It's a great, 2D experience that harkens back to the popular Metroidvania sub-genre of adventures games, but manages to blaze its own path and stand out as a wholly unique experience. There's certainly little like it on XBLA, and I highly suggest picking it up.
Overall, Dust is a great game that should not be overlooked. This year's 'Summer of Arcade' has been a bit disappointing, and out of all the games released Dust:An Elsyian Tail has got to be the ruling champion. There are some big budget boxed games coming out towards the end of August, but they should not eclipse this great game that should be on everyone's 'to buy' list.
Dust: An Elysian Tail is perfection incarnate. I haven't submitted a game review in years but Dust was so magnificent I just can't help it. Not only is it one of the most visually stunning games ever made, but it has some of the most fluid combat of any video game I've played in my 30 years of life. Instead of a ridiculously huge laundry list of combos that other hack n' slash games possess (God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania ect.), it's just a few different button combinations in conjunction with spamming magic projectiles with the help of your furry flying friend Fidget. The entire feel of the combat is deeply satisfying and addicting, and I found myself always experimenting and changing things up from time to time as opposed to just mashing the X button to get by because I forgot all the combos like in those aforementioned games. On top of all that, Dust: An Elysian Tail had one of the most compelling, and downright heartbreaking stories in gaming history. I'm a 30 year old man, and the ending made me cry like a baby, it's also hilarious at times so it's a great mix. Not only is the storyline emotional, it's incredibly well-written and full of lore to flesh out the world and its inhabitants. With TONS of deep and insightful dialogue, unforgettable characters, and plenty of awesome side quests, Dust draws you into its world every bit as much as any AAA BioWare-esque RPG. With loads of loot and treasures and secrets to find, there's simply no reason not to own this masterpiece! Also, Fidget is my new favorite NPC of all time.
An excellent fantasy game with a nicely drawn fairytale world. Fidget, the "Flying Squirrel", the protagonist's fighting friend, is one of the most charming characters I've seen in games. By the way, Dust, Fidget and other main characters were voiced by professional actors. And you can feel it even if you don't understand English fluently and watch subtitles. The actors perfectly convey the feelings and mood of the characters. The fantasy plot has a Japanese theme, although it is not fully typical Japanese.
The gameplay is pleasant, the levels want to explore. I will note only a few small disadvantages:
1. There are a lot of monsters in this game, which are quite easy to kill, but time is wasted on it. Moreover, when you leave a game sector, and then enter it again, all the monsters appear anew. So you can accumulate experience and some bonuses, but it's not very interesting. Fortunately, it is not necessary to kill all monsters. Instead, you may jump and fly over them. There are more interesting monsters in the game, but they are in the minority.
2. There is no complete level map. There is only a primitive scheme with squares. The map would not be superfluous, since you have to run there decently. But there is also a plus - train your memory!
3. I would also make an alternative secret ending in this game. The one that I saw, nevertheless, does not quite correspond to the hero whom I recognized during the game. However, everything is not fully disclosed there, and perhaps we will see some sequel (the main author of the game, Dean Dodrill, promised to return to Dust's story, but by that time he had not yet decided when and how it would be).
Despite its minor flaws, the game was one of the most enjoyable for me in recent years, and deserves the highest rating.
P.S. In the beginning, take a couple of minutes and customize the controls for yourself (or at least figure out if you like the default). I adjusted mine and did not regret it. I played purely with the keyboard, arrows + buttons on the left closer to the top + space. Separately M - map, since Tab was busy.
Sure, the RPG elements could have been stronger, and the boss battles are a bit of a letdown, but if those are the worst things about your game, you're in pretty good shape. An Elysian Tail is a rare example of artisanal game craft. Conventional wisdom says that can't happen anymore, but Dust proves otherwise.
Dust: An Elysian Tail will last for around 7 hours. During that time, you will be stunned by the graphics, cry over the amazing story and feel that your 1200 Microsoft points was really well spend.
Dust: An Elysian Tail has a great story and mixes it up with beautiful locations to create a modern fairy tale. It's just a shame that the game is too easy and the loading screens seem to take forever.
