Dust: An Elysian Tail (XBLA, coming to PC)

This is releasing on August 15th on XBLA as part of the annual Summer of Arcade promotion for 1200 MS Points ($15). It is a sidescrolling action RPG with an absolutely gorgeous hand drawn (looks it, anyway) visual style.

It's been in development for quite a while, because until December 2011 the entire game (aside from the music) was handled by one guy, Dean Dodrill. The game won the XNA Dream-Build-Play competition in 2009.

It's not easy for me to get excited about 2D side scrollers with artstyles because we've seen so many, but this looks like it could be something really special.

Here's the XBLA announcement trailer from earlier this year:

And here's a fifty-minute stream of the game being played.

As with all Summer of Arcade games, there will be a period of exclusivity. It has not yet been announced for any other platforms.

A couple reviews have been trickling in, and the response is very positive so far. Aggregate score is at 88/100 after five.

New trailer, this one is way better IMO.

Pretty baffling to me how many people here loved Bastion while this thread doesn't get a single reply.

I thought this game already had a thread.
Wouldn't mind it coming to psn or steam.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Pretty baffling to me how many people here loved Bastion while this thread doesn't get a single reply.

I really don't get any kind of Bastion vibe from this game.

That first trailer did little for me, but the 2nd was much better. It's certainly pretty, but I'd like to hear impressions about how it plays before I get too excited. It looks like exactly the kind of game that could be ruined by poor controls or shallow gameplay. Tentatively interested though. I've got a reserve of XBLA points sitting around waiting patiently to be spent on something tempting.

I've been peering at it this week. It could be my cup of coffee (don't like tea) but I'm waiting for some actual gameplay impressions from here and elsewhere. I own far too many XBLA games that I have only played for an hour.

Dyni wrote:

I really don't get any kind of Bastion vibe from this game.

Being an indie darling Summer of Arcade action/rpg with a killer hand-drawn look is what evokes it in my eyes. Here's hoping I like this one more. I got over-hyped on Bastion and that may have had a hand in me never playing it for more than a couple hours.

RolandofGilead wrote:

I thought this game already had a thread.
Wouldn't mind it coming to psn or steam.

You may be thinking of another Dust related game - Dust 514, From Dust, or Dustforce?

I am doubtful of a release outside of XBLA any time soon. This was a DreamBuildPlay winner, a development contest run by Microsoft, and the prize is an XBLA contract. A quick glance at the terms of service indicate that the creator retains ownership of the intellectual property. But because MS is the publisher, I doubt it'll ever show up on PSN, and MS-published games usually take 6-12 months to make it over to PC.

I'm in for the demo at least, though I'll have picked up Darksiders 2 the day before.

2D sidescrolling platformer [X]
Fantasy Action/RPG [X]
Collect money to buy things? [X]
Level Up system [?]

Finding time to play it is a definite concern for me. In addition to Darksiders 2 it has The Last Story on Wii to fight.

Tyrian wrote:

Level Up system [?]

I'm pretty sure that's in there.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Finding time to play it is a definite concern for me. In addition to Darksiders 2 it has The Last Story on Wii to fight.

Tyrian wrote:

Level Up system [?]

I'm pretty sure that's in there.

I think so too, just based on the visible UI on the screenshots that have been released.

Blind_Evil wrote:
RolandofGilead wrote:

I thought this game already had a thread.
Wouldn't mind it coming to psn or steam.

You may be thinking of another Dust related game - Dust 514, From Dust, or Dustforce?

Nope, I've been aware of this game for quite awhile,
short version: it's like Odin Sphere/Muramasa: The Demon Blade but with furries more furries.

Gameplay reports are good from all the released reviews so far, and I couldn't tell from the trailers that this was a Metroidvania. I thought it was just a side scrolling brawler-style game. I'll definitely grab it soon.

A tweet from the creator, Dean Dodrill.

So far, out of over 50 reviews, only 2 are below 80% for Dust:AET. A pretty good start.

Taking half of tomorrow off for a couple interviews anyway so I'll hopefully get to play a smidge if I wake up early.

Edit: And another:

Dean Dodrill wrote:

For those starting Dust:AET, if you game regularly may I suggest 'Tough' difficulty. Emphasis on gear, health, mild leveling. More challenge

Noooo, locked up at a transition point. Reloading now to see how much progress I lost. If it rolls me back to the last save checkpoint then I just lost a lot due to a heavy multiple character dialog area.

[Edit] Ugh, yeah it rolled back to the last save monument.

Spoilering but if you've unlocked the world map then this isn't a spoiler.

Spoiler:

I locked up after leaving the village and selecting the blacksmith's zone on the world map. It rolled me back to the save just before the 3 giant golems at the farm house. Bah. All that dialog in the village has to be redone now.

Guess it's back to blisters and Rocksmith for tonight.

Really, REALLY enjoyed the trial. I will definitely pick this up after I finish Darksiders 2.

Giant Bomb Quick Look inspires a sale.

I'll grab the demo first as I've got Darksiders 2 arriving tomorrow.

Gotta admit though I've never been a fan of people/animal hybrid character design.

Embrace the furries for the platformer Zelda game they've given you.

If it's good enough for Star Fox it's good enough for me. Chrissakes, when did Looney Tunes turn into Furries?

