HHW Gaming Review: ‘As Dusk Falls’ Is A Narritve-Driven Adventure Done To Perfection

Narrative-driven games are nothing new, but INTERIOR/NIGHT’s As Dusk Falls is a refreshing take on the video game genre.

As Dusk Falls Is Why Xbox Game Pass Wins

Regarding exclusive titles, Microsoft is not beating down the doors right now, and that’s understandable because no one is competing with A Horizon Forbidden West or the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok. But, with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft continues to have one of the most fantastic gaming bargains because games like As Dusk Falls are exclusive to the service.

A Narrative-Driven Game Done Right

In choice-driven games, you get the ability to make decisions, and if you don’t like the outcome, you can replay a situation. In As Dusk Falls, you have that ability, but it expands on it while adding weight to your choices.

In the game, you control select members of two families whose lives become intertwined after a fateful encounter. At the start of the game, you play as Vince and other members of the Walker family embarking on a journey to a new home, but a promising fresh start gets turned upside down when they encounter the Holts.

Things get interesting following a botched home robbery attempt leading to a deadly hostage situation, leading to an engaging story featuring the two families spanning 30 years.

What makes As Dusk Falls so unique is that it consistently accomplishes what most narrative-driven gaming adventures fail at doing, making your choices matter. From down to the most straightforward decisions like telling what you may believe to be a “little white lie” or one of the game’s more complex decisions, they all affect your gameplay in some shape or form.

Consequences of your decisions either range from an item being seen, choosing to do something different with their lives, or even being killed off.

Even the QTE (quick time events) moments that most of the time are just placeholders in games have significance and could affect story progress. The QTE situations also serve as a way to keep players on their toes. The controller will vibrate slightly, warning you that one is coming up. It’s a feature we sincerely appreciated during our playthrough of the game.

As Dusk Falls Has A High Replay Value

The game is split into two “books” containing three chapters that jump back and forth between past and present events. With most narrative-driven games, it is challenging to lure players into replaying the game to see all the different scenarios they could have encountered.

Super Massives’ Until Dawn easily conquered that hurdle thanks to players wanting to keep everyone alive or see everyone die in the game’s multiple endings. As Dusk Falls also manages to keep you coming back thanks to its story tree feature that perfectly breaks down the decisions you chose and the road it put you on.

You will also have the ability to replay specific points on the timeline that feature game-altering decisions, so you won’t have to start from the beginning.

An insanely clutch feature that will keep bringing you back to the game.

This Game Will Tell You More About Yourself Than Your Daily Horoscope

One feature that stands out to us is the insights presented to you at the end of each chapter. They are split into three categories, Values, Traits, and Play Styles. At the end of our playthrough, our top three were “Family” because of loyalty to our loved ones, “Sincere” because of our connections to others, and “Fast Reflexes” due to how quickly and accurately we completed quick actions.

It was impressive how accurate the breakdowns felt, almost as if the game knew us. We can only imagine the dialogue these insights will start while embarking on As Dusk Falls journey with friends.

It could also have you side-eyeing your friend, family member, or mate based on the decisions they chose.

Playing Alone Is Fun, But The Game Is Better With Friends

Playing As Dusk Falls alone is an engaging experience in itself, but where this game shines is when you’re playing with friends. You wouldn’t think of it as a “party game” or something you think your friends would enjoy playing, but it most definitely fits the mold.

The game features an 8-player co-op multiplayer option via online or local play. Don’t have eight controllers to use? No problem because you can play using your smartphone as well. There will be an app you can pair to your playing experience, but it wasn’t available during our review session.

We didn’t play co-op during our review, but during a hands-on preview event we attended last month, we saw the multiplayer functionality in action and why Xbox’s cloud technology is second to none.

While playing alone, your choice matters, but when you play with friends, it’s majority rules that determine what choice will be picked by the group. If there is a tie, selections not chosen will be eliminated, forcing the group to have to vote again till a decision is made.

One feature that makes As Dusk Fall’s multiplayer even more intriguing is overrides. If a player wants to throw a wrench into the plans and pick the most toxic decision, they can use one (you can change the number in the settings) of their overrides to make things spicy. BUT, your override can be overridden by another player. It’s almost like playing UNO and stacking draw two cards.

This game aims to be a dialogue starter, and it does that magnificently. You will definitely be having a conversation with friends trying to pick their minds about the choices they made while playing.

There is even a Broadcast Mode that allows you to link your Twitch account, allowing your streamers to not only watch but engage and help you make choices via a poll.

It’s very impressive.

Final Verdict

Creative Director Caroline Marchal set out to make a game that even people who don’t consider themselves not to be “gamers” would enjoy when she founded INTERIOR/NIGHT. We must say she accomplished that goal quite easily.

If you ever wanted to play an episode of Fargo, Ozark, or Breaking Bad, this game gives you that opportunity because it does give you the feel of playing an interactive television show because it hits on the drama and intrigue those shows deliver so well.

If we have any complaints about the game, it would have to be with the choice of the cel-shaded animation style. We got used to it and honestly came to appreciate it as we played, but we can see it not resonating with others.

But, As Dusk Falls is one of those games that will take you by surprise. Strong writing, an intriguing story, characters you care about, and choices that matter, it checks all the boxes of a GREAT narrative-driven game.

Marchal says she founded INTERIOR/NIGHT to “tell relatable, inclusive stories, grounded in real life, that can appeal to everyone,” we are thrilled to say mission accomplished with their first title.

As Dusk Falls arrives exclusively on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One consoles, Windows PC, Steam, and Xbox Cloud Beta on July 19.

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Photos: INTERIOR/NIGHT/Xbox

*Review code provided by Xbox*