Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2
Genre: 3D Platformer, 2000s, Action, Whimsy

If you wanted a lot more jumping and swinging out of your legally distinct “keyblade” combat game, developer Weird Beluga’s title Duskfade may scratch that 2000s 3D platforming itch.

In about a span of 10 hours or more in Duskfade, you’ll be experiencing a lot of platforming, traversing, and “clock hand” sword combat as main character Zirian who is on a quest to save his sister from an entity called Despair. See, whatever magic that your sister meddled with ended up locking up the main clock tower the siblings were at. In true 2000s 3D platforming fashion, you need to visit the four different worlds and break off the literal chains binding the tower, unlocking the fifth and final stage.

Tick Tock

Along the way, you learn more about the city and towns you’re in, the relationship between Zirian and his sister Allira along with his deceased grandfather Tristran, the significance of his new mechanical friend Cuckoo, and the bad guys you fight who are all themed after mental states. You can probably piece together how the story goes after the second world, but it’s told in a charming and all-ages kind of way that makes it endearing and fantastical to witness. The voicework for the characters are good too, so points for that aspect of presentation.

Each of the different environments and areas Zirian explores will seem familiar to you if you’ve played your share of PlayStation 2 and/or Xbox 3D platformers of days old: a lava-filled world with loads of sinking rocks, a twilight magic-filled academy with closed-off rooms and tight areas for intimate-esque combat sequences, a sky palace and ruins area with loads of grappling hook points and rails to grind onto. The list goes on, but that doesn’t make any of these familiar tropes in gaming less fun.

In fact, part of the charm in Duskfade is playing through these platforming segments. Initially, Zirian starts off with a double jump and a roll that instantly gives him forward momentum to reach faraway spots and hanging points. As he progresses, you unlock the aforementioned grappling hook tool to swing from pendulum to pendulum, a “circular surfboard” that lets him grind onto special rails, and a pair of gliding wings for temporary flight across further-stretching pitfalls.

Zirian himself controls spot-on and perfect in these segments; you may need to get a feel for his momentum and running speed buildup, but you’ll get the hang of it after half an hour or less. My favourite bits in Duskfade involve Zirian chaining jumps, air rolls, grappling hook swinging, and rail riding in tandem during the game’s cloud ruins and underground desert world. It’s just so fun to pull off and fly off the handle, literally, thanks to the developers’ handling of the platforming physics and feel.

I wish I could say the same about the game’s mandatory combat sequences.

Fighting Time Itself

Frankly speaking, Zirian controls pretty awkwardly and stiff in these segments. At first, dealing with early-level grunts seem manageable at first. But as the game throws more enemies that hit harder than you, can tank through your hits and outright avoid even the fastest light attacks you have and gaining priority over you, you really have no other option than to dodge and weave back in.

The game lets you buy new attacks like a “just evade” move and a counter that hits hard, but later enemies can power through them and knock Zirian off his feet quick. Even the dodging mechanic is a hit-or-miss affair as some attacks in the latter half happen too quick without a fair telegraph.

These issues are amplified worse in the boss fights. While the first few are challenging but fair and offer a good mix of action and platforming, they tend to get cheaper and unfair in the second half. See, when you get the boss down to a quarter of its health, it will scurry away and be invincible until you complete the mandatory platforming segment. Take too long to sort it out, and you eventually will take damage and die, starting the fight all over again if you bite the dust.

While these parts are manageable and fair at first, later boss fights in the second half feel terribly designed and seemingly one sided. Bosses can kill you off in 3 hits and have super-fast game-ending blows. The platforming segments can screw you over halfway because the game doesn’t register a precise input for gliding that one time.

Some of the pathways in the platforming segments aren’t that obvious until you figure it out after the 5th or 6th death, starting the whole ordeal all over again. Coupled with the aforementioned janky combat and you get a cavalcade of frustrations that will make you break your own controller. These bulls*** segments are why 2000s-style platformers end up almost extinct and long-forgotten. I finished the game, and even I feel that a lot of the fighting and second-half boss challenges need more time to cook design-wise.

From Dawn Until…

In spite of that, the majority of Duskfade is beautiful, charming, and serviceable enough to be a seminally entertaining 3D platformer-slash-action title. With its 2000s gaming approach and indie sensibilities, Duskfade is a good time to be had. While it doesn’t bring any major surprises and shake-ups to the long-standing genre, it is more than competently made to keep die-hards invested with its steampunk fantasy hybrid setting and whimsical tale of a boy trying to rescue his only family from the mess that they’ve inadvertently made.

I just wish the second half of the game is balanced fairly, because it’s going to make a number of people ragequit or just tone down the difficulty to Story or Easy mode. Duskfade’s wonder and whimsy will enchant you at the first half of its storybook experience, while its second half will pull the rug from under your feet and test your patience, and not in a good way.

Pros

• Beautiful art style & whimsy feel.
• Platforming feels great and is fun to go through.
• Story is charming & has good lessons about life.
• First few bosses are fun to fight.

Cons

• Combat is mostly janky and awkward.
• Loads of enemy wave rooms that can overwhelm you thanks to the above combat controls flaw.
• Second half of the boss roster can come off as cheap and unfair.

Final Score: 60/100

Review copy provided by publisher.