Back to the Dawn is a pixel-art RPG made by Shanghai based Metal Head Games. Publisher Spiral Up Games sent us a copy of it to review for the Xbox Series X platform. It’s also available for the PC on Steam where it previously spent about a year in Early Access. The developers collected a lot of feedback during the early access period and used that to improve the overall game for its official release date, and it really shows. Back to the Dawn is a surprisingly complex role-playing game with hours of great gameplay which is especially impressive for an indie title. If you like noir-based entertainment but with a strong sense of humor, then Back to the Dawn is for you.
In Back to the Dawn, which is set inside a sprawling prison, there are two characters you can pick to play. The first is Thomas, a fox who is a reporter. The second is Bob, a black panther who is secretly an undercover cop. Both anthropomorphic protagonists are forced into jail and have a ticking time clock that will force them to take action before it is too late. In addition to the two main characters, each also has three versions of themselves that you can pick to play. Each of those versions has particular strengths and weaknesses that arise from their backstories. This adds to the already high replay ability.
Back to the Dawn is a great example of a video game RPG, with decisions that cause the narrative to branch off in different directions, which in turn affects the endings in big ways. Many titles call themselves RPGs these days but have railroad decisions that either advance one singular tracked storyline or make you fail to move forward. Back to the Dawn, by contrast, has a three-dimensional feel to the story where choices matter.
Like most RPGs, the characters here have stats that are used to attempt to perform actions. They include Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Charisma. Each ability also has dependent specialties and skills you activate to try and do things like pick a lock or intimidate a fellow inmate. The specialties can be increased with experience while the skills level up using points.
There are a lot of very good mechanics in Back to the Dawn, many of which remind me of a Call of Cthulhu type of adventure. For example, your character can fall into despair and madness and have haunting dreams when they lie down in their prison cell. There is even a Lovecraftian type of sub-quest in the game that I won’t reveal here plus some ghosts and other high strangeness in the prison. It is this strangeness which makes the harsh prison life in the adventure have a bit of a comedic edge.
Another interesting part of this adventure is the way the art and story use different animal types as a shorthand for the character. Most of the prison staff, for example, are dogs. The prison doctor is a poodle, the prison chaplain is a collie and the friendly infirmary guard is a golden retriever. The stricter guards like Captain Bruce are mastiffs or bull terriers. The prisoners are everything from Jumbo the Elephant (leader of the Big Foot Gang) to the bullying Crunchy the Crocodile. Another funny example is that William the Tortoise talks slowly and is torturous to engage in conversation. Back to the Dawn makes William’s replies deliberately slow and with an ellipsis between sentence fragments.
These different characters carry items and information that can help the player gain a reputation, keep their body healthy and their mind strong. These stats are all separately tracked by Back to the Dawn, and I ended up dying one time from physical weakness and another time from mental collapse. You really have to make sure that you take care of yourself as you are reaching for your other key goals.
Common prison areas including a library, chapel and a cafeteria are all here along with movie and book prison staples, such as a sewer big enough to escape through and a place hidden from the guards where prisoners can fight each other for money and respect. There is also a strange, haunted barbershop with a ghost that gives you quests, and there’s plenty of other strange and mysterious things hidden in the prison.
The world outside the prison also makes an impact on the game. Phone calls cost money and written letters can earn you a paramour. These things are important as they give you access to a lawyer and news from the events that are conspiring against you out in the world, and reminds you that there’s a time limit. The clock is a constant in this title, as is the old cliche of prison life, “doing time.”
Time management is important and includes planning when to rest, read, workout, eat, shower, brush your teeth and even using the toilet. All of these things keep you healthy along with activities to protect your mental health like reading, watching TV, playing games or praying. As mentioned before, the developers utilized the early access feedback from players to make improvements in Back to the Dawn, and it really shows.
There is about 40 hours of gameplay between the two different storylines. The publisher proudly proclaims that “survival means scheming, fighting and maybe even making a few unlikely friends.” I would agree as I did all of that in Back to the Dawn.
Back to the Dawn is an adventure where a player must track more than hit points and remember a few story elements. This is not a high-resolution game with player motion capture and voice over. It is an RPG that delivers more pounds per pixel than other titles of the genre.
In the end, Back to the Dawn is more than just another pixel-art indie—it’s a masterclass in how to weave story, strategy and style into an RPG that rewards curiosity and punishes complacency. Whether you’re scheming your next great escape, making unlikely allies or simply trying to keep your mind and body intact, Back to the Dawn delivers a prison experience that’s both demanding and wildly entertaining. If you’re ready to serve a sentence filled with twists, humor and genuine consequence, then “doing time” never felt this good.