Dust: An Elysian Tail

Childhood game, really nice to revisit

This game is an absolute blast to play. The combination of hack and slash combat and enemies, an RPG leveling system, and Metroidvania platforming and unlockable abilities makes for a phenomenal 2D game. In terms of gameplay, I can't think of any other video games, new or old, that are quite like Dust. Combat is fast-paced, primarily focusing on your sword (who by the way might I add can talk), you've got both ground-based and aerial melee attacks and combos that you can chain for fights against hordes of enemies, making battles equal parts challenging, fun, and a visual spectacle, but you also have a companion flying around with you who can provide magic projectile and ranged attacks. You've got a spinning whirlwind attack that enhance these for devastating area of effect attacks, as some of these ranged attacks aren't strong on their own. at least without being upgraded, and your companion unlocks a new one after the first several Chapters, each providing different effects that work better in certain situations or on specific enemies than the rest. A variety of giant enemies also exist, acting as elite foes. Their attacks and health are much stronger, but you have the ability to counter their attacks to avoid taking damage and stun them, leaving them vulnerable to high damage for a few seconds. These giant enemies are faced on their own, small groups, and even among the hordes of weaker enemies throughout the game, shaking up the gameplay and providing a variety of challenges without messing with it's fast-paced and smooth flow of combat. You can level up your Attack, Max Health, Defense, and magic abilities, which belong to your companion. You've also got a Luck stat that can help get you better drops from enemies (more coins, rarer items, etc), but that one can only be increased by equipping armors and items that enhance it. Naturally, armors also have varying positive and occasionally negative changes for other stats as well, allowing you to customize your character's stats to better suit what you need for certain battles, quests, or just your playstyle. Or, if you want an even tougher challenge, there are also a few items that are deliberately designed to only make any number of these stats worse. The boss fights embrace the hack and slash gameplay while still playing a little differently from standard. This very much works in the game's favor as each one feels like an opponent you're truly on even ground with, differing from the multi-opponent and horde battles that you face throughout most of the game. As for the characters and story, you play as a fellow with amnesia who adopts the name of Dust. He wakes up one day to find an ancient talking sword with wisdom has been drawn to him, and his companion, Fidget, a flying fox bat, reluctantly goes along with them since her job was to guard the sword. This trio is an absolute delight in terms of writing and characterization, and their voice acting is top notch. The dynamic between the trio is just as often humorous as it is moving. The main plot overall isn't entirely unique, but it still delivers a very good message, and the story does have several original and surprising ideas. I won't spoil anything, but the character-driven aspects of the story are by far it's best part. While the game doesn't have an extremely long runtime for one save file unless you do a fair amount of side quests or make sure to get upgrades and better gear (which tbh, I do recommend doing since every Chapter after the first two get intense in difficulty), I only did a handful of side quests and Achievements in addition to the main story and still got nearly 30 hours of out of it. And there's still more Achievements and higher difficulty levels, so you can still replay the game and have it stay fresh and challenging. The game's development was sadly cut short in order to make a deadline for Microsoft (believe it or not, this was apparently because they liked the game and wanted to promote it; this probably made the game turn out worse), so there's a few storylines that feel like they wrap up abruptly and there's still a few questions lingering about the motives and origins of the antagonists by the end, and with at least one reigning royal being mentioned a few times in the game, it's all but stated that the main antagonist isn't even the top dog responsible for the game's events or giving the orders to go on the attack. However, this doesn't detract from the game too much, at least far from enough to leave a sour taste in one's mouth. If this game ever gets a sequel, however, I'd gladly play it. It'd be the perfect opportunity to flesh out this game's world and storyline, and to end the story on a higher note by having the characters confront who's truly behind everything. Overall, I very highly recommend this game. The gameplay and character interactions are the highlight, and both are strongly complimented by the game's beautiful graphics and art style, but the story is enjoyable for what it is. Give it a shot if you're a fan of hack and slashes, Metroidvanias, or both.