seeing all the hidden irony, sadness, complexity, and foreshadowing in some of these interactions. The type of shit that will make you point at the screen and say, "So THAT'S what they meant!". Even if I'm in the minority in how I enjoy and hyperfixate on these small details, I think anyone can appreciate the effort that went into spinning this intricate web between all the inmates in their interpersonal relationships and how they behave.
To focus a bit on the gameplay side of things, the player is given so many options when it comes to how they decide to survive, escape, and tackle challenges within the story. There's NG+ which allows you to carry over skills and rapport, and the game has an extremely comprehensive online database (super fun to browse btw, there's so much fucking flavor text that you'll never see) created by the devs which make future playthroughs not feel like an absolute slog to get through. The dice rolling mechanics never feel unfair in my opinion, since you're allowed to reroll and there are tons of ways to artificially boost your stats through equipment, items, and skills. Most of the difficulty that you'll experience will come from a lack of skills, or a lack of game knowledge. It can feel really rewarding to overcome quests and checks that you had a difficult time with just because you know what's coming and can handle it better than before.
There are so many other things that I want to talk about like the writing, the main story, or even just Thomas being a super fun protagonist to play as, but you'll have to experience those things for yourself. If any of this interested you even a little bit, please just try the game. The developers have put so much love into it and are even releasing Bob's campaign for free, which has probably already dropped by the time you read this review. I expect it to be on the same level of quality as Thomas' campaign, which was already amazing. Critiques about the in-game time limit and difficulty can definitely sound scary from an outsider perspective, but they are integral to the experience and can absolutely be overcome. Don't even worry about having to escape on your first playthrough, I didn't! My biggest piece of advice is to not rush and truly get to know your fellow inmates. If all goes well, for better or worse, Boulderton Prison will start to feel like a second home to you. To conclude, Thomas is the fucking GOAT.
Obligatory link to the Back To The Dawn Database (this saved my life on multiple playthroughs): https://back-to-the-dawn-data.vercel.app/en
Listing some gripes I had with this game:
- The romantic interests in this game feel kind of half-baked both mechanically and narratively? There are two in Thomas' campaign, but neither feel like they're given enough interactions with Thomas in order to make their relationship with him that deep. To elaborate: Mechanically, why does Beth not have any exclusive items that you can buy from her with affection points like Maggie? And it's medicine that you can just as easily buy from other inmates. I get that you have to date her in order to do Hakuna's bond quest and break into the infirmary (or you can just bond with Jimmy), which only feels useful for The Tower escape and nothing else. On future playthroughs, I never found much of an incentive to get with her unlike Maggie who can mail me some useful equipment and items. I really like Maggie, but it's kind of criminal how her bio never gets updated once Thomas repairs his relationship with her while Beth gets like 9 pages worth of backstory, especially when Maggie is made out to be such an important person to him. It's nice how Maggie is an option when it comes to The Sun escape, which provides her with some much needed scenes with Thomas, but it isn't enough in my opinion. Even "chatting" with Maggie just brings you to a black screen and her rapport goes up. There's so much material to work with when it comes to the "funny stories" that Thomas would tell her, like have you seen the shit that happens on a daily basis at Boulderton??? I feel like the nail in the coffin for me was when I first saw the post-credit cheating scene, which only happens when you decide to date both Maggie and Beth. Hilarious in a vacuum, but it made me realize that neither Maggie or Beth get their own individual post-credit scene. Why not? They created an entirely new post-credit scene (with two variations), new outfits for the three respectively, and the setting of Downtown just to use it once. It just feels like a missed opportunity to me (I also just want to see Maggie/Beth spending time with Thomas without the threat of death...)
- NG+ carries over all the profiles of the inmates you've gotten to know, along with their stories and gift preferences which is great. However, this doesn't apply to other NPCs like the guards and people outside the prison, whose profiles are wiped when you start a new playthrough. I never realized how much I had been missing out on when I checked the database to see that the game DOES update the profiles of these NPCs depending on your actions in the story which is so cool, but you'll likely never notice it in-game. This is a shame, especially for characters like Gomez, The Devil, and all the characters from the Four Corners. I get that they're supposed to update as you progress through the story, but what if you've already seen it all and just want to reread their bios and stuff? You'll never see some of these characters again since they're exclusive to certain escape routes which most players won't repeat.
- Carrying over the rapport system to the other NPCs can be kind of deceptive sometimes. It makes sense when rapport has a tangible effect on interactions with them, like with Billy and Owen. Other times, it just feels like an indicator of how your choices made them feel. As far as I know, there is no benefit to raising or lowering Bruce's rapport (please correct me if I'm wrong about this), and he's one of the most important NPCs in the game. There are also some NPCs who you will never be able to raise rapport with. It's even weirder when you have the option to "Chat" with NPCs, which is something you can only do once and never again to raise rapport (free flavor text?).

