Replayed on Cero Miedo (equivalent to Ultra-Violence in Doom), Intruder Mode (aka pistol start from Doom), no mid-level saves. This will be a quick one, not as analytical as my usual fare.

Mechanically, SimonDedalus's review is pretty much on the money. Elements from classic FPS (movement from Quake, infighting from Doom, secrets from Build Engine, prop shenanigans from Half Life) are haphazardly smashed together without any real sense of a cohesive, balanced end product. Movement is fun to hop around with but utterly dominates open-air encounters. Map design is serviceable I guess? Nothing awe-inspiring but I haven't played Quake custom maps so I have no idea what the bar is here.

Enemies are mostly Doom 1 clones, weapons are mostly Quake clones except for the crossbow which is kinda neat. Infighting is a lot more circle-strafy than Doom (which could already get circle-strafy on some maps) and less strategic since enemies of the same type can fight each other. The props are borderline overpowered, but throwing barrels over and over is kinda boring and error-prone so whatever I guess? Ammo is usually everywhere even if you don't find the secrets, but health and armor get gobbled up quick. Enemies do huge damage on Cero Miedo, probably because the dev realized that the only way you can die with this combat and movement system is to get clipped by stray pseudo-hitscan projectiles like 5 times over the course of the whole level. Play a good Doom map and you'll understand what I mean here when I say the balancing and structure is pretty bad for protracted combat encounters.

The atmosphere, sense of pacing, and general presentation save the game. There's a sense of constant forward momentum, going towards something, though you're never quite sure what. Maps alternate between combat-heavy arenas and claustrophobic crawls, which elevates both beyond their standalone level of quality. Low-poly blends great with backwoods and industrial horror, think those PS1-style short horror games. Sound design is generally solid. I love the dual shotguns, satisfying to use. The powerups are fun and stacking them is pretty neat. And the ending is genuinely good, which is bizarrely rare in other classic FPS.

I definitely don't hate this game, it has the good sense to keep its runtime short and it was made when classic FPS design was only just coming back into vogue. If you haven't played the classics you'll probably like this a lot. Moral of the story is go play Doom and Blood.

Dusk: Dusk was pretty loudly recommended to me by Steam frequently for years since its Early Access release and I finally gave it a go after seeing a nice discount and news of an HD upgrade. It's a good game, but ultimately I wasn't all too impressed.

I think my favorite thing about Dusk was that, from a level design perspective, it certainly tries to keep you guessing. You'll pass through a variety of sights, starting with the swamps and foundries and ending up in Escher-inspired labs and Hellish atria. There are the classic Doom-like levels with a couple colored key cards, some hallways and some rooms/areas clearly designed for shootouts, and then there are “narrative” levels that'll remind you of a faster paced Max Payne nightmare sequence: pretty on rails and maybe too much voice over work in the background, but it is never enough to really annoy you.
Problem is I don't think it's enough to ever really excite you, either. The intro is cool, with you just starting in a basement while three chainsaw-wielding psychos try to murder you and you fight back with dual sickles; an interesting melee weapon choice. But after this intro? It's pretty stock stuff.
Don't expect to learn anything about a plot except for two text dumps between the next chapters. I don't need a plot in a game which is focused on the gameplay, but that just means the gameplay has to be tighter than my uncle's grip in the garage that one summer, and I don't think it was. It never hit the highs of any good Doom game and isn't really all that clever, either.

Maybe it's partially the weapons, they're just not that good. The sword is overpowered, especially with its charge attack when you have 100+ health; the dual pistols quickly become completely worthless; the akimbo shotguns and super shotgun can burn through ammo very fast and have a low ammo cap (though the akimbo shotties were very fun); the machine gun is boring and so close to sounding punchy enough but not quite; the hunting rifle is fun, but like the shotguns has a low ammo capacity and not very practical in most of the close quarters areas; the crossbow is the hunting rifle but weaker/faster; and finally the riveter and mortar are very strong but almost identical to one another and probably should just be combined into one explosive weapon, or just lose the mortar entirely.

It has all the staples you'd expect with secret areas inside secrets areas, rooms that turn into enemy-spawning ambushes when you pick up a key, and lame bosses who don't know when to die. Fortunately, there's only one area in the game where you're stuck and deal with wave after wave of enemies, having you kill about 230 of them. A worse developer would have thrown in one of these per chapter, I'm happy restraint was shown because I was done after the one time.

