I've completely played through the story of **Dust: An Elysian Tail**. I had it in my game library since 2014 and finally decided to dust (heh) it off and see what the game is _actually_ about. And since I've got this nice gamepad now, an action platformer with some puzzle elements was worth a try.
The storyline basically blew me away, that was what kept me going until the very end. I didn't really care too much about all that fighting in the game, it's just a little distraction from the story. It's also why I played this game on Casual mode, screw the Hardcore mode even if it means I miss out on obtaining that achievement.
So our main character is Dust, one of the best warriors anyone has ever seen but without any memory of who he is. A talking super-sword got summoned to him, and tadaa! You've got the basis of a game where the hero tries to figure out who he is and what he can do. And of course it'd not be complete without a little complaining sidekick at his side. In this case it'd be a nimbat called Fidget. A nimbat? Well, I see it as a little foxy lady with bat wings. :P She's cute and actually useful during combat. In fact, you'll need her. I also think she's got the best lines in this game.
The graphics of this game is very pretty and everything feels smooth. The world looks very nice and sometimes even dreamy, I've read it's handpainted and it clearly shows. On the overworld map you can go to several locations, and each location has a set of areas you can navigate between in-game. Some areas have treasures or secrets, others got shops or save points. It's all clearly marked but you'll probably need to consult a guide to find those secret areas as the path to them can be quite obscure. Fidget agrees. _"Well, that made absolutely no sense!"_
During the journey Dust will meet various NPCs and some will aid him with the story and might unravel bits of his memory. Other NPCs are for side-quests which can be extremely silly. Imagine having to beat up some monsters to loot their teeth so an old geezer can make some dentures. Yeaaaaah... I'm still not sure why he needed stone trolls' thumbs though. I probably don't even want to know. Even Fidget doesn't want to know. _"I don't see how those two things relate. Also, I don't want to see how those two things relate."_
On his travels Dust will find some pedestals with a small glowing orb which'll unlock an ability. There will be one very near the end boss too, so I was relieved when I finally got it because that meant I could revisit the previous locations to get to the spots which were unreachable before. Abilities include stuff like being able to climb those slippery vines, or double-jumping. Very useful if you want to grab all treasures and 100% the game! Fidget'll also unlock some abilities, making your ranged attacks even better. _"[...] I'll perform an attack so spectacularly awesome that it'll produce emotions you didn't even know existed."_
There are some special challenge areas in a few of those locations where you can complete trial runs. The score's determined by the amount of lamps you break, damage you get (or avoid rather), and how fast you finished it. I've not gotten higher than 3 stars yet, maybe I'll try that some more. Try to get at least an achievement for that one. :P I pretty much suck at speedruns. _"Um, I certainly hope you've saved."_
As I mentioned before, the storyline's the bit that kept me playing, even made me go to bed late a couple times. Playing with the gamepad was intuitive enough. _"[...] Mash the buttons! DO SOMETHING!!"_ It's obvious this game's made in the golden era of indie gaming (which I consider to be around 2012-2015). I don't think I'll ever 100% the achievements, but 90%+ is a pretty good attempt. Playing the game on Casual difficulty was enjoyable as you rarely would need to heal yourself, and this game also got a few nice options where you can tell it to Auto Heal and Auto Level-Up. I turned both of those options on so I could keep focusing on the storyline and gameplay. Now that I've basically finished this game I think I'll actually miss Fidget's silly banter a bit. ;) _"... Can you, uh... can you repeat that?"_
#Games #Dust #DustAnElysianTail #ElysianTail
