Back to the Dawn

Back to the Dawn

Steam Deck Verified

Metal Head Games · RPG · Jul 18, 2025

Yes, worth buying.

At $23.99. It has been as low as $19.19.

94%
Very Positive
10k player reviews
High confidence
Buy it if you like
  • Story and characters: 194 reviews raised it, mostly praise
  • Gameplay: 77 reviews raised it, mostly praise
  • Graphics: 29 reviews raised it, mostly praise
Think twice if you dislike
  • Combat: 21 reviews raised it, mostly criticism
  • Interface: 6 reviews raised it, mostly criticism

Based on 10k player reviews · updated 6 days ago

What players think

The recurring themes across 300 analysed reviews: what players praise, what divides them, and what to know.

Why players love itThings to know
57% of themes are praise14% are divided29% are caveats
Story and characters
Players who bring up Story and characters mostly praise it.
My favorite quirk was how the NPCs have their own relationships and dialogue you can eavesdrop on, and their own little side-plots that advance even without you.
194 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Gameplay
Players who bring up Gameplay mostly praise it.
It has a complex economy, job, and friendship system, 40+ unique NPCs, multiple questlines, charming pixel art, encouraged replayability, a humongous map, mechanics focused on realism and creativity, great QoL, and, to put the cherry on top, an unmovable 45 FPS on Deck.
77 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Graphics
Players who bring up Graphics mostly praise it.
Now you may notice that I left the visuals out of my gushing and that's because I don't think a single footnote in the middle of a paragraph does it justice.
29 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Audio
Players who bring up Audio mostly praise it.
I was also awed by how even a thirty-second epilogue gets a beautiful background, complete with tiny animations and sound effects.
10 of 300 sampled reviews raised it

Theme by theme

Every theme is scored by what reviewers actually said about it, not just whether they recommended the game.

LovedMixedComplained about
Players love4 themes
Story and characters194 reviews
Gameplay77 reviews
Graphics29 reviews
Audio10 reviews
Divided opinion% still recommend
Difficulty24 reviews
75%
Players complain% still recommend
Combat21 reviews
86%
Interface6 reviews
50%

Ranked by how many sampled reviews mention each topic. A topic sits in a column by what reviewers said about that topic; the percentage beside it is how many of them recommended the game anyway. 2 more themes were each raised by fewer than 6 sampled reviews and are not shown.

Should you buy it now?

Crit’s read on the price, from Steam price history.

Prices have been lower

Currently $23.99. The lowest we've tracked is $19.19.

5 points recordedtoday · $23.99

The data behind the verdict

For the players who want the receipts.

Player review score
94%
Very Positive
Playing right now
Achievements
46
total to unlock
Rarest-achievement stats coming soon
Average playtime
Not tracked yet

We’ll surface hours-played once playtime ingestion ships.