2464: Until Dawn Remix (Syoc) – Oneshot

You’re reading about another dimension, a dimension not only of prose and narrative but of pure, concentrated suck. A journey into a twisted land whose boundaries are that of a poor writer’s feeble imagination. That’s the header up ahead—your next stop, the Badfic Zone!

Title: Until Dawn Remix (Syoc) [sic]
Author: shayvion
Media: Video Game
Topic: Until Dawn
Genre: Romance / Horror
URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13030003/1/Until-Dawn-Remix-Syoc
Critiqued by BatJamags (BadJamags and GoodJamags) and Spider-Man

Hello once again, patrons! I’m your host, BatJamags…

GoodJamags: And I’m your guest host, GoodJamags…

… And we’re back with the last fic for this year’s Badfic Zone. This one comes from the Until Dawn section of ff.net. Until Dawn is a narrative game with a branching story that I would have played if it weren’t a goddamn PlayStation exclusive. Seriously, guys. I am not going to buy an extra console just to play a couple games, and neither are most other people. What do you think you’re accomplishing with all of these fucking exclus-

*Tranquilized*

GoodJamags: That’s enough out of you. The story of the game is as such: We focus on a group of dumb horny teenagers who make an annual trip to a remote Canadian ski lodge on a mountain top with sketchy cell reception. The real plot twist is that most of them can actually not die if you make the right choices (and have a very steady hand for the motion-control minigames – or turn vibrations off and put the controller down on a table). Our initial group includes siblings (whose father owns the lodge) Hannah, Beth, and Josh Washington, along with generic protagonist Samantha “Sam” Giddings, recovering dick Mike Munroe, shy and withdrawn Ashley Brown, resident nerd Chris Hartley, petty and judgmental Emily Davis, good-nature jock Matt Taylor, and airhead Jess Riley.

GoodJamags: In the prologue, Mike, Ashley, Emily, Matt, and Jess play a prank on Hannah. She’s got a crush on Mike, so he invites her to his room alone. She gets a little overexcited, and the ensuing debacle is caught on camera by the other pranksters. Hannah, understandably upset, flees into the night, pursued by Beth. The two get lost in the woods, pursued by something that the player doesn’t get a clear look at, and fall off a cliff.

GoodJamags: The plot picks back up when Josh has unexpectedly invited everyone back to the lodge the following year, apparently hoping to mend the bridges that were burned. They begin to realize that a killer is hunting them down… except then it turns out there is no killer. Josh just wanted them to think there was as a revenge prank for what happened to Hannah and Beth. Problem is, the antics caused by the fake killer get the attention of the mountain’s other inhabitants: wendigoes, nigh-invulnerable undead creatures that used to be a group of miners that got trapped and resorted to cannibalism to survive. Long story short, Josh dies at some point no matter what (though where and how varies), but the others can actually all be OK if you’re careful. Basically it’s a Telltale-style story game, and it’s up to you whether you play the horror tropes straight or subvert them by having the characters be smart and sensible and survive by working as a group. Pretty cool.

You know what else is pretty cool?

GoodJamags: What?

Owning an X-Box One and not a PS4 and not being able to play the game because it’s an exclusive for no reason.

GoodJamags: I will tranquilize you again.

Yeah, whatever. Anyway, the Until Dawn section of ff.net has a disturbingly large number of assorted self-inserts, OC-fics, and other Sue indicators on its front page alone (at least, when you narrow by the “horror” genre tag, which I do whenever I’m looking for Badfic Zone oneshots). This one jumped out at me because it’s an SYOC (“submit your own character”) fic, and that’s always a terrible sign.

GoodJamags: So, let’s dive in and see if any of these guys have generic fire powers or vaguely-defined “experiments” as a backstory!

I’m hoping for a Russian stereotype that can shoot bullets out of the air.

Syoc for the game Until Dawn.

GoodJamags: “Syoc?”

I said it was “submit your own-”

GoodJamags: Yeah, but the one in the summary isn’t an acronym. It’s just a nonsense word.

Enjoy the story of a group of teens trying to survive the night. Will they kill each other or fall in love.

Will they end questions with question marks.

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