Duskfade has been on my radar since last year’s Gamescom, where I watched a young kid expertly platform from giant gear to giant gear inside of a large clockwork tower, and it looked amazing. “Huh, reminds me a little of Kingdom Hearts”, I said to the publisher, and they confirmed that it was indeed a huge inspiration for the game.
Having beaten the story, I can say I saw a lot of winks and nudges at one of my favourite IPs in gaming, with the sword repainted to Sora’s Keyblade and I could even make Zirian look like a heartless. Don’t expect an action RPG title though; it’s more of an action platformer/collectathon. But it looks absolutely amazing and is one of the main surprises I’ve played this year. Let’s dive in!
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
| Developer | Weird Beluga |
| Publisher | Fireshine Games |
Things I liked!
- It looks GORGEOUS | Do yourself a favour and play this one on the 4K TV with an Xbox Series X, folks. It’s a stunning game with an impressive amount of detail, a lively world and visual effects everywhere that wowed me throughout the adventure. Definitely the prettiest game I’ve played all year, and keep in mind: this is coming from an indie studio. My screenshots look like paintings, and I’ve fallen in love with the hub world town. I could just walk around in it and enjoy the scenery for hours.
- Platforming feels amazing | This game gets compared to Kingdom Hearts often, but it’s more of a platforming title than it is an action RPG. In many ways, it felt more like I was playing Jak & Daxter. But oh boy, it’s a lot of nostalgic fun straight out of the PS2 platformer heydays. You can double jump and dash early on, and that’ll get you far already, but then grappling hooks, railgrinding and eventually gliding through the air get added and the entire world opens up and becomes a joy to explore. And best of all: it’s pretty forgiving for the most part, where a failed jump only costs you a bit of health and resets you close to where you fell to your doom!
- Tons of stuff to collect | It’s a real collect-a-thon with Starshards (the main currency) usually indicating what path to take, and all other collectables also have some value. Coins can be traded for character/enemy cards, there are health & MP upgrades, ingots to customise your weapon, music boxes to unlock the game’s soundtrack, gears that can be used to buy new abilities and even kittens to chase with balls of wool on their head which unlocks new outfits.
- 5 outfits and lots of colour variations | I really feel like they spoiled us with these. There are a few outfits here clearly inspired by other games and I love it. Various outfits look like Sora or Riku’s and there is even a Heartless look, but I also spotted a “Hero of Time” Legend of Zelda’s Link outfit and if I’m not mistaken, I even spotted Clink and Kuro outfits from Evoland! The weapon sadly doesn’t have different shapes and just changes colour, and as soon as the gold + silver keyblade option was unlocked, I never went back.
- The music is enchanting | Duskfade doesn’t have music that’ll stay with me the same way Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or Expedition 33 managed to pull off, but damn if it isn’t pretty. There are a lot of vocal tracks though, with chanting really giving the all the right kind of goosebumps, and it always felt fitting for the location I was exploring.
- An emotional story | Most games tend to go for a lost love if they want to pull at the heartstrings, but here it’s the love between a grandfather and his grandchildren that drives the main narrative, and how his declining health drove a wedge between two siblings. The only thing that bothered me a little was how it doesn’t take a genious to figure out the main plattwist very early on in the game, but the characters themselves seem oblivious to it.
- Boss Fights are a lot of fun | I really enjoyed the bossfights in Duskfade, they all have the trope of letting you use your recently acquired ability, but in a fun way with platforming challenges in the middle of the boss fight. It really feels like you’re putting your newfound techniques to the test as a player as you’re taking them down. I just wish there was a better “reset” if you missed a jump, versus having to start them from the bottom, all the while with a timer ticking down and chipping away at your health.
- Varied worlds to explore | Like I already stated earlier, the starting town alone sold me on the beauty of this game, but there are so many more visually stunning locations to explore that’ll make your eyes water with their marvel. A burned-down village, a sunken library, fluffy clouds and crystal basements. This game has it all and I wanted to soak it all in.
Mixed & disliked!
- My wallet ain’t big enough | I’ll start with my main complaint about the game: your wallet is capped at 9999 Starshards, which is the main currency of the game. I’m a completionist, even in my first playthrough, so I look in every nook and cranny and naturally maxed out my money quite early. The problem is that every Starshard I pick up through exploration, combat and even the ones from chests that required some pretty challenging platform, are all pointless. I wish there was a midgame item I could buy that increased my wallet size to 99.999 to avoid this issue, but sadly not.
- Combat is pretty pointless | Unless you arrive in a zone where defeating all enemies is required to unlock a chest or jumpflower, I found myself just ignoring most combat. Remember, this is not an RPG like Kingdom Hearts. You don’t gain levels, your abilities don’t power up, other than money, there is no real reward for combat. It IS fun though, so there is that!
- It’s not fully voice-acted | This is by no means a must for me, but I wouldn’t have minded if the game was fully voice. It’s limited to only grunts and names at the moment, so you still get some idea of what it could have been.
- How long did I play the review before publishing? 16 hours
- How long to beat the story? 14 Hours
- How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 315/1000G or 16/25
- How long to get 100%? | 20-25 hours
- You’ll love this game if you like these | Kingdom Hearts, Jak & Daxter, Spyro
Score: 90/100
Duskfade might not reinvent the clockwork, but it certainly knows how to make the hours fly by.
It’s a gorgeous, heartfelt adventure that leans heavily into the nostalgia of classic platformers, and honestly, that’s a big part of its charm. I’ll definitely be going for the 100% completion in the days to come and will lovingly revisit this colourful world many times over in the years to come! Duskfade had me hooked from the first gear to the final tick, and I’m already wishing I could turn back the clock and play it again.
Want to see Duskfade in action? Here are the first two boss fights of the game (stripped of all cutscenes that might spoil the story)
Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
