What happens when you mix Prison Break and Zootopia? You’d probably get something like Back to the Dawn. This is a prison escape, time-management, narrative-driven RPG where you play as anthropomorphic convicts trying to survive within the confines of a penitentiary. If that doesn’t sound a little bit intriguing to you, then you need to look deep within yourself.
In Back to the Dawn, you can play as one of two protagonists: Thomas, the reporter who is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, or Bob, the convict who is deep undercover to locate an inmate who owes him a lot. I decided to spend most of my time with Thomas, as I was immediately gripped by his tale (pun intended). You are thrown into a pretty major story beat right out of the gate. You’re investigating a pollution scandal reportedly involving the town’s mayor.
While interviewing a witness, Thomas is visited by the campaign manager of the town’s extremely corrupt mayoral candidate and is given an ultimatum. Do you take a briefcase full of cash and never speak of this again, or do you decline and fight for the truth? If you say yes, the game ends right away (this happened to me), but if you decline, it is revealed that the campaign manager has planted drugs in your car. Police are called, and you are framed as a drug trafficker and must spend the next three weeks trying to clear your name before the mayoral election happens. It’s a fantastic setup that had me gripped within seconds.
Like a great TV show, Back to the Dawn‘s writing is strong and snappy. The language is very adult and isn’t afraid to say some naughty words. I actually think that’s a major positive, and I’ve always felt this way. I think when handling mature subjects like the prison system and people who are wrongly incarcerated, we shouldn’t speak delicately. These topics are handled in Back to the Dawn with the severity and gravitas that they deserve, while also being served to you on a platter filled with zoo animals. It blurs the line between being completely ridiculous and uncomfortably earnest. The inmates you meet are often funny and interesting, but they have their own issues and life stories that they’ll share with you when you’ve earned their trust. There are over 500,000 words in the game’s script, and each line of dialogue is worth following through. I couldn’t find a character (of which there are nearly 50) who was underdeveloped or uninteresting.
Back to the Dawn is a visual delight. The game boasts a highly detailed pixel-art aesthetic that is impossible to ignore. Each character is brimming with life and personality – even the guys you don’t want to fuck around with. One of my favourite characters is this angry-all-the-time crocodile named Crunchy. He’s this hulking crocodile whose look alone just screams bad news. He wants to fight you the second he meets you, and you can only bond with him by beating him in a fight. The visual storytelling gives you most of that information the second you see him, even without speaking to him. That applies to every character you meet. You just want to interact with every one of them the instant you see them. Their designs are so intricate, and it’s fun to see some lesser-represented animals like Raphael the mandrill or Diego the alpaca. Every inmate has lore as complex and interesting as their actual designs. I highly recommend checking out the wiki for Back of the Dawn to read the character pages. I think the game’s biggest strength is its characters, without a doubt.
The most important thing to learn in Back to the Dawn is how to manage your time effectively. The game is all about time management: who you spend your time with and what you spend it doing. You have a Body bar and a Mind bar; if either reaches zero, you die. Body is impacted by doing physical things (fighting, gambling, etc) whereas the Mind bar is impacted by story decisions. It reminds me of how Disco Elysium handles its health bar. Much like Stardew Valley, you also have energy and need to learn when to use it. Resting raises your energy, but resting also takes up time, and you only have three weeks. The daytime is often when you spend time building relationships and working, while nighttime is spent planning your escape and roaming the prison without being bothered. Finding times to rest while also balancing all of the other stuff you want to do is where the game’s difficulty comes from. Certain actions are only possible on certain days at different times. You can completely miss a story beat or character interaction if you don’t make it in time. This allows for a ton of replayability and opportunities to come up with different methods of egress.
What makes Back to the Dawn a true RPG is that you have stats that are paramount to your success. Each character has strength, agility, intelligence and charisma. You can also find items that can add additional stats when used or equipped. The game takes another feather out of Disco Elysium‘s hat by using literal dice rolls to determine whether you’ve succeeded or failed any action you take. Bonding with inmates can also help you gain access to skills that can help you succeed in different fields. It’s good to figure out what a certain inmate can do for you and bond with them to complete your build. Knowing how many characters and escape routes there are makes me wonder what the true number of solutions this game actually has. I imagine that most people who play this game will have a tough time finding somebody who had an identical experience to theirs.
I did not anticipate enjoying this game as much as I do. On first glance, I just assumed it’d be a game directed at furries, and that soured my initial expectations – well, consider my expectations shattered. Back to the Dawn is an extremely dense and intelligent RPG about clearing your name and getting out of prison. I didn’t even properly play Bob’s campaign, but I fully plan on it. Thomas the fox is a fantastic protagonist whom I found myself constantly rooting for. It also helps that the game has spectacular voice acting in both Chinese and Japanese – both languages help solidify the overall aesthetic the game has going. I found myself using the Japanese voice acting more because I really enjoyed Thomas’ performance, but I liked the Chinese voice acting better for most of the side characters. This is the biggest surprise I’ve had all year, and I can’t wait to see what’s next from Metal Head Games. Back to the Dawn is a fantastic RPG that I absolutely recommend you check out.
Back to the Dawn is currently available on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Steam. It will be available on PlayStation 5 at a later date.
