As Dusk Falls (Windows, XB1/XB S/X) Review

A stylised narrative driven experience, focusing on building a rich tapestry through story telling over traditional gaming mechanics.

As Dusk Falls (WINDOWS, XB1/XB S/X)

Release Date: 19th July 2022

From London based developer Interior Night, As Dusk Falls is a modern interpretation of the traditional choose your own adventure style experience, a narrative driven game set in the American south that allows you to shape the overall story through your decisions and their consequences. A narrative spanning two generations that intertwines around your decisions and adds a real weight and a sense of accountability in what you decide. Like other similar narrative focused games, your interactions are limited to a degree, this isn’t a vast, expansive open world game with a multitude of mechanics to master, but more a series of binary or multiple choice decisions that grant an illusion of freedom to a degree but follow a broad path towards an eventual outcome. Every decision you make is drawn out and highlighted at the conclusion of each chapter, though the alternative paths are obscured to provide an impetus to go back and explore the path not followed. The more narrow focus affords the opportunity to create more complex and rich characters, each with their own motivations and emotional consequences to the singular traumatic experience at the centre of the games main story. Each strand feels connected in a believable way with a level of realism and nuance at the core of this style of game.

It uses a similar chapter based structure to Life is Strange, two separate narrative arcs consisting of six individual chapters in total that intersect generationally between the two distinct families that collide in the opening moments. Though it concludes with an outcome, it ends with an opening to a continuation of the games central narrative. The principle focus on childhood trauma and the long term effect into adulthood is interesting given the unknown effect the recent health pandemic had on childhood development and experiences. Just an observation, but interesting to note the unintended parallels between the real world and digital environment. One of the game’s strengths is how it allows you to shape the motivation and drive behind the characters, for a example a committed and loyal husband or one more focused on his career and injustice. A son beholden to a father and way of living or accepting a different morality. Or even a mixture of the two. It’s a more grounded narrative but one with rich characters you can shape to suit your own morality and perspectives. Though having unintended consequences as they interact in a highly charged opening narrative arc. It grants you as the player, agency on the consequences of your actions, guiding you perhaps with the mechanics and interactions of the experience but very much delivering a path of your own making.

When you see people play they are relatable real life people you could have met in your own life. The thing that was really important in terms of setting and story is that it’s really grounded. There’s no zombies or fantastic element, it’s all about real life.
Creative Director Caroline Marchal – Esquire

Surviving Two Rocks

The story has two distinct focuses, two families intersecting in a rural diner in the Arizona desert. It avoids the temptation to add a level of menace or threat to the environment and as such has a degree of realism and believability that adds to the immersion. Neither family are purely saints or sinners, possessing personal and complex motivations and influences that shape their eventual outcome. Each chapter has two principle character arcs with secondary and supporting characters providing context and understanding, emerging and intersecting at future points and other junctures. During a hostage crisis in the opening chapter, you alternate between Vince, who has a more easily identifiable behavioural reasoning of protecting his immediate family and Jay, the youngest of three siblings involved in the robbery and hold up and the most ideologically divergent from his own family. That focus on two individuals allows you to keep a focus on your progression without ever feeling lost or overwhelmed. Dependent upon your decisions, no one is really safe, and that feeling of uncertainty adds a level of weight to the decisions you make for them. There isn’t really an obvious right or wrong answer, its an exercise in morality over game play in its entirety.

The game manages to succeed in creating tension with that focus on choice and consequence, confronted with two impossible choices to make it doesn’t shy away with demanding more of its users. Do you shy away from violence or adopt a more confrontational and antagonistic style in your delivery. Each decision has unforeseen consequences and it excels in requiring you to think on your feet to resolve any unintended consequences you experience as a result. The paragon and renegade mentality of Mass Effect a distant memory as there never really feels like a right and wrong decision, you are confronted with difficult and impossible decisions at nearly every turn and can end up doing horrible things to decent people to survive the moment. Hoping to find recourse and recompense at a later date. There is a similarity in the branching narrative structure and quality of writing to Life is Strange, both excelling with limitations to game play mechanics in its narrative and story telling. A multiplayer aspect does afford an option to make communal decisions on particular decisions, adding a different dimension to a style and genre of game that had traditionally been a more solo experience.

There are a number of secrets and deeper meaning when you scratch beneath the surface, with a user focus on one particular character or behavioural style it forgoes getting to know these deeper mysteries and inspires experiencing the game from another perspective. Leaning more into other characters to bring to life the reasoning and purpose behind the events that transpire. There is a natural tendency to feel a level of sympathy and connection to Vince at first protecting his family, a laudable and understandable motivation however you never really get to know the motivations of the Holt family which is hinted towards and opens up if you focus more on that aspect of the narrative story telling. The best story telling always leaves you wondering about the fictional world you leave behind, in this game it requires an investment of your time to bring to light the interconnecting threads of a rich tapestry, a sign of a well written form of interactive entertainment where a first experience delivers the broad strokes but a second or third gives up more secrets that add a greater level of satisfaction and enjoyment from the narrative arc. A summary of your actions perhaps has an overtly positive spin at the conclusion of each chapter but it never really felt like a detrimental factor, more positive reinforcement of your actions.

