what does everybody like about this game?

[TheBigH]

i only have 6 hours in this thing, and its been a while since i last touched it but i wanted to ask, what is everybody seeing in this game that i dont? it's fun for a little bit but it all just seems bland to me. the dark spooky aesthetic brings an ugly color palette (yet i adore quake 1) and the gameplay is just mindless "shoot enemies". sure theres secrets, the combat is satisfying if uninspired, the OST is nice, but i just find myself bored when playing this.

my two favorite games ever are Doom Eternal and the Serious Sam series as a whole, so i thought this would be up my alley, instead it's up my arse bugging me that i dont like something everyone else enjoys. so i wanted to ask steam dusk-scussion frequenters, what you enjoy most about this game

[Hörai]

wow

[Boksha]

It sounds to me like you're not asking what people like about this game, but what you don't like about the game.

And to answer that: no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue! I'm not a mind reader and I don't expect anyone else on this board to be one.

You said it yourself: you think the game is worse for having an ugly palette (you really think it does?) even though you think Quake has a much blander palette and you like that. The gameplay is just 'mindless shoot enemies'... then what the heck is Quake to you? Quake is basically that with way less variety in environments and types of fight than Dusk due to the way enemies in Quake are designed (which pretty much limits fights to close range, low-numbers fights only).

People could guess at what it is about this game that rubs you wrong, but in the end you're the only one that can figure it out. And I can tell you with reasonable certainty that even if you do figure it out, that won't magically make you like it.

But, to answer your original question: https://steamcommunity.com/app/519860/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

[D4NUK1]

It's have that old school charm.

[TheBigH]

Originally posted by Boksha:

It sounds to me like you're not asking what people like about this game, but what you don't like about the game.

And to answer that: no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue! I'm not a mind reader and I don't expect anyone else on this board to be one.

You said it yourself: you think the game is worse for having an ugly palette (you really think it does?) even though you think Quake has a much blander palette and you like that. The gameplay is just 'mindless shoot enemies'... then what the heck is Quake to you? Quake is basically that with way less variety in environments and types of fight than Dusk due to the way enemies in Quake are designed (which pretty much limits fights to close range, low-numbers fights only).

People could guess at what it is about this game that rubs you wrong, but in the end you're the only one that can figure it out. And I can tell you with reasonable certainty that even if you do figure it out, that won't magically make you like it.

But, to answer your original question: https://steamcommunity.com/app/519860/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

woah thanks for the long response. i guess that is what im asking idk.

but about your specific stuff, quake is different since its high mobility high health enemies in cramped environments, and every enemy takes a set number of hits to take down as long as you land all your shots. dusk has you bunny hopping around everywhere like a madman, which isnt bad, its super fun! until that high eventually wears off. what you said about environments is true though, quake is very repetitive but i think it has a more pleasing artstyle overall. maybe i should play some cruelty squad if im this upset over dusks palette huh? haha, i jest!

anyways i probably wont like this as much as everyone else does even if i figure it out like you said, i just wanted to ask around to see if i was missing anything. again thanks for the well-written response i wasnt expecting that.

[Grey]

At the start, I found the game to be simply fun and very atmospheric. I loved all the "old school gaming" details, but mostly it was enjoyable, accessible, easy to pick up and play. Loved the music too.

When I got to The Facilities, however, the game actually got scary, much more dangerous, and I started asking myself questions from the breadcrumbs of story given. This is an amazing example of minimalist design and storytelling, where you set the tone and suggestion well enough to let the player's imagination do its thing.

I'm not sure I would've gotten that far if not for the very easy to digest beginning act, but now I'm hooked.

[Grey]

Also I don't agree about the bunny hopping or the colour palette. Gameplay seems exactly how you described Quake. Some areas are very samey, which works (to me), while others have a lot of variety. The FEEL of the places matters more to me than how many colours there are. Maybe you just expected something more or didn't get far enough, dunno.

[JellyPuff]

Stimulating gameplay with fun movement, good audio-visual feedback during combat and the level-design is really good, especially in the 2nd half of the game with great variety. It's honestly almost too much variety, if a gimmick is only encountered on one specific level, making me feel bummed out about not getting to do that a little more, like for example E3M6's totem stacking (i know it's possible in other levels, but this one's designed around it).

The atmosphere and artstyle is the icing on the cake for me personally. It mixes mid-to-late 90's low res/low poly gfx with newer effects, like dynamic lighting and shadows, while staying cohesive. This kind of low-res style works really well for horror-themed games, since it leaves certain things up to the player's imagination, due to the lack of details. Of course, some nostalgia is in there too, but only for the graphic's style. I have zero nostalgia for retro-FPS games

Edit: Oh and of course the dulcet tones of Andrew Hulshult.

