Dust: An Elysian Tail is one of those games that's good, but you're especially interested in what the future could hold for it as a franchise. It's got a lot of good things going for it, but they're all not worked out well enough that you can call it a really great game, but you see all the potential there to make something actually special.

The story is one of the first examples of this. The game stars Dust, an amnesiac warrior with a talking sword and Fidget, a Nimbat who is your sidekick. The plot meanders for the most part, with Dust just looking for clues to who he is and saving people on the way. Most of the plot and the twists happen near the end of the game; at their core, there are some cliches but I felt the game does enough to put its own spin on it to make it not a complete rip-off. The characters (and especially the side characters) are pretty emotive. Dust is a pretty stoic character for most of the game (with room to be awkward or joking at times) while Fidget is more of a comic relief sidekick, but I found the voice acting for both somewhat grating at times which made it difficult to really get attached to them. The main problems are incomplete attempts to tell the story; there's some dialogue options later on that feel like the game wanted to do split paths, but nothing happens there. The big bad of the game, General Gaius, is someone who is described throughout the game as a ruthless monster, but every actual scene that features him, casts him in a more positive light. It feels like the game is missing a chapter to really highlight the character of Gaius and his relation to Dust, but maybe the indie development cycle didn't allow for that.

Gameplay-wise, Dust: An Elysian Tail has been named a metroidvania. While the naming is understandable, there's not that much backtracking to be done, and the vast majority of it is purely to pick up some chests if you want those. There's one level with a significant amount of backtracking throughout and it's also the biggest chore. This is mostly due to the fact that the screens are pretty big (where in Metroid or Castlevania the actual screen can generally be traversed pretty quickly) and horizontal. Enemies respawn every time you leave the screen and love getting in the way, which makes it almost obligatory to fight them.

The combat is a mixed bag. It feels good and it looks really cool and great. The shame is that your arsenal is very limited. You have a normal attack, and early on the game teaches you two combos. Later on, you don't get any more combos. Very quickly you will learn that the Dust Storm attack is the way to go. This means you let Fidget throw a projectile, and then spin your sword so you can send out an attack that is powered up by her projectiles. Fidget will unlock different kinds of projectiles after each boss you beat, but the electricity one really makes all the other ones obsolete. Especially the aerial variant of the Dust Storm is a great weapon, as it offers invulnerability to the vast majority of enemies. So combat will always look a cool force of chaos on your screen, but it is quite unfortunate that the combat will feel like a chore later on, as it'll just feel a lot like button mashing. There's also a parry you can do, but there's very few enemies that will really offer the opportunity to do it, as all the smaller enemies will generally crowd you to the point that you won't be able to see when you have to do your parry.

Graphically, the game is very pretty. The backgrounds are lovely and detailed, the enemies have nice variety in their design even if they are variations of each other, and the characters are easy to keep apart. The actual character sprites when they are having a conversation feel lower quality, but not to the extent of being bothersome or ugly.

On the audio, the music was enjoyable without being extremely memorable. In a game where there's a lot of traveling around, not having any grating music is definitely a good point, but I also doubt I will look up any of the tracks of this game on YouTube later.

Overall, Dust: An Elysian Tail is a fine, solid game, without being anything more. The ending leaves room open for a sequel, but I can't find anything about it potentially happening online, which is a shame, as all the systems are there to be improved upon and perfected to create a truly awesome title.

Dust é um metroidvania bem competente em suas mecânicas. O combate é satisfatório e ele usa as habilidades adquiridas no decorrer do jogo de maneiras interessantes tanto para navegar pelos cenários quanto para resolver puzzles.

É um jogo fácil, do tipo que dá pra desligar o cérebro e fazer 100%. Confesso que foi um pouco difícil levar a história dele tão a sério quanto o próprio jogo leva, visto que o design dos personagens parece ter saído de alguma versão bootleg de filme de animação qualquer. Felizmente os cenários e as animações do combate são bonitas, então no geral é um jogo bem agradável, mesmo que pouco memorável.

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.