So the gameplay is the game. Is it good? It's fine. I don't think you'll see anything in Dusk you haven't seen elsewhere, but that's not necessarily the worst thing as long as it's done well (see: Lies of P). Unfortunately, I don't think this is done that well. I'm certainly happy I got it on discount, especially since the HD upgrade looks terrible and its saves don't work with the original game, which I ended up sticking with. The worse graphics are better, who woulda thought.
I can see myself coming back to Dusk some day for a little bit o' murder, but no day soon.

I sorta recommend Dusk, but never at full price.

Another year, Another Update, Another excuse to replay Dusk. Dusk is David Szymanskis bloody FPS remix of games like Quake, Blood and Thief. Its the game that really launched the Boomer Shooter explosion that we are still experiencing today and for good reason.

You play as Dusk Dude, a mute badass with an arsenal of weapons, ready to fight an eldrich cult and its hoard of horrific creatures. The hows and why arent exactly clear or important but the game trickels down enough hints through out its level design for the game to feel like a greater whole and not a collage of unrelated maps. Fun is the main focus of Dusk. You bunny hop, summer sault and slide your way through horror themed levels while picking up power ups and dual wielding shotguns, firing rocketlaunchers or sniping with wallpiercing crossbows.
It all results in a beautiful ballet of bullets and mayhem, that still is my platonic ideal of what a Boomer Shooter is suppose to be. Although as much as I love the game in its entirety, its not a perfect masterpiece.

The best part of Dusk are its open ended levels, with jump pads and all kinds of cover you can slide behind when combat gets too heated. Sadly some it seems to forget that philosophie for about a 1/3 of the game, specifically in Chapter 2. Its basicly swaps the open maps for tight corridors that need to be navigated with a tiny flash light, sometimes even in pitch darkness and that doesnt work at all. Dusks Combat simply isnt build for those kind of sections. Enemies frequently soak up to many bullets, allowing them to push you into a corner until you run out of health. Higher difficultys become especially egrious and for someone like me who doesnt want to play with midlevels saves, its the point where I become so annoyd at its bullshit that I just turn the game off. Shout out to the Cowgirls, who like to come out of nowhere, blasting explosives at you that can kill you in only a couple hits.

Fortunatly Chapter 3 mostly remedys that design flaw, dropping you in shorter but more bizzare campaing that leads you to the endfight with the Ultimate evil. Chapter 3 might be my favorite, having the best level in my opinion when you get to the mindbending map that is Homecoming. And that is ultimatly the reason why I love Dusk so much beyond its flaws. The willingness to be bizzare and experimental in the limited framwork of an 90s FPS. Its what made me fall in love with this new genre in general, even making me go back to older games I didnt know I would love as much as I do now. And with its new HD coat of paint and full mod support finally here, there no better time than to fall in love with Dusk all over again.

Gameplay-wise, this game feels pretty close to Quake, but is actually a lot more than just that. Thematically, the game might look inspired by Blood, but then, it’s also a lot more than that. All in all, is pretty crazy to think how the main kicker of a whole movement based around nostalgia, actually has so much personality, so much authenticity. It’s also worth noting that despite being one of the main battlehorses of the whole Retro-FPS revival, Dusk influences are a little broader than simply the 90’s shooters. An obvious example would be the hability of grabbing objects in a way that emulates Half-Life 2’s physics, with the possibility of stacking them in order to access difficult areas. But of course this is not the only aspect where those influences are shown. The whole level design is another place where this can be seen.

Episode 1 is my personal favourite. Everything you’re expecting from Dusk is here: Fast-paced action, non-linear level design, horror-like atmosphere. The backwood slasher theme was only covered in a few Blood levels (Redneck Rampage doesn’t come even close) and it’s masterfully presented here. The enemy rooster is also my favourite in this episode. My only nitpick would be the final boss, which wasn’t really my thing in terms of design. It gets really hard to choose a single level above the others. Also, i like to mention the very first seconds of the first level: I don’t remember a game from this genre where, as soon as you start, you’re attacked by surprise. Creating a shock from the very beginning is a fantastic way to start the whole trip.

