Dust: An Elysian Tail opens with a man who has no past and a sword that will not stop talking. The sword is the Blade of Ahrah. The man is Dust. The game was developed by Dean Dodrill’s studio Humble Hearts, with support from Microsoft Game Studios Japan, and published by Microsoft Studios. It first shipped on Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade on August 15, 2012. Ports followed for PC (Microsoft Windows), Linux, Mac, PlayStation 4, iOS and Nintendo Switch.
Trailer, via Dean Dodrill.
A Sword, a Nimbat and a Missing Memory
Dust wakes in a forest meadow in the world of Falana, a place populated by anthropomorphic animals. The Blade of Ahrah finds him first. Fidget, a small flying Nimbat who guards the sword, joins him next, and the pair head for the town of Aurora in search of answers.
What they find is a town overrun with monsters. The mayor, Bram, asks for help. Dust tracks the attackers’ leader, Fuse, who before dying reveals he is a Moonblood — one of the victims of a genocide carried out by General Gaius. Fuse also tells Dust he played a role in the war at some point, though Dust cannot recall it.
Dodrill built nearly all of the programming and assets himself. Outside help covered voice acting, narrative and the soundtrack. The cast includes Lucien Dodge as Dust, Edward Bosco as the Blade of Ahrah, Kimlinh Tran as Fidget, Edwyn Tiong as Fuse, River Kanoff as General Gaius, Amber Lee Connors as Ginger and Mick Lauer as Elder Gray Eyes.
Falana, Everdawn Basin and the Sen-Mithrarin
After travelling into the northern mountains, Dust and Fidget come across an abandoned village, where Ginger and the Moonblood leader Elder Gray Eyes are waiting. Gray Eyes tells Dust he was made by the Moonbloods from the souls of two people who died at the same moment: Jin, Ginger’s brother, and Cassius, an assassin who served Gaius and was his closest friend.
| Jin | Cassius | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Completely innocent and good | Purely evil |
| Skill | Incapable of defeating Gaius | Of great skill with the sword |
| Role in Dust | His heart | His blade |
The Moonbloods fused them into the “Sen-Mithrarin,” a being with Cassius’ skill at the blade and Jin’s heart. That is a strong idea, and in this paper’s view the game makes it land.
The combat supports the story rather than burying it. Dust fights with swordplay and Fidget’s magic, and the brawler-style system is easy to learn and hard to master. Power-ups gate the map in Metroidvania fashion:
- Double jump
- Climbing to previously unreachable areas
- Flying like a tornado
Experience points come from defeated enemies, and levels raise health, strength, defense or magic. Villagers sell items and hand out quests. Dodrill, who is half Korean, worked Korean elements into the design, including the logo and food items.
The art is the part that lasts. Hand-painted and side-scrolling, it stays consistent from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops, and it is the strongest thing here. The game sold more than a million copies as of March 2014, which for a project assembled largely by one person is its own argument.
Dust: An Elysian Tail is not flawless. Fidget’s magic, which includes spitting on monsters, is a thin joke next to the weight of the Sen-Mithrarin story. But the ambition is real and the execution mostly matches it.
8.2/10, the IGDB critic aggregate across 7 outlets.
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