Back to the Dawn is a charming prison escape game that has a surprising amount of depth and detail in its world and gameplay. Despite being early access, the current build has one fully fleshed out story, with multiple escape routes and endings, providing decent replayability for completionists. It is also mostly bug free, with only minor bugs that don't impact gameplay. The current playable character, Thomas the Fox, is a journalist falsely imprisoned under orders of a corrupt mayor to hide his underground dealings, who must escape to reveal the truth before election day.

It's clear a lot of effort went into the presentation. The character pixel art is detailed and unique for every inmate and guard you'll be regularly interacting with. All of them, barring the generic retriever guards and the shiba inu twins, are a unique species that have their own animations mostly specific to them. Even in the case of the shiba twins, they have their own unique sprites which can be missed. Combined with the occasional pixel textured 3D models for structures or vehicles, the game has a pretty unique look. The music greatly adds the atmosphere of the prison and story. From the listless feeling of the recreation theme, to the coziness of the night theme, to jazz theme of the guard lounge, the music sets the tone for the current situation in a not so subtle way. The ambient sounds on top of the background music, like hushed conversations in general areas, and effects like page flipping sounds while reading, additionally boost immersion while playing. The most noticeable use of sound, or lack thereof, is if you go to segregation. In seg, there is no music and no ambiance. There is absolutely silent unless you do something yourself and then back to silence, for 6 (in-game) hours.

The game has many systems at play that can be a bit overwhelming at first, but quickly settle into a schedule to handle everything. Time is the defining mechanic of the game, and it's not just because of the 21 day deadline imposed from the start of the game. The prison follows a strict schedule that locks you into or restricts certain areas and activities throughout the day and week. Planning around what you can do when to advance your current agenda is paramount to not lose time, which is most noticeable in the first playthrough where everything is new.

A major mechanic worth bringing up here is the dice roll system, for better or for worse. There are two situations where dice rolls occur: cumulative total and skill checks, simulating the monotony and the tension of the situation, respectively, via two dice. In a cumulative total, the sum of the two dice, together with a flat minimum value, are added to the current sum. The action is complete when the total is reached. In a skill check, the sum of the dice which must add up to at minimum required to pass. Upon failure, you can usually try again once. By default, rolling two sixes for a skill check is a critical success, guaranteeing a pass even if the required total needed is greater than 12. On the other hand, rolling two ones is a critical failure, guaranteeing a fail even the total needed is at most 2. In other words, there is always at least a ~3% to pass and a ~3% chance to fail any given check. In everyday life, this is at worst a minor inconvenience while doing things like lockpicking, keeping whatever is locked blocked off. However, some escapes are very dependent on dice rolls.

While going through the days, you will befriend and interact with all the guards and inmates in the prison. The interactions and dialog are the soul of the game, and it does not disappoint. The depth of the eavesdropped conversations, which may change if some conditions are met, build the world with their own unseen plotlines which start and resolve at different times throughout your sentence, interspersed with some fun gossip and small talk along the way. Similarly, some of Thomas' thoughts may change depending on whether he knows some information from somewhere he has accessed previously. Doing everything you can to learn about the inmate's background and prison builds the world beyond just a somewhere to escape.

After your each playthrough, the game offers new game+, which carries over your skills and current bond level with every inmate and gang, making exploration easier. Combined with prior knowledge of how things work and what to do, you can either passively stumble upon things that lead to an escape route while exploring somewhere you didn't know how to access before or actively work towards an escape route you didn't have time to do or complete. Eventually, the game becomes a pseudo sandbox game where you can go and do what you want to see what happens.

Despite the general polish, there are a few quality of life features that could be improved. After completing a minigame activity 3 times, Thomas can automatically do it himself, bypassing the minigame. After starting new game+, this is lost. Not a big deal since it is only another 3 minigames, but can be a bit tedious if the activity is a job, as little to no money is earned if no effort is put in. Mostly annoying in the beginning with the laundry minigame where getting some money is key to doing anything later on. Moving between areas outside of the main building could be improved by allowing direct access between them. Currently, the only option is going back to the main building instead of to the other areas directly. This makes sense thematically during the day between jobs, but not so much when sneaking around at night. Both cases should allow moving directly between the different areas.

Overall, a very good game worth the price, especially if it's on sale. Even though the price will go up once the second character's route is completed, if it has the same level of care put into it as Thomas' story, it will still be worth it.

Concise Game Reviews: "Back to the Dawn"

(Scroll down for the longer version)


Game Value:
✅ Recommended for players who enjoy deep role-playing experiences, prison escape narratives, and strategic survival mechanics. Offers a blend of exploration, manipulation, and character interaction in a detailed prison setting.


Game Tags:
✔Survival ✔Role-Playing ✔Exploration ✔Strategy ✔Prison Escape ✔Character Interaction ✔Crafting ✔Mystery ✔Dark Comedy


Genre Classification:
A survival role-playing game set in a maximum-security prison, focusing on escape planning, resource management, and complex social interactions with a dark narrative backdrop.


Game Length:
Approximately 40-60 hours, with open-ended gameplay and numerous pathways to escape and interact with the prison environment.


