Dust: An Elysian Tail - 20/20 hours

"Tough" mode proved not to be very tough at all. Sure, the bosses were a little trickier, but that just meant I had to use my healing items instead of hoarding them. The generic enemies you encounter elsewhere in the level were no problem whatsoever. They did more damage, but I was long-practiced in not getting hit. They had higher hp and defenses, but that just meant that I could build up my combo meter to even greater heights. I probably should have started my first game in "hardcore" (maximum) difficulty. Maybe that would have been frustrating, but the pattern so far is that this game has gotten easier the more I played it, so I expect it would have evened out at some point or another.

I wouldn't call any of this a complaint, though. Sometimes it's nice to just kick back with an easy game and tear through it like an angry god. I probably wouldn't want to do it all the time, but seeing as how it's the complete opposite of Stronghold, it was a welcome change of pace.

I don't know if I'll ever play this game again. It's not an open world. There's not a lot left for me to explore. The craft system was kind of a joke (materials are so abundant in shops that it really just feels like a shop with extra steps). But the combat grew on me, and there was something ridiculously fun about using your air dash move and Fidget's projectiles to rack up a triple-digit combo score. I think, though, that if I being honest, Kingdoms of Amalur fills the same niche and has the advantage of being much larger besides.

Dust: An Elysian Tail was one of my better gaming experiences (that pun notwithstanding), but it definitely feels like a one and done to me. Maybe if the skill ceiling were higher, but that's just speculation. In any event, I realize now that I should have bought more colorful platforming-action games and fewer RTSs. So that's not nothing.