Dust: An Elysian Tail incorporates a 'cartoonish' art design in a hack and slash RPG sidescroller, it's really captivating and is easy to connect to the story. It is very visually appealing and just plain beautiful, has nice music, good voice actors and a combat system that is just so fluent and overall makes the entire game smooth. It can be noted that Dust has similarities to Kingdom Hearts, on the PS2, mainly through the story and sense of the game. As the story runs for a good 10+ hours, Dust is definitely worth the $15 on steam and considering most of the game was completed by one person, it is an amazing accomplishment, 9/10.
2 Reviews
Dust is an elysian game
southdavid12 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I had two attempts at playing through "Dust: An Elysian Tale" before it took hold at the third attempt. Nothing wrong with the initial hours of the game, though there is an early advanced enemy that you might struggle with until you level up, just that another game caught my attention. I'm really glad that I came back to in for a third attempt though as it's an accomplished, funny and enjoyable experience.
"Dust: An Elysian Tale" is a mix of Metroidvania style platforming, with side scrolling slash 'em up and a pinch of RPG style character levelling. You control Dust, an warrior who wakes up with amnesia who, along with his talking sword and Fidget, a flying .. err .. cat thing... become embroiled in a war between monster like creatures and General Gaius. Though initially seeming straightforward, the lines of good and evil are blurred as Dust discovers the truth behind the conflict and his own existence.
Despite being programmed by just a single coder, the game (at least in this PS4 version) is beautifully animated, the sprites, backgrounds and the close ups in the cut scenes look excellent with their Disney-esque style. The music isn't particularly memorable, but the sound effects are nicely done. The gameplay itself is the real source of joy though. The levels are essentially made up of a large "rooms" that you can only exit if there are no monsters on screen at that time you reach the edge. Progress is generally made from left to right, until you revisit the levels, either to level up, or look for the many hidden secrets that each level has. Exploration of the levels becomes more expansive as you unlock new skills for Dust, such as the slide or double jump.
Aside from the main thrust of the plot, Dust is bombarded with side quests to undertake for the villagers of the game, there are items to collect to build upgrades for Dust's armour, there are secret chests to access and unlock, time challenge rooms to find and pass and hidden characters from other indie game darlings to find. The game is also pretty funny, with a lot of self-referencing fourth wall breaking humour during the cut scenes.
With enough skill, you can probably complete the story of the game in around eight to nine hours, but more likely with some levelling required to keep progressing and attempting to find all the secrets, you're looking at between 20 and 30 hours' time investment. I promise you though, it's time well spent.
"Dust: An Elysian Tale" is a mix of Metroidvania style platforming, with side scrolling slash 'em up and a pinch of RPG style character levelling. You control Dust, an warrior who wakes up with amnesia who, along with his talking sword and Fidget, a flying .. err .. cat thing... become embroiled in a war between monster like creatures and General Gaius. Though initially seeming straightforward, the lines of good and evil are blurred as Dust discovers the truth behind the conflict and his own existence.
Despite being programmed by just a single coder, the game (at least in this PS4 version) is beautifully animated, the sprites, backgrounds and the close ups in the cut scenes look excellent with their Disney-esque style. The music isn't particularly memorable, but the sound effects are nicely done. The gameplay itself is the real source of joy though. The levels are essentially made up of a large "rooms" that you can only exit if there are no monsters on screen at that time you reach the edge. Progress is generally made from left to right, until you revisit the levels, either to level up, or look for the many hidden secrets that each level has. Exploration of the levels becomes more expansive as you unlock new skills for Dust, such as the slide or double jump.
Aside from the main thrust of the plot, Dust is bombarded with side quests to undertake for the villagers of the game, there are items to collect to build upgrades for Dust's armour, there are secret chests to access and unlock, time challenge rooms to find and pass and hidden characters from other indie game darlings to find. The game is also pretty funny, with a lot of self-referencing fourth wall breaking humour during the cut scenes.
With enough skill, you can probably complete the story of the game in around eight to nine hours, but more likely with some levelling required to keep progressing and attempting to find all the secrets, you're looking at between 20 and 30 hours' time investment. I promise you though, it's time well spent.
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