Challenge Level:
High; features intricate resource management, strategic planning, and complex character interactions, with difficulty influenced by player choices and actions.


Graphics:
Detailed and immersive prison environment with a focus on realism and dark humor, bringing the prison life and its various elements to life.


Technical Stability:
Generally stable with minimal technical issues reported, providing a reliable gameplay experience.


Replay Value:
High; offers multiple escape strategies, character interactions, and narrative outcomes, ensuring diverse and replayable experiences.


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Detailed review:



Key Features:

🌟 Intricate Escape Planning: Dive into a detailed prison environment where your primary goal is to escape, using strategic planning and resource management to navigate challenges.
🔥 Dynamic Social Interactions: Build relationships or rivalries with a colorful cast of inmates, influencing the game's outcome through alliances and conflicts.
🎯 Resource Management and Crafting: Manage your character's needs, gather resources, and craft tools to aid in your escape while balancing various in-game metrics.
🎨 Rich Dark Comedy Aesthetics: Enjoy a visually immersive and humor-filled representation of prison life, with attention to detail that enhances the narrative experience.
⚙️ Varied Gameplay Scenarios: Explore multiple paths to freedom and engage in diverse scenarios, from stealthy manipulation to full-scale disruption.





🌟Overview:


"Back to the Dawn" is a role-playing game set in a maximum-security prison where players must navigate survival, escape planning, and social dynamics. The game emphasizes deep interaction with fellow inmates, resource management, and strategic escape mechanisms within a richly detailed and immersive environment.




🎮Gameplay:



The gameplay in this game is exceptionally rich and immersive, offering a diverse range of activities and interactions:
🌍 Exploration: Navigate the extensive prison environment, which includes various areas like the gym, reading club, video room, and more, uncovering secrets and potential escape routes.
🔧 Crafting/Upgrade System: Craft tools and upgrade your abilities to enhance your chances of survival and escape.
🤝 Social Interaction: Build relationships with almost every prisoner and guard. You can forge alliances, create rivalries, or even make enemies. Your interactions influence the prison dynamics and your escape plan.
📞 Communication: Make phone calls to friends, your lawyer, or loved ones. You can also receive mail and request objects or money from your contacts.
🎲 Mini-Games and Jobs: Engage in various mini-games such as working in the laundry (ironing clothes) or performing physical labor on the roof to earn money. Alternatively, you can engage in more dubious activities like gambling, theft, extortion, and illegal trade.
📈 Stats Management: Manage various stats such as strength, charisma, and stealth to impact your abilities and interactions.
⚔️ Faction Dynamics: Join different prison factions. Successfully completing missions for a faction earns you rewards and allies but can make you enemies with rival factions. Remaining neutral may lead to regular extortion attempts from others.
🏋️ Physical Training: Participate in sports and workouts to build strength and enhance your self-defense capabilities.
🛁 Facilities: The prison features essential facilities including showers, cells, a gym, a reading club, and a video room for entertainment.
The game is remarkably realistic, providing a fully immersive experience. Instead of playing as humans, you'll embody animals, adding a unique twist to the storyline and interactions. The depth and variety of gameplay ensure a compelling and enjoyable experience reminiscent of the mobile game "PrisonRPG" and inspired by the popular series "Prison Break."





📖Story and Depth:



The game follows a journalist wrongfully imprisoned as part of a conspiracy, set in a maximum-security prison. You play as animals, adding a unique twist to the survival and manipulation themes.
The diverse cast of animal characters, each with distinct backgrounds, enriches the narrative. Your interactions and choices shape the story, which evolves with your actions. Future updates will include new characters, like an undercover police officer, expanding the storyline further.





🏆Verdict:



This game offers a deeply immersive role-playing experience set in a meticulously designed prison. Its blend of strategic planning, rich character interactions, and engaging storytelling makes it a standout. Players manage resources, navigate intricate social dynamics, and develop inventive escape plans within a darkly comedic setting.
What sets it apart is the emphasis on player choice and interaction, contributing to a dynamic and evolving experience. Although the complexity of managing resources and social relations might be daunting for some, the rewards for overcoming these challenges are significant.
From my perspective, this game leaves a lasting impression. It’s incredibly comprehensive, ensuring players are constantly engaged. With future updates promising new characters and scenarios, its appeal will only grow. I highly recommend it to fans of "Prison Break" and similar series, where dealing with prison gangs and investigating intricate plots are key. Having bought the game on release and eagerly awaited its arrival, I find it a must-play for anyone interested in deep, narrative-driven gameplay.





✅Good:


👍 Deep Role-Playing: Complex interactions and escape planning.
👍 Immersive Setting: Detailed prison setting with a darkly humorous tone and a unique twist—players are animals.
👍 Strategic Gameplay: Engaging resource management and decision-making, including diverse mini-games and jobs.
👍 Replay Value: Multiple escape routes and faction dynamics.
👍 Future Updates: New characters, like an undercover officer, will add depth and variety.




🛠️Ways of Improvement:



👎 Mini-Game Difficulty: Some mini-games, like weightlifting, are too challenging.