On the other hand, episode 2’s level design is a lot more reminiscent of a style that became more prominent in the 00’s after the release of Half-Life: mostly linear progression, with ocasional arena-like sections (like Serious Sam). Also, the heavier survival horror feel on this episode is built around tropes that can be directly linked to Doom 3: tight corridors, industrial theme, lots and lots of dark areas. It’s pretty noticeable how even the ammo is balanced in a way that you’ll be relying a lot more on your pistols rather than the shotguns. It’s definitely a whole different vibe, pretty slow compared to the first episode. It serves as a good proof of how the Dusk influences are a lot wider than what it’s marketing says. Overall, this is my least liked episode, i don’t really vibe with many of it’s design choices. The heavy use of dark areas might have it’s memorable scenes (notably, the first Wendigo appearence) but overall i think it’s just excessively overused. Nevertheless, some of the maps here are fantastic: The Grainery, Into the Thresher, The Escher Labs, The Erebus Reactor, Neobabel.

Finally, episode 3 goes for a medieval/lovecraftian theme, at least from the beginning. Gameplay-wise, this episode tries to create a balance between the best elements of the previous episodes. It’s very interesting how the story, which has been being developed in a very minimalistic way throughout the game, incorporates psychological elements in this episode, adding a lot of depth to the story, and also bringing some very appreciated character development in a genre that rarely does so. This also shows in the episode aesthetic: From level 6 onwards, the episode abandons the lovecraftean theme, creating a very original dream-like/nightmare-like aesthetic which recursively borrows from different previous moments of the game. Conceptually, this is the most dense episode.

As for the gameplay, there aren’t enough words to describe how perfect it is. It’s responsive, it’s fast, it’s smooth. The arsenal is also fantastic, one of the tightest i’ve seen in any FPS. Sound design is just neat. And the music deserves a review on it’s own.

I think we should be thankful for all the things that Dusk have done for the genre, and the whole Indie gaming industry. Funny how a game primarily known for it’s influences, have then become one of the most influential games of it’s time. Thank you Dusk.

O absoluto pico dos jogos Boomer Shooter (ULTRAKILL não conta).

A gameplay é simplesmente incrível, claro, não é tão maluco quanto o já citado ULTRAKILL, mas é muito mais consistente, sendo mais como um Boomer Shooter mesmo, mas com um spin moderno na sua fórmula. O Ato 1 é mais pé no chão, parecendo até um jogo de terror as vezes, mas depois fica muito maluco no Ato 2 e 3, tendo cenários ainda mais variados como fábricas, laboratórios, igrejas, cidades e muito mais. O arsenal é grandinho até e certas armas tem funções diferentes umas das outras, a Shotgun/Super Shotgun servindo para matar inimigos de perto, Hunting Rifle para matar inimigos de longe, Mortar e Riveter são explosivos para matar vários inimigos ao mesmo tempo, e mais.

A trilha sonora é uma das melhores em jogos de FPS, esbanjando do grande Andrew Hulshult, com músicas como Departure to Destruction, Hand Cannon, Nowhere e Keepers of the Gate sendo as minhas favoritas.

Facilmente o melhor boomer shooter do mercado, junto com DOOM Eternal. Recomendadíssimo para alguém que quiser jogar jogos Boomer Shooter, e o segundo melhor jogo da New Blood, perdendo só para ULTRAKILL.

9.5/10

Feels like a perfect capstone to a year-long journey I've been on with the boomer shooter genre that began when I bought DOOM 64 on a whim because it was £1.

Gleefully blends together just about every 90s FPS that I can think of - I would best describe it as playing multi-storey Doom levels with Quake weapons and controls, all wrapped in Blood's aesthetic sensibilities? And also you get to do some Duke Nukem shit, like smoking cigars and making (textual) quips?! Cool! When things really get going, it feels like you're watching someone do a Quake 3 speedrun of Resident Evil 4. I dunno! I'm finding this game hard to succinctly explain! It's cool! Very much its own thing, despite quite clearly being inspired by every boomer shooter ever. Fantastic vibes.

Also, I really liked that Episode 3 kinda eschewed any attempt to maintain continuity with Episode 2's difficulty level and decided that it would rather just focus on cool, different shit. The last couple of levels ROCK!! I loved them! Caleb!!!!!

