
Back to the Dawn is a story-rich RPG set in a high-security prison ruled by factions and buried secrets. Investigate two conspiracies from the inside, gather evidence, and outsmart a system designed to silence you. Make friends (or foes) with fellow inmates and with their help, break out of prison.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
About
Back to the Dawn (动物迷城)
A gripping prison escape RPG woven with crime, corruption, and hidden agendas. Step into a maximum-security facility where every inmate has a past—and a plan. You'll have to fight to survive, investigate, and ultimately break free before the time runs out.
Uncover a scheme that threatens more than just your life—it could bring down the entire city. In this thrilling adventure, choices matter, and escape is your only salvation!

Choose between two protagonists — Thomas, a reporter caught in a web of lies, or Bob, an undercover agent sent deep into the prison system. Each storyline delivers over 20 hours of engrossing mystery, where your every choice matters. Navigate a prison ruled by three powerful gangs, interact with 47 uniquely crafted inmates, and uncover layers of intrigue through dozens of memorable NPCs.
With over 100 handcrafted quests, multiple escape routes—each with its own risks and rewards—several possible endings, and more than 500,000 words of gripping narrative, Back to the Dawn delivers a deeply replayable RPG unlike anything you've experienced.

Thomas the Fox is a journalist caught up in a dark conspiracy and who got thrown into a maximum-security prison for not playing ball. Working with your attorney friend on the outside, you must collect evidence to save yourself and the city from grave danger!
Bob the Panther is an undercover agent who has never failed on any of his missions, but he is growing exhausted of this line of work and wants out. But a personal tragedy drags him back for one last job in prison. Experience a hardboiled tale of betrayal, vengeance, and truth!

This is an enormous prison with lots to do and many places to explore, but make sure you follow the rules, or at least try not to get caught!
You’ll encounter all kinds of challenges as you explore your new environment. But will you be a model prisoner and just try to keep your head down, or will you leave a trail of chaos and destruction in your wake? It’s all up to you.


Meet a colorful cast of inmates in your prison, each with an interesting story to tell. You can either make them your friends or fight, bully and rob them into submission. Will you be part of a gang or a cunning lone wolf? Pick a side!


Are you a tough guy who lets his fists do the talking, a thief who hides in the shadows, or perhaps a smooth talker who manipulates the scene? Develop your skills, craft tools to suit your style, and climb your way from “new fish” to “top dog.”


In a place built to break you, your sharpest weapon is your creativity and cunning. Every inch of Boulderton Prison might hold the key to your escape, from your prison cell to the infirmary, to the sewers and even the rooftops. Can you break free?

Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish - Latin America, Vietnamese
Updates
Build ids and update times come straight from Steam's PICS — the same source SteamDB reads. Patch history grows as we record new builds.
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 71 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 71 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
Absolutely fantastic game. 10/10 really excited to see the new dlc and play ng+
A very solid time-management prison-escape RPG with gripping writing. There are both skill-based minigames and luck-based skill checks that are based off of your gear and stats that can be tweaked to some degree. There are some polish to be desired when it comes to the uniqueness between the current two protagonists, and there does seem to be a bit more variety put into Thomas' story over Bob's at the moment.
아기자기하고 깔끔한 도트 그래픽으로 펼쳐지는 나름 추리 수사(?)물 감옥에 갇혀서 본인의 선택에 의한 스토리를 즐겨 보세요
面白かった! ストーリーは大満足、システムも楽しくそれぞれ何回も周回してしまった。刑務所という場所柄、囚人のバックストーリーがヘビーだけどそこを動物にすることでマイルドにしていてそこも良かった。 とてもおすすめ
This game doesn't have enough recognition for what it is; I wish the fanbase were bigger mostly so I can look at more [i]fanart[/i] haha... ... [h1] I want more fanart!! [/h1] It has so much more depth when it comes to it's characters and worldbuilding than what I thought it would have before getting into it, the story comes out to be very interesting. Most characters are great and fun to have in the game too... [spoiler] especially Chris for no specific reason. [/spoiler] There's alot of ways in which you play the game and multiple [i] very [/i] interesting escape routes im exited to see for myself. The art style of this game is very beautiful, its detailed for a pixel art game and the graphics complements it very well. The mechanics and QOF of the game can very much be improved especially when progress of the game takes very long - sometimes hours to get one main task completed and it's sometimes very tedious to complete tasks while also remembering to manage other factors. - personally, [spoiler] it took me two playthroughs to complete the main story (of Thomas) when I first played. [/spoiler] Also the combat feels a bit clunky personally. I'm definitely gonna play more - I just started Bob's route and I am eagerly waiting for [h2] [b] [spoiler] BAM's route.... [/spoiler]
很喜欢的游戏,剧情、玩法深得人心。
Was the Chinese dubbing, especially the fox protagonist, done by a professional voice actor hired by the project team? Some of the words can't be articulated at all. A very obvious example is 'si.' With such a high price, I don't care how long you have been refining the product, can't the dubbing be done more carefully? If not, can I at least use the Japanese dubbing?
다회차까지 고려하여 짜임새 있는 게임을 만들었으나 다회차가 그닥 재밌진 않음 초회차의 그 아무것도 모르는 걸 개척해 나가는 과정이 너무 재밌어서 오히려 다회차가 재미없어짐
剧情互动和时间管理的玩法都非常有趣!一沉浸进去完全就停不下来,而且非常适合多周目找不同越狱方法,制作组我真的要夸你们了
首发就玩了,记得刚出的时候即使去旅游也要带上电脑和手柄玩它。狐狸线和黑豹线故事都还可以,缺点就是重复任务太多,没啥新意。不过这种动物元素的像素风游戏确实非常可爱,很多人物塑造都很立体,也致敬了很多影视剧集,很有想法哈!包括赌牌游戏和做饭切菜健身还有打拳,元素很多,值得一玩。希望后续剧情可以补齐黑猫线和克苏鲁线?就是那个爱吃发霉面包的,我想不起来叫什么了,大概是灵异玄幻类的。然后希望新的dlc可以和黑豹线狐狸线有一个更大的区分度,更独立的任务和角色对白,比如意念灵力类的跨维度交流?(如果还打算推出dlc的话?)总之是一款很上头的游戏,但直到大更新前应该都不会打开它了,也是这种线性游戏的通病吧。
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Trends
Modeled estimate over time, reconstructed from Steam's monthly review histogram.
Engagement
DAU/MAU are modeled from peak concurrent players (≈×8 and ×28) — Steam publishes no active-user counts, so treat these as rough estimates, not reported figures.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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