Dust: An Elysian Tail is an simple but fun beat 'em up RPG that pays high attention to detail. You can really see the amount of passion and dedication that went into this game. 4/5

1) Combat is a lot of fun. Dust is quite literally a tornado of death and it's really entertaning. Most enemies are just a matter of keeping up a combo and mashing buttons, but every one in a while you encounter an enemy that's a fair challenge and requires some strategy (the weird insects with razor legs in the haunted mansion come to mind). 2) The leveling system is actually very well done in that the choices make an immediate difference in gameplay. There's no "10% increased damage" B.S. here. Level ups sometimes double a stat early on so it feels worthwhile to take your time, explore, and gather xp. 3) The crafting and shop systems compliment each other well and are worth using. It's not just a matter of gathering gold and buying new items. You get blueprints from killing enemies and opening chests and then you gather materials from other enemies to craft items. However, rather than just having to grind for materials, you can buy them from stores, the catch being you have to sell the store at least one of the material first to add it to their catalog. I actually really like this mechanic. It makes you work for upgrades without making you tediously grind. 4) The animations and designs are just beautiful. The guy who made this game was primarly a designer, and man, does it show. This game has one of the best visuals and atmospheres of any game I've ever played. The environments are varied and really draw you into the world. This game is great as an art piece alone.

1) The lack of autoregeneration or any way to easily heal is quite frustrating, especially earlier in the game. At one point you're tasked with heading down a spiked cavern to unlock a sliding ability, and I managed to make it but with so little health left that I could not hit the spikes even once on the way up (and neither the game's autosave nor me had the foresight to keep a save before I had gone down so I could retry after buying more food for health). So I was stuck for like 2 hours trying to get out of the caverns without dying. Lack of autoregen can be done well, but the game needs more than one autosave file and possibly a place to heal back up. 2) Most of the central conflict revolves around the evil caused by General Gaius and his genocide of 'Moonbloods', but for how important the game makes this out to be it dedicates little focus, time, and information towards anything about the race or the conflict. Most of your time is spent exploring locations indirectly affected by the war rather than dealing with the actual problem. In addition, it's unclear who the enemies that you're constantly fighting actually are. The first boss sorta says that they're Moonbloods(?) but everyone else just calls them "monsters" and they definitely don't look or act like the Moonbloods that you eventually encounter.

This isn't so much a complaint as me being dismayed. I love that this game tackles mature themes. I love that the bosses you encounter and Dust himself aren't just black and white evil or good. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I would have enjoyed the game more had the developer taken the plot and characters to a more complex level, especially when it comes to General Gaius and the whole Moonblood conflict. However, I realize that this isn't a problem with the game but that it was designed to be kid-friendly and I'm just not the target age group. I could easily see this as one of my favorite games had I played it in my childhood.

While Dust: An Elysian Tail has some problems with its plot, it more than makes up for them in gameplay, setting, and design. Younger gamers will probably love this game, and others can still find much to enjoy.

EDIT: changed my review system from 10 point system to 5 point system.

Dust: An Elysian Tail is an simple but fun beat 'em up RPG that pays high attention to detail. You can really see the amount of passion and dedication that went into this game. [b]4/5[/b] [h1] Pros [/h1] 1) Combat is a lot of fun. Dust is quite literally a tornado of death and it's really entertaning. Most enemies are just a matter of keeping up a combo and mashing buttons, but every one in a while you encounter an enemy that's a fair challenge and requires some strategy (the weird insects with razor legs in the haunted mansion come to mind). 2) The leveling system is actually very well done in that the choices make an [b] immediate [/b] difference in gameplay. There's no "10% increased damage" B.S. here. Level ups sometimes [b] double [/b] a stat early on so it feels worthwhile to take your time, explore, and gather xp. 3) The crafting and shop systems compliment each other well and are worth using. It's not just a matter of gathering gold and buying new items. You get blueprints from killing enemies and opening chests and then you gather materials from other enemies to craft items. However, rather than just having to grind for materials, you can buy them from stores, the catch being you have to sell the store at least one of the material first to add it to their catalog. I actually really like this mechanic. It makes you work for upgrades without making you tediously grind. 4) The animations and designs are just beautiful. The guy who made this game was primarly a designer, and man, does it show. This game has one of the best visuals and atmospheres of any game I've ever played. The environments are varied and really draw you into the world. This game is great as an art piece alone. [h1] Cons [/h1] 1) The lack of autoregeneration or any way to easily heal is quite frustrating, especially earlier in the game. At one point you're tasked with heading down a spiked cavern to unlock a sliding ability, and I managed to make it but with so little health left that I could not hit the spikes even once on the way up (and neither the game's autosave nor me had the foresight to keep a save before I had gone down so I could retry after buying more food for health). So I was stuck for like 2 hours trying to get out of the caverns without dying. Lack of autoregen can be done well, but the game needs more than one autosave file and possibly a place to heal back up. 2) Most of the central conflict revolves around the evil caused by General Gaius and his genocide of 'Moonbloods', but for how important the game makes this out to be it dedicates little focus, time, and information towards anything about the race or the conflict. Most of your time is spent exploring locations indirectly affected by the war rather than dealing with the actual problem. In addition, it's unclear who the enemies that you're constantly fighting actually are. The first boss sorta says that they're Moonbloods(?) but everyone else just calls them "monsters" and they definitely don't look or act like the Moonbloods that you eventually encounter. [h1] Other thoughts [/h1] This isn't so much a complaint as me being dismayed. I love that this game tackles mature themes. I love that the bosses you encounter and Dust himself aren't just black and white evil or good. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I would have enjoyed the game more had the developer taken the plot and characters to a more complex level, especially when it comes to General Gaius and the whole Moonblood conflict. However, I realize that this isn't a problem with the game but that it was designed to be kid-friendly and I'm just not the target age group. I could easily see this as one of my favorite games had I played it in my childhood. [h1]Final thoughts[/h1] While Dust: An Elysian Tail has some problems with its plot, it more than makes up for them in gameplay, setting, and design. Younger gamers will probably love this game, and others can still find much to enjoy. EDIT: changed my review system from 10 point system to 5 point system.