Dust & Neon Reviews
Dust & Neon features meticulous gameplay that demands attention to each decision made, and adds a unique twist on the twin-stick shooter genre.
In theory, Dust and Neon was made for a gamer like me. And I do like the art, the premise, and the style of action. Some aspects don’t quite feel fleshed out, like the mission designs, the narrative, and the range of weapons. Then there’s the reload mechanic, which I found more annoying than innovative. Dust and Neon isn’t a bad game, and fans of twin-stick shooters, Westerns, roguelikes, and looter-shooters should all find a little fun hunting outlaw robots. Unfortunately, its pleasures are just a bit too shallow and brief.
Dust and Neon is a fun and engaging twin-stick shooter that set in a futuristic world featuring gunslinging robots. Its addictive action is sure to keep you busy.
Dust & Neon has all of the tools and gunslinging gameplay needed to offer up a good time, but it's hindered by a lack of story or characters to be invested in, bad AI on occasions and a structure that just ends up dragging things out for too long.
Dust & Neon is a solid action game with a steady difficulty curve and enough tinkering for character building to make an addictive experience. It does not reach the heights of Hades and that is due to the lack of gameplay variety and compelling characters. Despite its obvious shortcomings, Dust & Neon is a worthwhile twin-stick action game that builds upon itself the deeper you go in, but not enough to break up the monotony.
Even with that repetitiveness, the core mechanics feel so good that I really enjoyed jumping in for a few missions every now and then on a regular basis. Dust & Neon manages to combine several common game tropes in a new and interesting way, with a surprisingly fun reloading mechanic that makes it stand out in a crowded field.
Dust & Neon has a few key mechanics that shine but I believe asking £24.99 is a bit steep. Most shops are pointless and I never bought anything as I found most of my weapons during missions.
Dust & Neon may be a diamond in the rough for those looking for a unique sci-fi western cover-shooter. However, the roguelite systems do a disservice to the twin-stick shooting gameplay, making it far from the most wanted.
Like Final Fantasy VIII's gunblade or Gears or War's active reload, Dust & Neon knows that a solid, satisfying mechanical input can make or break otherwise rote gunplay. It's a small distinction, sure, but it lifts David Marquardt's twin-stick, sci-fi Western out of the metaphorical dust.
Much like the rest of the game, Dust & Neon’s bosses pretend that they’re interesting, but are absent of charm or character. Then there are the final bosses who require an arbitrary number of level-ups to reach, forcing players to chew through repetitive missions and farm XP, a task which only brings the game’s flaws more readily to the surface. In its finest moments, Dust & Neon presents serviceable roguelite gameplay with responsive controls, but there are better options available with way less meaningless grind required.
Dust & Neon is definitely going for something, and it does include a very satisfying overall gameplay loop, but the technical issues can be grating in the long term as they are persistent, and once you become accustomed to the way things are done in the game, there’s no real deviation.
Dust & Neon is a well-made roguelite with some satisfying combat that is only let down by its lack of level variety and movement capabilities. It hits all the boxes of a roguelite that is well-made, it just doesn’t quite do enough to stand out from the pack for me. We are at a point in the genre where we have so many hits that I just wasn’t wowed by a run of the mill twin-stick shooter. I do think this IP has more potential if it could expand some gameplay ideas, more mission structures, and different weapon types, like at least dynamite or a shock grenade.