Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

Dust in the Wind

Masterpieces tend to come from unexpected places, with many winners of the Academy Awards for Best Picture sometimes being obscure, even low-budget films. One could say the same of videogames, with designer Dean Dodrill not exactly being a household name regarding gaming, to the point where he lacks a Wikipedia article. He was in the process of creating an animated film, Elysian Tail, although a decision ultimately came about to convert it into a videogame, Dust: An Elysian Tail, which took three and a half years to complete, and initially saw release on Microsoft platforms, although it spread to others such as the PlayStation 4. Was the conversion from film to game a wise choice?

The eponymous protagonist, Dust, awakes in a forest meadow, approached by the sentient sword, the Blade of Ahrah, and its respective guardian, a Nimbat (sort of a flying feline species) named Fidget, with no memory of his past, thus embarking on a quest throughout a world populated by anthropomorphs to regain his memories. The storyline does have some derivative elements, with the talking sword reminiscent of the Swordians in Tales of Destiny, Fidget bringing to mind Nall and Ruby from the Lunar games, and of course amnesia, although I definitely appreciated the anthropomorphic cast, and there are some quirks such as the fact that all NPCs with whom Dust can interact have names and unique designs, and there are notes he retrieves throughout the game that provide supplemental backstory. Overall, the narrative is a definite draw to the game and contains clear direction and sound pacing.

Fortunately, solid gameplay backs the narrative experience, with Dust battling the various adversaries whom he encounters in real-time combat, with several different gameplay options such as the ability to hold buttons to make the battle system feel significantly less button-mashy with automatic attacks, with moves such as standard sword slashes and twirling his blade. Fidget can also contribute to combat by expelling balls of light or later on, flames or lightning, with which Dust can combine his blade twirling to execute special combination moves to devastate the enemy. Dust further contains numerous nods towards the Metroidvania gaming subgenre such as eventual acquisition of moves such as sliding and double jumps.

Dust: The New Eco-Warrior

Dust obtains experience for sporadic leveling and money to purchase consumables and materials from shops (where he can sell materials to make them available for purchase, regular restocks allowing him to frequently afford the components of equipment recipes he may also obtain from foes). Treasure chests Dust can also unlock with consumable treasure keys that early on are slightly rare, although late in the game I had no problem keeping a good supply, and cages requiring numerous keys to unlock can also release entities that grant him permanent health increases. Bosses further impede Dust’s progress at points in the storyline, and with things such as selectable difficulty and a fair endgame, combat is fun aside from me needing to look online to find out how to unlock the blacksmith and some annoying enemies like teleporting magicians.

The game also interacts well with players, given the aforementioned Metroidvania elements and maps showing the various connected areas of each navigable region, and while some may protest the lack of minimaps within each specific “chamber”, one can argue that such a setup adds to the potential challenge, and one can definitely make it through the standard storyline without referencing the internet, with flags clearly indicating the next plot points. The menus are also easy, and one major quick within the chief interface is that when selecting recipes to formulate new equipment, Dust can instantly purchase materials from the one-stop shop without him needing to visit tents indicating said stores. Aside from the lack of suspend saving, interaction excels.

Western RPGs tend not to have very memorable soundtracks, although the positives in An Elysian Tail’s aural aspect outweigh the negatives, with plenty of nice music that definitely fits the various areas, is never out of place, and contains great instrumentation. The sound effects are naturally fitting as is expectant of a contemporary videogame, and voice acting is present, Dust and the various voiced luminaries he encounters throughout his quest having appropriate audible speech, although their performance qualities are inconsistent. There are occasions where the sound largely depends upon ambience, but otherwise, Dust does well aurally.

Now is the winter of our discontent

The game is further a visual delight, as one would expect from a videogame that originated as a fledgling animated film, with superb art direction for Dust and the other named characters, none appearing to be palette swaps of one another. Some, however, might damn the enemy design to consist of reskins, although as enemies of the same base appearance close to one another in each area have the same stats, this actually prevents the adversarial visual direction from becoming excessively repetitive, and they still look amazing. The environments are further bright and colorful, with the effect of the foreground and background shifting at variant speeds adding a semblance of realism, and in the end, aside from character sprites not moving their lips and bodies in sync with the character portraits during cutscenes, Dust is visually excellent.

Finally, as is the case with most Metroidvanias, the core game doesn’t last very long, around a minimum of eight hours to get through the main storyline, although things such as acquiring every achievement and maxing out the map and treasure percentages of each gameplay area can potentially boost playtime well beyond that, thus accounting for great lasting appeal, although things like needing to use guides can hamper things.

On the whole, the metamorphosis of Dust: An Elysian Tail from animated film to videogame was indeed a wise decision, given its fun combat, solid control, well-told narrative, good sound, pretty art direction, and plentiful replayability. However, it falls short of masterpiece status given some issues with combat, the derivative story elements, and especially its sound. Regardless, developer Humble Hearts definitely did an excellent job assembling the game, and it’s very much “required reading” for anyone having a passing interest in the Metroidvania videogame subgenre. The company has eerily fallen silent since the game's releases, but I do hope it receives some sort of continuation in the future.

This review is based on a playthrough with a Steam Deck using its respective dock on a television.