Now, I'm definitely not the biggest boomer shooter guy. I like to believe we've come a long way from circle-strafing around a bunch of dudes in a big arena, gunning them down one by one, like mowing a lawn while on 2mg of fentanyl. But to deny their significance to the genre, hell, the medium as a whole, or to suggest they're "outdated" or some other bullshit you'd hear some blue-haired zoomer spout, would be nothing short of asinine. They still deserve love, arguably more than they get, and DUSK is proof of that.
DUSK is a love letter to everything that's amazing about boomer shooters. A culmination of what has made the genre so timeless, in spite of the inherent simplicity of a game that would constitute such a categorisation. A Frankenstein of the bouncy and bombastic gunplay and platforming that made such games iconic.
Speaking of Frankenstein, what kind of internet nobody would I be if I were to forget the incredible setting of the game? Dave Szymanski really knocked it outta the park with this one. Travelling from middle-of-nowhere rural villages to sprawling military complexes RE4-style, and capping it off with a mysterious and ancient city of cultists, the world of DUSK is something truly never-before-seen. It certainly helps that a lot of the levels can be legitimately scary at times, with the introduction of new and unfamiliar monsters in dark, cramped hallways, unbefitting of the genre as a whole, but working perfectly to compliment the vibe of the game. Fuck wendigos, by the way.
The sound design for a few of the enemies could use a little work, but besides that, the unique blend of grindhouse and eldritch horror on display is a treat to behold, but not without its tricks, of course. The opening level starting with you being thrown into some dark, dingy basement with a couple of chainsaw-wielding rednecks, armed with nothing but a couple of farming tools, has got to be one of the most badass setpieces in the genre. Shit's straight out of a late '90s slasher movie.
And like any good slasher movie, a good game can be easily identified by its weapons, and DUSK is no exception. One-upping Arnie by John Wooing cultists with a pair of Winchester 1887s, sending some demons to God with a hunting rifle that kicks like a mule and hits like a truck, and don't even get me started on the sheer annihilation you can dish out with the riveter. The sound design for all of them is super punchy, and they all feel unique and serve a specific purpose. Really wish there was a bigger ammo pool for the hunting rifle though...
But, of course, it doesn't stop there. The flexibility to look up or down further than 180 degrees, enabling you to perform front/backflips and shoot things upside down in mid-air. Picking up and interacting with physics objects in the environment, such as the soap bar, neatly hidden away in most levels with the ability to kill anything in one hit. Bullet time powerups that allow you to bob, weave, blast-jump and air-strafe around bullets and baddies. There are so many cool little facets about DUSK that make it stand out from the competition, and that is what makes it so solid in my eyes; the skeleton of a boomer shooter encased in the flesh and blood of a truly interactive and intricately woven FPS experience.
With DUSK being a relative newcomer in a genre with as long and storied a history as boomshoot, and with memorable music being what keeps the memory of a game alive, even with all the good I've talked about it before now, the game wouldn't be spoken half as highly of were it not for the contribution of one Andrew Hulshult, a man whose name is so synonymous with the genre that he even took over from Mick Fucking Gordon of recent DOOM fame to work on DOOM Eternal's DLCs. After all, you're gonna have to REALLY kick it into high gear to outdo something like BFG Division, so how does Keepers Of The Gate compare?
Overall, DUSK is irrefutably one of the best shooters released in the last decade, maybe ever. Every piece of the puzzle is laid out neatly; the guns, the goons, the banging tunes, all of it comes together perfectly. The constant tension and adrenaline from Szymanski and Hulshult's intoxicating blend of balls-out action and rip-that-dudes-balls-off metal riffs make for a truly one-of-a-kind experience, and I cannot wait to see what they both do in the future.
DUSK is a love letter to everything that's amazing about boomer shooters. A culmination of what has made the genre so timeless, in spite of the inherent simplicity of a game that would constitute such a categorisation. A Frankenstein of the bouncy and bombastic gunplay and platforming that made such games iconic.
Speaking of Frankenstein, what kind of internet nobody would I be if I were to forget the incredible setting of the game? Dave Szymanski really knocked it outta the park with this one. Travelling from middle-of-nowhere rural villages to sprawling military complexes RE4-style, and capping it off with a mysterious and ancient city of cultists, the world of DUSK is something truly never-before-seen. It certainly helps that a lot of the levels can be legitimately scary at times, with the introduction of new and unfamiliar monsters in dark, cramped hallways, unbefitting of the genre as a whole, but working perfectly to compliment the vibe of the game. Fuck wendigos, by the way.
The sound design for a few of the enemies could use a little work, but besides that, the unique blend of grindhouse and eldritch horror on display is a treat to behold, but not without its tricks, of course. The opening level starting with you being thrown into some dark, dingy basement with a couple of chainsaw-wielding rednecks, armed with nothing but a couple of farming tools, has got to be one of the most badass setpieces in the genre. Shit's straight out of a late '90s slasher movie.
And like any good slasher movie, a good game can be easily identified by its weapons, and DUSK is no exception. One-upping Arnie by John Wooing cultists with a pair of Winchester 1887s, sending some demons to God with a hunting rifle that kicks like a mule and hits like a truck, and don't even get me started on the sheer annihilation you can dish out with the riveter. The sound design for all of them is super punchy, and they all feel unique and serve a specific purpose. Really wish there was a bigger ammo pool for the hunting rifle though...
But, of course, it doesn't stop there. The flexibility to look up or down further than 180 degrees, enabling you to perform front/backflips and shoot things upside down in mid-air. Picking up and interacting with physics objects in the environment, such as the soap bar, neatly hidden away in most levels with the ability to kill anything in one hit. Bullet time powerups that allow you to bob, weave, blast-jump and air-strafe around bullets and baddies. There are so many cool little facets about DUSK that make it stand out from the competition, and that is what makes it so solid in my eyes; the skeleton of a boomer shooter encased in the flesh and blood of a truly interactive and intricately woven FPS experience.
With DUSK being a relative newcomer in a genre with as long and storied a history as boomshoot, and with memorable music being what keeps the memory of a game alive, even with all the good I've talked about it before now, the game wouldn't be spoken half as highly of were it not for the contribution of one Andrew Hulshult, a man whose name is so synonymous with the genre that he even took over from Mick Fucking Gordon of recent DOOM fame to work on DOOM Eternal's DLCs. After all, you're gonna have to REALLY kick it into high gear to outdo something like BFG Division, so how does Keepers Of The Gate compare?
Overall, DUSK is irrefutably one of the best shooters released in the last decade, maybe ever. Every piece of the puzzle is laid out neatly; the guns, the goons, the banging tunes, all of it comes together perfectly. The constant tension and adrenaline from Szymanski and Hulshult's intoxicating blend of balls-out action and rip-that-dudes-balls-off metal riffs make for a truly one-of-a-kind experience, and I cannot wait to see what they both do in the future.