But there’s just too much variety and wonder to really bring Dust down. OK, so there are a few nuisance areas in Dust that will cause your knuckles to clench, and sure, the combat eventually begins to get repetitive after half a dozen hours of play. The soundtrack, too, compliments the game’s style throughout to a fantastic degree. How many video games can you say that about? It helps that the voice acting is blissful throughout, with a great selection of actors who really give personality to the characters. It’s a well-consider tale, with plenty of twists and turns along the way, and you’ll genuinely want to cut your way through to the end to find out the truth about Dust. Side quests aplenty come as standard too, with dozens of characters that want you to do this and that for them.īut get this – the story in Dust is actually worth following along with. A leveling system sees you bumping up your stats every once in a while, and an inventory/crafting system acts as a sort of side-mission, as you collect materials from dead enemies, and combine them to create more powerful weapons and armor. And there are also RPG elements thrown in for good measure. As you unlock special moves later into the game, you can then go back through past levels and uncover these secrets. It’s semi-linear, in that you regularly move from points A to B over and over again but along the way there are certain openings and secret passages that you won’t be able to open. The game’s layout has a vaguely Metroid-like feel to it. It’s all so meticulously welded tightly together, and you come away with a hugely playable 2D battler. Plus, the controls feel spot-on to the point that when you’re hit by an enemy, it always feels like it was your fault. Yet at the same time, you need to make regular movements and keep firmly on your toes, thanks to enemies that can sidestep around you and strike from behind, coupled with the fact that your Dust Storm move requires a cool down period.
Apart from hammering combos out with the slash buttons, you can also use the Dust Storm move to send items flying all over the screen, and essentially juggle enemies.
Dust is primarily a button-masher, but it’s a considered balanced button-basher, and one that focuses on making the player feel all-powerful.
It’s this attention to detail that really sets the game apart. Your Dust Storm move in particular causes the most wonderful distortion across the screen, and objects in the backdrop (such as trees) will react to the wind that is sweeping around the protagonist. But it’s when the game’s special effects come sweeping in that you really get a feel for how gorgeous Dust is. From the backdrops to the cutscenes to the character animations, it’s an absolute joy to watch in motion. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Dust is stunningly beautiful.
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