Dustborn
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| Dustborn | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Red Thread Games |
| Publisher(s) | Spotlight by Quantic Dream |
| Director(s) | Ragnar Tørnquist[1] |
| Producer(s) | Rodica Enciu[1] |
| Designer(s) | Martin Bruusgaard[1] |
| Programmer(s) | Audun Tørnquist[1] |
| Artist(s) | Christoffer Grav[2] |
| Writer(s) | Ragnar Tørnquist[1] |
| Composer(s) | Simon Poole[1] |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | August 20, 2024 |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Dustborn is a story-driven action-adventure video game developed by Norwegian studio Red Thread Games and published by Quantic Dream on August 20, 2024.[3]
Story
[edit]
In the game, the player travels across an alternate reality United States known as the American Republic in the year 2030. The main character Pax must smuggle a package alongside a traveling band.[4][5][6]
Gameplay
[edit]The game is primarily built around player versus environment (PvE) combat involving the player using the power of their language and voices to combat enemies.[7] The game also features Guitar Hero-style minigames.[8]
Development
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Red Thread Games received financial support from the Norwegian Film Institute (Norsk filminstitutt) in 2019, 2020 and 2022 totaling 14,000,000 NOK (approx. $1.4 million) under the scheme "development of games after artistic assessment" (Utvikling av spill etter kunstnerisk vurdering).[9] The game also received a grant of €150,000 from the EU's Creative Europe project, and 300,000 NOK from Viken Filmsenter.[10][11]
The game was developed using the Unity engine and the team wrote their custom shaders to accomplish the comic book-inspired look.[2] Due to its character designs, the game was noted by the BBC as experiencing online backlash from those who believe developers are being forced to make their games more diverse, though creative director Ragnar Tørnquist denied the cast's diversity was due to outside pressure, stating that they were targeting a "wider and more diverse audience" than typical games.[12]
Reception
[edit]Critical response
[edit]| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 70/100 (PS5)[13] 68/100 (XSXS)[13] 68/100 (PC)[13] |
| OpenCritic | 48% recommend[14] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| GameSpot | 5/10[17] |
| IGN | 7/10[16] |
| The Guardian | 3/5[15] |
Dustborn received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic,[13] and 48% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic.[14]
Malindy Hetfeld, writing for The Guardian, rated it 3 out of 5. Hetfeld noted the difficult balance as the game attempts "to alternate between fun moments, activism and drama – a balance it ultimately can't hit." Hetfeld enjoyed the game most when it "leans into the silliness of its supernatural storyline" calling it "the equivalent of an interactive Marvel movie, and that is OK."[15] Rachel Weber of IGN rated it 7 out of 10: "Dustborn brings angst to a comic book caper about an alternate-reality America, and you'll get an emotional ride with a few exciting punk performances if you stick with it through a slow start".[16]
GameSpot reviewer Mark Delaney, rating the game 5 out of 10, called Dustborn "one of the most overtly political and, more specifically, unapologetically leftist games I've ever played", which he felt "makes its early hours very interesting, but it falls apart in the second half due to monotonous combat and a final few chapters that undo the stronger first half".[17] GameRant commented in its 2 out of 5 review, that while "the diverse cast's goal of fighting back is noble", the "dialogue is irritating and never lets up" and that the "bloated narrative is full of poor or meaningless beats".[18]
Sales
[edit]Eurogamer reported that the game appeared to have sold poorly, at least on Steam, reaching a peak player count of only 83 concurrent players on the platform.[19][20][dubious – discuss] In the week following the game's release, it failed to reach the Top 100 games sold on Steam, both globally[21] and in Norway.[22], as well as failing to appear in the Top 40 most played games on Xbox and PS5.[23][24][original research?]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Red Thread Games (August 20, 2024). Dustborn. Spotlight by Quantic Dream. Scene: Credits.
- ^ a b Shubhankar Parijat (August 27, 2024). "Dustborn Interview – Setting, Art Style, Choices, and More". GamingBolt (Interview).
- ^ "Dustborn". Steam. August 20, 2024. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
- ^ "Dustborn's politically charged action is a breath of fresh air". Digital Trends. March 29, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ Autumn Wright (June 24, 2024). "Dustborn let me smash fascists and flirt with my situationship on a road trip across America". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ Handley, Zoey (July 8, 2024). "Dustborn might not be something you want to take on a road trip". Destructoid. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ "Dustborn on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
- ^ Sam Loveridge (June 24, 2024). "Dustborn took me on a roadtrip where I fought with words, played Guitar Hero-like rhythm games, and made Telltale-style choices". gamesradar. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
- ^ "Dustborn". Norwegian Film Institute (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on August 17, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ "Search - Culture and Creativity".
- ^ "Stort spillfokus i årets siste tildelingsrunde – Viken filmsenter". vikenfilmsenter.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved September 5, 2024.
- ^ Tom Richardson (June 25, 2024). "Dustborn: 'No-one forced us to make a game with a diverse cast'". BBC. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Dustborn". Metacritic. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ a b "Dustborn". OpenCritic. August 16, 2024.
- ^ a b Hetfeld, Malindy (August 15, 2024). "Dustborn review – supernatural road trip across an alternative America". The Guardian. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
- ^ a b Weber, Rachel (August 14, 2024). "Dustborn Review: Have some patience and this punk comic book caper will win you over with its weirdos". IGN. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
- ^ a b Delaney, Mark (August 14, 2024). "Dustborn Review - Words Hurt". GameSpot. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ "Dustborn Review". August 14, 2024.
- ^ "Dustborn com lançamento desastroso no Steam". Eurogamer.pt (in Portuguese). August 22, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ "SteamDB".
- ^ "Steam Charts".
- ^ "Steam Charts".
- ^ "Most popular Xbox games — Atlas Fallen just misses out on top ten after joining Game Pass".
- ^ "PS5 Top 40 — Black Myth Wukong obliterates Concord with unreal debut".
External links
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