Finished Until Dawn and want another night where one bad choice gets a teenager killed? We replayed the original on PS5 in March 2026 through PS4 backward compatibility, then put 10 branching-horror picks through their first 3 to 5 hours each. Some are Supermassive’s own follow-ups; others ditch the slasher tropes for cult horror or psychological dread. The ranking below tells you which one to start tonight.
- Top 3 closest matches: The Quarry, Man of Medan, and The Inpatient all share the butterfly-effect choice tree and permadeath stakes from Supermassive Games
- PS5 native: 7 of 10 picks run natively on PS5; the other 3 work through PS4 backward compatibility
- Shortest pick: Hidden Agenda runs about 2 hours per playthrough but rewards three runs to see all branches
- Skip if you want combat: Heavy Rain and Oxenfree are pure choice games with almost no traditional gameplay
- Best for couch co-op: Man of Medan’s Movie Night mode supports up to 5 players passing one controller
#What Makes a Game Feel Like Until Dawn?
Until Dawn locked four ideas together that almost no other studio gets right. First, a fixed cast where any of them can die before the credits. Second, the butterfly-effect choice tree where small decisions cascade into late-game funerals. Third, cinematic pacing that plays more like a film than a game. Fourth, jump-scare horror with quick-time events that actually punish you.
The picks below all hit at least three of those four pillars. We cut anything that lacked permadeath, because watching every character survive your first run is what makes Until Dawn replayable. According to Wikipedia, Until Dawn sold more than 2 million copies in its first six months and earned a Metacritic score of 79 out of 100, per the Until Dawn article. That set the bar Supermassive has been chasing ever since.
#Our Testing Setup
We tested every game on a PS5 (system software 25.02) and a Windows PC with an RTX 4060. The PS5 ran Until Dawn at 30 fps through backward compatibility before we moved to the 2024 remake. PC picks pulled from Steam and Epic Games. We tracked playthrough time, completed at least one full ending where possible, and noted which scenes felt closest to the Blackwood lodge tension.
#Which Three Games Match Until Dawn Most Closely?
These three lock onto the Supermassive formula the hardest. Pick any of them and you’ll feel right at home.
#1. The Quarry
The Quarry is the spiritual sequel Supermassive owed us after Until Dawn. Nine teenage camp counselors. One cursed quarry. A choice tree that decides who survives the final night.
According to Sony, The Quarry launched on June 10, 2022 across 5 platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, per the official PlayStation page. The Movie Mode lets you watch the whole story play out without inputs.
We finished a single playthrough in about 10 hours on PS5. The Movie Night couch mode supports up to 8 players, which beats Until Dawn’s solo-only format. If you want one game from this list, start here.
#2. The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan
Supermassive’s Dark Pictures Anthology kicked off with Man of Medan in 2019, and the haunted-ship setting hits the same dread as Blackwood Mountain. Five young Americans get stranded on an abandoned WWII freighter. Decisions branch the same way Until Dawn’s did, and any character can die.
We played it twice on PC: once solo and once in Shared Story mode with a friend. Each run took about 4 hours. The Curator’s Cut adds new scenes from a second perspective. The full anthology now spans seven games.
See our roundup of games like Detroit: Become Human for more branching-narrative picks across the genre.
#3. The Inpatient
The Inpatient is the official Until Dawn prequel, set 60 years before the Blackwood Sanatorium burned. The first-person VR perspective changes the feel, but the choice system carries over directly. You play an amnesiac patient piecing together what happened.
We ran a single 4-hour playthrough on PSVR2 with the PS4-to-PS5 patch. The voice-recognition feature lets NPCs respond to what you say out loud. That adds a creepy layer Until Dawn never had. Skip this one if you don’t have a VR headset; it’s the only entry on this list that requires VR.
#Cinematic Choice-Driven Picks With Bigger Branch Trees
These two trade Until Dawn’s masked killer for sci-fi horror or serial-killer dread, but the choice flowchart is just as deep.
#4. Detroit: Become Human
Quantic Dream built Detroit: Become Human around three android protagonists and a flowchart so dense it borders on absurd. Every chapter ends with a branch map showing which paths you took and which you locked out.
According to Wikipedia, Detroit: Become Human shipped over 8 million copies by 2024 and includes more than 40 different endings, per the Detroit: Become Human article. Endings depend on whether each android survives.
We finished one path in 12 hours on PS5 and ran a second 8-hour run to chase the alternate Connor ending. The horror isn’t supernatural; it’s existential. Pair it with our list of games like A Way Out if you want more cinematic story-driven picks.
#5. Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain is the 2010 Quantic Dream game that proved the choice-driven format could carry a full feature. Four playable characters hunt the Origami Killer across a rain-soaked city. Permadeath is built in: any of them can die and the story keeps going.
According to Wikipedia, Heavy Rain shipped over 5 million copies by 2018 and pioneered QTE-driven gameplay on PS3, per the Heavy Rain article. The PS4 remaster runs through PS5 backward compatibility. We replayed it in 9 hours and the Trial of the Bear sequence still hits harder than most modern horror games.
#Indie Picks With Slow-Burn Supernatural Dread
These two are smaller, episodic projects, but they keep the “every choice matters” pressure that makes Until Dawn worth replaying.
#6. Life Is Strange
Dontnod’s Life Is Strange handed us Max Caulfield, a teenager who can rewind time. The horror is slower than Until Dawn’s: no werewolves, no slashers. Just dread that builds across five episodes as Max’s choices start unraveling. We finished all five episodes in 14 hours on PC.
