Duskfade
Review
When Time Stands Still
by Camrin Santchi
reviewed on PC
Mechanical Aesthetics
Aesthetics can immediately draw the eye in a sea of platformers, and their overall look can be a big part of grabbing a potential player's attention. For Duskfade, this aesthetic is a gorgeous 'clockpunk' style that emphasizes the gears, cogs, springs, and other mechanisms that make the interior movements of clockwork style machines so intriguing to watch. Combined with a playstyle that harkens back to the early days of 3D Combat Platformers such as Jak and Daxter or Kingdom Hearts, and players that yearn for those days are in for a treat.
Players of Duskfade take the role of Zirian, a young man who's worried about his sister, who appears consumed by her newest clockwork project, sequestering herself away into her room for days on end to focus on it. Something goes wrong and their home is plunged into eternal night, with a mysterious and utterly massive clock tower at the centre of it all. Allying with a clockwork cuckoo bird, appropriately calling itself Cuckoo, Zirian must find a way back into the clock tower to save his sister and hopefully restore the flow of time to Tick Town and its environs. To do this, Zirian will have to venture to the far reaches of the world around his home, and come out on top against fearsome, seemingly ancient, foes.
Clean Their Clock
Combat in Duskfade starts simple, but fleshes out as the player progresses through the story. Some upgrades are purchased from a travelling shop via crystals collected throughout the world and by defeating enemies, finding health pickups in chests that your minute-hand shaped blade can open, and some abilities are achieved just by progressing and acquiring Gadgets with useful effects that can be 'recharged' via attacking with Zirian's main weapon.
One of the most useful and appropriate bits of Zirian's combat kit in Duskfade is his dodge-roll. Traditional in 3D combat games, and a useful traversal tool for horizontal movement when platforming, but if the player times the dodge right in combat than time will slow to a crawl, giving Zirian an opportunity to wallop the enemy he's facing while they're vulnerable - before time returns to its normal speed moments later.
This time-slowing is not only thematically appropriate for Duskfade and its themes regarding time, but it provides players a chance to trade risk for reward - dodging out of the way of attacks early means you're likely safer, but won't trigger the slowing effect, while timing it more closely will trigger the slowing effect but could risk being hit.
Safe Landing
The platforming in Duskfade is a little on the floaty side, and Zirian's traversal can go quite a bit further than one might expect, especially by chaining together his double jump and dodge-roll. Sticking the landing can be a little bit tricky considering the amount of distance that can be travelled, but it can be adapted to easily enough. Once players get used to the movement in Duskfade, they can find their way to a lot of places that originally seemed to be out of reach.
Time for Adventure
Overall, Duskfade is a very entertaining and appropriately themed blast from the past. The visual aesthetic is an interesting and appealing choice, and the combat and platforming are enjoyable and satisfying to get used to. Combat options start limited, but fleshes out as the game progresses and gives players time to get used to their toolkit. The platforming can feel a little floaty, but once the player is used to it they can make for some pretty impressive distance clearing methods. For any gamers that have a soft spot for Combat Platformers, Duskfade is a very worthwhile pickup that is definitely worth your time.
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8.8
fun score
Pros
Striking ClockPunk Visuals, Fun Combat and Platforming
Cons
Combat Starts Limited, Traversal is Floaty
