Recent reviews by Sentient Being

I give it a solid 6.5
...
..
.
ok 5.5

HEY! THATS AVERAGE!
But its not about the size of the rating that matters,
its about how you use it

(Review text hidden)

Dust: An Elysian Tail
Don’t be like me and hesitate to buy it, just buy it already.

Dust is a game I feel like I have known about for a long time and yet has always escaped my grasp. I would put off buying it from one sale to another thinking I could always pick it up later. Finally during this winter sale I picked it up and after playing it for several hours I only had one question… what the hell took me so long?

Dust features multiple game mechanics and effectively make them work together in a cohesive experience. Firstly it’s a colorful 2D side scroller with vivid backdrops and a large open field. The combat plays like a responsive hack and slash action adventure game, including combo styles and magical attacks provided by your comedic sidekick Fidget, which in turn can then be combined into different flavours of multi attacks. That combat is backed up with a full RPG style level system where upon leveling you are able to increase various stats making your character that much more of a killing machine. And if that’s not enough there is also a full crafting system allowing you to collect blueprints, materials and combine them into new weapon, armor or accessories.

The game world itself features a world map which is traversed by selecting way points, taking you to the subsequent zone. Each zone is made up of many screens, each with a multitude of enemies, platform puzzles and secrets to be found. Shrines act as save points and teleporters, which enable you to fast travel to the entrances of others zones, for a cost. Stores can also found in these zones which work much like stores in most games, but in this case the first time you sell a material to the vendor it will catalogue it, and then every so often add more of that item to its stock allowing you to buy more of that item for your crafting needs.

As for the story of Dust, it follows the titular Dust on the typical quest to prevent all out genocide. At the start of his journey, Dust, Finds himself with amnesia, not knowing who he is or what his purpose is. It is here he is joined by a talking mythical sword “Ahrah” and the swords Guardian Nimbat “Fidget” who will help guide Dust on his path. The story itself follows familiar tropes but manages to make it feel fresh while still throwing in a few twists to narrative thread.

Dust is jam packed with mechanics and classic side scrolling mayhem offering a solid 10+ hours of gameplay with plenty of secrets, and familiar faces to collect. Don’t be like me and hesitate to buy it, just buy it already.

4.5/5