As Dusk Falls, review of Quantic Dream veterans’ interactive drama

One of the most frequent accusations made against contemporary video game is that it represents a dangerous form of escape from our reality and that it is far more vivid than other multimedia works offer due to the unique quality of the setting, the interactivity factor. Whoever starts these cheap TV lounge arguments is doing it out of positions of complete ignorance and doesn’t deserve comment, but at least one aspect is right. Unlike movies and TV shows, because we have the keys to the story, no other form of entertainment can match the narrative video game in its ability to free us from the monotony of everyday life. Complete identification with a character is a very natural and spontaneous process when its fate depends solely on our choices.

It may seem paradoxical, but this is exactly why those working on a narrative adventure are exposed to far more unknowns than usual. Real, storytelling-centric gaming experiences have the advantage of making this that much more overwhelming. feeling of immersion typical for well-written stories, but the downside is that in these cases the thread that connects the player to the story is particularly tense and tends to break when the narrative exposure loses its quality.

It’s a risk that anyone who intends to run Caroline Marchal, a veteran of the Parisian studio with 18 years of experience in the field, who Quantic Dream has done with great success in the past with less inspired projects. interactive adventures set Indoor / Night with the ambition to continue doing what he does best: telling stories. The team is gearing up for their debut in As Dusk Falls, an interactive drama with a very distinctive graphic style that promises to bring us to life through the tragic events of two families whose fates are tragically intertwined in a deserted Arizona motel.

After a few editorial appointments, it’s time to find out if the game manages to establish itself in the narrative landscape of adventures or if it’s doomed to get lost in the dust of Route 66. As Dusk Falls review.

California hotels

In the southern United States, whichever way you look at it, the desert touches the fringes of the horizon, and even with the new millennium upon us, life here is still as tough as it was seen in old Sergio Leone. movies. Traveling in the direction of Albuquerque, Vince and his family took the opportunity of moving to Missouri to pass a scenic drive that took them to the legendary Route 66. fresh wind. in her hair, “The Holt brothers flee after being caught stealing from the Two Rock County Sheriff’s House, the town that is the setting for the story told by As Dusk Falls. The fates of two families collide in a flash. Desert Dream MotelA place where the people involved will never leave a lifetime mark by the dramatic events of that night.

From these fascinating narrative predecessors, he develops a lively interactive thriller split into two books, the first about the violent situation with the hostages at the motel, and the second dedicated to the deepening of the deep-seated psychological consequences that still haunt the survivors. during 14 years of story arc We’ll be able to face all the repercussions of our choices and experience the perspectives of different characters, even if only three of them can be considered real protagonists: members of her family and then her daughter Zoe, who will have to deal with everything she sees in the motel as an adult. Finally, we find Jay, the youngest and most moderate of the three Holt brothers, constantly torn between his moral sense and loyalty to his family.

Throughout the first book, the narration continues without any weak points, and it even manages to be exciting, putting in place many very high tension situations that can actually keep us tense, slow down, with the clarity of some of the clichés typical of detective stories. only to present occasional narrative brackets that reveal some key details about the lives of the characters and the relationships that bind them together. this first cracks they began to emerge in the structure of the story during the second book, where he violently stepped on the brake pedal to get caught in the endless narrative twists that focus on characters who don’t have a real central role in the story.

We loved the episodes devoted to Jay, but the sudden disappearance of some of the heroes and a subtle but very obvious discrepancy between Zoe’s behavior and the choices made in the first half of As Dusk Falls irreversibly spoiled the deep sense of involvement. they were struggling up to that point. Let’s be frank, the plot of the second half of the game should not be considered terrible in every way and overall enjoyable, but it struggles to drag the player minimally and represents an unforgivable wasted opportunity if we take it. For example, the excellent quality of the first part of the story.

However, what really went wrong for us is the inexplicable. open end The ones that let the credits roll right after a sensational twist that could turn all previously seen events upside down. The studio never made reference to the existence of a third book, and while the idea of ​​expanding the story of As Dusk Falls was appropriate, it would have been much more elegant if a new intellectual property had fixed all the issues. The endgame issues have remained open until then, leaving every narrative revolution to a possible sequel.

A unique graphic style

For its first game, Interior/Night chose not to deviate from the classic gameplay system that characterizes most productions in this genre, but was aware that this would risk making As Dusk Falls an unnamed fall at sea. They are so similar to each other that they overshadow each other. To fix the problem, the studio decided to characterize the game with one. especially original graphic styleCombining 3D environments with two-dimensional images. Players read their scripts physically and it was then digitized in-game very faithfully, in a comic-like style. We have to admit, we appreciated this solution not only because it was inspiring and original, but also because it allowed us to identify more with each character’s destiny.

Coming back to the game, As Dusk Falls employs the same complex selection system so valuable to Quantic Dream productions and spice up the flow of the story with countless content. fast time event which is never really demanding when it comes to the title Marchal directed. We’ll have missed a few throughout the adventure, and we were surprised to discover in subsequent tests that most of them in no case led to unpublished implications of the plot.

Our destinies were crossed by our choices

However, the simplicity and irrelevance of QTEs represent the result of a certain creative vision within the development team, not a road accident in our view. During the 7 hours of gameplay that got us to the credits, it was easy to understand that, according to the author, an important point of the plot was not due to the wrong press of a button, but simply to the thoughtful choice of the player. In this sense, we do not want to condemn the Inner / Night philosophy a priori, because As Dusk Falls is a especially deep elections system, at least by the standards of interactive adventures. As the summary graphic at the end of each chapter proves, the paths that the plot can take are truly countless, and often the consequences of a particular decision appear only years after it is made, placing a very high bill on us.

The effect of player choices on the flow of the story not only gives us the impression that we are the real architects of the fate of the characters, but also contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of the game. replayability Offered by As Dusk Falls, we guarantee that once you reach the end of the credits, your first impulse will be to go right back to relive some moments of the adventure to explore alternative developments. We also remind you that the title can be played from start to finish. with seven other friends, even via mobile devices, thanks to a handy companion app, and we can’t think of anything more fun than reliving the moments in Vince, Jay and Zoe’s story and making decisions together that will shape their future. Local and online co-op is arguably a major strength of the first Inside/Night effort, and our invitation to Game Pass holders may be to organize a lobby as large as possible to enjoy As Dusk Falls with just some friends. You will not regret it.

technical sector

It would be foolish to expect a technical problem from As Dusk Falls given the style it has adopted, but we were still pleased to see that everything was in place and working properly. The game runs smoothly on Xbox Series X and there is nothing we can report to you, other than a few minor flaws that closely concern the game console. Italian localization. The game includes very good quality full voice acting, but suffers from obvious audio mixing issues where some dialogue is barely audible while others are reproduced at a very high volume. For the rest, the audio industry proves to be at the pinnacle of the artistic, accompanying the story with a gorgeous soundtrack of some country tracks that fits perfectly with the desert atmosphere at the heart of the game.