I’ve never been the best with strategy games—they involve way too much thinking for my tiny brain. But I’ve always wanted to get good and learn how to manage my time, my resources, and make the best of what I’ve got. What better way to be strategic than escaping prison, right?
Back to the Dawn developed by Metal Head Games and published by Spiral Up Games is a story rich, prison escape RPG that’s currently in Early Access. Unsurprisingly, it heavily reminds me of The Escapists 1 and The Escapists 2, but instead of your only goal being “escape prison,” there’s an intricate storyline to learn about and follow as you do. There is currently one of two characters you can play as, as the other one will be coming out with the full release.
Before officially starting Back to the Dawn, you get to choose a backstory: broadcast journalist, undercover journalist, and war correspondent. This changes your positive ability, negative effect, and specialties. For example, I chose broadcast journalist and got an extra charisma point, but I couldn’t shower without soap and lost 1 mind when searching through the trash without gloves. It doesn’t change much, but it’s nice to have an option that has rewards and consequences. I’m going to continue this review with the experiences I had after taking this backstory.
You play as Thomas the Fox (yes, everyone is an animal in Back to the Dawn… it’s pretty awesome). Thomas is a well-known journalist who’s just done a report on the mayor and his potential involvement in the contamination of the waters. You meet up with Angelo, the mayor’s “campaign manager” who wants you to delete the footage. If you accept the money, the game ends there. But you wouldn’t do that, right?
Of course, you refuse—your work is much more important to you than the image of some man. But that quickly proves to be the wrong option and you realize you’ve been set up and arrested. Someone planted an illegal drug in your car. Now, you must navigate the prison space through building relationships, getting money through jobs, building your skills, and planning your escape within 21 days before the mayor gets elected.
The first thing you’ll notice about Back to the Dawn is how absolutely stunning it is. If you know me then you know that there is nothing more satisfying to me than a pretty, consistently-moving pixelated art style. It checks off all of my boxes. There are even some cinematic semi-cutscenes that will absolutely take your breath away. If this game is nothing else, it is beautiful.
As you play through Back to the Dawn, you’ll find a lot of surprising, yet welcomed, mechanics. After eating, you gain digestion points which can be emptied by using the bathroom. There’s stamina that can be recovered by resting. There are stats to keep up with as well—hunger, body, and mind. There are skill points to spend on extremely useful skills, mini-games scattered throughout the many jobs you can do, friendship points to be earned with the other prisoners, and too many more to name. It definitely keeps you busy.
Back to the Dawn is also one of those games where it’s important to interact with anything and everything. There are plenty of tiny details to watch out for, like being able to place your toothbrush on your sink and then seeing it there. Which I know isn’t game changing, but it’s always nice to see the little things being appreciated. You can listen in on people’s conversations, and paying close attention will clue you in on the rivalries happening between the three gangs. There’s so much more, of course, to be explored.
I had so much fun playing Back to the Dawn, getting through day after day—until I kind of didn’t. Emphasis on “kind of.”
Near the end of your first playthrough, you aren’t set up for the sheer difficulty this game suddenly begins to throw at you. You think you’re doing a great job and playing the way you want to play (which for me, despite being a part of a gang, is to be kind and use my brain rather than my nonexistent brawls) and then ultimately, you’re punished severely for it. Granted, it is a prison setting so I should have expected that wouldn’t have been enough, but the choice would have been nice.
To my surprise, I ended up not completing the main storyline in time—resulting in me being met with an unfortunate ending. Even though I had prioritized getting through the main quest line the entire game, which I’m not even sure how much more I had left to do, ‘twas all for naught. There was a certain turning point near the end that resulted in me losing a couple days in a game where every second matters. And the worst part is, I’d have to start over completely because there is only one save file, and even then, unless you’re quitting the game, it’s automatic. The days in these games can feel extremely long. So, to spend all of this time thinking I was making amazing progress, only to be stomped out by a “final boss” if you will, that I was nowhere near prepared for was a bit frustrating.
Despite my complaints, I loved Back to the Dawn. I think it is something so special, and it has a lot of potential. But I would love for it to be less harsh in the future, maybe with some optional difficulty adjustments. Or if it’s going to be so punishing, for it to at least warn players so they can be prepared. Really, since there is so much to do, it isn’t the biggest deal in the world. In fact, I’m already planning out my next playthrough. Still, though, that does not negate my slight frustration at my sudden ending.
If in the full release, the other story is anything like the first, then Back to the Dawn will surely be a game to remember. But first, I would like to see some adjustments in how it punishes players for trying to get through the game the way they want.
Editor’s Note: At the time of writing this note, there has been manual save files added to Back to the Dawn, as well as an announcement of difficulty options.
Inanna played Back to the Dawn on PC in Early Access with a review code.