The different layers and threads of the narrative arc come together in a believable way, it feels consistent but highlights a common style of these types of games with critical junctures along the path you intersect in different ways but ultimately moving towards the same outcome. Certain characters can die early on or at a later point, revealing secrets that influence how you view them through their interactions and discourse. It leaves you with the very real feeling having spent a number of hours with these characters, there is a great deal more to learn beyond these opening chapters in a broader narrative. It is set against a strong audio element and composition, using a couple of notable tracks that add to the richness of the experience. Its rewarding to discover a new song and artist that brings to life the environment and culture of the setting, exemplified here perfectly by Hole in the Middle by Emily Jane White and God’s Gonna Cut You Down by Matthew Barnes. The soundtrack composition by Forest Swords is a great listen in itself, adding to the character of the environment with different styles and tones to suit the particular location at that moment in time. With strong vocal aspects, it is a perfect example of adding to the richness of the story telling.

Relatable, for me, means that you’ll at least experience empathy, if you think they’re relatable. They might do bad things, they might make good choices. They might have something in their past that they’re not proud of. You know, we are all like that. No one’s perfect. We really crafted all these characters, these two families, with this in mind. That they’d be like people you might have met, people you know of, people that are believable and relatable.
Creative Director Caroline Marchal – Metro

The Way it Plays

It has a unique style and look in its aesthetic, a series of still frame images with in-frame animation creating a somewhat conflicting sense of duality, static characters in a state of motion and movement. From the movement of hair in the wind to vehicles on a highway, a style you grow to understand and acknowledge though it can distract from the emotional resonance of the story, character images with closed mouths for example during discourse and discussion. After an hour or so, you pay less attention to this dynamic, focusing instead on the delivery of the characters. It is certainly a stylistic choice eschewing a full motion environment to create a more memorable and unique experience. The voice acting of the cast breathe life into the images of the characters, one of the games strengths and a step above more expansive games of a similar nature. There’s a level of conviction and authenticity in the delivery of the lines, it’s not awkward or a secondary focus, its a key aspect of the entire experience and one of the games strengths. Every key decision you make can have unforeseen consequences and repercussions but you never feel one particular choice or outcome through the narration was unintended to the character, it feels believable and a natural outcome and a testament to the strength of the narrative in the game..

It forgoes traditional gameplay mechanics to a degree opting instead to focus upon the moralistic decisions and outcomes. The gaming elements never more than a series of buttons to press or directional inputs. There are elements of investigating your immediate environment at certain points but these lack any real weight or convection and seem in place to to remind you this is an interactive medium. At certain points, critical decisions are highlighted but even smaller choices have tangible impacts towards its conclusion and leave you feeling none of the characters have a safe or determined outcome, That real sense of danger and mortality add a real gravitas to the quality and maturity of the writing often absent in larger productions in contrast to a game of this nature and size. It inspires you to consider alternative paths and decisions after your first experience to see the other outcomes. Interestingly for a game of this nature it also has the option to play with others to allow you to make decisions based on consensus though perhaps effecting the level of personal immersion and buy in when the path you would follow on a personal basis is rejected by others. But interesting it was built into the experience of the game.

The cinematography is sort of kinetic as well because all of our backdrops are full 3D. So they’re all built in a very similar way to how games are built. We did a real deep dive location shoot where we could get some really nice accurate location details.
Art Director Mike Bambury – The Loadout

Closing Thoughts

In the absence of traditional gaming mechanics and inputs, As Dusk Falls can certainly be viewed as a more interactive narrative based experience and from this point of view it succeeds with merit. A strong, multifaceted and interweaving story delivered with a style and quality above many of its peers. There are elements of input, however these feel neither punishing or unfair in contrast to Beyond Two Souls for example using a similar style and structure where a miss timed button press can have a detrimental impact on the central narrative. For those with slower trigger fingers it’s enjoyable to miss the odd contextual interaction and not feel it will have a lasting negative impact on your overall experience. Stripping away that level of interaction however does raise the question of whether this is definable as a game in its entirety, but subjectively the use of choice as dynamic in itself provides a greater weight of agency to your actions and decisions that make this feel more interactive and personal than a modern open world experience that holds your hand and guides you on your journey. It has a style and charm of its open that is unique and memorable long after you turn off your console and walk away.

It is one of the best examples of branching story telling, transposing the old style choose your own adventure books into the digital age where your choices have meaning and resonate through the entire experience. With the exception of perhaps one young character, no one feels safe or protected and that sense of menace and danger add a greater degree of immersion. A game not without fault, though the aesthetic style has a unique quality it can feel a little jarring, the animated motion qualities juxtaposed to the static imagery of the characters in discourse. It is certainly memorable and creates a distinct contrast to similar games in this particular genre. It won’t be remembered for its gameplay, simplistic and unstated however its clear defining quality is the quality of its story and on this basis it succeeded with style. It steps up and elevates the experience above other similar games leaving them feeling second best and amateur in comparison. Ultimately, it succeeds in encouraging you to go back after a first experience to learn more about its world and setting. And leaves you intrigued as to whether this particular story has another side to it.

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