There are a ton of ways for various characters to die in Until Dawn. They can perish due to a big choice you make, or just by missing a quick-time event at the worst of times. By the end of the game, every character can die or every character can live depending on how you play. That is the magic of Until Dawn.
There are plenty of videos out there that show the various ways characters can die. We have watched those videos and selected the ten most brutal deaths of the bunch. Obviously, there are spoilers ahead. Also, if you are not a horror fan or are squeamish about body-horror, then proceed with caution.
Updated on March 7th, 2021, by Allison Stalberg: It has already been six years since Until Dawn made waves among the video game horror fan community. Players to this day still want a sequel but will have to settle for replays instead. After all, there are tons of different fates for these characters depending on player choices. Of course, most of those fates are brutal and merciless deaths. There are more than we thought!
15 Hannah And Beth's Fall
One of the most brutal death scenes in the game is one that will always happen no matter your choices. Beth and Hannah fell down a cliff into the mines. Luckily for Beth, her death was instant. However, it is still a horrid scene as her skull makes an audible crack when she hits the rocky floor.
In a psychological sense, Hannah also died due to this fall. The twist is that she actually turned into a Wendigo by eating Beth's corpse in an attempt to not starve to death. So technically she did not die here, but her humanity definitely did not survive.
14 Death By Fire
Near the end of the game, you have to kill the wendigos by lighting up the cabin with fire. However, it is up to you and your skills as to whether every character makes it out of the house before then. It is possible that you got every single character to live up to this point and then you can ruin it all by killing most of them in the house with the fire.
It ranks fairly low because the death itself relatively quick, and not quite as gruesome to witness as the others further on.
13 Matt Falling Off A Cliff
Matt can die quite similarly to Beth and Hannah. At a certain point in the game, Matt and Emily meet a herd of reindeer. The player has a choice to attack the animals with an axe. If they do, the reindeer will push Matt off the cliff behind him while Emily watches in horror.
While similar to Beth and Hannah, the death is arguably more brutal. The game then provides players with a close-up of Matt's eyes as life leaves them.
12 Josh Getting Sawed In Half (Sort Of)
Even though this death was incredibly brutal and realistic looking, it was actually a prank performed by Josh. Like a scene from a Saw movie, Chris finds Josh and Ashley tied up and forced to make the choice between who lives in who dies. However, no matter who he chooses, Josh gets sawed in half.
For a prank, the fake death is insanely realistic. Most players, just like Chris and Ashley, believed they just saw Josh actually get cut in half.
11 Matt Shoots Emily
Not every death in Until Dawn happens through wendigo attacks, fire, and cliff falls. In rare instances, the characters can kill each other. This can happen between Emily and Matt. To make matters worse, it can happen right after losing Chris.
What leads up to the situation is the group finding out Emily was bitten by a wendigo. Ashley and Matt immediately panic, believing this means Emily will become one. Matt can then shoot her in the head as she cowers in a corner. It is not pretty, and not long afterward the group discovers that Emily would not have actually turned into a wendigo.
10 Ashley Investigates The Voice
A lot of poor gamers fell for this wendigo trap. If you read all the documents in the game, you eventually do learn that wendigo can copy human voices. Knowing that, it is probably not wise to investigate a mysterious voice in a tunnel that separates you from everyone else.
However, if you investigate the voice then you get this brutal scene. The wendigo takes Ashley and decapitates her. This is high on list because you do not actually see the decapitation. You just see Ashley's horrified face as her disembodied head hits the floor.
9 Sam's Death
Sam is one of the more bad-ass characters of the crew, as she can only die at the very end of the game. Due to this, we can assume she is either the smartest, strongest, luckiest, or all of the above. Also, she is voiced by the same voice actor as Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. So that is pretty cool.
Her death occurs near the end if you fail standing still, which can be particularly difficult with the motion control function (just set the controller on the ground, and you should be fine). Upon failing, the wendigo grabs same and impales her through the stomach.
8 Josh's Death
It is likely that you have seen this death, as it is basically canon unless you find certain documents (in which case, Josh becomes a wendigo instead). Poor Josh.
Basically, Josh and the wendigo meet and he sees the butterfly tattoo and recognizes his sister. However, that realization does not get much time to settle in, as the wendigo crushes his head between its strong monster hands like a rotten tomato.
7 Wendigo Taking Matt's Face
Of all the characters in the game, Matt has some of the most brutal death scenes. There is one significantly grotesque one in which his face is torn off by a wendigo. This only can happen if he ends up in the mines with Jess.
If they hide and the player misses a quick time event to prevent Jess from making sounds, the Wendigo kills them both. First, it kills Jess by ripping her jaw wide open and then cleaves off Matt's entire face with its claw-hands.
6 Emily And The Grinder
Emily is definitely one of the more hated characters of the bunch due to her mean-spirited ways. However, you have to admit she comes across as somewhat sympathetic due to all the horrible events she goes through in the game.
This awful death happens if you do not successfully get through certain quick-time events as she is trying to escape a wendigo. The poor woman falls into a grinder! You see everything too. Maybe it would have been better to just let a wendigo kill you instead.
5 Wendigo Gets Jess's Jaw
Jess's most common death happens off-screen if you do not make it to her in time as you play Mike. It is still pretty disturbing though, as you find her body with it missing its lower jaw.
If she survives that phase and later gets caught and killed by the wendigo, then you actually get to see the monster rip off her lower jaw. It looks very uncomfortable.
4 Wendigo Gets Emily's Eyes
Another way Emily can die is through the eyes. The wendigo has very long nail-claws. At a certain point, the wendigo can catch her and pierce through her eyes with both of its needle-like thumb claws.
It is a quick death, but very frightening to see on your TV screen.
3 Chris's Decapitation
Chris is one of the more funny characters, which makes it possibly more upsetting to see him die. No more jokes, only fear and pain.
This death happens slightly off-screen. In the tunnels, the wendigo and pick up Chris and you just see his body struggling as he is decapitated off-screen. What makes it so brutal and low on the list though, is when you see his head land, it is still twitching and making faces. Yikes.
2 Chris Killed In Front Of Ashley
This death is very decision-based. If you choose to point the gun at Ashley when she and Chris are in a sort-of hostage situation, then Ashley holds it against Chris later on. Later, when Chris is trying to escape the wendigo, the door is shut and he needs Ashley to open it to let him in. If you pointed the gun at yourself in the hostage situation, she will let Chris in.
However, if you pointed the gun at Ashley, then she will instead stand there and not open the door for Chris. The Wendigo catches up to him and rips his head off in front of Ashley. While it is partly her fault, she is still shocked and traumatized. This is one of the most brutal deaths because it is not just horrifying physically but also psychologically. You just witness close friends betray one another to add salt to the wound.
1 Matt And The Meat Hook
The most brutal death is awarded to Matt. He doesn't get his jaw ripped off, decapitated, or betrayed by a close friend. Instead, he is hung up on a meat hook through the mouth like a fish. You see everything from the wendigo hanging him there, to his kicking feet, to life just leaving his body. What an absolute nightmare.