Back to the Dawn is a deceptively deep game. It draws you in with its quirky animal characters and holds you tight with its complex mechanics, branching narratives, and brutal sense of fairness. There’s no hand-holding here, just a dense sandbox where your choices, relationships, and instincts shape the story. It's not always easy, and sometimes the game feels downright punishing. But that’s the point. You’ll fail. You’ll restart. And you’ll come back smarter, more prepared, and even more determined to crack the system or break free from it. For fans of RPGs, survival sims, and story-rich adventures, this is one prison worth checking into. Just don’t expect it to be a walk in the yard.

For a game set in a jail, Back to the Dawn offers an impressive amount of freedom. Coupled with a conspiracy-minded story, and more side-quests you can shake a shiv at, you'll be hooked.

Back to the Dawn is a fascinating game at first glance, due to its uncanny mix of prison, animals, and laid back music. But as you dive into its systems and figure out what your goals are, you run into a sort of identity issue. Does this game want to be open-ended or not? It’s hard to tell, and the rush to complete goals within a strict time limit betrays the offerings of things to do and people to meet. This confusion between what this experience does or doesn’t want to be, and a surprising lack of personality beneath the surface, both made my time with this adventure feel laborious.