Dusk Diver Reviews
Dusk Diver is a solid Musuo-style hack-and-slash action game that throws you into some massive battles with a fun and flexible combat system at your disposal.
Dusk Diver is a game that promises a lot with it's gorgeous visuals, but the combat ultimately falls short. Its basic combo system and missable story are not enough to even come close to some of this year's stellar action titles.
Dusk Diver rewards you for everything that you do. A visual treat that just keeps on giving. Dusk Diver's pace also keeps the fun going until the very end. It's just a shame that it suffers from some translation issues and a story that never really realizes its true potential.
Unfortunately, the game doesn't live up to its inspirations, mostly due to its linear nature and to the overall simplistic combat system, which is further harmed by the game's lack of fluidity. The result is a game that feels like a half-achievement and which could be much better if it had spent just a bit more time on the drawing board.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
For the most part, Dusk Diver has rather simple charms. The mindless combat will be appealing for some, where as the mysterious story and cute characters others. Toss in handful of moves and places to explore and it's good, though it doesn't stand out that much. Sure, this isn't enough to break it, I just suggest you know what you're getting into first.
Making a great use of its inspirations on musous in its combat and telling a good and fast story that never extends its duration beyond what it should, Dusk Diver is a game with surprising origins and inspirations that manages to deliver a fun and complete product, even though it is limited and with some technical issues.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Dusk Diver struggles to make a memorable impact due to its story and gameplay failings. This is not helped by its technical issues. Nevertheless, despite its blandness, there is some charisma beneath the surface thanks to a memorable supporting cast and a clear sense of passion in its world's conception. It's difficult to recommend it, but for those who do give it a go, there is a noteworthy personality here that keeps things ticking.
Dusk Diver is a beautiful, fun and flawed experience that fails to provide bang for its buck. If you're a die-hard fan of this style of beat-em-up you may be able to look past the game's lack of content.
I enjoyed it for what it was but I do wish the world had more to do in it and that it wasn’t over quite so soon.
Throw in a functional, but hardly boundary-pushing combat system, and you're left with something that works, but at this particular time of year, a workmanlike experience is just going to drown under the weight of all the other really good stuff being released, sadly.
Playing Dusk Diver isn't a bad experience. Just an unfulfilling one. There are some things to like here. Walking around the colourful Ximending district of Taipei, interacting with the small cast of main characters, and then watching them battle monsters is kind of cool. Kind of cool. At its core, Dusk Diver is a simplistic, repetitive, and uninspiring, musou-style brawler.
Stylish, snappy, and no slouch when it comes to content, this Action RPG is firing on all cylinders… most of the time.
Dusk Diver is chinese musou with elements of a RPG. The game takes place in two alternative realities, one is the real world and the other is a world where monsters and gods live. Take the live of Yang Yumo and save the world of lurking horrors, while you work in a konbini and you help people of Ximending's neighborhood.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dusk Diver inevitably invites comparisons to both Persona and Yakuza. Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as while it doesn’t have the thematic aspirations of the former or the writing and attention to detail of the latter, the decent combat and low-key charm make it an overall pleasant experience that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
We are facing a game that tries to drink directly from the Persona and Bayonetta sagas, but it stays halfway, and not only because of its relative low budget compared to these. A simple combat system, repetitive enemies, and certain farming mechanics subtract too many points from a game that anime fans might like.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dusk Diver was a lot of fun to play. While it does feel incomplete from a story perspective (heck, there’s even an extra inventory tab that looks like it’s for crafting materials, not that I ever picked anything up that went in there), it doesn’t feel “unfinished” as a game. There’s glitches and some wonky translations, but the characters were funny and the gameplay certainly had a solid foundation. Ultimately I finished the game thinking “I want more” rather than “it’s finally over”, and that’s pretty telling right there. I really hope to see a sequel in the future, where I can take Yumo and her flaming hair out into the world once more.
If you’ve been craving a good beat ‘em up as they seem so few and far between these days, Dusk Diver is the title for you. Bits of side quests mixed in with a fun story and a fun combat system, there’s more than enough to keep you busy for a while!
Is Dusk Diver a good game? Yeah, I think so! It does have some questionable choices in it and not great performance, but it makes up for that with insanely fun beat-’em-up gameplay, a deliciously cheesy and enjoyable story with memorable characters, and a great musical style and artwork.
Perhaps it would have been possible to expect some more complexity and depth in the fighting, but being so fun and direct, the truth is that it does not end up missing. A remarkable work that knows how to make its way into a genre and an argument so busy.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sometimes, there’s a secret alchemy or a real trick to a game. Other times, there really isn’t. But it’s not a failing by any means for the game to aim resolutely at being something and then hit that mark well. There are lots of things that could make Dusk Diver better, like a better translation or a more consequential story, but it clearly wants to be exactly what it is, and it doesn’t pretend at being anything more than that.