DUSK

This game is phenomenal. This game is one of the best love letters to the original Quake I have ever played (though I have not played many). The story, the gunplay, the movement, and the level design is all brilliant. The Enemies: Everything about the enemies in this game are simply brilliant. The slight normalcy of the regular humans slowly devolving into nightmare grotesque flesh creatures as you get deeper into the madness is fantastic. I especially love that you can tell each enemy apart based purely on sound alone. The Weapons and Powers: My eyes absolutely lit up when I retrieved another pistol and discovered dual wielding. Not every weapon is capable of duel wielding; the capability to do so alone makes everything better though! The other weaponry in the game is fairly standard, but still so satisfying to use. I like the unique idea of the sword. Adding a stealth mechanic that doesn't slow down the pace of the game is impressive. The added addition of being able to hurt enemies with the gun flips is an added bonus. The power-ups are well designed. The powers are also stackable. Each power up is unique enough from each other to where they do not feel the same. The Movement: The movement can get a little wonky in the best of ways. Standard running and strafing feels tight and responsive. Jumping can be fun with added in flips. Being able to slide around is fun too. The movement is buttery smooth in this game which allows for great gunplay and gameplay in general. Big thanks to the janitor that waxes all the floors! The Levels: There aren't any levels that feel poorly designed or confusing. There is always a somewhat clear way to go without the game having to hold your hand. If a door opens up for from where you are, the game is nice enough to give you a direct or general idea of where it opened up at. The environmental designs of each level are astounding. They flow in a direction that makes sense in terms of evil cult taking everything over. Everything appears slightly normal and gradually devolves into madness. I do love that many objects are interactable. Being able to pick things up and throw them at the faces of baddies is quite fun. This game is a blast to play. Remember, Gary loves you.