As Dusk Falls Review
A few years ago, Microsoft unveiled the interactive drama As Dusk Falls to the world. The game’s emotional trailers, intense music score, and unique art style all helped it stand out in an increasingly crowded space of similar titles like the Supermassive games, the Life is Strange series, and others. different Telltale projects. Unfortunately, As Dusk Falls fails to live up to the high bar set by others in its genre, and it will likely leave gamers more disappointed than anything else by the time the credits roll. While Dusk Falls is divided into two different “Books,” with Book 1 dealing with a hostage situation at a roadside motel in Arizona, and Book 2 dealing with the aftermath of that event. In Book 1, As Dusk Falls players are introduced to the main cast of characters, they split into two different factions. There’s the chaotic Holt family, whose players take on the role of the youngest brother Jay, and then the Walker family, represented by the player character Vince. At the beginning of the game, Jay and his brothers Dale and Tyler commit a robbery, so they hide from the police at the Desert Dreams Motel. The Walker family and the motel employees are taken hostage, but what happens next is up to the player. As Jay and Vince, players make choices that shape the narrative, deciding the fates of the characters and the ultimate outcome of the entire trial. Other characters are playable in later chapters, but the first half of the game focuses on Jay and Vince.
Because Dusk Falls is like an interactive TV drama, with tight writing (apart from one moment at the end of the game that requires a huge leap in logic) and wonderful voice acting that continues to bring it to life. in the story. It’s full of twists and turns that will keep players on the edge of their seats, even when things start to stumble in Book 1 Chapter 3. It’s at this point where pacing becomes a major issue in As Dusk Falls, and this is a problem that remains throughout the rest of the experience. The pacing in As Dusk Falls Book 1 Chapter 3 is sluggish for a variety of reasons. One of the problems is the trigger warning that the game displays before the episode that informs players of a certain event that is likely to happen. This will make players wait for the incident to happen for the duration of the chapter and spoil its potential emotional impact. Including trigger warnings is never a bad thing, but its placement is the issue, as it breaks when the event occurs. It would be better to put it at the beginning of Book 1, so that the players don’t know the exact chapter that will take place. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 did something similar with the infamous No Russian mission, informing players that something terrible was about to happen and giving them the option to skip it, without giving too many details to almost be a spoiler. Another problem is that Book 1 Chapter 3 keeps pulling players away from the action at the motel to show flashbacks. These flashbacks disrupt the flow of the story, robbing the motel scenes of their tension. They’re also less interesting than what happens at the motel, so it’s frustrating to watch.
Because Dusk Falls never fixes its pacing issues after Book 1 Chapter 3, where subsequent chapters fail to capture the magic of the first two chapters of Book 1. There is a very painful flashback story in Book 2 that almost meaningless depending on the choices players make, and thus it becomes filler to eliminate the runtime. While the story of Dusk Falls would have been better served by trimming some of these scenes and keeping more focus on the motel. Because Dusk Falls Book 2 isn’t as interesting as the events of Book 1. It shows what happens to the characters after the motel incident, but it feels unnecessary. The ending of the hostage situation at the motel is the climax of the story, and everything that follows is the long falling action that brings everything to a rather unsatisfying conclusion. While the main story ends, the game still ends on an abrupt cliffhanger, possibly setting up Book 3, though the consequence is that those who have invested six hours into the story will likely be left disappointed. It’s possible to find answers about this cliffhanger if players make different choices, but we couldn’t find any during our time with the game. After players complete any chapter of As Dusk Falls, they will be presented with a flowchart of how their choices can change the course of the story. While many games like this focus on choices, As Dusk Falls deserves credit for making sure the player’s decisions have a big impact on how each scene plays out. Those interested in seeing how the story might have turned out differently if they made other choices can easily jump back into the timeline and start over specific scenes without breaking the “canon” choices they made in their main playthrough, which is a much appreciated feature.
Manipulating the story of As Dusk Falls is the main way players interact with it as an actual “game.” It’s otherwise pretty low on interactivity, even for games in its genre. There are a few instances where players can explore the room point-and-click style, but for the most part, the experience of As Dusk Falls comes from watching scenes, making dialogue choices, and if sometimes pressing buttons or rotating to complete the incredibly easy QTE sequence. Aside from using a controller to play As Dusk Falls, there is also an accompanying app that allows players to join the game in a way unlike the Jackbox Party Pack titles. Up to eight players can play As Dusk Falls, voting on choices and dialogue options and working together to complete QTEs, and while the feature is appreciated, the game won’t work as a party game. Because Dusk Falls’ slow-burn drama and serious subject matter don’t lend themselves to a party game environment in the same way that Supermassive’s horror games do with their “Movie Night” co-op feature. It may also be difficult to convince friends to play As Dusk Falls multiplayer due to its art style. The game looks like a graphic novel, with a few little animations here and there to spice things up. Some will find As Dusk Falls’ unique art style attractive, but others may dismiss it as looking “cheap” compared to other games in the genre. Because Dusk Falls starts off strong and players will have a hard time putting the game down for the first two chapters, just like a great binge-worthy TV show. Unfortunately, its pacing issues become apparent by the end of Book 1, and cannot be recovered in Book 2. Those who want to check it out for themselves should note that As Dusk Falls is a one-day game of Xbox Game Pass, and so anyone is still curious. can try it without making a financial commitment beyond what they are already paying for their subscription. Dusk Falls launches on July 19 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Today Technology was provided an Xbox Series X code for this review.