WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for 2025’s Until Dawn.Many creative liberties were taken in making the 2025 film Until Dawn, which significantly altered the plot from the original video game, making it almost a completely different story. The Until Dawn movie follows a young woman who travels to a mysterious house in search of her missing sister, accompanied by her friends. There, they are killed by a variety of monsters and are forced to relive the experience again and again as time resets each night.
Video game adaptations like Until Dawn are bound to feature some differences from the original story. This may be done to make the narrative better fit the new cinematic medium and appeal to a wider audience. However, with the film featuring several changes to the characters, concept, setting, and scares, director David F. Sandberg oversaw a completely new version of the video game’s story with 2025’s Until Dawn.
You are watching: 8 Ways Until Dawn Is Different From The Video Games
8
The Premise
The Until Dawn Film Puts Supernatural Spin On The Game’s Concept
The time loop in Until Dawn is the most notable thing unique to the film adaptation. The movie upends the game’s premise by having the characters try to survive until dawn so they can escape the house’s temporal prison. As for the game, the goal for the protagonists is to survive until dawn after the snowstorm subsides, so a rescue team can come to their aid.
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While it’s a drastic and controversial difference from Until Dawn‘s lore, it does reflect the game’s core gimmick, which is that the player’s choices affect the fates of the characters. Each time the night is reset, the film’s heroes are forced to rethink their actions and follow different paths in their attempts to survive. This reflects how players of the game are supposed to pause and consider their options as they try to decide the best course of action for the characters they’re controlling.
7
The Setting
The Story’s Fateful House Is Different In Both Versions Of Until Dawn
The Until Dawn game follows its characters as they try to survive their stay at a ski lodge reminiscent of The Shining‘s Overlook Hotel. Meanwhile, the film version of Until Dawn depicts its cast visiting an old house in the remote Glore Valley. The game’s snowy mountaintop isolated its cast from civilization with its natural elements. The film instead keeps its protagonists confined to its haunted house with its supernatural time loop. The Glore lodge appears to exist in a bubble outside of time, as it pours rain everywhere except for the plot of land on which the house resides.
6
The Characters
The Film Features A Cast Completely Different From The Game
Both versions of Until Dawn follow a group of young adult friends on an ill-fated trip. The game featured performances from notable actors like Hayden Panettiere and future Academy Award winner Rami Malek. As for the film, a handful of relatively newer actors like Ella Rubin and Odessa A’zion were brought in to portray a different cast of characters. None of the film’s main characters even share the names of those in the game.
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Despite the different casts, the film and the game show their characters traveling to isolated houses a year after someone close to them mysteriously disappeared. While Clover is looking for her missing sister Melanie in Glore Valley, the characters are invited by Josh to the Washington Lodge a year after his sisters, Hannah and Beth, died during their last stay there.
5
Dr. Alan Hill
Peter Stomare Plays Two Different Versions of This Doctor
While the film’s main group of protagonists is different from the game, Dr. Alan Hill appears in both stories. Actor Peter Stormare even reprises his role from the game for the movie. However, Dr. Hill’s character in the film is extremely different from his video game counterpart.
Dr. Hill appears as Josh’s therapist in the game, particularly through hallucinations. The film shows Hill taking on the role of the main antagonist, who appears in person throughout the story. In a traditional evil doctor role, Hill lures Clover and her friends to the Glore Valley lodge and experiments on them using the time loop, watching them die repeatedly to observe how they transform into Wendigos.
4
The Mines
Different Secrets Lie Beneath The Earth In Each Story
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A crucial part of the Until Dawn game’s story is the dark history of the Blackwood Mines. It was here that a group of miners were trapped by a cave-in long before the events of the game, forcing them to practice cannibalism in order to survive, which eventually transformed them into the Wendigos.
The film version of Until Dawn adapts the mine collapse backstory, with the event occurring in the Glore Valley mines instead. On top of that, the film enhances the tragedy by revealing that the cave-in caused nearly the entire town of Glore Valley to sink underground, with the lodge being the only thing still above ground.
3
The Wendigos
These Monsters Are Created Differently In The Film
The flesh-eating Wendigos have similar backstories in the film and game versions of Until Dawn. Nevertheless, the way humans are transformed into these monsters is different in each story. In the source material, humans are only turned into Wendigos after they eat the flesh of another human being, causing them to be possessed by the Wendigo spirit.
By altering the transformation requirements, the film makes the Wendigos a dark representation of depression, which Clover has been diagnosed with.
In 2025’s Until Dawn, humans become Wendigos at the lodge once they become so consumed by fear, anxiety, and hopelessness after dying so many times in the time loop. By altering the transformation requirements, the film makes the Wendigos a dark representation of depression, which Clover has been diagnosed with.
2
The Masked Man’s Backstory
This Slasher Villain Is A Different Kind Of Killer In The Film
One of the most frightening features of the Until Dawn franchise is the villainous Masked Man. In both the film and the game, this mysterious figure stalks the core group as he attempts to kill them. However, in the original story, the Masked Man is revealed to be Rami Malek’s Josh, who created this persona with a fake backstory to cover his tracks as he tries to murder everyone. On the other hand, nothing is known about the Masked Man or who he is in the film. Instead of being an actual person, the killer is implied by Dr. Hill to be a manifestation of Clover’s latent fears produced by the evil force tormenting her and her friends.
1
The Amount Of Monsters
The Film Features Many More Kinds Of Monsters Than The Game
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While both the film and the game feature horrifying creatures in the form of the Wendigos, these are the only kinds of real monsters that appear in the source material. Many of the game’s supernatural occurrences and entities, such as the ghost, are tricks orchestrated by Josh as part of his revenge plan.
In contrast, the evil force at the Glore lodge unleashes several kinds of killer creatures seemingly based on Clover’s psyche in 2025’s Until Dawn. Such apparitions include a possessed elderly woman known as “The Glore Witch” and parasitic worms. The movie also seems to unleash a gigantic Wendigo to prevent Nina and Abel from escaping the house.
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See more : Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 24 Recap and Ending Explained
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Until Dawn
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Horror
8/10
6.5/10
Release Date
April 25, 2025
Runtime
103 Minutes
Director
David F. Sandberg
Writers
Gary Dauberman, Blair Butler
Producers
Carter Swan, Roy Lee, Gary Dauberman, Charles Miller, Lotta Losten, Asad Qizilbash
Cast
See All
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Ella Rubin
Clover
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Michael Cimino
Max
A group of friends ventures into a remote valley to uncover the truth behind a mysterious disappearance. They find themselves trapped in a nightmarish time loop, facing a series of ever-changing and increasingly terrifying threats.
Main Genre
Horror
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Category: Entertainment