If you’ve been reviewing games and covering games as long as I have, you start to get a sense for games that have a certain special quality to them. I’ve been reviewing and covering games for half of my 32 years of life by now, as painful as that is to say. When I saw the Steam page for Duskfade for the first time, I knew that developer Weird Beluga had something special going on.

Duskfade is an action platformer where you play as Zirian, a young man who seeks to save his sister after a mysterious incident. His coming-of-age adventure includes struggles with things like grief and loss, along with learning what it means to become a hero. Armed with a mysterious weapon shaped like a clock hand, he will have to break the chains on a mysterious clock tower to save his sister.

Duskfade is gorgeous, colorful, and immediately has a striking “clockpunk” aesthetic. I was immediately taken aback by how beautiful the game is, and the game runs beautifully on PC. The voice acting is well done in Duskfade as well, giving it a high level of quality for an indie studio’s first release. I wouldn’t agree that Duskfade emulates Kingdom Hearts as much as other people have said, but there are bits of that here.

However, what we’re really here for is the gameplay, right? Well, Duskfade’s gameplay feels both familiar and new. The platforming is where Duskfade shines, as it slowly gives you tools over time and then also lets you chain things like rail grinding, gliding, and wall-running in various ways. It feels really good to play, but the tools are drip-fed to you slowly enough that you get used to them as time goes on.

Combat is a little less polished. It isn’t terrible, but certain things don’t feel properly telegraphed in terms of enemy attacks. On the other hand, Duskfade is one of the few games to introduce a Bayonetta-esque Witch Time (time slows on a perfect dodge) mechanic in recent years, and I really like that.

As time goes on, you collect star pieces (currency), upgrade gears, and a variety of other collectibles. Over time, these items let you upgrade your weapon, health, “Temporal energy” (for skills), and a variety of other things. It really makes Duskfade feel like an evolved form of the Jak and Daxter-type mascot platformers of the early 00’s.

Overall, Duskfade is a wonderful experience. While the combat can get a little clunky in places, overall the experience is polished and engaging. The story is heartfelt and beautiful, with a gorgeous art style and great voice cast. You can’t go wrong with Duskfade; it is easily one of the best games to release this year so far.

A PC review copy of Duskfade was provided by Fireshine Games for the purposes of this review.

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Duskfade

$29.99 USD

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful Environments
• Heartfelt Story with great Voice Acting
• Classic Action-Platformer Gameplay
• Lots of things to Collect

Cons

• Combat can feel a little clunky at times