There’s also a multiplayer mode in which up to 4 players compete in one of two game modes. I know not everyone finds inherent satisfaction in a game’s mechanics like I do, but for those of you who can get behind such a mindset Dustforce will keep you occupied for a long time. I would even argue that reaching and surpassing every level in the game is almost a secondary object alongside simply getting better at playing the game. This sort of mastery through incremental improvement is something only a game with incredibly fine tuned mechanics like Dustforce could possibly provide. Since each level is relatively short the player is encouraged to replay them over and over to perfect their scores in each one. The player’s score is determined by how much dust they managed to clean and how fast they were able to do it, categorized into “completion” and “finesse” and rated on a scale of “D” to “S”. I find this overworld design to be a stroke of genius by the developers as it keeps inexperienced players away from levels that might be too difficult for them to handle at first, directing them to challenges more suited to their skills.įrom what I’ve been describing, you’ve probably figured out that Dustforce is not a very easy game, but that difficulty gives it a unique appeal. Additionally, The doors to harder levels are often located in the overworld in places that are intentionally hard to reach, forcing the player to learn some of those advanced techniques I mentioned earlier to even access them in the first place. You can freely play through the game’s easiest levels at any time and by doing so you’ll gain keys to unlock doors to harder levels. Speaking of the levels, each one is initially accessed through doors in a large overworld. It’s a very robust set of mechanics and every level is meticulously designed to test all of them.įloors, walls, ceilings, and bears? Oh my! Sweep away the dust no matter the surface! The four playable characters (Dustman, Dustgirl, Dustkid, and Dustworth) also have slightly different attributes making some more suited to certain levels than others. Furthermore, all these different abilities interact with one another in special ways depending on the situation, leading to all sorts of advanced techniques. To achieve these objectives the player has access to many useful abilities beyond basic movement like double jumps, dashing, climbing, sliding, light attacks, heavy attacks, and a super attack. Dustforce spices things up by littering each level with dust in the player’s path that they must clean up to get the best score possible. Like in most platformers, you navigate your character to the end of the level while avoiding hazards and defeating enemies. Of course presentation is always secondary to the gameplay and this is where Dustforce shines the brightest. The music and visuals together make Dustforce a mesmerizing experience, working in tandem to keep the player calm and focused at all times.
Despite the intense nature of the game’s platorming challenges the music takes a very calm and relaxing tone which sounds like a contradiction on paper, but in practice helped me suppress my frustrations with my failures and focus on overcoming the obstacles standing in my way. The music in Dustforce is also brilliant.
On the surface it might look a little simplistic, but the animation is extremely smooth and weighty which perfectly captures the game’s high speed platforming action. While there may not be a gripping narrative to lose yourself in, the game’s presentation more than compensates for it.
Why is there so much dust? How are these janitors capable of such acrobatic feats? Don’t worry about it! There’s no real story to speak of in Dustforce, but ultimately the game doesn’t need one because playing as a janitor in a filthy environment is the only context required to understand what the goal of the game is. In Dustforce DX the player takes the role of one of four janitors and navigates them through the game’s various levels to clean up all the dust they can find. Personally, I think it’s an absolute crime that it doesn’t come up more often in the discussion of great indie games from the past ten years, and I would be very happy to explain why. It’s been nearly a decade since this game was unleashed onto the world, but it has remained relatively obscure despite positive word of mouth from those who have played it.
#Controller support for dustforce dx update
The game was rebranded as Dustforce DX after a major content update which also occurred in 2014.
#Controller support for dustforce dx Pc
Dustforce was developed by Hitbox Team and originally released for the PC in 2012 and was later ported to the Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, and Xbox 360 in 2014.
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