As Dusk Falls Review Summary

Engaging and well-developed story: The game features a captivating and well-constructed story with multiple twists, engaging drama, and a rich plot. Players appreciate the deep and thoughtful storytelling, which includes elements of family drama and action.

Impactful and meaningful choices: Players' choices significantly impact the story and outcomes, leading to different paths and consequences. The decision-making mechanics are well-implemented and thought-provoking.

Unique and striking art style: The game boasts a unique and beautiful art style, with hand-drawn and comic-style graphics that enhance the visual experience. The artistic direction is praised for its originality and quality.

Emotionally resonant and engaging: The game delivers an emotionally powerful experience with engaging drama and character development. Players find the story and characters touching and immersive.

High-quality voice acting: The game features successful and high-quality voice acting that brings characters to life. Players appreciate the excellent voice performances in various languages.

Unsatisfactory and abrupt ending: Many players expressed dissatisfaction with the game's ending, describing it as abrupt, unfinished, and leaving many plot threads unresolved. The open-ended conclusion left players feeling frustrated and disappointed.

Technical issues and limitations: Players encountered various technical issues, such as a broken multiplayer mode, a 30 FPS lock, and the inability to skip or speed up dialogues during replay.

Incomplete storyline: The storyline was criticized for feeling incomplete, rushed, and lacking closure. Players felt that main storylines were not completed, contributing to an unsatisfactory experience.

Overuse of simple QTEs: Players found the Quick Time Events (QTEs) to be too simple, easy, and awkward. Some felt that the QTEs were unnecessary and did not add significant value to the gameplay.

Unrealistic character behavior: Characters were often criticized for behaving unrealistically and making illogical decisions. This lack of realism and empathy in character actions was a common complaint.

Decisions impact story development: The game features a narrative where player decisions significantly affect the story path and development. This includes branching paths, multiple endings, and consequential choices that shape the storyline and character fates.

Interactive movie genre: The game is described as an interactive movie or drama, with a focus on choice-based storytelling. It resembles visual novels and graphic adventures, emphasizing narrative over traditional gameplay mechanics.

Quick Time Events (QTEs): Gameplay includes frequent Quick Time Events (QTEs), which are performed mainly with the mouse. These events are integrated into the interactive drama and choice-based mechanics.

Multiplayer and co-op features: The game supports multiplayer options, including co-op features that allow playing with friends. This adds a social dimension to the interactive storytelling experience.

Multiple character perspectives: The narrative is presented from multiple character perspectives, allowing players to experience the story from different viewpoints. This adds complexity and richness to the storytelling.

Steam Deck performance: The game generally runs well on Steam Deck, with reports of stable performance and few issues. However, some users have experienced crashes and infinite loading screens.

30 FPS lock complaints: Multiple players have complained about the game being locked at 30 FPS, which is a significant issue for those expecting higher frame rates.

Crashes and stability issues: Several players have experienced crashes and stability issues, particularly on PC and Steam Deck.

Graphics and FPS issues: Players have mixed feelings about the graphics and FPS. Some appreciate the good graphics, while others find the visuals peculiar or off-putting.

Performance on low-end hardware: The game runs well on low-end hardware, making it accessible to a wider range of players.

Highly recommended game: Many players strongly recommend the game for its plot, unique interactive drama experience, and story and characters.

Recommended for story and narrative fans: The game is frequently recommended for fans of story-based games, narrative-driven games, and interactive narratives.

Recommended for specific genres: The game is recommended for fans of specific genres such as visual novels, detective, drama, crime, and interactive cinema.

Worth buying on sale: Several players suggest buying the game on sale or at a discounted price.

Recommended in various languages: The game is recommended in different languages, indicating a broad appeal.

Community fair range: $3.00 - $7.00.

Game completion: 7.0h.

Story completion: 6.0h.

The game initially presents friction with its unique art style and pacing but becomes enjoyable after approximately 30 minutes, especially in co-op or multiplayer settings.

Reported time to anchor: 30m.

Friction: Unique and jarring art style; Initial pacing issues; Boredom in early chapters.

Unlock drivers: Getting used to the art style; Engaging with the story and characters; Co-op and multiplayer features.

Story-Driven Emotional Investor: Immersive and reflective, focusing on story and character development. Motivation: Emotional engagement and narrative depth. Stance: buy.

Social Multiplayer Enthusiast: Collaborative and interactive, focusing on group dynamics and shared storytelling. Motivation: Social interaction and shared decision-making. Stance: buy.

Choice-Driven Explorer: Exploratory and experimental, focusing on decision-making and its consequences. Motivation: Exploring different story branches and outcomes. Stance: sale.

Steam Deck: The game generally runs well on the Steam Deck with positive feedback from many users. However, there are notable issues with stability, particularly softlocks in later chapters, and performance limitations such as a 30 FPS cap. Additionally, there are reports of problems with external launchers, which can significantly impact the user experience.

Linux and Proton: The game shows strong compatibility with Steam Deck, suggesting a smooth experience on Proton/Linux with no notable issues reported.

Audio and script bugs: Players have reported issues related to audio and script bugs in the game.