Dust: An Elysian Tail

I liked the game, but there was a few annoying things that made me rate it 4/5. If I would be an insult to better metroidvania games like Ori if I'd give it 5 stars. First, the screen/object size ratio: despite Dust's movements let him flashing through enemies at insane speed, the screen is really limited in size. You can kinda live with it if you play from the couch or have a small monitor, but this is a really bad design decision, which hinder you in battles and adds an artificial difficulty to the treasure/secret finding (since most of the times they are not cleverly hidden or hard to reach, just simply not visible from the normal route and you need to make leaps of faith to find them). The story is sweet, but nothing special. I feel its quite toned down so it can be enjoyable for small kids too. Similarly the fighting part of the game is really easy, even if you rush it the battles will only take longer but you can just repeat the same combos. My biggest problem is that it tries to be a metroidvania, but lacks the great map designs of the genre. Yes, the map is splitted to sections and they repopulate with enemies each time you reenter them, but these encounters are tedious at best and the enemies are boring (basically each area has 2-3 grunt types which are nothing special, and 1-2 enemies which are kinda hard until you kill the first and find the right strategy against them). Yes, there are sections on every map you'll need later skills to reach, but they are not really well paced and due to the screen size you'll waste a lot of find finding treasures just to realize you can only get it later. I absolutely hated backtracking in this game, especially since Dust gets no movement which makes these backtracks faster, and he moves annoyingly slow outside battle. Oh, and I don't really like anthropomorphic animals, especially when the BBE has puppy eyes, but that is subjective.

If you're a fan of Metroidvania (especially melee focused ones), then I heartily recommend this to you. It is a bit on the simpler side compared to a lot of games in this genre. There is only 1 weapon (Sword) and 3 magic attacks (Faerie Fire, Fire, and Lightning - Lightning is very OP, chaotic, and hilarious, once you get it, you won't go back). However, there is also ARPG elements, you get EXP, level up, and pick whatever stat you want (HP/DEF/ATK/MAG) and your stats can be increased with your usual RPG equipment affair - accessories, armor, and a weapon augment. The melee combat is very fast and fluid, some different combos can be performed, you can air juggle enemies like there's no tomorrow, and fly through the air with an enemy homing tornado blade attack (very fun), you can dodge left and right so hard that Dust's spine dislocates every time he does it, you can block/counter attacks too. Eventually, you can even suplex aircrafts out of the sky (Sabin would be proud) You'll be kicking so much ass, you won't even care that there's only 1 weapon. The visuals are outstanding, very nicely done 2D visuals, with an occasional subtle 3D element thrown in (Bodies of water). The main 2 characters have fully manually animated sprites (which are gorgeous and slick as hell) while everyone else is made from some limb system to save time (This game was the work of mostly one dude, after all). Other character sprites look fine in motion, and well enough standing there, but if you stare at them a bit too long, they look a bit funny and stiff. The full animated character portraits in conversation are nicely done though. I really wish 2D wasn't a dying artform in the AAA industry, as I still really appreciate 2D. Most 2D stuff nowadays is done by indies. The characters are very charming, have fitting voices, and Fidget is a memelord that loves RE4. Music is phenomenal. Great game, one of my favorites. Wish we'd get more Elysian Tails, as opposed to Metal Meme Solid.

If you ask me what's the best part about Dust, I'll be thinking for hours. Almost every aspect of this game is amazing: The gameplay is REALLY fun, the plot is engaging and has a great message, the graphics are just amazing, the dialogs and voice acting is great, the characters are loveable, the options let's you customize even the size and position of the UI, the requirements to run it aren't that high, the overall feeling while you play it and when you finish it is amazing. As other reviewers put it: This game is a masterpiece.

It's a really good game, I really liked the scenario. The only one little problem is the snow ... it really blocks the vision and if you desactivate the meteo it's a bit strange with the wind effect ! Otherwise it's a really good game ! If you like to have fun or do 100 percents you can do both ! It's not really a RPG but it's a good game of plateform even if there is somes possibilities to abuse somes mechanisms ^^

Played the heck out of this game on Xbox looking forward to playing again.