I didn't play that much of this so I'm not gonna rate it, but I don't really wanna continue this because it's painfully.... generic in almost every fashion

I did think the gameplay was cool at first but then I realised that
1) It's painfully easy
2) The game gives you almost complete access to all the parts of combat that actually matter right at the start of the game, leaving no real sense of progression to be had which I feel is pretty necessary with a game that is trying to be somewhat metroidvania-like

Verdict: the game is fine I just don't feel any desire to spend a few more hours playing it to finish it, as short as it is

The combat is alright, gets repetitive when you master all of the moves but still feel a great sense of progression through the game. The art style and animations are done stupidly well especially since this was done by 1 person, tho I believe that the design of the characters could have been better.

It surprised me that it had very well done voice acting, problem was that some of the parts that were supposed to be sad/depressing were funny when the npc's were doing a goofy animation on the background.

Overall It's a game that controls really well with good soundtrack, story and goofy characters.

Dust is a game I have a bit of history with. As a teenager in 2013, I was exposed to the game, if I'm not mistaken, by a few friends of mine. Always down to try the things my friends were into, I picked it up on the 360, played a chunk of the game, and really enjoyed it... before putting it down for literally the next near decade, with my last achivement being dated August 12, 2013.

Picking the game up again in the need of something relatively short to get off my backlog in the midst of unemployeement, and since it's on my list of "I'll Finish You One Day" games, sharing spots with Ocarina Of Time 3D, Cave Story, and many another title that I've picked up and put down in the spur of the moment, I figured now was the perfect time to finally commit to it. And I gotta say, it's pretty good.

Plotwise, you're not getting too much; Dust, an amnesiac hero, awakens to the goal of finding his memory, aided by talking sword Ahrah, and Fidget, his kind of annoying companion. While the story's not too deep, and gets kind of predictable at points, there's enough there to be enjoyed, and I can't say I didn't like a lot of character interactions from both Dust and Fidget, as well as various NPCs throughout the world. The climax of the game was genuinely excellent, too; definitely worth sticking around just for that.

In terms of gameplay, Dust is a Metroidvania with a focus on combat, and what's there is pretty alright. The combat's simple enough, with Dust's midair spiral dash and how it and his standard heavy attack sync with Fidget's projectile elementals to make a hellscape of attacks to blitz enemies with serving as the highlight of any encounter. You also literally have Ninja Gaiden's Izuna Drop, so that's not something you can say about every game.

It's hard to say the combat doesn't wear its welcome out a little bit, but Fidget gets a few extra tools to mix things up, and with the right setup (by which I mean the electricity), can be absolutely game-breaking. It almost shatters the entire game's challenge in half at points, with the only things stopping you being enemies that almost require parrying, an almost unwieldy technique due to its "hold X after attacking" activation, and losing track of your rather small HP gauge amidst the chaos on screen. That said, the harsh musical chords that punctuate the start and end of your combos are an absolute delight to the ears, from the 1st time you do it, all the way to the end of the game. Game's soundtrack is pretty great stuff overall, some brilliant tracks littered in there.

The game's fairly linear to the point I'd say it'd make a good entry point for anyone intimidated by the genre, so that's something worth taking into consideration for any newcomers. Only a single, 4-part fetch quest in the tail end of the game really felt like it was overstaying its welcome, and it at least lead to a decent enough boss fight, so that's more a net positive.

The game's artstyle will probably be a make or break; while the handdrawn style, which was all done by one man who taught himself how to program for the sole focus of bringing his art to life through the gaming medium, can be an absolute sight to behold with backgrounds with vibrancy and beauty as far as the eye can see, the character designs are a case of you either loving or hating them; evident by the amount of reviews here that hold them as a sticking point against the game. I'm kind of in the middle, finding Dust's design to be pretty sick aside from the moments he removes his hat.

Overall though, I can safely say that I was glad to finally have given Dust its long overdue dues. Another box checked from the long-stockpiled 2010s backlog of doom, and one I'm happy to have done at that.

A content creator I follow described this game as "endearingly cringe" and I think that's a really apt description of this game. Dust doesn't give the best first impression of the bat with its relatively basic storytelling told by a brooding amnesiac protagonist and a shrill voiced companion and to be honest, it doesn't improve much after its initial impression, as its story progresses going through generic beat by beats up until it reaches a somewhat mediocre finale.

I think what's more fascinating about Dust is its developmental story, as it was one of the first notable indie games and it was made in major part by one developer. In that sense, the final result is quite impressive with its lush backgrounds, detailed character animations and solid gameplay.

