Satisfyingly, a press of the “Y” button sends your weapon spinning, flinging Fidget’s shots careening wildly around the screen, swelling amounts of damage, as an on-screen combo meter ticks away wildly. She’ll supplement your sword strikes with a few feeble projectiles, capable of plinking away at a foes lifebar. Throughout your journey, you’ll also be accompanied by Fidget, a flying fox-like creature, who claims to be the blade’s guardian. The game’s eponymous hero is armed with a talking sword named Ahrah, capable of dispensing several strings of staunch ferocity.

What are the game’s strengths? Whereas definitive ‘Metroid-vania’ games often offer simple skirmishing systems, Dust’s combat echoes the combo-driven clashes of contemporary titles like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Coupled with a sumptuous hand-drawn aesthetic, the title has the ability usher players back to a time when the scroll of a screen unveiled a sense of wonderment. As such, Dust taps into a number of primordial cravings, from locating hidden treasure caches, scouring maps for inferential paths, and decimating swaths of cantankerous foes. Following formula, seemingly insurmountable districts deny access, at least until the ability to double-jump or clamber up hanging vines is uncovered.

Carefully mirroring the tenets of the exploration/action genre, the title complements its gratifying combat with light role-playing elements. Masterfully, this year’s concluding Summer of Arcade title, Dust: An Elysian Tail reminds players of the virtues of the bit-mapped era. Moreover, they demonstrated that well-drawn sprites could be wonderfully evocative, flaunting an expressiveness that wouldn’t be available to polygon characters for years to come. Published before polygons became the dominating rendering method, console titles such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid delivered 2D worlds free from the burden of camera control. What is the concept? Whereas both Castlevania: Lords of Shadows and Metroid: Other M offered serviceable adaptions of their respective franchises, many agreed that both series’ best entries were delivered during the ‘90s.

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