My sound card is buggered right now so I’m using headphones. I’m not
sure whether that was a genius move or a terrible mistake. Dusk episode 2
is scary. I yelped when the new bad guy spoke. I screamed the second time I met a wendigo (I expected the first one).
It’s
also harder. I mastered episode 1 on hard but I feel off-balance in
episode 2 on hard. In a good way – I think the difficulty so far is just
about right for me. There’s a LOT of enemies and all of them are very
dangerous if left alive too long. You’ve got to keep moving and weaving
between cover if you want to survive. The popcorn enemy dies quicker but
hits harder, and the tanky scarecrows have been replaced with the
incredibly dangerous welder.
There’s plenty of new enemies,
although at least one is a pallet swap (super cultists). There’s no new
weapons, but that’s to be expected. This is/was supposed to be like the
old 90s shareware games after all. According to the devs their ambition
has grown since DUSK’s “shareware” episode got such great reviews. There
may be further unique art assets and monsters in episode 3. I’m excited
about this, even though the promise of uniquely styled episodes reminds
me of Daikatana.
I had an initially rocky start with DUSK with
the new climbing power up being bugged, but the devs have quickly
addressed this in patches and it’s much better now. I never quite feel
like I’m playing episode 2 properly, but maybe I’m just nervous from the
thick atmosphere and new monsters. I’m surprised that the Black Mesa
inspired episode is scarier than the Blood / Silent Hill themed episode –
but I guess I didn’t play episode 1 in a dark room with headphones on.
I
didn’t mention it in the episode 1 write up, but DUSK is being
developed by one of the guys involved with the Rise of
the Triad remake. I’m looking out for bad
platforming sections but nothing egregious has popped up (the lava
section in the Foundry secret level comes close). I’m also worried that
episode 3 will have bad ‘gimmick’
levels, as that can sometimes be the case with “otherwordly” themed
final levels in games (levels that make devs go nuts with portal tricks
and frustrating mazes), but they don’t seem to be rushing development (far from it)
so I’m hopeful they’ll come up with something nicely balanced. So far
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed DUSK and not had any causes for concern.
A reminder for the people who are newer to FPS gaming – although I’m
saying “episode 2″ it’s not a sequel or an episodic game. You buy DUSK
and you get a full
33 level game with extra modes, it’s kind of like an early access thing.
Getting the first 11 levels in advance was meant to be a pre-order
bonus referencing 90s shareware, but the positive reception has meant
they’re taking their time finishing everything off so now the episodes
are released as they’re finalized. The entire
package is $20 US or £15 UK.
It’s still the same DUSK that I loved first time around – just more intense. More enemies, more intense encounters, more intense atmosphere. I’m just under halfway through episode 2 so this is purely a first impression – but the fact that I felt the need to come on Tumblr to wax about my experience probably says a lot.