Playtime: 12 Hours
Score: 8/10

A fantastic indie shooter that is a love letter to the 90s era of FPS games! I grew up playing old shooters like Quake 2 and Duke Nukem 3D with my dad on his old PC. While I have never been a super die hard of the sub-genre, I have some good nostalgia for it. These games have come back in a big way with both AAA outings like Doom 2016 and Eternal but also in smaller indie shooters, like Dusk!

To start with the positives, the atmosphere of this game is just so on point. I like the rural, rustic look the game goes for, and as a big Resident Evil 4 fan, I love that you start out in farm land, and have to fight big guys with chainsaws and bags over their heads. The guns are all really awesome and they feel satisfying to use. Movement is fast and responsive, and the game does a good job of making you feel like death incarnate.

The real show stealer though I feel was the games level design. Some levels feel like the standard 90s goodness that you would want in a game like this, but others really do some crazy stuff. It goes above and beyond what you would have typically seen in a 90s FPS game, and I really appreciated it. Games like Prey and Dishonored made me appreciate level design a whole lot more then I did before and this game excels at that!

The music as well is excellent and I'm glad I bought the OST alongside the game. It can sound similar to the new Doom games, but it also does some out of the norm tracks that I loved.

As for negatives, while the first episode did a great job establishing the vibe and tone, the second one was just a slog to play through for me personally. It does have some good levels but it overall just dragged for me and I wanted it to be over by the halfway point. The game does pick it back up in episode 3, but ya I do wish the second episode was stronger. While I did praise the level design, some levels can be really annoying to traverse and like they took the mind-bending stuff a bit too far. Like there's one level where the gravity gets warped and you have to basically space jump across the map to get inside a house. That was not fun at all. Also the second last level was really bad and just felt like a giant horde mode section before the final boss. The final boss itself though was very strong and it ended the game with a bang!

Overall though, if your looking for a good old nostalgic shooter, look no further then Dusk!

All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/

Suggested by @AlphaOne2 for this list.

Admittedly, I was a bit concerned in the earlier hours of Dusk. I was enjoying the game, but it would’ve been hard to say much about the early game aside from “It’s like Quake.” That’s just not an interesting review. However, some divergences started about halfway through the first episode, and it improved from there, although it still stuck fairly close to Quake.

First, let’s take a look at the arsenal. The shotgun, super shotgun, riveter, and mortar are pretty much identical to four of the guns from Quake. I’m not gonna fault the game for having a shotgun (Especially when I can dual-wield them), as that’s in pretty much every shooter, but I would’ve appreciated some alterations from the other three guns’ Quake counterparts. Looking at the rest of our loadout, we have a pistol (Which can also be dual-wielded), an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and a crossbow. Most of these are pretty by-the-books, but I do think the crossbow is rather unique and fun to use. It’s a fairly powerful weapon that passes through enemies, allowing for multiple kills at once if you can line enemies up. However, it also has a bit of kickback, which can be used to gain extra heights from jumps, meaning you can make a few skips if you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of ammo. This is a pretty cool alternative function. Overall, the guns are fairly fun to use, but I wish they were a little more original.

Although, I guess the game also lets you just pick up random stuff and throw it at enemies. I think the best comparison is something like in Half-Life 2 with the gravity gun. You know, you can use objects as a projectile or shield. However, throwing stuff is just… really strong. Why does the barrel do more damage than a shotgun? I dunno, but at the very least it led to me trying to use whatever items I could find. It certainly had an impact on gameplay, but I wish they pushed this a little more. Most items just do the same thing, aside from explosive barrels, which, well, explode, and crystals that cause enemies to attack each other. Throwing barrels and rocks can be fun in moderation, but it’s not particularly gripping gameplay in large chunks. It’s also worth noting that some of the more creative uses of items in Half-Life 2 (Carrying health items, building bridges to advance, etc…) aren’t here in philosophy or in form, likely because they would be a little harder to integrate into a boomer shooter’s level design without making significant changes. Maybe that’s for the better since that kind of stuff would slow down gameplay, but a little more variety of objects and maybe a weapon specialized to object interaction could’ve been great without sacrificing speed.

