Innovation is hard to accomplish in entertainment when the industry is oversaturated with titles containing such distinctive features. David Szymanski and New Blood Interactive considered this, knowing sometimes it’s all right to borrow ideas. This led to them creating one of the ultimate throwback FPS games of all time: “DUSK.”
The game is set in a rural Pennsylvanian town aptly named “Dusk”; the town became more interesting when people noticed magical energy inside ruins beneath the surface. Unfortunately, as the number of people (military, scientists, townsfolk) involved in harnessing this power skyrocketed, so did the population that would end up possessed until the area was unsafe. The unnamed protagonist, an intruder, enters the town with interest in the power and ends up being captured, only to break out before his execution.
Alongside its pixelated 3D visuals, “DUSK” absolutely nails its evil-cultist atmosphere across all three of its episodes with each one carrying a different set of scenery. Episode one, “The Foothills,” takes you through the wooded countryside; episode two, “The Facilities,” introduces you to more industrial settings, getting closer to the powerful energy the town once sought; and episode three, “The Nameless City,” drives you through hellish landscapes until you confront the leading source of corruption.
“DUSK” successfully recreates the frenetic energy that old shooters had, now surging through the players’ veins. Some of its ideas are highly used today, but for those looking for a trip down memory lane, it creates the urge to appreciate the games that built these mechanics.
Movement is fast paced and makes you slightly lean to make your circle-strafing feel more fluid than it was in “Serious Sam” or “QUAKE.”
To help even the score at points where you’re low on ammo, “DUSK” takes a page from “Half-Life 2” and allows anything not bolted down to become dangerous when thrown. Even when you’re not dry of bullets, it’s satisfying to cremate a swarm of enemy soldiers with an explosive barrel or split the sides of floating cultists with a sawblade. You haven’t lived until you’ve blown up an evil spirit with a bar of soap.
In addition to the cult-centered story, an FPS veteran can see inspiration from “Blood” in the amount of environmental interactivity. Campfires provide light, but roasting viscera on it can grant extra health when consumed. You can sleep in beds to raise your morale, drink beer and get intoxicated, and appreciate art on people’s walls. Small details like these go a long way towards making the world feel slightly more realistic.
Some guns can even be dual-wielded, harkening back to “Shadow Warrior” where you could fire two submachineguns simultaneously.
Speaking of guns, all weapons pack a punch and don’t have to be reloaded. It is, however, a mostly standard array of guns seen in most first-person shooters with only two big standouts. The crossbow packs a weighty punch not just because of its speed, but because each shot pierces through everything including the map itself. On the other hand, the Mortar is a grenade launcher whose grenades either explode on impact or can be remotely detonated to kill baited crowds.
Out of all the elements of “DUSK,” the one most deserving of credit is its level design. Most of the levels are big, wide areas combined with both claustrophobic and roomy places like houses and caves. Every level is filled with great platforming areas and secrets to be uncovered. There’s even a laboratory that eventually shapeshifts into the “Staircase to Nowhere” painting by M.C. Escher.
Episode three outdoes itself with variation. Going into the first chapter, you’re granted with an optional stealth route that echoes “Thief.” One chapter forces you to search a sunken underground village for each key to progress. Later on, the game forces you to navigate around floating islands by rotating the world with yellow orbs. None of this is a slog since the majority of the game is spent running through haunted townsfolk and cutting them down.
The only part of “DUSK” that doesn’t shine well is its multiplayer option, but it’s not the game’s fault—it’s just that nobody is playing it. This setback doesn’t harm the game, though. All the love put into “DUSK” can be seen in its single-player campaign.
“DUSK” is a definitive title in the FPS category of throwback games. By following its predecessors’ rules and including everything that made its brethren successful, it shows that an extremely aged genre is still kicking.
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