RPGs come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes you’ll get a sprawling open world like in the Elder Scrolls games, or perhaps you’ll be immersed in the world of DnD. Sometimes an RPG can catch you by surprise with a premise and gameplay hook that you couldn’t imagine being so captivating. Back to the Dawn is what you would get when you mix the hard-boiled prison stories of the Shawshank Redemption with the character designs of your favorite furry characters. The choices you make during are dependent on your stats and the choices you’ve already made, the characters are compelling, and the game really makes you earn every single victory. It came out last year on PC, but it finally came to the Switch consoles with a new port. Is this story of betrayal and conspiracy all its cracked up to be or is it a prison you want to skip all together.
Choosing your Prison Experience
Back to the Dawn is a prison escape RPG with two protagonists to choose from: Thomas the fox and Bob the black panther. Both characters have their own unique story along with benefits and drawbacks depending on which stat traits you want to focus on. I went with Thomas as he was the primary character in the marketing and was the initial character the game focused on before adding Bob as an additional playable character. Thomas is an investigative reporter who got too close to revealing the shady dealings of a politician, and instead of taking a bribe and keeping his mouth shut he decided to keep his integrity by pursuing the truth. Unfortunately for Thomas he ends up being framed for a crime moments later and is put into prison for the foreseeable future. Time is ticking and you have to collect enough evidence to stop that very corrupt politician before election day.
If you look past the political intrigue and the corrupt underbelly of society, the game has a grounded story about a guy who is just trying to live by his values and be a good person. Sure he makes mistakes, but in his heart he is doing the right thing. This extends to all of the characters in the prison because every character gets fleshed out. You learn who they are, what they like, and how you get them on your side. The dialogue between you and all the other characters got me really immersed in the world.
Every Decision Matters
I mentioned this game being a prison break RPG before, but what does a that actually mean from a gameplay sense? When you start the game you can choose between different archetypes that act as a beginner set of stats and abilities that will help you play the game in a certain way. Will you be persuasive and charismatic by talking your way through dangerous scenarios, or will you use your fists to command respect in the prison? It is all up to you. Functionally what this means is that you will have primary story goals that you will have to achieve, such as “befriend this inmate” or “talk to your lawyer on the payphone”, and side quests that can gain you favor with specific people within the prison. There are many ways to accomplish these objectives, most of which require a roll of the dice. You’ll progress through the game by playing the role that best suits your stats and the perks you get.
It’s best to view this game as baby’s first CRPG with a focus on dialogue and skill checks that either reward upon a good roll or punish you for a bad one. I think this is the game’s biggest strength. The Escapists is another prison RPG, but is more focused on randomization and puzzle solving, which can be fun but misses the opportunity of creating compelling writing and memorable characters. Back To Dawn fills every single inmate with tons of personality and you get to know enough about them to form bonds with them, so when quests ask you to betray certain prisoners or hurt them it actually causes a dilemma for the player; the sign of a good role playing experience.
Crafting and the Prison Economy
One of the important lessons that the game will teach you is that nothing is free in this life, especially not in prison. There are a handful of resources that you have to keep track of if you want to get anywhere in this game. Your Mind, Satiety, Focus, Reputation and Energy. Mind is your mental stress and if it gets too low your intelligence and charisma will be halved. Satiety is your hunger which can recovered by eating food. Focus allows you re-roll skill checks and one point is recovered every in-game hour. Energy allows you to perform activities and can be recovered by rest or sleep. Reputation is tracked by completed quests for a specific faction. All of these different systems require currency, trading, and crafting which requires you to explore every nook and cranny for opportunities. Giving you this huge sandbox offers so many things to do and work towards without the game explicitly telling what and what not to do.
This allows for the game to have an immersive sim gameplay style that rewards player creativity through the systems in the game. The only downside is that all of this is put on a timer and if you don’t complete enough main story objectives in the proper time you will ultimately lose the game and get a bad ending. During your first playthrough this can seem very daunting and the game does not help this feeling with the way it throws so many mechanics and choices at the player all at once. I’m used to it since I play sandbox and immersive RPGs often, but to a new player some of this complexity and the amount of things to do in a limited time can be very hard to process.
Crazy Cast in Pixel Art Beauty
The bread and butter for this game is the interactions you have with the inmates, all done in HD pixel art. Reminds me a lot of the 2.5D pixel art games and remakes from Square Enix in recent years with high quality character portraits and very striking character designs. Every one of the inmates is a different type of animal, with there of course being some overlap, but there is a good representation of all the major animal types in the game. Some of them are references to other characters like Perry who is a platypus and Walter the skunk who is obviously a reference to Walter White from Breaking Bad.
Most of the characters are a part of factions that control different aspects of the prison. Doing quests and gaining favor with a faction allows you to join it and reap their rewards, but also reduces favor with characters who are in opposition to that faction. It’s a good way to give every character a purpose in the game. This helps cover for the fact that there are some missed opportunities with some of the prisoners not having dedicated story quests to them. I would have loved to know them more, learning the ins and outs of characters in the vein of the later Persona games.
Switch Port is Servicable
For this review I was able to play this game on the Switch, but there is a dedicated version on the Switch 2 as well. The portability of the game was actually quite a strength for the game, as it allows for you to pace yourself by doing a few activities and then picking it back up later once you’re refreshed. I did note that there was some minor input lag when going into the inventory and performing certain actions. Not game breaking, but annoying enough to mention and I can’t imagine the original version on PC operating this way. Other than that, the performance was pretty solid, but that is too be expected with the game being not so technologically demanding for the visuals.
Prison Life Ain’t So Bad
Back To Dawn is not a game for everyone and I think that is a good thing. It has really resonated with an audience that loves the game for its witty writing, immersive sandbox, and its expressive pixel art presentation. The game can be pretty complicated at the start was such a huge variety of stats and meters to keep track of. Thankfully there is a fan community out there with plenty of resources to guide your way in this unique Prison RPG. While not always amazing, there is enough creative solutions and memorable moments to make this game the quintessential Prison RPG of your dreams.
