Dust: An Elysian Tale - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

Immerse yourself in a gorgeous hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond. At your disposal is the mythical Blade of Ahrah, capable of turning its wielder into an unstoppable force of nature, and the blade's diminutive guardian, Fidget. Battle dozens of enemies at once with an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master combat system, take on a variety of quests from friendly villagers, discover ancient secrets and powerful upgrades hidden throughout the massive, open world, and uncover the story of an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction as you fight to uncover your own past.

Previous Playtime

0 hours

Expectations and Prior Experience

I put this game on my wishlist because it looks really pretty. A lot of bright colors and rounded shapes, like a living cartoon. Then one of my readers was generous enough to purchase it for me (thank you, greatly, by the way) and I decided to use it to cleanse my palate between Stronhold games. Because one thing I know for certain is that it's not going to be building and defending castles for hours on end.

It's a platformer, for better or worse. I like the genre as a whole, but it's easy to screw up. Mostly it comes down to subtle things - the length of your jumps, the friction of your running, the inventiveness of the enemies and obstacles. I'm not worried, because I have no particular reason to think this game is bad, but if it is, i will probably take me awhile to realize it.

 My big fear is that it might be too short. Running through the same game twice in a row isn't bad, but by the third or fourth time, I really start to question why I'm even here on this planet in the first place.