Review: “Dusk” (Computer Game)

…Whoa! That was so cool! I’m genuinely surprised that it has taken me THIS long to get round to playing “Dusk” (2018). Since I was in the mood for action games and happened to notice that a DRM-free edition of it was on special offer on GOG during their autumn sale last year, I finally got round to playing this amazing “mid-late 1990s” style shooter game 🙂

So, let’s take a look at “Dusk” (2018):

This review may contain SPOILERS and the game itself may contain occasional FLASHING or FLICKERING images during gameplay.

You play as a nameless man in rural America who finds himself fighting a man called Jakob and the hordes of monsters and evil cultists under his command….

One of the first things that I will say about this game is that it is awesome and you should play it. Whilst it wears its influences – “Doom” (1993), “Quake” (1996) and “Blood” (1997), amongst other things – on its sleeve, it also manages to be its own unique thing that continues the tradition of innovation that 1990s games were so famous for.

Seriously, if you like proper fast-paced shooter games, with lots of different weapons, creative monsters, non-linear levels, the ability to save anywhere and a traditional “health points” system, then play this game. It rules!

Seriously, the first episode of the game may as well call itself “Blood 3” 🙂 And, yes, a second “Blood” game actually exists, but it’s better to forget about it…

And this level – the “Escher Labs” – is a gloriously surreal tribute to M.C.Escher 🙂

I could go over all of the precise details of this game… but I’d be here all day if I did that. This is a game with actual creativity and personality behind it. Whether it is how the first episode genuinely feels like a spiritual successor to “Blood” (1997) – with Stephan Weyte even providing some voice-acting too.

Whether it is all of the clever power-ups and how, for example, the effects of the “rapid-fire” ones stack if you find more than one – allowing you to turn your rocket launcher (“Riveter”) into THE coolest machine-gun ever. Whether it the hilarious way that you can… very slowly… restore your health points by puffing on a cigar (equip it with “0”. You’re welcome).

Whether it is all of the silly details, like the hidden bar of soap in each level which does something like 5000 damage if thrown at an enemy. Whether it is all of the cool set-pieces, especially in the third episode.

Whether it is the beautiful stained glass in some levels or the terrifying invisible Wendigo monsters or the game’s deliciously twisted sense of humour during some boss battles (especially the final one….). Whether it is when the game gives you a sword and insists that you use it to fight your way through an evil cathedral.

Oh and I forgot to mention THIS amazing spiral staircase in episode three. Seriously, it’s so awesome 🙂

I could go on for a long time but this is one of those games where I binge-played the first half of it on the same day that I bought it with a huge grin on my face and a feeling of “THIS IS SO COOL!” which lingered for hours afterwards.

There are just so many cool moments in this game and they work as well as they do because it is a firmly gameplay-focused game. The gameplay here is pure, perfect “Modern source port of an old shooter game” type gameplay. I would say that it feels like a “lost” game from the 1990s but it uses modern technology to give itself a greater sense of scale and variety than these older games. And some of the influences are more modern than you might expect – with one power-up taking influence from “Superhot” (2016) and some chainsaw monsters who are inspired by Dr. Salvador from “Resident Evil 4” (2005) – too.

Plus, to my surprise and delight, this game actually has some fairly decent horror elements as well. Most of the time, the horror elements are just there to add an ominous atmosphere but the game can actually be moderately scary sometimes.

Not only are there some surprisingly suspenseful segments, but there are also gloomy areas where you’re not allowed to use a flashlight, a few moments of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, creepy messages scrawled on the walls in blood, a small number of well-placed jump scares, some mild psychological horror moments and at least two or three genuinely disturbing monsters as well. It isn’t an ultra-terrifying game but, whenever it actually decides to be scary, it actually manages to be.

Again, it usually isn’t that scary most of the time, but there’s a lot of influence from the horror genre. Such as the awesome Dario Argento-esque red and blue lighting in this area.

Most of the time, it is more thrilling than frightening – and it succeeds perfectly in this area. As well as a large array of surprisingly well-balanced weapons, there’s a good amount of visual variety between levels, lots of different monsters – ranging from evil cultists who look like old-fashioned US racists to all sorts of weird eldritch monstrosities – and also a decent variety to the gameplay too. Some levels are tense, claustrophobic things and others are spectacular “Painkiller” (2004)-esque arena battles.

The game’s sound design and voice-acting is awesome, as well as music by Andrew Hulshult and some voice-work by Stephan Weyte (who played Caleb in “Blood”), there’s also lots of other fun moments too. For example, one of the second-episode mini-bosses is a giant soldier called “Big John” (?) and you can just tell that the voice-actors were having a laugh trying to do their corniest Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions with his dialogue. Again, this is a game with an actual personality to it 🙂

Seriously, Big John’s voice-acting is absolutely hilarious!

As for length, it is an old-school FPS game 🙂 It contains thirty levels and three secret levels (I only found one – “The Ratacombs”). On the middle difficulty setting, I was able to breeze through the first half or so of the game in about 3-5 hours. But, lest you think that this is a short game, the second half of the game is a bit more difficult and I often found myself only managing to complete one or two levels per day. So, it’s sort of comparable in length to many of the older games that it was inspired by.

All in all, this game is just ridiculously cool. It’s a successor to the classics, rather than a mere imitation of them. It has personality, it is ridiculously fun to play and there are just so many cool moments too. If you like classic shooter games, then you’ve probably played it already but – if you haven’t – then it is well worth playing.

If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get six hundred and sixty-six. Ia! Nyarlathotep!