Visually stunning, with roughly 12 hours of gameplay, Dust remains quite spectacular, especially knowing it's the work of only two people. But after a charming start, one doesn't take long to witness a gigantic shortcoming: there's no challenge whatsoever and the heroes don't benefit from any sort of evolution over the course of the adventure. The game design thus becomes void, when all you need to do is to press four buttons continuously to finish the game.
DO NOT let the 'furry' characters turn you away! To this day I am decidedly not a fan of 'furry' anthropomorphic animal visual works, but (and I do not say this lightly) Dust: An Elysian Tail represents the only exception. History should remember this game as a masterwork of art AND interactive media. Dust's single developer (though this game would be as excellent if produced by a team) accomplished a trifecta with its handpainted visuals, moving sound, and engaging gameplay all tied together by a well-written story with unforgettable characters. One cannot truly understand the experience of Dust's 2D combat through either words or video; neither can represent the complex yet approachable gameplay.
Few games deserve a 95+/100 and even fewer perfect scores; Dust overwhelmingly deserves it. The Metacritic User and Critic scores inappropriately underrate this game, an 8.3 and 8.0 are remarkably unfair. Fortunately, the Steam community's 11.2k reviews do Dust justice with a 96% (overall) and 100% (recent).
I am so glad I gave Dust a chance. Thank you Xbox for featuring Dust on Games with Gold, it is highly unlikely I would have ever given it a shot otherwise.
Dust is a very well constucted, beautifully painted game that paces it's challenges and upgrades very well. The story is excellent and the inventory system works fairly well, though there are aspects that are a little clunky. Some of the side quests involve collection missions which are boring, and the arenas detract from the rather serious tone the story is trying to set.
The audio is terrific and is usually a sore point that I have with 2d sidescrollers, but this one was pleasant without being intrusive.
The only other issue I have with the game is the repetitive combat when you re-enter areas you have passed through before. I realize that this is the way these types of games are done, but this is a great way to dilute the combat and make it less enjoyable.
All negatives aside, the story and artwork are worth a play alone, and the upgrades and items keep it interesting.
A single play-through game that you will enjoy while your there, but ultimately not a segment breaker.
Dust: An Elysian Tail is about some fox samurai/ninja dude who is resurrected and goes on some quest or other that involves killing a lot of monsters. The positive: I really liked the game. The controls are good and the (in-game) graphics are outstanding, to think that one person did all of this is mind boggling. One of my favorite Wii games is Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and this game reminds a lot about that one. With the main difference being that this is a metroidvania-style game whereas Muramasa is more about swordplay and combat moves with a tiny bit of RPG thrown in for good measure. The less good things: The story is beyond horrific and thank heavens you can just skip 99 percent of it which was what I did. The character models look awful in the dialogue scenes, and the voice acting leaves very much to be desired. In my opinion, if the characters were humans instead of grown-up gumbi bears, I would've liked the game even more. Worst of all is your companion Fidget which is more annoying than words can describe and voiced as a stereotypical gamer grrrrrrl.
Dust is a fun game but it kind of shows you all it's gonna show you pretty early one. It's a game that, despite it's short length, just kind of drags towards the end, with the last area especially not being too much fun at ll.
The combat, while simple, is alot of fun. Very early on you'll pretty much have all the combat movies you'll get but fortunately for the game blasting people with magic and then endlessly juggling them never gets old. While you have very few option in combat, all those option are pretty fun. Outside of the combat the gameplay is okay. It gives you a big world to explore but exploring it isn't always fun.
The game looks gorgeous and it's impressive it was done by one guy though it is odd that the character look way worse in portrait than they do int game. The music is fine but unremarkable. The voice acting fairs a little worse but it's still passable. The story is absolutely atrocious. It starts in cliche and gets much worse from there. The ending is stunningly bad. Still, it's a pretty fun time overall. It didn't fully hold my interest the entire time but I don't regret playing it. Try the demo, know that you don't really get many more moves than you have there, and if you still want to buy it, do so.
i think this game was cute and fun period bad voice acting and the lack of more interesting and varied combat, sending it to the average corner. its what we can call a weekend pick although it last much longer.
SummaryImmerse yourself in a hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior Dust, you must master the ancient Blade of Ahrah to battle dozens of enemies with an intuitive combat system, take on a variety of quests, discover powerful upgrades throughout the massive, open world, and uncover the story of an ancien...