Even disregarding the previous paragraph, the map design was probably the biggest issue for me in the opening hours. It’s initially very flat, and I mean that literally. Most shootouts would take place in either a cramped building or a flat plain, so verticality wasn’t taken advantage of at all. As the game goes on, the level design becomes far more interesting. The fans that shoot you up into the air were a fun addition that keep things quick, wide-open arenas have many layers but aren’t a hassle to traverse, and levels will usually wrap around themselves to reduce excess backtracking. Later on, even more unique level design elements are introduced, and the game has a greater sense of variety without sacrificing the core appeal of ”HUGGH”-ing everywhere and shooting. The level design pretty much always fits the atmosphere; High-energy levels are wide open and play rock music, while unnerving levels are dark and cramped. The game does use the basic three keys approach that Doom and Quake use, but I really don’t think that’s an issue at all.

The enemy design is pretty good. They’re all distinct and fit the high-speed gameplay. Most enemies are aggressive, but you can always deal with them if you’re skilled enough. “Just keep moving” is the name of the game here, as is in most good boomer shooters. The best examples of this are the wendigo, grand wizard, and cart dog. You just can’t deal with these guys while still in 9 out of 10 cases, which is just how I like it. There are also bosses here. They’re mostly good, but not particularly great. Most of the boss arenas are pretty basic and the most unique one was just filled with bottomless pits, which was annoying. The final boss was the best in this regard though, as the arena is more interesting and there’s more strategy to the fight. The game also does that “The boss is a normal enemy but big!” cliché a few times (Although it also makes a boss a normal enemy but small, which I thought was funny). It’s neat that most bosses can be skipped, but I don’t think it’s a compliment to say the best thing about something is that it’s optional.

One thing I really liked here was that there is a sense of progression here between levels and episodes. You start in this rural area and fight occult enemies, but at the end of the first episode you discover that this rural town is being watched by a high-tech organization. After that, you go into an alternate dimension, where the final episode takes place. It strikes a good balance between keeping momentum in both the story and gameplay. The theming is pretty varied here, but it also feels like this variety is cohesive in how it progresses.

Before I begin wrapping this up, I want to talk briefly about difficulty. In games where you can save whenever, I always impose a limit in terms of how many times I can save. With boomer shooters, I always allow myself a single mid-level save, as well as one before bosses in most cases. There’s something to be said about how easy it is to save scum in games like this, but I never felt the desire to do this, as even at its hardest this game rarely felt cheap. I played on the normal difficulty, and while I felt that health resources were always well-balanced, I consistently had tons of ammo. Maybe it’s just because I consistently would break crates for ammo, look for secrets, and use melee when possible, but I still think there’s a lot of value in being strapped for ammo when it comes to shooters. The game leaned into this a little bit in the third chapter where you start off with very few guns, but I still think ammo should’ve been a little scarcer.

Visually, this game is certainly trying to evoke the low-poly era of games. It looks good enough, but not particularly great to be honest. I do like the creature designs, but the animations aren’t super impressive. While the lighting can be striking occasionally, it also can be jarring when an object suddenly shifts from glowing blue to glowing green. However, I really like the sound design. Not necessarily the music, although the music was good. No, it’s the sound effects that are great. I really love when you must listen in games, and Dusk is a good example. There is a visual tell for Wendigos, but the audio tell will almost always come first. Same with the Mamas, which are probably the most dangerous normal enemies. I will never hear squeaky wheels again without having a fight or flight reaction. Pretty much every dangerous enemy has a distinct sound, which I love.

Overall, it was a fun boomer shooter. It’s derivative of Quake, but there’s enough different here that there’s instances where I’d want to play Dusk instead of Quake and vice versa. The creators have hinted at the possibility of an extra episode, and considering the game improved as it went on, a new episode or sequel could be great. I know New Blood went on to publish Ultrakill though, which is another game I’m playing because of the suggestion list, so I’m looking forward to that. Anyway, Dusk a fun game, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys Quake or Doom. 7/10, but I could raise it to an 8.

I don't like this new genre of boomer shooters. Maybe i'm just looking for some new stuff and not bland looking levels with repetitive enemies.

Dusk is quite like that for it's first 5 hours which kind of tampered my enjoyment of the game. I got what I was looking for in Chapter 3, which has more of a bizarre level design and cool scenarios, ultimately ending the game on a good note for me. I can't remember a single song, maybe it's just me but these metal songs that are on every single one of these games are just indistinguishable from one another.

