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dkirschner's As Dusk Falls (PC)
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| [August 1, 2024 06:03:10 AM]
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This is a narrative "your choices matter" game with a unique art style and a really compelling story. However, it made me realize that Detroit: Become Human will overshadow any of these types of games. I have been thinking about that one forever, and have even gone out of my way to read some research on it and talk to someone who studied it. Anyway, trying not to make constant comparisons because As Dusk Falls is great on its own.
This is a NARRATIVE game, strong emphasis. It tells the story of two families whose paths cross during a motel hold-up and ensuing hostage situation. There are a variety of main characters, several of whom you "control" over the course of six chapters. Some are more central than others, including the father and daughter of the family that is held hostage in the motel and the youngest brother of the family who is holding up the motel. You'll learn about events leading up to the hostage situation from both sides, about relationships and hard decisions and whatnot affecting each family and their motivations. That is, it's easy to just say "hostage takers bad," but as that younger brother says, their family was dealt a bad hand. It raises all sorts of ethical questions and made me think about how people handle inter- and intra-personal conflict and process trauma. You'll also fast-forward years later and see what happened to the main characters.
Your narrative choices do matter, do change the outcome of characters' trajectories. Most of the main characters have a variety of different outcomes, and most of them can die. As Dusk Falls pulls a card from Detroit and shows you the choices you made and their outcomes for each chapter in a narrative chart, along with what percentage of players made the same choice as you. It also encourages you to go back and replay sections to see alternate outcomes. It's all really well done. Another interesting feature, which I didn't get to try out, is that you can play co-op or online, and everyone gets a "vote" in the dialogue choices. I would have played this with a friend and done that, but Game Pass expires in a few days and there wasn't time.
When I said that you "control" characters, I am referring to the fact that the only inputs required from players are selecting occasional dialogue options and pressing a button during QTEs. This isn't Detroit or The Walking Dead where you actually move your characters through the world. That's fine, as the art style was this cool blend of realistic/comic-bookish/stop-motion animation. I could watch it all day long! But I do wish that the QTEs were more engaging. When I say that you press a button, I mean that literally: you press ONE button, the same one, every time, with no variation. It doesn't challenge you in changing which button, there are no "up with the left stick and down with the right stick" prompts, no button mashing. This is great for accessibility, but I wonder why they didn't have an option to make it more engaging. I played the game reclining with a controller or mouse held lazily in one hand, finger on A or LMB.
I really enjoyed the ending(s) that I got. You would probably call it the good ending. And there is something that happens at the end that is open to interpretation and sets up for a sequel, which I hope it gets.
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dkirschner's As Dusk Falls (PC)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Monday 29 July, 2024
GameLog closed on: Wednesday 31 July, 2024 |
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This is the only GameLog for As Dusk Falls. |
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