Sunrise Parabellum Duskfade Review

*Duskfade on PC, 100% completed in less than 28h, Master Clockmaker difficulty. Credits reached for the first time after around 22 hours at roughly 75% completion, then went back through the previous areas to collect everything, buy and upgrade everything, and eventually unlock the secret post-credit scene. I had to beat the final boss a second time, which I managed on my first attempt.* I had been intrigued by Duskfade since I first saw it. Its visuals certainly caught my attention but a game needs more than just a pretty face. I was looking forward to its release but I didn't have huge expectations, especially regarding the story. I mainly wanted it to be a fun and enjoyable 3D platformer and, fortunately, Duskfade delivered on that front. _**A world frozen in twilight**_ *(Visuals and audio)* As I said in my introduction the first thing that stood out to me is how good the game looks and its visual identity. The colorful stylized 3D art direction gives it a charming whimsical and almost dreamlike atmosphere. The characters and setting also grew on me as I spent more time with them. About the animation, its quality isn't quite at the level of Pixar's, though, with fairly basic animations and facial expressions. On the other hand, the audio side was stronger. The soundtrack fits each area well, the sound design does its job nicely and the boss themes are particularly good. Voice acting is serviceable, while the lip syncing is acceptable. _**Turning the gears of adventure**_ *(Movement and exploration)* The real strength of Duskfade for me is playing it. Movement feels smooth and satisfying from the beginning, and the abilities unlocked throughout the game progressively make traversal even better. The platforming has a clear PS2 era 3D platformer DNA and I really liked how new areas introduced new obstacles and different ways to use the movement abilities. Exploration also feels rewarding. Curiosity is often enough to make you look around, and collectibles give you another reason to stray from the obvious path. _**When the clock strikes**_ *(Combat and bosses)* Combat is enjoyable at first and benefits from a good variety of enemies (both in appearance and attack patterns). Their attacks are generally easy to read, and new enemies and abilities are introduced progressively. The problem is that the underlying combat loop eventually becomes repetitive. Against regular enemies, it often comes down to dodging, attacking and using abilities until everything is dead. It works.. but after several hours, I found myself wishing for more depth. However, bosses are a complete different story. It goes without saying that I generally enjoyed them much more than regular encounters. Each boss is unique, has its own design and attack patterns, and most are memorable to some extent. Furthermore, I particularly liked when platforming was integrated into the fights. Boss fights can be challenging, but the game is fair, and generous even with healing. When I died, it was usually because of a mistake, greed or simply because I hadn't learned an attack yet. Once you understand the patterns and know when to dodge and attack, you get better. I did find the movesets for one boss in particular a little too fast and frenetic, but overall the boss fights were some of my favorite part of the game. _**A smooth running mechanism**_ *(Performance on PC)* Technically, my experience was also very smooth. I played at a high framerate and native resolution, without an upscaler, and performance was generally excellent. There are traversal stutters if you look for them with an FPS counter, but they were barely noticeable during normal gameplay. _**A few loose gears**_ One of Duskfade's weaknesses is the writing. The story is fairly basic and straightforward, thus, this isn't really a game I would recommend for its narrative. Most characters didn't leave much of an impression on me because they lack depth, and I found the protagonist particularly irritating at times. There are a few humorous moments that made me smile, but overall the writing feels much less developed than the game's presentation. For completionists, the experience is a mixed bag. Revisiting older areas after unlocking the required abilities wasn't particularly exciting for me, and having to go through the portal system to return to the hub makes the process more cumbersome than it needs to be. On the other hand, traversal becomes much faster with the later abilities, previously unlocked paths remain accessible, and you don't have to fight enemies just to progress through areas again. The collectible tracking could still be better, though, especially since there isn't a convenient way to see everything you're missing in your current area and one collectible type isn't properly represented on the list. There are also some smaller presentation and QoL issues, such as 30 FPS pre-rendered cutscenes, no photo mode, no cosmetic preview before purchasing items, and a short delay after some interactions where you can't immediately move again. None of these are major problems individually, but together they add a little friction. _**But the clock keeps ticking**_ Despite all these criticisms, I had a genuinely good time with Duskfade from beginning to end. It doesn't reinvent the 3D action platformer, and its story and regular combat could have been stronger, but the combination of satisfying movement, enjoyable platforming, rewarding exploration, charming presentation and fun and memorable boss fights carried the experience for me. In a nutshell, Duskfade delivered pretty much what I hoped it would, in other words = a fun charming and enjoyable adventure. Definitely not a masterpiece, but I recommend it nonetheless to anyone looking for this kind of experience. After seeing where the post credit scene points, I'm curious to see what Weird Beluga does next with this universe, whether through DLC or another game.