There really isn't anything to more to add, if you ever played quake or any other of these games, you know exactly what you're getting here.

It's fitting that FPSs would be saved from the triple A machine that bogged down the genre for more than a decade by the same type of people who invented and cemented it, the indie scene. There's been in recent years a massive ressurgence of FPS games that pay homage to the 90s fast paced and movement focused titles like Doom and Quake, showing once more to people how fun the genre can actually be besides the standard fare of sluggish militaristic and realism focused FPSs. At the top of this renaissance of "boomer shooters", stands Dusk.

Dusk impresses immediately with it's pixelated inspired visual look and how much commitment it puts into recreating the experience of 90s computer gaming. The amount of speed you are given, after years of being conditioned to expecting regular human speed in the genre, feels like having the training wheels removed from a bike, letting you strafe at break neck speed and giving you a slide move that increases your maneuverability even further.

Having the benefit of hindsight, Dusk take into account the number of years that videogames have had since then to improve the genre in every conceivable way. Every single mission creates unique situations and challenges to be overcomed in some of the best level design ever produced in the genre, while also providing the player levels open enough to be tackled your own way and with numerous nooks and crannies to find out. All weapons have their own unique use and advantage, some even adding movement options to the player, like rocket jumping or mid air control, or defensive options, like sending projectiles back at the enemy with a melee weapon, and you are even allowed to dual wield pistols and shotguns for maximum cool points. It is filled with nudges and winks at FPS classics, while still being it's own beast, and in some sort of playful joke, it gives the player a dedicated "reload" button that just twirls your weapon, as if obliging the impulses of the player to reload every 5 secs.

Beyond it's incredibly fun and engaging gameplay, Dusk boasts a badass horror aesthetic that has you starting in a rural farm ran by a bunch of KKK like cultists, entering a forbidden industrial city governed by crazed military armies and ending in a lovecraftian hellish city filled with demons. It manages to captivate the player and keep him on his toes as new threats are slowly presented and escalated, creating some genuinely scary and tense moments. The pacing, setup and payoff elevates what would otherwise be a simple and cliche story, and makes Dusk distinguish itself from the classic games it "rips off" from. The sound design and OST is fantastic and blood pumping, the enemies are all unique and varied, and the game is beautiful to look at in all it's retro pixelized glory.

First Person Shooters are gonna be ok, you guys. We are all gonna make it.

Shoulda just been a Blood map pack TBH. Outside of E3M6, which is a very good level, there's just not much here that is distinct from either 3D Realms or ID games. The enemy types are mostly projectile enemies of varying strengths and patterns, and only two enemy types are distinctly different from what was present in the OG Doom of 1995. The guns aren't particularly advanced out of 1995 either; there might be some mechanical depth to way the crossbow gives you some kickback in the air, but outside of that there's no alternate fires and no damage affinities (to my knowledge), meaning that weapon switching is more dictated by ammo and enemy spread rather than efficiency or strategy a la Blood. The game could still be good in spite of these combat deficiencies if the levels were inventive or interesting, but outside of some occasionally cool aesthetics, there isn't much to mechanically separate one level from the next.


Example: there's one level here that has a similar start to a level in the Valiant MegaWAD. The gimmick to both levels is that you have projectile enemies on the high-ground and have to navigate to the high-ground to clear out the enemies. In DUSK, the map is pretty straight-forward: you run through the low-ground, curve through a factory to get to the high-ground, then kill the remaining enemies from the high-ground. In Valiant, you have two approaches before you: you can ignore the enemies on the high-ground to explore the low-ground, which will you reward you with a strong weapon and good powerups, at the cost of fighting against two rather difficult enemy encounters in addition to the ever-present risk of enemies on the high-ground. Or, you can ignore the low-ground and rush straight to the high-ground, which can be dangerous without the powerups from the low-grounds, but will clear the level much faster than messing around with the low-ground. If the map design of DUSK isn't on par with the various WADs out there, and the gameplay isn't on par with the classics, why play it?

This game feels fucking amazing, the guns sound great and shoot so well, theres so much oomph to killing enemies. It can effortlessly switch between horror and full-on action. The environments get a bit stale to look at over time, but there are tons of ideas through the whole game that make new levels play fresh and interesting.

