“As Dusk Falls” is an adventure game with a hand-drawn art style, an engaging storyline, and gameplay driven by player decisions.
The graphics are unusual – characters only move in individual images so there are no fluid or realistic movements. Immerse yourself in this interactive story, and you’ll feel like you’re inside a graphic novel.
The setting is a shabby motel on the famous Route 66 in the U.S. state of Arizona. The story centers on two different families who come to stay there.
To begin with, there’s the Walker family – father Vince, wife Michelle, daughter Zoe and Vince’s grumpy father Jim. This family is far from harmonious. Vince has lost his job and is being pressured by his former employer to sign a severance agreement.
Then the Holt brothers – Tyler, Dale and Jay – join the action. The three are in deep trouble and decide to rob the motel. The situation escalates when the police show up and the robbery turns into a hostage situation.
Who survives, who dies? Will the robbery be successful? These are all decisions that are in the hands of the players. In decision-based gameplay, the dialogues of the various characters play an important role. Every answer in a conversation can completely change the course of the story.
Other interactive elements include exploring the environment, and action sequences in which key combinations have to be pressed quickly to make choices that can decide between life and death.
Even though “As Dusk Falls” offers rather slow and dialogue-based gameplay, the topics covered are pretty heavy fare – domestic violence, suicide and mental illness.
Fortunately, players don’t have to go through this alone as up to eight players can play together. A companion app for iOS and Android turns a smartphone into a controller.
