- Publisher: Metal Head Games , Spiral Up Games
- Release Date: Jul 18, 2025
- Also On: Nintendo Switch 2, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- Summary:
- Developer: Metal Head Games
- Genre(s): Adventure, Survival, Action Adventure, General
- # of players: No Online Multiplayer
- Cheats: On GameFAQs
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 13
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Mixed: 2 out of 13
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Negative: 0 out of 13
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Jul 17, 2025Back to the Dawn is one of the most unique indie RPGs I’ve played in recent memory—gritty, tense, mechanically rewarding, and full of well-developed characters who surprise you with their humanity, despite being cartoon animals. Its depiction of prison life is thoughtful and serious without relying on shock value, and the branching narrative gives your decisions real weight.
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Jul 15, 2025Back to the Dawn is a masterfully crafted RPG that pulls no punches—an unflinching dive into the grit and grind of prison life, where every decision carries weight and survival hinges on strategy. With a cast of brilliantly written anthropomorphic inmates, it delivers a raw, rewarding experience that lingers long after the final escape.
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Jul 30, 2025Back to the Dawn is a management RPG set in a prison populated by anthropomorphic animals, with strong survival elements. You have twenty-one days to organize an escape, keeping an eye on time, resources, social relationships, and skills. Every action consumes precious minutes and can influence future events. The turn-based combat system mirrors typical JRPG gameplay. Deep, branching, and challenging, it surprises with its wealth of options and narrative variety, despite its lackluster sound. A brilliant and strategic game, worth replaying several times to see as many endings as possible.
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Jul 20, 2025Metal Head takes the mechanics of time, skill and priority management very seriously, and delivers a rich, immersive and gripping narrative experience, with a gallery of engaging characters.
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Sep 22, 2025For 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.
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Aug 4, 2025If you’re a fan of deep, choice-driven RPGs with meaningful consequences and replayable scenarios, Back to the Dawn is an easy recommendation. Its mix of strategy, narrative, and immersive prison life makes it a standout indie title that punches far above its weight. Whether you’re planning every move with precision or adapting to chaos on the fly, this is one prison escape worth experiencing.
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Sep 10, 2025Back 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.