Dustborn Review: A Beautiful Game for a Specific Crowd

If you like comic books and story-driven adventure games, then you’re likely going to love Dustborn. However, it’s undeniable that the game has a very specific direction that isn’t for everyone.

Great Premise, Some Poor Execution

In Dustborn you play as Pax, the leader and frontman of The Dustborn, a “punk rock” band on tour from California to Nova Scotia. That, however, is just your cover. In reality, your crew was hired to transport a valuable data drive to a resistance contact on the other side of the continent. The band is just a cover to make travel easier across the continent.

Speaking about the continent. Dustborn is set in an alternate-history version of the US where the US has fractured into multiple states. In the West, you have Pacifica, which is effectively a giant corporation. The rest of the US (and parts of Canada) belong to the American Republic, which has become an authoritarian police state. In the East lies Nova Scotia and the alleged resistance that you’re trying to reach.

All of this is a great premise for a story. What isn’t great is the execution of the story itself. The story is full of plot points that go nowhere and completely redundant elements that serve no purpose. The main cast’s interactions are a perfect example of the latter.

Many times throughout the story you’ll have characters bringing up their feelings in inappropriate situations that serve no purpose to deepen the characters or the overall story. This is especially painful at the end of each issue where you have to go around the campfire and talk to everyone about their feelings.

The Gameplay Could Also Have Used Some Time In the Oven

The gameplay in Dustborn has two aspects to it: combat and personal interactions. Combat is arguably the weaker of the two. At its core, Dustborn is a hack-and-slash game with all the elements you’d expect of the genre: weapon upgrades, unique abilities, and tons of enemies.

It’s also remarkably buggy at times. The AI is the worst offender in this regard as enemy units constantly get stuck in the scenery or in the air. Personal interactions are a bit more entertaining, but even that has its problems.

The main issue with personal interactions is that response screens are very vague. Oftentimes, whenever you select a certain response your character will blurt out something completely different than what you’d expect from them, throwing your intentions off completely.

Another issue is the characters themselves, most of them are completely shallow and uninteresting. This mainly arises as a result of what I said earlier about the story interjecting random plot elements that serve no purpose. Most of the “character development” in this game is just info dumping with a few sporadic moments that are actually heartfelt.

The Positives

Credit where credit is due, the stylised art style that the game has is absolutely gorgeous! The art direction is arguably Dustborn’s best aspect. Everything from the random elements scattered around the world to the musical compositions present in the game and the comic book sequences at the end of each stage are absolutely beautiful.

You can really tell how much love and effort went into making that part of the game as it shines through and stands on its own two feet, even if other parts of the game aren’t as appealing.

What I Didn’t Like About the Game

An issue that I think a lot of people will have with Dustborn is that it’s targeted toward a very specific demographic of people. Everything from the character design, plot, and even dialogue is catered toward the sensibilities and tastes of that demographic.

If you don’t associate yourself with certain beliefs, you’re likely not going to enjoy Dustborn very much.

Dustborn – The Bottom Line

Pros:

• Beautiful stylized art style
• Distinct cast of characters
• The combat is easy and the puzzles aren’t too challenging

Cons:

• It’s not a game that everyone could enjoy
• Certain segments of the game feel redundant and drag on needlessly
• The combat can be buggy at times.

The best way to sum up Dustborn is to describe it as an acquired taste. It’s not for everyone as it caters towards a very specific audience. Certain aspects of the game, like the combat, fall flat on their face, while the art style and music rise above. It’s a mediocre gameplay experience at best, but as an art project, it’s worth at least a curious glance or two.