Skip to main content PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES Search PC Gamer View Profile PC Gaming Show Movies & TV Community guidelines Affiliate links Meet the team About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine Subscription Why subscribe? Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From$32.49Subscribe now Essential Hardware Dune: Awakening PC Gaming Show Recommended reading In The Shadow Syndicate you're a dog detective who shoots people in bullet-time and wears a cursed ring City Builder Inspired by Dwarf Fortress and Oxygen Not Included, adorable side-scrolling city-builder Ratopia burrows out of early access Star-trekking sandbox roguelike Approaching Infinity launches after more than 12 years in development ‘We could go from a shooter to a platformer to a horror theme’: How stepping away from Payday 2’s real-world framing has helped Den of Wolves turn high-stakes heisting on its head Skin Deep review The Drifter is a grimy point 'n' click adventure mixing bleak sci-fi with low-budget Aussie schlock, and there's a demo out now This narrative thriller takes place in a fictional '80s OS, and the devs obsessed over keeping just the right amount of old school jank: 'We did retain the dial-up modem' The prison breakout RPG where you can be a fox or a panther has left early access Jody Macgregor 21 July 2025 Back to the Dawn has tunneled into full release. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Spiral Up) After more than a year spent bribing guards, climbing walls, shivving rivals, and digging a tunnel with a sharpened spoon, Back to the Dawn hit version 1.0 this month. If you're not familiar, it's a time-management RPG where you have 21 days to escape a high-security prison and can spend your time inside getting to know other inmates, building your stats, and finally finding one of multiple escape routes to break free. Also, everyone's an anthropomorphic animal. One of the changes in the full release is that now you can play as Bob, a panther detective with a mission to complete in prison. Your other choice is Thomas, a fox reporter who was framed while investigating corruption in the Mayor's office, and was the only option during early access. As well as multiple escape routes to uncover, the setting of Boulderton Prison includes more than 100 quests, three gang factions you might try to side with, and 48 NPC inmates. If one of those inmates isn't someone Bob the undercover panther put away who recognizes him and threatens to blow his cover, I'll be very surprised. Related articles In The Shadow Syndicate you're a dog detective who shoots people in bullet-time and wears a cursed ring Inspired by Dwarf Fortress and Oxygen Not Included, adorable side-scrolling city-builder Ratopia burrows out of early access Star-trekking sandbox roguelike Approaching Infinity launches after more than 12 years in development Prison escapes have made for several great movies and TV shows, but I can only think of a couple of games entirely themed around them—The Escapists and A Way Out. I guess there is usually a prison level in stealth games (Dishonored starts with one), but as the basis for an entire game it seems rarer. But then I haven't played The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Back to the Dawn is available on Steam, with a 15% launch discount until the end of the month. Best laptop games: Low-spec life Best Steam Deck games: Handheld must-haves Best browser games: No install needed Best indie games: Independent excellence Best co-op games: Better together The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Jody Macgregor Social Links Navigation Weekend/AU Editor Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. In The Shadow Syndicate you're a dog detective who shoots people in bullet-time and wears a cursed ring Inspired by Dwarf Fortress and Oxygen Not Included, adorable side-scrolling city-builder Ratopia burrows out of early access Star-trekking sandbox roguelike Approaching Infinity launches after more than 12 years in development ‘We could go from a shooter to a platformer to a horror theme’: How stepping away from Payday 2’s real-world framing has helped Den of Wolves turn high-stakes heisting on its head Skin Deep review The Drifter is a grimy point 'n' click adventure mixing bleak sci-fi with low-budget Aussie schlock, and there's a demo out now Latest in RPG A jaw-dropping mod to remake part of Fallout 1 in Doom has resurfaced after 3 years of silence Soulframe dev says launching in 2025 is now an 'aspirational goal', but you can play the fantasy RPG's pre-alpha right now if you're quick 10 years ago, Obsidian made the only D&D-style Monk I've ever really loved⁠—all it took was grounding him in harsh asceticism, mortification of the flesh, Aztec history, and stoner comedies I've been boppin' along to Final Fantasy 14's disco raid theme for months without realizing it's an anthem for existential burnout I've been obsessed with a single dialogue choice in an underappreciated Obsidian game for 10 years, so I tracked down the guy who wrote it to learn everything about my favorite joke in RPG history The most anticipated Everdark Sovereigns are coming to Elden Ring Nightreign in just two weeks, and I hope it'll hurt Latest in News Warframe is coming to the tabletop in the form of an adventure for Pathfinder's sci-fi spin-off RPG Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Steam's new censorship rules in victory against 'porn sick brain rotted pedo gamer fetishists', and things only get weirder from there Armies in Total War: Warhammer 3's siege beta won't carry ladders in their pockets any more A jaw-dropping mod to remake part of Fallout 1 in Doom has resurfaced after 3 years of silence Ubisoft's annual financial report includes claim that monetizing games with microtransactions 'makes the player experience more fun' Fields of Mistria's third major update arrives on Monday, including one huge NPC upgrade HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Sony WF-C710N review Asus ROG Azoth X review The Drifter review—Gritty Aussie noir meets conspiratorial sci-fi Flexispot OC3/BS3 review Shadow Labyrinth review: Pac-Man is entertainingly miscast in this grimdark Metroidvania PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. Contact Future's experts Terms and conditions Privacy policy Cookies policy Advertise with us Accessibility Statement Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Please login or signup to comment Please wait...