In a post-E3 2014, we’re all very caught up in the next-gen consoles and the shiny, new games that we’ll be getting our hands on soon enough. But here I am, still playing games on my X-Box 360. My PS4 hasn’t arrived yet, so the anticipation for all of the game reveals we saw at E3 hasn’t really set in yet for me. Plus, I have a confession to make: Sometimes I get more excited about replaying old games than I do about playing new games. If I love a game, I’ll play it over and over again. I won’t even tell you how many times I’ve played Final Fantasy IV (hint: over 20). Sure, the graphics in older games aren’t the newest and best, and sometimes the game-play is more archaic and less refined, but there’s just something about playing a game you haven’t played in a while that’s like reuniting with an old friend.
It’s that feeling that made me decide to dust off (pun intended) Dust: An Elysian Tail. Developed by Humble Hearts and independent designer Dean Dodrill, Dust was published by Microsoft Studios back in August of 2012.
Dust is a fun, colorful side-scrolling RPG with plenty of action and adventure. Waking up in a forest glade, you are Dust, a mysterious warrior with no memory of his past, who is chosen to be the master of the ancient blade Ahrah. This happens when Ahrah itself comes flying through the air and announces itself and its intentions to make Dust the Chosen One.
Yes, this game has a talking sword.
Close on Ahrah’s heels is Fidget, a nimbat (which looks like something akin to a fox with bat wings and a kangaroo tail), the sword’s guardian. Unwilling to let Ahrah out of her site, Fidget becomes Dust’s traveling companion, and the three set off in search of regaining Dust’s memory and discovering the warrior’s true destiny.
The first thing that jumps out at me whenever I play this game is the artwork. The game is absolutely beautiful. Everything looks hand-painted. It’s almost like playing a game in a highly-detailed Disney animated film. The music is also really good, and the voice acting is, surprisingly, amazing. My husband was especially impressed by the quality and seriousness of the voice acting as he watched me play it the first time because all of the characters are anthropomorphic animals, or, as he put it, “Serious Furries.” The game takes itself pretty seriously, which adds to the depth of the story, but it also has quite a few tongue-in-cheek moments, and the characters — especially Fidget — are often breaking the fourth wall; the first time you encounter monsters in the game, Fidget tells Dust to forget about the advice of using combos and yells, “Mash the buttons!” and later remarks that she hopes Dust saved before going into a certain area. There’s also a quest in the second chapter that involves finding a shepherd’s lost flock, and the first time you “collect” one of the lost sheep, she interrupts your quest to ask if you seriously just put a sheep into your inventory. It’s pretty funny.
As Fidget’s cry of “Mash the buttons!” might indicate, this is not only an RPG, but an arcade-style action game. Using different combinations of the X and Y buttons, along with jumping and crouching, gives you different combat moves. Early on, you learn a “dust storm” technique, which can lead to multi-hit combos — which, of course, do more damage and earn you a higher score on the Leader Board.
There are four difficulties to the game so that players of all levels can enjoy. Casual makes the game super easy, and of course there are Normal, Medium, and High difficulty settings. The first time I played through, I played on Normal mode, but playing it again, I decided to skip straight to High — and, man, it’s not exaggerating at all about how hard the game becomes on that setting.
Overall, Dust: An Elysian Tail is a highly enjoyable game that I would recommend for any fans of RPGs and action-adventure games. If you haven’t given it a chance before, pick it up in the XBL Arcade or in the Steam store. And, if you have played Dust, why not play it again?
