There is a certain charm to a game that's ultimately a culmination of Newgrounds flash games and beginning internet overlap with sections of the furry fandom, but that charm itself is far from cushioning a game that has certainly not aged well.

You can really pick and choose which parts of Dust to analyze and you'll see cracks if not the entire foundation fall apart. The hack and slash combat turns into mashing after about an hour, a moveset that seems fun to utilize the first few times but eventually turns into your most optimal move, slashing through enemies with such relative ease that boss fights don't do much at all to alleviate. They do throw a curveball near the end of the game with armored enemies but those also have endemic problems, because parrying before followup is just as easy to do and if anything adds more annoyance to the equation.

The metroidvania structure is barebones, with not a single bit of interesting level design or backtracking that doesn't just feel like outright padding. Exploring mostly leads to more of the same boring combat, which ultimately means more wasted time spent. This extends to the gameplay of the sidequests too, which honestly I'd recommend outright skipping.

The aesthetic is.... well there's a lot to unpack there. The music is probably one of the better components here but the art style doesn't really work for very long before it becomes very tiring and not really that interesting. The best things you'll see on offer here in terms of a feast for the eyes is in the first couple hours.

The most damning thing however, is the story. It's a self-insert narrative tied around weak characters with a VA production far below even a 80s cartoon affair. It doesn't work, if anything it can lead to some jokes at the game's expense but I don't think a single hour passed where a few lines whether by writing or voice acting took me completely out of the game and into high orbit wincing all the way.

Dust: An Elysian Tail is, other than its timely charm, basically a subpar metroidvania and hack and slash that ultimately is better left forgotten about. (3/10)

First played this many moons ago on XBox 360 Arcade, but never finished it. Got it cheap on Steam and blew through it in a few days. Short, but very fun game! The story isn't anything to write home about, it's fine. The art direction is great, it looks like a cartoon you control, kind of like Hollow Knight years before that game came out. The anthropomorphic furries and their big expressive eyes give the whole thing a very Disney vibe. Just make sure you buy it for $10 or under, it's too short (and old) of a game to be worth more than that. I beat it with low 80% completion in just over 8 hours.

Incredibly solid metroidvania style game with a unique, satisfying, and challenging combat system. Moving between different enemies and racking up your combo is great, all while using moves to evade attacks and magic attacks to clear the screen and keep your combo going. Every level is unique while still feeling like a part of the setting the game creates, each having great background art.
This game's aesthetic is very much mid-2000s furry webcomic/flash series, but the game itself manages to make it bearable to me, someone who's usually very averse to that kind of art.