this is weirdly psychedelic in a way how it sucks you in with it's fast paced-ness, simple yet complex level design and almost "end of history"-archetypical art direction.

dusk plays well with good things about past gaming but adds new qualities to it. it's not just quantative nostalgia for the sake off. it's interesting how in recent years (arguebly already since demon/dark souls) some "niche" games try to slowly get back into, maintain and/or rather build upon on what made games great in the first place: player agency (which doesn't translate always to power fantasy).

realism can only be so much fun and at a certain point, it's actually depressingly uninspiring. games potential of abstraction and surealism, which is impossible to convey in other time based media the way games do it, is what imprints on our mind the most, our inner curious child.

albeit this game also kicked off a flood of probably indie shovel ware in the boomer shooter craze, it did inspire or paved the way for titles like shrine II. and i'm thankful for that (albeit i'm late to the party).