It reminds me of games I'd daydream about in my head but this one is real. If anything, I do appreciate Dust as the realization of one's passion projects, perhaps giving it more rope than it deserves on its own as a game but I honestly don't feel too much negativity to the time I spent playing the game, sure it wasn't like the most outstanding game I played but there was enough of a solid foundation here to keep me going up until the end of the game.

When I finished Dust, the feeling I got was that I saw the daydreams of the creator and that was kind of inspiring to me. I left the game wanting to follow their example and create the games that exist in my headspace real.

(PS4)

Very fun platformer / fighting game I played on PSN+ many year ago (not my current account). Would love to replay, as it had great artwork and the gameplay was engaging and kept me playing until the end.

I only wish the game was longer and story and world explored more. Otherwise this "hidden gem" would be one of my favourite games of all time.

"Lots Of Effort, Low Quality"

Now I know this game was almost entirely made by one guy (besides the voice acting and a few other supplementary pieces), but I had my doubts upon starting it up. The art was solid but looked a bit blurry at times. The combat felt fine at first but quickly deviated into a mindless button mashing action fiesta. The upgrade/inventory system seemed somewhat deep, but again boiled down to something that didn't really matter at the end of the day. The story already didn't sound very promising, but a combination of incredibly weak writing and weird voice acting made it an unenjoyable slog. Pretty much every component of this game failed in a major way, and it resulted in a dud of a game in my opinion.

You play as Dust, a warrior who wakes up with amnesia in a forest and is found by Fidget, a guardian of the Blade of Ahrah which Dust happens to be in possession of. Fidget was a quirky and fun sidekick character at times in the story but was also very annoying throughout the experience. On the other hand, Dust and the Blade of Ahrah (yes, the sword can talk) are incredibly dull and cookie-cutter protagonists. The story follows a very generic combination of fetch-quests, killing some bad guys, and liberating an oppressed group known as the Moonbloods. On your journey you encounter an assortment of awkwardly placed characters, many of which don't even match thematically in the world.

The characters are really weird either in art design or voice acting. Many are some weird anthropomorphic styles that border on Tumblr furry art I've happened to come across before (not a furry, but no problem with it if that's your thing). They also have out of place accents, some being Australian or Spanish while others have tinges of country, old-timer, or "mysterious" (think the shop vendor in "Resident Evil 4").

All of this combined to feel like a child's idea of a fantasy world yet lacked a lot of charm that the best children's stories contain. There are very simple explorations of morality, warfare, and destiny, but nothing here is anything you haven't seen before in other mediums.

The presentation is fine but lacks polish. The visuals look detailed, but assets feel repeated and washed out in appearance. The music is also not memorable, just typical fantasy music you could find on YouTube.

The gameplay system revolves around a very simple combination of two-button attack patterns, magical abilities, and dodging/parrying. It's surface level and doesn't really combine to feel incredibly engaging, but it's passable enough. Unfortunately, the upgrade system feels tacked on just like the inventory system. There isn't a whole lot of loot to diversify your loadout, so you'll easily find the best items and roll with it. The game is also insanely easy even on the second highest difficulty, and there are actually many revive gems that will straight up save you from death constantly. It also would have been nice to combine the story and gameplay in an interactive sense, say through a choice-based system. There is a SINGLE mission that had this as an option at the very end of it, and it was one of the better missions in the game. This didn't have to apply to the main plot but could have spice up the side content had it been expanded upon more than a simple one-off mission.

The game just felt like it went nowhere throughout the 6-ish hours I played through it, and I honestly got bored of the drab story, mindless side-questing, and lack of gameplay evolution. The game remained the same experience for those six hours, and it likely would have remained the same for the next six hours (I assume I stopped playing at around the halfway mark of the narrative). Exploring felt tedious since there wasn't a reliable fast travel method besides going to the edge of each area, and it was annoying to have to try and remember which secret items were in locations so that I could return for them in the future. The characters just weren't enjoyable enough, and the world was basic and uninteresting. I expected a bit more from an indie game that was promoted as a PS Plus free monthly game, though this was back when the service hit a bad slump (around 2014-2015). I would Not Recommend it even if it's on a deep sale, as it's just not something that differentiates itself from other high-quality titles that offer very similar systems. I guess if you like anthropomorphic characters, then sure, go for it? It just wouldn't end up surprising you in any other way besides that...

Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)