20 Minutes Till Dawn Review: Surviving The Swarm

20 Minutes Till Dawn is a game developed by flanne that released on steam on June 8th, 2023. It’s a twin-stick shooter in which you must fight your way through massive hordes of eldritch monsters and survive for twenty minutes. It’s an interesting game in a genre similar to that of games like Vampire Survivors, only in this game you can control and aim your attacks instead of them happening on their own. 

The game is fun and can be very challenging on higher difficulties with how the darkness level keeps adding more and more elements to make things harder.

20 Minutes Till Dawn is currently available on Steam for $4.99 at base price.

Story – Just Shooting Monsters

20 Minutes Till Dawn has no explicitly presented story, the player is simply placed in a dark forest, temple, or pumpkin patch and made to fend off monsters for twenty minutes. There are multiple playable characters but the only information about them given is their name and appearance. The game does seem to be partly inspired by Lovecraft mythos, as the regular enemies are tentacled monsters and bosses the player fights are named after such entities as Shoggoth, Hastur, and Yog. The game does still have a unique atmosphere in how it gives off the feeling of fighting a seemingly endless horde of otherworldly monsters and trying to survive.

Gameplay – Twenty Minutes Of Carnage

In 20 Minutes Till Dawn, The player choses a character, a weapon, and optionally a set of runes when starting the game. They then select from one of three levels, and the level of darkness (which is essentially a difficulty selection). Then, they are placed in an area where they’re quickly surrounded by swarms of monsters. The player shoots through the waves of enemies and collects pickups they leave behind. They use these pickups to level up and gain upgrades to enhance their build. The goal is to survive twenty minutes, upon which you automatically win. After each run, you gain a currency that can be used to unlock new characters new weapons, or purchase and upgrade permanent passive skills.

Characters

The characters each have a different attribute that has an effect on gameplay. One character has higher starting health. Another gets an additional upgrade choice when levelling up. Others have unique attacks they periodically use. In addition, throughout a run the player can collect up to three different upgrades from Elite enemies that boost their stats in various ways. Each of the different playable characters has three unique upgrades each.

The game’s characters have a good range of abilities that help each of them to stand out from each other, particularly after getting some of their unique upgrades. 

The game’s characters get more unique skills as a run progresses.

Weapons

There are a wide selection of weapons to choose from when you start a run. These all have different projectiles and properties. Upon reaching Level 20, you’ll be offered a choice of three weapon upgrades, each unique to your starting weapon.  These can all significantly change how the weapon functions, as well as giving the weapon a new appearance.

The game’s weapons give you many interesting options to fight the swarms of enemies with, and the upgrades further add variety to each run.

Each weapon can be upgraded one of three different ways when you reach Level 20.

Enemies

The game’s enemies mostly just move towards you and damage you on contact. They rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm you, in the hundreds and even thousands. While most simply try to attack you by touching you, others have different tactics. Some will explode when you get close, which can also kill surrounding enemies. Some throw bright red projectiles at you. Over time enemies get more health and greater numbers.

Periodically throughout a run, an enemy with a red outline will appear. These enemies are Elite, and they have much more health than regular enemies. Otherwise, they behave mostly like the standard enemies. Upon defeat they’ll leave behind a chest that gives a unique character-specific upgrade.

At the 5 and 15-minute marks of each run, a Boss will spawn. These enemies are much larger than the others and have their own unique attacks. Defeating them drops a tome that gives you an optional unique upgrade. While the second boss is unique to each location, the first boss is the same in 2 out of 3 areas.

At the 5-and 15-minute mark of every run, a powerful boss will spawn.

Upgrades

Collecting enough experience to level up lets the player choose from a selection of upgrades, each part of a set of four. In each set, you’ll need to pick the first to unlock the next two, and then one of those to unlock the final. These upgrades can do things such as increase your fire rate, give you more health, and add extra sources of damage. These upgrades synergize well with each other, leading to combos that can be very powerful.

Each upgrades is part of a set of four, and you’ll need to pick the first to be able to get the rest later in the run.

Graphics And Audio – Green And Red

20 Minutes Till Dawn has a retro aesthetic with colors that mostly consist of green and black, along with some red and white. Most of the screen is darkened except for a circle of light around the player character. The game’s visuals being mostly a black void with green characters and scenery gives the game an atmosphere of fighting off a horde of otherworldly monster while waiting for the sun to rise. The dim light around the character surrounded by darkness is a particularly nice touch.

The game only has one song that plays throughout normal gameplay. It does set the tone of the game, but it can get kind of repetitive when it’s the only thing there is to listen to. There’s also a song that plays in the main menu, which is a nice spooky tune.

20 Minutes Till Dawn was reviewed on PC.