Duskfade Reviews
DuskFade is a platforming action game that combines simple, smooth, and enjoyable gameplay with a stunning artistic style. The game delivers a solid experience that is worth trying, especially for fans of the genre. However, repetition becomes noticeable throughout the game and affects the overall experience.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Duskfade is a lovely return to a style of game that deserves more attention. Its combat is fairly simple and its influences are obvious, but neither issue stopped me from loving the adventure. The gorgeous environments, smart level design, satisfying secrets, and excellent traversal make it an easy recommendation for anyone who misses classic 3D action platformers.
Weird Beluga's 3D platformer embraces elements from the great classics of the PlayStation 2 era and makes them its own in an experience that's as fun as it is familiar. Duskfade is accessible, simple, and fun. A 3D platformer that celebrates the classics without losing sight of its own identity, featuring memorable characters and an entertaining story. Without a doubt, one of my favorite games so far this year.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Duskfade doesn’t get everything right, but I came away from it appreciating what Weird Beluga has attempted. It genuinely feels like a mid-2000s mascot adventure game, complete with colourful worlds, speedy movement, platforming challenges, straightforward action combat, character upgrades and a surprisingly earnest emotional story.
Duskfade offers an enjoyable, visually impressive adventure bolstered by solid platforming mechanics. Its ambitions are somewhat held back, however, by an overly simple combat system, repetitive level design, and a generally low level of difficulty. Nevertheless, it remains a solid and pleasing title that entertains without any major missteps.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Duskfade starts off on the wrong foot but picks up steam quickly enough to recover and stick the landing.
Action, clockpunk platforming, and a massive dose of nostalgia: Duskfade recaptures the magic of the PS2 era with flawless controls, stunning visuals, and superb boss battles. Spanish studio Weird Beluga has delivered one of the year's most solid indie surprises.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The joy is found in how close to being like its heroes Duskfade is.
Duskfade succeeds in delivering an experience that brings back the joy of the golden age of gaming. It does so through classic gameplay that combines enjoyable platforming, simple combat, and exploration, alongside a beautiful art direction and a soundtrack that perfectly suits its world. Despite some shortcomings, such as repetitive enemies, the ease of certain challenges, and weak voice acting, it remains an enjoyable experience that reminds us that games do not always need to be complex to offer an experience worth remembering.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Duskfade is an action platformer that feels straight out of the PS2 library, with a gorgeous world to explore and loads of skills to unlock.
Duskfade is an indie game oozing with love, beauty, and a passion for action platforming. Featuring meticulously crafted visuals and audio alongside a story that won't leave you indifferent, it is an absolute must-play.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Nothing that you play here is new. But it does not have to be. Airy platforming that reminds you of better times. Active combat that makes you fight faceless enemies. A heartfelt cautionary tale that sneaks up on you. And the secret ingredient, an absolutely gorgeous art style that will often stop you in your tracks. Duskfade has it all. Sometimes, that is what you need to remind you of what is important in life.
There’s no doubting that Duskfade was made with a love for action-adventure games, but the combination of simple, enjoyable combat and platforming that challenges the way you engage with the movement abilities makes it stand out as a shining example of the genre, even if it does adopt some of its flaws along the way.
Duskfade is a glorious blend of noughties platformer ideals and modern-day polish. Offering sublime visuals, satisfying movement tech, and an addictive collect-a-thon experience that keeps on giving. Combat is a little basic, and the story also doesn't exactly push the envelope narratively. But overall, this is the closest thing I've played to a classic mascot platformer since Astro Bot. It's in the same league, and it wholeheartedly deserves to be.
Duskfade has some clear problems. The map design could have been better, especially in the earlier regions, where the lack of a map can make exploration confusing. The camera also has issues during combat, and the target lock does not always select the enemy we want. Regular combat is also quite simple, especially at the beginning, with limited variety in enemy attacks, while progression takes a while to unlock the tools that actually make the gameplay more interesting. To top it all off, the PC version reviewed here offers very few graphics options, almost none, and a port that leaves something to be desired in several technical aspects. Still, it is difficult to ignore the number of things I enjoyed during the campaign. Zirian’s movement is precise and becomes increasingly fun as new abilities are unlocked. The projectile parry mechanic, Chrono Shot, Pendulum, and different devices help transform the experience as we progress, while the bosses make good use of what we have learned throughout the journey. Exploration also has plenty to offer, with collectibles, secrets, upgrades, and areas that encourage players to return after acquiring new abilities. Visually, Duskfade is also very impressive. Its environments are detailed, colorful, and full of personality, while the characters have great animations and expressions. The soundtrack fits the adventure very well, and the voice acting helps make the cast more charismatic. The story is simple, but it works within the game’s premise, especially because of the personalities of Zirian, Allira, Tristan, Cuco, and the various characters we encounter along the way. In the end, Duskfade is an enjoyable adventure that takes a while to show everything it has to offer. It modernizes several characteristics of classic 3D platformers, while also repeating some familiar problems from the genre. I would have liked some systems to be more refined and for the PC version to have received more attention, but the precise movement, bosses, exploration, characters, and art direction make the journey worthwhile. I would mainly recommend it to players who enjoy 3D platformers and do not mind exploring a world that, at times, demands a strong sense of direction.
It is a dated and beautiful game, for worse, and often for better. Can I recommend it to a player without a strong cultural memory of games of the era this was inspired by? That’s a tough one. But for anyone who remembers Jak, Ratchet, iNinja, Sphinx and Tak among others, with Duskfade, Weird Beluga have bottled that nostalgia, warts and all, and it’s not overused or repeated. In short – they don’t make them like this anymore.
Duskfade is an adventure that wins you over through its heart more than the complexity of its systems. Despite some limitations in its combat, progression, and pacing, its delightful exploration, charming art direction, and charismatic characters make the journey worthwhile. It captures that wonderful feeling of classic 3D platformers and proves there is still room for adventures made simply to make us smile, explore, and keep playing. An indie that is absolutely worth your attention.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Duskfade is a charming love letter to PS2-era platformers that skillfully weaves nostalgic inspirations with fluid movement and a genuinely heartwarming story about time and moving forward. While its combat leaves a bit of room for improvement, Weird Beluga has crafted an exceptionally fun, vibrant adventure elevated by fantastic platforming and flawless camera control that genre fans will love completing to 100%.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The developers' passion can be seen in Duskfade. It is clear that they loved classic platformers and tried to re-introduce that feeling to a new generation of players, and they succeeded in many aspects, especially the level design which was flaw-free, the variety of environments in these levels, the joy of exploration within them, and certainly their distinctive visual and audio identity. On the other hand, the core of the game itself suffers from problems that are hard to ignore. Exaggerated jump physics, unpolished combat, and a bad Lock-On system are all things that directly affect what you will be doing the most throughout hours of gameplay. Despite completing the game 100% and enjoying exploring every corner of it, I was left with a continuous feeling that the game was just one step away from being an excellent platformer, and that step is polish, which unfortunately was not present enough. In the end, we have an enjoyable adventure for fans of 3D platformers, but it is not the experience that surpasses the games from which it inspired its ideas.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Weird Beluga delivers a Spanish adventure with the soul of PS2 and N64 classics, full of colour, exploration, emotionally charged bosses and a wonderful soundtrack. Duskfade does not simply honour the past; it builds something meaningful of its own.
Review in Spanish | Read full review