Game: Dusk (2018)

Developer:  David Szymanski

Publisher: New Blood Interactive

Platform Played: PC

Buy it on Steam. 

Author’s Note: These images are my screenshots from Steam.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Background: So this purchase was made on the recommendation from one of my best friends. I was happy to delve into a new game. I enjoyed Dusk from the very start, and I can say with no reservations that Dusk was an immersive single-player experience. While I love games like Insurgency, I do miss the 90s and 00s when campaigns mattered more than multiplayer. And it is nice to play without streamers broadcasting during a match—and I love not hearing bros playing a game discussing memes.

Seriously, their conversations remind me of why single-player gaming will always matter to me more.

 

 

The Story: You are cast in a role reminiscent of Doomguy—you have no name. Your job is to take down a cult with supernatural allies and bring them to their end with a variety of weapons: modern, medieval, and magical. I love the fact that there are no real cutscenes. Just text walls similar to Doom and Doom II. I enjoyed that over interruptions.

 

 

The Gameplay: Picture the games you played in the 90s: Duke, Doom clones, Wolfenstein, Blood, and Goldeneye. There’s no weapon limit, there’s no aim down the sight mode, and the immersion of the player in the world of the game is all that matters. And the levels are not linear! Your morale is your mana, you’ll have to manage that alongside your health.

 

 

The Level Design: You are going to be traveling in a rural landscape that could be mistaken for Missouri or Iowa. You are going to be traveling in sinister military/industrial facilities. In the third episode you will be descending into a hellish fantasy world that could be mistaken from a creation of the mind of H.P. Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard. I found each episode increasingly better than the first. My favorite levels were certainly in the third episode.

 

 

The Weapons: You’ll have some sickles for your melee combat option. Useless handguns, a lever-action shotgun, a sawed off shotgun, a hunting rifle which is potent, but for some reason it is chambered in .22, an assault rifle permanently selected to full auto, and a few heavy weapons! The riveter is a rocket launcher, despite firing metal rivets, and the mortar gun which is less effective that the motar gun from Dark Forces. 

The medieval weapons are a crossbow and a sword. The crossbow can mow down a line of cultists, the sword can be a one hit kill wonder.

Final Analysis: I’d hurry up and buy this indie gem. You’ll love it if you enjoyed 90s FPS. I’m eager for Dusk II or more games from this developer.