Nah, Looney Tunes is completely different. They're like animals that can talk, but they don't lose their core animal identity or look in the process.

Some of the characters show in Dust look like human faces that have animal parts attached (ears, nose, etc.). It's kind of distracting to me, but I'm not calling them Furries or anything.

Sorry for the derail. It was more an observation about the art direction and wasn't intended to spark a political debate about furries.

I think I'm in love. I played for 2 hours straight and had to force myself away to be able to get up at a decent time in the morning. This game is ridiculously well polished, a very rare thing in indie games. It took one man multiple years to make this, except the music, so this guy is no doubt a machine from the future. I don't think I've ever been as impressed with an indie game's overall quality, with the exception of Journey.

Bravo, Dean Dodrill, I can't wait to finish this game.

Any word on a PC release?

No. If I had to guess I'd say it'll be a while. It's Microsoft-published, so look to other similar titles for a timeline, I guess.

Iron Brigade took a a bit over a year. Nine months for Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. Only two months for The Maw, and about that for Alan Wake's American Nightmare. Shadow Complex, Toy Soldiers, 'Splosion Man (and sequel), Snoopy Flying Ace, and Trials are all well-regarded MS-published XBLA titles that have never seen PC releases.

There's not a lot of rhyme or reason to these decisions, but my instinct is that it'll either never see a PC release or it'll be at least six months. The guy that made it has very console-centric tastes, which is also a factor.

cyrax wrote:

I think I'm in love. I played for 2 hours straight and had to force myself away to be able to get up at a decent time in the morning. This game is ridiculously well polished, a very rare thing in indie games. It took one man multiple years to make this, except the music, so this guy is no doubt a machine from the future. I don't think I've ever been as impressed with an indie game's overall quality, with the exception of Journey.

Bravo, Dean Dodrill, I can't wait to finish this game.

I've only seen the gameplay videos and it really does look impressive, despite the furryness. Some people out there are just too talented for their own good (yes, mad jelly).

But talk about bad timing. Everything decided to come out this week, mid-August of all times. Currently playing Darksiders II... also looty, RPG-lite and hacky/slashy.

Maclintok wrote:

But talk about bad timing. Everything decided to come out this week, mid-August of all times. Currently playing Darksiders II... also looty, RPG-lite and hacky/slashy.

I know, I had originally planned to pick up Papo Y Yo as well, but the near complete lack of peer info on that game made me skip it. Darksiders 2 and Dust in the same week, too awesome.

I don't know if furries is the real term for this style... bit I don't think I really like the character designs. I would say it has more of a faux anime / anthro / deviantart-y style that I'm really not digging. The backgrounds are gorgeous, though, and the characters do seem to animate relatively well (but I'm an animator, so I tend to pick apart these things)

The fact that the guy made the game (basically) by himself makes me hesitant to really say too many bad things about it though. The Giant Bomb quicklook really made me want to pick it up. It looks to play really well, and there are enough metroidvania and other RPG elements to pique my interest.

Besides, I can't afford Darksiders 2 at the moment, so I'll probably pick this up.

cyrax wrote:
Maclintok wrote:

But talk about bad timing. Everything decided to come out this week, mid-August of all times. Currently playing Darksiders II... also looty, RPG-lite and hacky/slashy.

I know, I had originally planned to pick up Papo Y Yo as well, but the near complete lack of peer info on that game made me skip it. Darksiders 2 and Dust in the same week, too awesome.

I don't wanna hear it! I got Darksiders 2, Dust, and The Last Story already this week. I am very interested in Sleeping Dogs. I've had to swear off buying a new Mario game on Sunday because of the situation. Do you know how hard that is for me? I'm a Mario shareholder ffs!

Having now played Dust, I can say that the game definitely plays well. It's fun enough for me to not even care about the character designs. The crafting seems a little obtuse, but once I get the hang of everything, I think I'll be playing this one for a while.

I'm really, really enjoying this. Much more so than I would have expected based on video. Plus it's beautiful in motion.

JillSammich wrote:

Having now played Dust, I can say that the game definitely plays well. It's fun enough for me to not even care about the character designs. The crafting seems a little obtuse, but once I get the hang of everything, I think I'll be playing this one for a while.

Granted I'm only 13% through the game, but I don't see how the crafting system is obtuse at all. Blueprints + materials = item. If you don't have the materials, you can likely buy if from the blacksmith.

cyrax wrote:

Granted I'm only 13% through the game, but I don't see how the crafting system is obtuse at all. Blueprints + materials = item. If you don't have the materials, you can likely buy if from the blacksmith.

Once you realize that you need to select the item category in your inventory, then click the blueprint, then find out if you have the materials. If you don't, I do like how you can buy them on the spot. But, I searched for a place to see all of my inventory at once for a solid 5 minutes before I realized that you need to click on the class of item you want to look through.

I just think it would be nice to have a menu option for crafting, or have everything in one place.

It's a small gripe. Overall, I'm having a great time.

Ok, very fair point. The only reason I knew about the bag was that I was checking out what I could equip my character with, and found out the bag as an actual bag.

Saved up enough to unlock the first big chest (x7) you come across. Oh man, what a great surprise, lol.

Also completed the first major story point, and ya, this game's still really great.