Dusk is a 10/10. It is a rare gem that I strongly recommend to any fps fans. It took inspiration from the classics, built upon them, and created a game more than capable of going down as one of the genre's best.


The first thing you will realize when you boot the game up, is the fastened pace of play. You run around the map with a multitude of weapons, and are immediately thrown into a frenetic opening sequence. The gameplay from here is super satisfying, since you are able to jump, strafe jump, slide crouch and use some weapons to propel or keep yourself suspended in the air. Contrasting the fast pace of gunplay and movement, are many areas of confined spaces, verticality and tiny tunnels. The level design in this game is brilliant because you never really feel constricted, yet it adds to the claustrophobia, since you never know what is going to around a corner, or behind a door. There are many levels with large open areas, and these areas are also expertly crafted with bridges, launch pads, ladders, angles etc. You can make them your own playground to experiment with the weapons and movement.

As you progress through the game, you gain more weapons which can add to movement, as noted above. The devs then used these in their level design, such as needing to hover in the air to reach certain areas. It all felt like a natural evolution in the gameplay. Also, as you go through the episodes, the level designs become more and more mindbending and memorable. In episode one, you are introduced to the basics, needing to search for hidden clues to the secrets, and how the devs planned things out. I loved the level designs around the secret areas. You really had to keep an eye out at all times, but it was super fun trying to find them, it never felt like a nuisance. In episode two, my two favorite areas were the mines, and the labs. In the mines, your flashlight was broken, and it was near pitch black. I had to use the light from my weapon's barrels to light my way, with enemies popping out, and it being a maze. Then in the labs, rooms were being flipped upsidedown and sideways. In episode three is where this game really shined above other games. Each level was fun, memorable and exciting.


I absolutely loved the music in this game. It totally kicked ass and I kept feeling like I was the Doom Slayer. My favorite track was Erebus Reaction, because the whole level caught me off guard. It started off like the other tracks, but then once you reach the open space, the music lets go and the score totally complemented the gameplay. There were so many amazing tracks in this game, Andrew Hulshult deserves so much praise for his contributions to this game.

For audio design, it was very well done, particularly in the second and third episodes, where you needed to listen to audio cues to hear invisible enemies coming, as well as when enemies jumped out at you, it definitely scared me a few times just in the audio alone. There was a voice that would sound throughout the game, giving an eerie feeling. I will note though, that there wasn't any particular sound, gameplay or gunplay wise, that was a true standout or instant classic, when you compare the sound of say the health stations in Half Life. That being said, I wouln't say any part of the audio was bad in the slightest.


One of the coolest animations in the game was the reload animations. Which is funny, because you never technically reload your weapons. It is a spinning animation that really serves as a 'look cool' button. Each gun has their own, ranging from practical to hilarious. In the beginning, you start off with just two sickles, meant as your melee weapons. They don't do much, other than subtly explain the enemy mechanics. Some enemies require you to get in close as they are slow in their attack wind up, and others can hit you from afar. Because of the great level design, you can even find a hidden pistol in the very first area.

As you progress through the game, you can pick up more weapons, and dual wield several weapons. You have your classic fps staples, such as pistols, machine gun, shotguns, grenade launcher and rocket launcher. As well as a few ones specifically for Dusk, such as the crossbow and sword. They all felt fun to use, especially the sword in the third episode (or first if you can find it...). The enemies were also very fun to play against. They were a good mix of close and long range, explosives, annoying critters and unique types that were super memorable. My favorite were the invisible ones that you could hear breathing, and see bloody footsteps, but wouldn't appear until you damaged them. If you were really keen eyed you could see them spawn at times, but most of the time they kept you on edge. Other enemies were aided by good sound design, being able to hear them from afar, but never being able to pinpoint their exact location. Furthermore, the bosses were far and above the highlights. Not all of them were equally memorable or difficult, but the best experiences were against the Guardian, and Mama. The Guardian had me fighting for my life, frantically trying to activate switches and find ammo, when I screwed myself with a poor save file with little health. While frustrating at first, it ultimately made it very memorable. Mama was also a very good boss because the area where you fight here was a bunch of shattered platforms, so if you fell off, you would die. She would also shoot rockets with high damage, so it was a mix of trying to kill her, while not killing yourself.

Finally, I must say, while I enjoyed the weapons, I didn't think anything of them were incredible. There wasn't one that I could instantly recognize as being iconic, such as Doom's super-shotgun, HL2's gravity gun. They all felt good, useful at times, but I found myself just using whichever one had the most ammo. If I could make one suggestion for an improvement, it would be to make certain enemies have a particular weakness to a specific weapon, such as Doom Eternal does. I understand the devs might not want to go in that direction, but it would help it not feel like 'click and shoot' for lack of a better term.


I loved Dusk, it has became an immediate favorite for me. While the full game is not particularly long, at just over 8 hours, I think you would be satisfied buying the game for full price, since you would also be supporting the devs. There are obviously going to be comparisons to Doom and Quake, with Quake being my personal best game of all time. Does Dusk eclipse Quake? That isn't an easy question to answer. Dusk is a one of the kind experience that sets itself apart, and above other fps games.