As Dusk Falls

Lore & Background

As Dusk Falls was announced on 23 July 2020 at the Xbox Games Showcase event. Development was led by creative director Caroline Marchal, who was previously employed by Quantic Dream as a designer for Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. The game was released for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 19 July 2022, and also launched on Xbox Game Pass for cloud, console, and PC via Steam. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and GOG.com on 7 March 2024.

The gameplay revolves around interactive storytelling, with novel techniques used to gauge consensus among players for pivotal narrative decisions when playing co-operatively in its multiplayer modes. The story is divided into two books: Book One: Collision and Book Two: Expansion. Book One follows the Walker family—Vince, his wife Michelle, six-year-old daughter Zoe, and father Jim—who are involved in a car accident with the Holt brothers, Tyler, Dale, and Jay, leading to a hostage situation at the Desert Dream motel. Book Two follows the aftermath, including Jay's escape, Zoe's struggles with trauma, and various endings determined by player choices.

Reader's Guide

As Dusk Falls received generally favorable reviews from critics according to Metacritic, and strong approval on OpenCritic, recommended by 71% of critics. Many critics lauded its storytelling, art style, voicework, co-op mode, and the emotional impact of narrative choices offered to players, while criticism was directed mainly towards its climax and clunky controls. Michael Goroff of Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote favorably of the game's competently directed scenes, evocative painting-based art style, ability to view alternate paths, implementation of co-op mode, and immersive storytelling, but disliked the undercut tension of the narrative's second half and the cliffhanger ending. Robert Purchese of Eurogamer called it 'the best interactive movie game I've played', citing the multiplayer component, photoreal comic strip art style, effective key frames, impressive voicework, character development, flashback-based storytelling, mature depiction of heavy subject matter, and TV-inspired presentation as its strengths. Game Informer's Matt Miller gave it 8.75 out of 10 and praised its wide appeal, stating it works for players interested in interactive narrative frameworks and even for those who never play games. Mark Delaney of GameSpot gave high praise to the motion comic artwork, audio drama presentation, quality voice acting, thoughtful thematic material, impactful choices, and the developer's keen understanding of pacing and characterization, but took issue with out-of-place action scenes and an ending hampered by sequel baiting. Dustin Bailey of GamesRadar+ liked the TV-style pacing, nuanced characters, and the multiplayer's elevation of familiar genre mechanics, but noted how choice mechanics felt thin when replaying the game. Gabriel Moss of IGN found the title to be highly replayable and enjoyable.

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