Dustborn Review – A Familiar Feeling

I didn’t know what to expect when I first booted up the game. I went in without knowing it and didn’t even look it up on the Steam page. I installed Dustborn, developed by Red Thread Games and got stuck in. However, after some time playing the game, it felt familiar.

For a while, I couldn’t place my finger on what felt so familiar about Dustborn until I realized that it reminded me of the Telltale games, specifically Tales from the Borderlands. The characters had the same kooky vibes as those of Tales from the Borderlands.

One of the main reasons I also found it similar to a Telltale game was the art style. It carried the same comic book aesthetic, one of the biggest factors that drew me into Dustborn. While the art style was similar, Dustborn has a more authentic comic-book feel, which I loved as someone who avidly reads comic books.

Off the bat, the game is incredibly accessible. While it did tell me to play with a controller, I decided to forgo the warning and use a mouse and keyboard. Even then, I found the game perfectly playable. My only issue was that I couldn’t change the keybinds, which I do in every game for the optimal experience. For those who need subtitles, there was the option to stack the subtitles and have different colors for character subtitles, making it easier to digest the conversation.

If, like me, you sometimes miss crucial dialogue, accessing the menu shows you the full dialogue on the right-hand side, which I loved as a feature. Additionally, for those who struggle with QTEs (Quick-Time Events), there was the option for simplified QTEs.

The game opens with a scene introducing the four main characters in a car. In the driver’s seat, there is Sai, with pigtails and vitiligo, who is freaking out about the cargo that they have picked up. Sai is very explosive, her moods changing with a drop of the hat. With how dramatic she is, she quickly became my least favorite. Then there are the two passengers in the back: A non-binary person named Noam with silver hair and a masculine Latino named Theo. Along the way, you are introduced to other important characters, like a sweet lady named Luna, who is working on getting you to Nova Scotia.

You play as the protagonist, Pax, a black woman with powers who can utilize them to manipulate language and saves her and her team a fair few times. She gets tired of their bickering and utilizes her powers to “block” them, stopping them from talking entirely until she releases them. Her ability to have powers makes her someone who is called Anomal. In addition, Noam’s powers gaslight people and make them feel a certain way. Pax has a bullet wound, and Noam manages to gaslight her to make her feel okay again. Then there is Sai, whose powers turn her into stone. Which proves to be mildly problematic throughout the game.

Pax has been hired to deliver a very important package from Pacifica to Nova Scotia, a long and troublesome journey. In addition, you get to see every inner thought that Pax has; through this, you see her refer to herself as a “kid.” It quickly becomes apparent that she isn’t on about herself and is pregnant, which is a huge secret she is hiding from the others.

Admittedly, I wasn’t confident in their abilities when I was first introduced to the ragtag team. While I swear like a soldier, I felt that the amount of swearing from Sai was unnecessary, making the opening cutscene long and tedious. The other characters were incredibly likable, with Noam quickly becoming my favorite. One of the main things that I found incredibly bizarre in the prologue of Dustborn was the rhythm mini-game. It felt incredibly out of place, and I wasn’t sure if that was what I would expect from the rest of the game.

Once the prologue was over, I found the experience much more enjoyable. There was space to explore and connect with others and enemies to battle. However, during cutscenes where Pax was in charge of making decisions, I often found myself irritated by Sai’s passive-aggressive rebuttals. They all comment on Sai being emotionally charged, which becomes evident quickly.

Dustborn is a politically charged game where you deliver “supplies” across the border. These include pamphlets, manifestos, and books banned from libraries in the American Republic, a fascist state that has outlawed all politics that oppose their views. During a specific scene where Pax is confronted with the “tree in the stillness,” she hears politically charged whispers from the far-right, talking about how scientists lie to people and are putting things in the vaccines. From this scene alone, it became clear that Dustborn is a metaphor for everything happening in the real world, and I was here for it.

My one gripe with this game is how long it takes to get into the nitty-gritty. While the prologue is intense and dramatic from the outset, after that initial cutscene, it slows down. Many of the conversations are bonding sessions where Pax is trying to navigate her relationships with the other crew members.

Throughout the game, many words were either bolded or capitalized to provide emphasis. Even now, I am still confused about what some words mean or whether they are just alternative words used to describe things. For example, I see Anomal’s powers described as “Words,” “Vox,” and then the other character-specific terms, such as “Block” and “Trigger,” for Pax.

Music is also important in the game, with mini rhythm games throughout. I found this quite bizarre and wasn’t sure what this added. While your cover is part of a Punk Rock band, with all of you playing different instruments, it still felt peculiar and out of place.

The story and interactions were the most fun parts of the game. However, I didn’t mesh with the combat system and found it a little lacking. While there was the opportunity for fun combos and using your powers to make the fight easier, it wasn’t what I wanted from the combat system.

Overall, I did enjoy my time with Dustborn. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was a lot of fun, even if I did have some minor gripes on the personality of a particular character.

Reviewed on PC (code provided by the publisher).

Dustborn

Overall, it was enjoyable to watch the relationships between the characters unfold. However, the prologue soured it early on for me, as it felt a bit too overexaggerated. The conversations and getting to explore new environments were some of the best parts of Dustborn, while I unfortunately found the combat system to be a little lacking in places. Still, the idea for this game is incredibly unique and one that I really enjoyed.