As Dusk Falls is the debut game from Interior Night, a studio made up of former Quantic Dream developers. It is exactly what you’d expect from that lineage, though with much less money behind it. It’s less “I can barely discern this video game character from a real person, except when they smile”, and more “I searched ‘how not to handle a hostage situation’ on Wiki How”.
It’s a playable story where your choices shape the outcome and you occasionally move an analog stick to make a character perform an action.
Each scene flicks through a series of static images. Characters fade in and out as they “walk” across the screen or teleport into and out of vehicles, while some things, like vehicles, are actually animated and move across the screen. It takes some getting used to, but it’s a smart way to create a narrative game with a small budget.
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The trade-off, of course, is that the lack of animations means there’s little emotional depth in the characters’ faces. Brilliant actors like Jane Perry (Returnal), Sam Douglas (Heavy Rain), and Elias Toufexis (The Expanse) bring their characters to life, but it’s not consistent across the entire cast. One character, Jay, is monotone. Presumably, this is supposed to capture how trauma has hollowed him out, but the lack of animations neuters the performance and makes him simply sound bored. I rarely was, to give the game some credit. I wanted to see where it would go next.
As Dusk Falls has a lot of themes. It’s a story about two different families coming together, and how a stranger’s choices can impact your life, even across generations. It’s also about the sins of the father, and how everyone acts differently to trauma. It’s also about police corruption and found family. If it sounds like it’s attempting too much, that’s because it is. It’s a playable identity crisis.
A lot of the game’s issues stem from the fact it’s a game, which obviously isn’t good for a, you know, game. The quick-time events, where you’re tasked with moving the stick in time with on-screen prompts, are a good example. These are designed to pull you into the action, but they’re mostly pointless and occasionally pull you out. Does it really add to the story if I press the button that’s basically: “would you like to continue the story?” Yes… Yes, I would. That’s why I’m here.
Outside of these, the only other gameplay elements are the choices, which are mostly well done, and scanning images for interactive spots like in a point-and-click adventure game. But even the dialogue choices don’t always land. There are some story junctions that render sequences redundant if you choose the “wrong” option. There’s a whole subplot about a kid getting lost in the woods and stumbling across a cabin. Choose to tell the police about the cabin and you’re essentially ratting out your other characters. Why would you do that? Choose to not tell the police about the cabin and that subplot just fizzles out. It’s as if the writers didn’t plan to make it impact the story unless you choose the “correct” option, which is strange when that option asks you to betray characters you know to a corrupt cop you hate.
This same issue impacts the ending. There’s another subplot that’s hinted at through the entire game, and it comes to an abrupt conclusion in the final few minutes without ever actually explaining what it was all about. When the credits dropped, I went back to try to load my save, thinking that there must be more, or that I’d hit some kind of technical issue. Apparently not. Is it sequel bait? Perhaps. But it’s one of the most baffling endings to a story I’ve ever seen.
It’s not all bad, of course. When it’s being a hostage thriller, you care about the fates of each character. The tension works. You’re on the edge of your seat, trying to protect your family and making hard choices in the heat of the moment. It just doesn’t work as well when it morphs into a character-led drama.
Some of the interactivity is smart, too. There are moments where the game tests how much you’ve been paying attention and characters call your bluff on key facts. It would have been nice to see more of these because they force you to scan every panel of art and listen intently to every conversation in case you need to recall it later on. It’s something I haven’t seen used as effectively in other games like this.
Ultimately, As Dusk Falls would have been better as a movie. Its actors do a good job of carrying the story by crafting interesting characters, but the writing trips over itself too much to recommend. I don’t feel compelled to go back and see it play out differently, despite each chapter ending with a tease of the story branches I missed. After all, for the most part, they lead to the exact same place. And it doesn’t help that the ending sapped all my enthusiasm.
Interior Night said it wants to create a game for everyone, bridging the gap between people who watch TV and people who play games. If that’s the objective, I can’t help but see As Dusk Falls as a bit of a failure. When Breaking Bad ended, I knew it had ended. Its loose threads were all tied up and its character arcs were all complete. I didn’t check to see if I’d somehow missed an entire episode. It’s a worthy goal, and it’s one I hope Interior Night nails with its next release, but this, as the kids say, ain’t it.
Written by Kirk McKeand on behalf of GLHF.
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