When Telltale was at the height of its popularity it back in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 era it felt like we were getting similar adventure games almost monthly. Things in the “walking sim” genre have since cooled off and we don’t see as many however Red Thread Games has attempted to put their stamp on the genre with Dustborn. Does it stick the landing or fall flat?
Dustborn at it’s core is very much like those Telltale games. If you are interested in the game it is likely for it’s story and characters rather than its gameplay. You play as Pax, a woman who has a very unique power, called a Vox, to use her voice to get what she wants. She can make people stop talking, trigger them, change their mind among other things simply by using her words. Pax uses these powers mostly for bad to make people feel bad as she hasn’t quite figured out that they can be used for good.
She isn’t the only one with powers though. Known as Anomals, their are many people like Pax who have a unique Vox. You start Dustborn out with a group of Anomals: Noam, your ex lover who can use her mind to manipulate others; Sai, who is your longtime best friend and is the muscle of the group. They can brute force their way through doors and lift things with ease. Your final initial companion is Theo, a regular human with no powers but is tech savvy and great at lockpicking.
Your group of 4 is tasked with traveling across America starting in California and make your way to Nova Scotia in Canada to deliver a package that you stole in a daring heist to a group called the Weave. The Weave is a group of Anomals who are trying to make a difference and save other Anomals and the world. This isn’t your typical America your group is crossing. In the alternate reality of Dustborn JFK survived the assassination and Jackie O was instead killed. Marilyn Monroe is still alive and now married to JFK, as Lady Justice. The country is divided. A large swatch of the country is controlled by Justice, essentially a police state. They use a mix of robots and humans to control the regions they are in power of. They are at war with the Puritans, a powerful religious group.
Your cover for your trip is that you are a band traveling the country for gigs. It works for a little even if your band isn’t that good as Justice doesn’t quite catch on to you until you get further into the heartland of the country. As you do, your ragtag group picks up many other Anomals starting with Pax’s sister Ziggy whom thinks we abandoned 16 years ago when our Moms kicked us out of our camp. Adding new members to the group pretty much every episode adds a layer to the story of Dustborn, and each character brings something new, both power wise and storywise. I really enjoyed watching our group grow and learn everyone’s story as we picked them up and see how they all interacted with one another.
It should be stated that Dustborn does have some pacing issues. I’ve talked in the past about how lately it feels like games have been starting quite slow, and Dustborn definitely starts off slow. The first probably 2-3 episodes, which is probably 3-4 hours of gameplay, are a bit of a slog. It definitely picks up after that so if you can get through the first few episodes you will be rewarded. There is also some issues with the episodes themselves. A few episodes can take a couple hours each to finish and then near the end some of them were only a half hour.
Without spoiling anything about the story I think it’s definitely worth playing for the characters alone. Many have complained about the “wokeness” of the game so it won’t be for everyone, but if you don’t feel that way you will enjoy what Dustborn has to offer from a story and character development standpoint. It really does a great job in that aspect and their are many twists and turns in the narrative that I did not see coming and was well done.
More Than Just An Adventure Game
Dustborn does indeed have much more gameplay going for it than a typcial adventure game. While you spend the vast majority of your time walking around, clicking on and picking up items and engaging in conversations there is some combat sections and when your band plays you do get put into a music mini-game. Unfortunately the combat isn’t all that great. I won’t call it outright bad, but it’s adequate at best. Pax has her trusty bat that she uses to melee enemies with as well as her voice to manipulate enemies. You fight alongside a couple companions at a time who you can hit combos on with their powers that does add a layer to the combat.
You also need to know what words work on what enemies. Robot’s typically aren’t affected by your Vox. Other enemies can be affected by them, but not always all of your different words.You can upgrade your bat by collecting parts and make Pax stronger in combat. I didn’t really find the upgrades made that much of a difference though. I commend the studio for at least attempting to put some more gameplay into Dustborn compared to other adventure games even if it doesn’t quite land.
The other thing you can do is walk around looking for Echoes. Echoes are leftover waves from “the broadcast” which can affect people’s brains and make them not think clearly. Pax can extract them using her Me-em, a game boy looking device to heal those affected. As you collect more echoes you learn more words which you can use in both combat and conversations. This hits much better than the combat and each new word felt like a genuine upgrade in comparison to the bat upgrades.
Top Notch Voice Acting Mired With Technical Issues
Ultimately what the game does best can also at times be its biggest flaw. The voice acting in the game is truly top notch. Each character is fully voiced with some great actors who brought their A game. The problem at times is how the dialogue is presented. You can usually walk around and hear ongoing conversations whether at camp, in the bus or out in the world. It works seamlessly a lot, however when you are given the chance to pick an option it can be a mixed bag of good and annoying.
You can usually hit the button prompt whenever you want in the conversation. The problem with that is I’d find myself many times listening to the conversation as it was quite interesting before deciding which dialogue prompt I wanted to hit. Unfortunately that meant usually cutting into the dialogue at awkward times that didn’t make much sense. And a lot of the time the previous conversation would continue. I found myself many times getting a “so anyway….” which then continued the previous dialogue, dialogue which would make little sense after the answer I just gave.
I’m not sure if this was a technical glitch or just poor design but it was by far the most annoying part of the game. Once or twice I could have lived with, but by the end of the game it felt like it was almost every conversation.
Conclusion
Dustborn ultimately left me with mixed feelings. It’s excellent cast and voice acting mixed with a solid story is just what I hope for in an adventure game, however its ho-hum combat and annoying interruptions in the dialogue hold it back from being great.
Dustborn was reviewed on Xbox Series X. The game released on August 20th for Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4/5 and PC.
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