If you’re looking for something exciting to stream this weekend that will have you on the edge of your seat; you won’t find it waiting on Netflix but you will find it directly on your Xbox console. The title in question is called As Dusk Falls – an original interactive drama from INTERIOR/NIGHT which explores the lives of two families and how their stories become entangled with each other over the course of thirty years. It debuted on July 23rd, 2020 during the Xbox Games Showcase and was subsequently featured in the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12th, 2022 with a release date of July 19th, 2022 on Xbox consoles (Series X|S and One) as well as Windows PC through Steam and Xbox Game Pass.
The story primarily takes place in Arizona at the fictitious Desert Dream Motel as Vince Walker is in the process of moving his family – Michelle (wife) and Zoe (daughter) – to St. Louis, Missouri where Michelle has accepted a position at a university to pursue her PhD studies. Along for the cross-country road trip is Jim (Vince’s estranged father) and his energetic dog, Zeus. It’s clear from the beginning that there is a hefty amount of tension between the two men which will be explored in greater detail as players work to progress through the game. The second family introduced is the Holts consisting of Tyler, Dale, and Jay – three brothers and local boys with a less than stellar reputation amongst the locals.
After a car accident causes the Walker family’s vehicle to become damaged, things take a dramatic turn for the worst when the Holt boys barge into the Desert Dream Motel with weapons in hand and local law enforcement in hot pursuit. This is only within the first 30 minutes of gameplay and was enough to immediately grab my attention, leaving me engrossed in this world for the next few hours. I wisely took several breaks in between sessions to properly digest and comprehend everything that had occurred up until that point and I honestly recommend doing so considering the content. The developers caution players that As Dusk Falls includes moments of intense violence, family conflict, mental health, suicide, and other mature themes – but it’s all carefully presented in real, meaningful, and poetic ways.
Caroline Marchal, Founder and Creative Director, INTERIOR/NIGHT explains that the reasoning behind INTERIOR/NIGHT wanting to produce As Dusk Falls was because it felt incredibly important for them to tackle issues that anyone could personally relate to – directly or indirectly. And despite me not being able to find any sort of common ground with these elements, I found myself asking the age-old question of “What if…” and that helped fuel my emotions and decision making. Things are different when you’re facing those types of challenges in cartoon landscapes but become starkly more real in a setting that feels familiar with individuals who might be similar to someone in your personal life.
This is where As Dusk Falls excels at exceptionally well: emotional impacts. Throughout the episodic story, players are faced with Crossroad decisions – scenarios that present A or B choices – which will significantly alter the lives of those characters involved; land them in hot water, emotionally scarred, and (in some cases) even death should certain events go horribly wrong. Personally, I typically like to play as a “lawful good” character because I couldn’t imagine myself (not even hypothetically) being cruel to anyone, but As Dusk Falls manages to convey that it isn’t always that simple. Our choices – especially those thought to be well intentioned – have consequences and the outcome isn’t always fair.
The entire game takes less than 10 hours to complete from start to finish and honestly, that was the perfect amount of time for myself. It felt like I was watching a gripping limited series that never faltered or sacrificed on quality as television shows often find themselves doing; airing 24 episodes of content where at least half of those end up being nonsensical or mundane fillers. As Dusk Falls is quite the exact opposite and successfully keeps the momentum going without slowing down. There are tough choices around every corner which allows players (myself included) the opportunity to remain heavily invested in what is unfolding while not being afraid to leave them questioning their morals in the process.
For the most part, the game plays out like a movie with interactive elements peppered in whereby players can choose where to direct the narrative; remember those “Give Yourself Goosebumps” books from elementary school? Players can select pieces of dialogue (or actions) to help guide and continue the conversation with some having a limited amount of time before expiring; best be quick with those responses. In some instances, Quick Time Events (QTE) are utilized with players required to successfully perform a sequence of patterns via their controller or keyboard such as tapping a button repeatedly or rotating an analogue stick in a certain direction. I found these sections to be quite stress inducing and was as vigilant as a neighbourhood watch because they would appear when I least expected them.
There are two books in As Dusk Falls and each of those contains three chapters which can be replayed at any time by players wishing to explore branches of the story which they did not experience as a result of their previous decisions. One of the highlights for myself is that two people will undoubtedly have different stories immediately because we all think as individuals and sharing those outcomes with friends is guaranteed to turn some heads. At the conclusion of each chapter, players get a summary of how well they performed based on their choices with Value, Trait, and Play Style serving as a creative way of interpreting how differently things played out for each player. I often found myself earning Family and Trusting accolades which left me feeling like Dominic Toretto from the Fast and Furious films because there’s nothing more important to him than family. Multiple replays are warranted.
The visual style enveloping As Dusk Falls is masterfully crafted as each frame of character animation is meticulously hand-drawn by the art department – creatively blending 2D and 3D mediums and creating what feels like a graphic novel come to life. Marchal recounts that it provided INTERIOR/NIGHT with the “perfect expression of the story that [they] wanted to tell” which resultingly gave them characters with subtle facial expressions and evocative settings. I was honestly blown away with just how photorealistic the characters were rendered and how transitions blended together with ease to create the illusion of video; settings can be adjusted to limit the amount of jarring movement found in stressful choices.
Those feeling like taking their experience with As Dusk Falls up a notch can partner up with eight friends for local and online multiplayer with each player receiving a single vote on which direction to steer the narrative; might not always go as planned with majority ruling in this case. Twitch streamers can enable a feature called Broadcast Mode which allows viewers to vote for in-game options during the stream with a special hashtag that must be typed into the chat window. A companion app will also be available to use for multiplayer sessions but was not yet downloadable at the time of this review.
This is the first release from INTERIOR/NIGHT and I feel extremely confident in saying that they have a bright future ahead of them. The storytelling was phenomenal in As Dusk Falls and I am already eagerly waiting for their next title to release – seriously, when can I preorder it? With their level of dedication to the craft and working with people from different professional backgrounds including film, games, and illustration – Marchal believes that is what is instrumental in making them better storytellers. I can only imagine what might happen if Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad) decided to collaborate with these award-winning and emerging new talent in the industry – absolute magic!
Verdict
Through its thrilling story and compelling characters, As Dusk Falls is one of the best games that I have played this year and is sure to see some early Game of the Year nods in the coming weeks. The game is presented with so much love and attention to detail that players will find themselves engulfed within this world that INTERIOR/NIGHT has crafted in a matter of minutes. It’s rare to find a game that makes you stop and actually think about your decisions and their consequences while unequivocally leaving quite the lasting impression – As Dusk Falls has achieved it in every sense of the word. While it might not be the best idea to binge through the entire game in one sitting – take some time – players owe it to themselves to fire up their Xbox consoles and download this game at their earliest convenience.
Final Rating: 9.0/10
As Dusk Falls is available now exclusively for Xbox Series X|S consoles.
Xbox Canada provided SophistiGamer with a code for As Dusk Falls for review purposes.