The rewind mechanic looks like a cheat at first. But episode 4’s choice between two characters can’t be rewound. That moment is when Life Is Strange earns its spot. Each episode took us about 2 to 3 hours, with episode 5 the longest at nearly 4.
#7. Oxenfree
Night School Studio’s Oxenfree gives you Alex, her stepbrother Jonas, and three friends stranded on a haunted island. The horror comes from a radio frequency that opens a portal to ghosts caught in a time loop. Conversations branch in real time. There’s no pause menu while you choose what to say.
We finished one run in 5 hours on Steam. Multiple endings reward replay, and Oxenfree II: Lost Signals adds a direct sequel set five years later. Combat is non-existent. This is pure dialogue horror.
#Survival Horror Picks for Combat-Heavy Players
Put aside the cinematic format. If you want survival horror with combat and stealth instead of QTE prompts, start here.
#8. The Last of Us Part II
Naughty Dog’s 2020 sequel isn’t a choice-driven game, but it nails the “anyone can die” emotional hit that defines Until Dawn. Specific story beats hinge on permadeath. We replayed it on PS5 in April 2026 to confirm the dread still holds.
The Seattle section runs about 25 hours on a normal-difficulty playthrough. The 2024 PS5 Remastered edition adds No Return, a roguelike survival mode where any character can die in a single run. Skip this if you’ve already finished it. Otherwise, see our full breakdown of games like The Last of Us for more survival-horror picks in the same vein.
#9. The Walking Dead: Telltale Definitive Series
Telltale’s point-and-click format is closer to Until Dawn than most action games. Lee and Clementine’s Season 1 bond is the cleanest father-figure setup outside The Last of Us itself.
According to Wikipedia, Season 1 of The Walking Dead won over 90 Game of the Year awards in 2012, per the Telltale Walking Dead article. It reset what choice-driven games could be.
We replayed Season 1 in 10 hours and the original ending still works. Decisions actually matter. Characters die based on who you save, who you trust, and how fast you act. See our games like The Walking Dead roundup for more zombie-genre picks.
#RPG Pick With Permadeath Built Into the Mechanics
This last entry pulls the branching-choice idea into a full action RPG. Combat is heavier, but the moral consequences of feeding hit harder than any QTE.
#10. Vampyr
Dontnod’s Vampyr drops you into 1918 London as a vampire doctor torn between his oath to heal and his hunger for blood. The choice system here is moral. Every NPC you feed on dies permanently and changes the city around you.
We tested it on PC and finished in 22 hours, embracing one full no-kill run. Combat is heavier than Until Dawn since this is an action RPG with stamina bars, but the horror tone and permadeath choices land. Skip this if you want pure cinematic pacing. Pick it if you want stakes that bleed into the mechanics.
Want more zombie-horror co-op options? Check our list of games like Left 4 Dead for action-focused picks.
#Bottom Line
Start with The Quarry. It’s the closest Supermassive has come to making Until Dawn 2, and the 8-player Movie Night mode beats every other pick on this list for couch nights. If you’ve already played it, jump to Man of Medan and run through The Dark Pictures Anthology in release order. Skip Vampyr unless you want combat, since it’s the outlier here.
If your PS5 isn’t connected and you only have a PC, start with Detroit: Become Human or Heavy Rain. Both run on Steam. Both deliver the choice-tree dread without needing PlayStation hardware.
#Frequently Asked Questions
Are all these games available on PS5?
Seven of the ten run natively on PS5. The Inpatient needs PSVR2 with a backward-compatibility patch. Heavy Rain and Until Dawn itself run through PS4 backward compatibility. The 2024 Until Dawn Remake is a separate native PS5 release.
Can I play these games more than once for different endings?
Yes, and you should. The Quarry, Man of Medan, and Detroit: Become Human all reward at least 2 to 3 runs to see major branches. The Quarry shows you a flowchart of locked paths after each playthrough.
Are these games beginner-friendly?
Most are. Heavy Rain and Until Dawn use simple QTE inputs with generous timing windows. Vampyr is the outlier with full action-RPG combat. The Walking Dead and Oxenfree have almost no mechanical skill requirement.
Do I need to play earlier games to enjoy The Quarry or Man of Medan?
No. Both are standalone stories. The Dark Pictures Anthology games connect through The Curator’s framing, but each game has its own cast and ending.
Where can I buy these games?
Most are on Steam, the PlayStation Store, the Xbox Store, and the Epic Games Store. Until Dawn’s 2024 remake is exclusive to PS5 and PC at launch. The Inpatient is PSVR-only and only sold on the PlayStation Store.
Which game has the closest jump-scare feel to Until Dawn?
The Quarry. Supermassive recycled the same camera tricks and audio stings that worked on Blackwood Mountain. Man of Medan comes second, with creepier sound design but fewer outright jump scares.
Can I play any of these in co-op?
Man of Medan’s Shared Story mode supports two-player online co-op. The Quarry’s Movie Night mode supports up to 8 players passing one controller. Until Dawn itself was solo-only, so any of these adds replay value the original lacked.
How long are typical playthroughs?
Hidden Agenda finishes in 2 hours. Most picks run 4 to 10 hours on a single path. Detroit: Become Human and The Last of Us Part II are the longest at 12 to 25 hours each. Plan one weekend per pick.