The only slow part is at the beginning of Episode 3, when you expect the game to begin throwing everything at you, it tells you to slow down and hit things with a sword. Thankfully it doesnt last very long.

The OST is amazing. It can sound heavy and full of thrash metal, mysterious and ominous, or dark and demonic. I am not so impressed by Hulshults music in Doom Eternal or Brutal Doom, but this soundtrack is impressive.

The only criticisms I have are small things, like that fucking dog enemy. It looks SO bad, especially when it lunges. And the rats are incredibly annoying. Other than that, highly recommend.

third time giving this a shot. was not the charm. for all the comparisons people made to quake when hyping it up, it fails to do ANYTHING that made quake good. movement is Amiga level bad, weapons are lame (so much hitscan...), music is filler, levels are Alright at best, except for the part where every single one of them has a rape joke hidden in it so you can unlock a rape joke steam achievement. had this actually come out in the 90s it would be relegated to the same bins as SiN and Gunman Chronicles; the idea anyone likes it more than Doom is, genuinely, driving me to drink as i type.

there's a reason the multiplayer is deader than Daikatana's.

Dusk is one of the first boomer shooters I ever touched. The day I purchased it was a watershed moment that defines my taste in shooters to this day. These two statements aren't connected. I purchased Dusk in a double pack with Ultrakill. After a couple of hours of enjoying the former, I decided to try out the other game I bought that day. I never looked back. It's hard to say I gave Dusk a proper shake, and I had nothing but fond memories of the few hours I saw, so I thought I'd finally get around to seeing what I missed.

Imagine my surprise when I was bored to tears by the first act, a real Darkest Dungeon. Its gorgeous Gothic horror atmosphere, genuinely uneasy in its constant industrial scraping and thumping, is in service of nothing. I'd imagine my fond memories of this section have more to do with my first time b-hopping at Mach 10 speeds because I have no other explanation for how I didn't see the flat open areas and dull labyrinths for what they are. Lame as hell. Then, to compliment the overcooked levels, I found a swathe of oddly unexciting weapons (They fucked up the rocket jump! A cardinal sin) and a critical mass of great-looking but mostly unthreatening enemies. It's never unfun to blast through these zones at top speed with these weapons, I am biologically presupposed to enjoy this (and the addition of boss fights helps break up the pace a little). I've just seen all of its gimmicks done much better in the years since I first saw them.

This got even worse with the first half of episode 2, at which point I started to wonder if I'd been the victim of some kind of psychological attack, tricking me into remembering this as a fun game. Until the labs. I won't spoil where the game goes from the second half of episode 2 on, but it gets much headier, much weirder and much pulpier than I'd expected. I loved it. Genuinely, unabashedly. The level design (while retaining some fundamentally dumb idiosyncracies) got better, the enemies got better, the powerups started being fun, a whole new world opened up before me.

But when we get down to brass tacks, Quake's neo-gothic funhouse is unquestionably more appealing than this game's portentous sludge. Dusk is pulling too much from its predecessors and offering little in return. It's such a shame it takes so long to find its footing. By the back half the decision to take the material so deathly seriously starts paying serious dividends. The ending is euphoric in its pulp indulgence. But the good comes far too late and at the expense of its first half. Many boomer shooter aficionados have and will rightly drop this after its terrible opening act. Who can blame them, all they'll see is a bland copycat desperately smashing its influences together. Even if it eventually carves its niche, I find it hard to argue with that assessment.

I'm still not great at PC kb/mouse shooters so I lean on checkpoints to smooth out frustrations from dying. The New Blood games, especially DUSK, are worth getting through in their entirety even if it means compromising the difficulty.

DUSK is not imitation, if imitation is a slight. It is samplings of DOOM, remixes of hillbilly horror and B movie schlock and the rediscovery of lovecraft in its most straightforward form.

DUSK & Amid Evil are stories made sincerely in a genre where irony and satire are easy. Some of these games (including DOOM 2016 to an extent) in trying to be epic through indifference come off more corny than the overwrought story dumps Tom Hall defended so strenuously in the original DOOM. He was right then and with DUSK he's never looked more right now. If boomer shooters are about playing with overindulgence like a yo-yo then DUSK walks the dog.