(Originally posted on Grimm Games on 20th September 2012)
Platform – Xbox 360
Developed by Humble Hearts
Published by Microsoft Studios
Directed by Dean Dodrill
Produced by Dean Dodrill
Starring: Lucien Dodge, Kimlinh Tran and Edward Bosco
In 2009 Microsoft ran a competition called Dream.Build.Play in which someone creating an indie game would receive a contract to become a fully-fledged Xbox Live Arcade title. The winner of that was Dean Dodrill’s 8-bit Metroidvania title Dust. Xbox Live Arcade has become a great place for new developers to get noticed and abducted into the AAA market. Developers like Twisted Pixel (Splosion Man) or people like Jonathon Blow (Braid) and Phil Fish (Fez) get noticed fairly quickly for their great work and become ones to watch on the gaming radar and I personally hope the same success follows Humble Hearts and Dean Dodrill….did I mention that Dean Dodrill is the only member of Humble Hearts, he created this game almost entirely on his own….oh and it’s about anthropomorphic animals.
Dust wakes up in a forest, no memory of how he got there or who he is until a talking sword named Ahrah appears sets him on a mission to discover his past, accompanied by a flying cat thing named Fidget, Dust sets off on a grand adventure to find himself. While finding out who he is may sound like an easy task Dust gets wrapped up in mysteries that surround the world as well as himself and the multiple creatures that inhabit the world of Falana. Without getting too into spoiler territory, the story in this game is excellent, it strikes a great balance of comedy and tragedy to create what is probably one of the greatest yet simplest dramas I’ve seen in gaming for a long time. This may be in part due to the great script, some of the moments are downright hilarious while others will be utterly devastating.
While the story may stand out as being great not only for Xbox Live but for the action RPG genre itself, the gameplay also shines. The combat is the perfect balance of simple to use, difficult to master in that, you can pretty much just mash your way through the game if you want but to get the most out of it you have to master complex combos and button presses, there’s even a quest and achievement tied to completing a 1000 hit combo, that’s how diverse the combat is. I wouldn’t say the game is particularly difficult though, it does get more challenging as you progress I still found the game lacked any real challenge aside from the fun trials in each of the dungeons in which you have to race around a maze environment in the quickest time without taking damage. Getting around in Dust is almost as important as taking apart enemies as there’s so much to explore. As a Metroidvania title backtracking is incredibly important but thanks to a great innovation in the genre, we have a world map which makes every hour of exploration far less aggravating and repetitive than in games like Castlevania. As much as hacking and jumping are major elements to Dust: An Elysian Tail, so are things such as levelling up and crafting items. In true RPG style Dust has stats that you can improve due to gems rewarded by levelling up or crafting new armour or augments by finding materials in the wild. All of these things on their own in a game would be good but mixed together in the way Dust: An Elysian Tail does, adds so much depth to the experience that it elevates the game from good to great.
Interesting though that despite all of these great things, it’s the visuals that really pierce into your memory. Dust: An Elysian Tail is one of the prettiest games I’ve ever seen, all hand drawn and animated by Dodrill the characters and environments are absolutely incredible. Each character looks unique despite being of the same race most of the time, even the random soldiers and basic enemies all have varying designs and you won’t stumble across the same NPC twice. The environments are just as diverse and just as lovely. The towns and forests look superb, the caves dark and moody while the lack of light presents a great atmosphere, the mountains look spectacular and that’s not all. Honestly I can’t think of one place that looks boring, it’s truly fascinating that one man has managed to make each and every member of the cast and each environment so vibrant, natural and unique.
Audio is the only thing completely outsourced, the music is taken over by HyperDuck Soundworks , who have done a great job on creating a wonderful, atmospheric and melodic soundtrack that winds in and out of the environments perfectly while suiting the mood of the game and the narrative in certain points so well. The voice acting however is a little bit more hit and miss. Lucien Dodge (Pokémon/Dance Central 2) does a magnificent job of bringing Dust to life and has strong potential as a full time voice actor, Kimlihn Tran (Dragonball Z Abridged/Skullgrils) portrays Fidget very well if not slightly grating at times, but is no worse than some of the young characters in any JRPG but there are times where it can hit a real low point, especially when you make it to Mudpot where all the characters put on a fake hillbilly accent, that can get particularly irritating. That said, it has more voice actors than Skyrim with each and every NPC having a different voice actor and I’m assuming that none or at least not many outside the main cast were paid for their contribution so maybe I’m expecting too much.
Overall, I think Dust: An Elysian Tail delivers in almost every way possible. An engagingly simple story, emotionally diverse script, solid, tried and true gameplay with an impressive presentation make it very difficult to believe this is the work of one man alone and while he may have had a little help with the script and the sound, Dean Dodrill has created a true masterpiece for Xbox Live Arcade and I wish every success to him in his next project. If he’s reading this WELL DONE!
10/10
Dust: An Elysian Tail is available now on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points and the Elysian Tail official website is here http://www.noogy.com/index.htm
RabbitsAhoy! 