[Sanctuary]

Originally posted by TheBigH:

i only have 6 hours in this thing, and its been a while since i last touched it but i wanted to ask, what is everybody seeing in this game that i dont? it's fun for a little bit but it all just seems bland to me. the dark spooky aesthetic brings an ugly color palette (yet i adore quake 1) and the gameplay is just mindless "shoot enemies". sure theres secrets, the combat is satisfying if uninspired, the OST is nice, but i just find myself bored when playing this.

my two favorite games ever are Doom Eternal and the Serious Sam series as a whole, so i thought this would be up my alley, instead it's up my arse bugging me that i dont like something everyone else enjoys. so i wanted to ask steam dusk-scussion frequenters, what you enjoy most about this game

if you don't like it, don't play it. games aren't money to be liked by everyone. it is a matter of personal preference.
you won't like some things suddenly, just because I explain to you why I like them.
why do I have to explain such obvious, plain and simple thing to you?

[Killerspinach]

The levels are these like amazing dioramas made by one guy who figured it out as he went along. I find it to be an incredibly impressive project but to each is own.

[fenr1r]

Nostalgia, I think it's what you are missing. It's not a masterpiece even if objectively, this game does a lot of things right. But what makes it special is that this particular kind of game (FPS game with a great solo experience without a realistic focus) was almost extinct until some years ago.
It's like renovating an old car. There is a special feeling about experiencing that if you're an amateur.

Personally, the only thing I have mixed feelings about is the weaponry. Great feeling but a bit uninspired. I think there could have been some painkiller-esque arsenal. The stake gun, that was a brilliant weapon.

[Wylie28]

Originally posted by fenr1r:

Nostalgia, I think it's what you are missing. It's not a masterpiece even if objectively, this game does a lot of things right. But what makes it special is that this particular kind of game (FPS game with a great solo experience without a realistic focus) was almost extinct until some years ago.
It's like renovating an old car. There is a special feeling about experiencing that if you're an amateur.

Personally, the only thing I have mixed feelings about is the weaponry. Great feeling but a bit uninspired. I think there could have been some painkiller-esque arsenal. The stake gun, that was a brilliant weapon.

Im 26 and never played the original quake or doom. Started AFPS with Doom 2016. Its just a pure game. Well designed. No ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Most other FPS games have pretty large objective flaws if you are a gamer and not someone looking for a distraction. Which is most of the "gaming" audience these days.

[Knight of the Criminally Insane]

I am 39. When I was a kid the best graphics available were 2D 8 Bit on consoled, and PC and Arcades were the pinnacle of gaming graphics. I remember playing the original Doom as a shareware disk (Notice I spelled Disk with a 'K' not a 'C'. You young folks wouldn't understand the word "shareware" as it isn't used anymore. Essentially, it was like a demo disc you could get in a magazine, or you could write to the video game company and have them send you a disk... not a CD, I am talking one of those old 3.5'' diskettes.) Back then, ID sent the first episode of DOOM out to people. You didn't just get a demo, you got the entire "Knee Deep In The Dead" episode. I must have played that a thousand times over and over.
So, eventually Quake 1 came out and, like everyone else at the time, it blew my mind. Quake 1 was like an earthquake thrust upon the gaming community of the time. It was fast, frenetic, and like nothing anyone had seen before.
Today, everyone is spoiled rotten by technology that makes the games I grew up with look like the archaic artifacts that they are.
However, there are many of us, that miss the old days of gaming. Back when the focus was more on the fun of the game, rather than how pretty it was. To be perfectly honest, modern gaming has lost something - so many of them look beautiful, but lack the thing that matters most - Fun.
For me, a game like Dusk brings me back to the good ol' days. It looks and feels like a game that could have come out around the time of Quake 1/2 and many others of the time.
For someone like myself who has watched the video game industry grow from its early days to where it is now - graphics no longer matter to me. It is the experience that matters.
Because at this point, graphics will improve incrementally. There will no longer be large leaps like I grew up seeing. Going from Atari/NES/Master System to SNES/Genesis to N64/Playstation/Saturn to Gamecube/PS2/Xbox and onward. (PC always one step ahead of the consoles.)
All that matters is if the game is a great experience. If it can bring me back to the old days, all the better.
I get that some people may be turned off by the old school graphics. That's fine. You are younger and have no reference to the way things once were. But to those of us that did experience those old days - Dusk is like a time capsule, and new at the same time!

[tommy_beast]

Originally posted by TheBigH:

what does everybody like about this game?

Everything.

[ULTRA]

Mostly, they like that it plays like a Doom 2 slaughter map but with Quake controls. As for liking Doom Eternal and (apparently) the majority of the Serious Sam series but not this, I can't explain that. Serious Sam has been knackered as hell since 2 and Doom Eternal is hell-themed tag.

[milk]

i heard about this after playing the first 2 chapters of ultrakill its the only boomer shooter that doesent give me brain jam