Dust: An Elysian Tail

Its a cool 2d hack n slash. Its a game that a lot of people wont even try because of its repulsive, furry artstyle. And likewise, I dont like its anime style, or annoying characters, You know that typical sidekick character that acts as a tutorial throughout the whole game? Well Dust has one of those characters, and they start getting annoying right from the moment they are introduced.

Fortuantly, the combat is good and so are the rpg elements. It allows for combos and air juggling, as well as magic. It does have limitations, and it feels repetitive to use long before the game ends, but its still very satisfying to play with. I think the game needed a bigger enemy variety to make the encounters more diverse between each other. The game allows grinding, but you can easily pass it without it. The game also incentivates backtracking, and it has traces of metroidvania in its level design.

I kinda wish it was longer, which i guess is a trait of a good game.

This game might've received slightly higher marks from me if I didn't remember how repetitive the combat became in its final fights. The sound effects of maybe two moves will be ingrained in my head forever. It's interesting and I don't hate it, but I don't recommend it, either.

Around 2010 Xbox brought about a huge change in the games market with the push for smaller indie games. This push brought about games such as Braid, Super Meat boy, and the Bastion. All of these games have been critiqued and dissected to no end as they were major innovators in their respective genres. One game that is not brought nearly as much is Dust: An Elysian Tail. There are many qualities of Dust that I feel should have made it more relevant even 10 years later. That being said it's definitely not a perfect game as it shows how often simple early indie games were.

The main pull of the game is its presentation with an art style that reminds of really good deviant art drawings. Seeing how most of this game was made by one person definitely makes me appreciate how much work was put into making this look like a fantasy cartoon. That being said I feel some of the character designs are either not very inspired or clash with other characters. There is one bunny girl character in the game which is odd to me as every other animal character is either a fox or dog-looking character.

The story is nothing too amazing but I feel it is strong enough to keep you interested even if it is a bit standard. The amount of voice acting in this game is incredible and definitely helps flesh out the story and world a lot more. The writing accompanying this acting is a bit too cute in parts for me as well parts where I felt it was overacted. There are parts where I felt it was really strong, however, mainly the final confrontation between Dust and the big bad of the game, I'm still thinking about that final sequence.

Finally, the gameplay is something of a Metroidvania with hack-and-slash combat which is a combination you do not normally see even now. It is really satisfying to mow down dozens of enemies at a time by using a mixture of physical and magical attacks. A problem arises though where these combinations make button mashing the most viable option in a lot of scenarios which kinda kills the game's combo system. I also feel it fails in being a Metroidvania somewhat as the main thing you go back and search for is chests which mainly contain money and nothing else really that interesting. I didn’t feel the drive like other Metroidvanias to discover every part of the map as I know whatever I do find will not really change what I know about the world or make me that stronger.

This game has been left in the dust *heh* by its contemporary indie darlings but I feel it's still a game worth going back to. It has ideas that have been fleshed out in more interesting ways in the last 10 years but what is there is still fun. The game has long since left its Xbox exclusivity and is pretty much on everything. With hints of a sequel in the future this game still has a chance to rise from the ashes once again.

Rough around the edges as all hell, Dust still occupies a place in my heart for feeling like a game with a clear artistic vision with traceable roots, but also somehow beyond place and time, with a relatable but mysterious story (besides the woeful dialogue) and pick-up-and-play game mechanics that just feel good in your hands. This is the sort of game I dreamed about when I was a kid, how I perceived those old PS1 classics to be in my mind's eye.