Developed by Interior Night, As Dusk Falls is a story about two families with their histories converging around a botched robbery in 1998. In the present day, the surviving members of both families have to reconcile with their histories, and maybe figure out where life goes from them, despite all the trauma and hardships they faced in 1998. That’s a purely surface-level look at the story, though.

"Just about every shot is beautifully framed, and clever uses of the camera are able to enhance the story quite a bit."

As Dusk Falls’ most important aspect is the story it’s trying to tell, and the characters it puts you in the shoes of, so let’s start out by talking about the story. As Dusk Falls is trying to tell a rather tense story, told through a series of vignettes that revolve around the 1998 botched robbery. Considering the narrative-heavy nature of the game, there are going to be a few minor spoilers here and there. I’ll largely keep it to things that happen early on in the game, and hopefully, the divergence in the story because of player choice mitigates the impact of these spoilers. Don’t worry, though, I won’t spoil any big moment.

Right from the beginning, As Dusk Falls displays a fair bit of competence in its ability to frame and direct its scenes. Just about every shot is beautifully framed, and clever uses of the camera are able to enhance the story quite a bit. An early example is a tense scene in the motel where, while being held hostage, you have to maintain your composure in front of a policeman while the hostage-takers hold a person at gunpoint. The clever shot composition makes you constantly look for angles from where the bad guys might see you talking to the cop, and this might inform your next decisions.

As Dusk Falls excels largely in its quieter moments. Some of the best scenes in the entire game often involve little more than a couple of characters having simple conversations.

That’s not to say that the story is perfect. Despite focusing on a grounded story about two families, As Dusk Falls has its moments and plot twists that feel like they were added in just for the sake of having some heavy twists. While the quieter moments and one-on-one conversations are great, some of the plot beats feel rather contrived, and there are a fair number of moments where I started questioning the motivations of these otherwise well-defined characters because the choice they made felt quite out of character.

"As Dusk Falls excels largely in its quieter moments. Some of the best scenes in the entire game often involve little more than a couple of characters having simple conversations."

Stylistically, As Dusk Falls has a cool look going for it. Featuring what look like fully-modeled 3D spaces, As Dusk Falls features characters that are completely 2D. In a way, the characters of the game bear a striking resemblance to well-detailed concept art works that video games usually get in early production stages. The look works quite well for As Dusk Falls, and the contrast between the 3D spaces and 2D characters actually looks pretty great.

The down side, however, is that As Dusk Falls’ art style doesn’t really work outside of its quiet, tense moments. Because of the sparse animations for the characters, all sense of good pacing goes out of the window when it’s an action scene. Ultimately, As Dusk Falls is one of those games that looks way better in screenshots than it does in action.

What really sets As Dusk Falls apart from other narrative adventure games is the strength of its acting. Of course, you’re not going to get much in the way of animated facial expressions owing to the art style, but the voice acting, on the other hand, is downright phenomenal. The skill of the voice actors on display is fantastic, and that, more than anything else, carries the heavy weight of As Dusk Falls’  narrative.

When it comes to actually playing As Dusk Falls, however, one thing becomes clear: Interior Nights wants anyone who plays the game to be able to finish it. Allowing for quite a few control options while playing the game, As Dusk Falls can be played with a keyboard, a mouse, a controller, or if you’re playing multiplayer, even a smartphone. Having played through the game with just the mouse, the whole game is playable with one hand.

As for gameplay, As Dusk Falls is an evolution of Telltale’s classic point-and-click formula from games like The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us. Interestingly, there aren’t even any sections where you’re allowed to walk around and explore your surroundings. The most you actually get in terms of gameplay is more akin to a point-and-click hidden-object game, with some quick-time events for actions that look like they might actually take some modicum of effort.

"As Dusk Falls’ art style doesn’t really work outside of its quiet, tense moments. Because of the sparse animations for the characters, all sense of good pacing goes out of the window when it’s an action scene. Ultimately, As Dusk Falls is one of those games that looks way better in screenshots than it does in action."

Generally speaking, As Dusk Falls—at least while playing with a mouse—is played with only one hand. There isn’t much in the way of complexity here; you can click on choices, click on dialogue options, click on objects, and during quick-time events, you spin your mouse clockwise or counter-clockwise, you mash the left clicks, and you swipe in certain directions.

It is worth noting that player choice is a pretty big deal in As Dusk Falls. You’re constantly making choices for all the different characters you play, and the choices you make in one bit of the story ends up having tangible effects in another bit. The choices aspect has been done quite well, and there’s even a fair bit of replayability encouraged thanks to the branching paths the story can take. Between its chapters, As Dusk Falls even shows you a flow chart of the choices you made, and how your choices stacked up against other players who were on the same path. Thankfully, the flow chart doesn’t show any spoilers.

Honestly, As Dusk Falls is a pretty tough sell. It’s priced quite higher than the typical indie narrative adventure game, and while the production values are definitely there when it comes to some aspects, other aspects, like some of the action scenes and gameplay, don’t quite manage the job of holding up the game on their shoulders. As Dusk Falls feels like one of those games that ends up being the perfect argument in favor of a subscription service like Xbox Game Pass. It’s going to be difficult to convince people to buy into a game that most would only play through once, especially with the game’s $30 price tag. With Game Pass, however, it becomes an easy recommendation, owing to its interesting narrative, well thought out characters, and phenomenal pacing. I just wish the gameplay involved more than simplistic quick-time events.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Inspired by prestige TV shows, As Dusk Falls tells the story of two families, and how they have to deal with sacrifice. Players take on the roles of people caught in a robbery in 1998 gone wrong in a small town in Arizona, and repercussions spiralling out from there.

While it features multiplayer, As Dusk Falls doesn’t have online matchmaking. The multiplayer mode has players vote on decisions in the game, with highest-voted decisions influencing the story’s outcome. Developer INTERIOR NIGHT has also detailed the accessibility features in As Dusk Falls.

For more details on As Dusk Falls‘ story, check out the behind-the-scenes trailer from earlier this month. In the trailer, the studio talks about designing the narrative, its art style, and more.

Along with solo play, there are options for local co-op, online or a mix of the two. Local co-op supports up to eight players while online play requires everyone to have a copy and an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Much like It Takes Two and A Way Out, there’s no online matchmaking. As for how co-op works, players need to vote on decisions with the highest voted ones influencing outcomes. In case of a tie, a random decision will be chosen.

Of course, there are also overrides. Each player has a set number and it will override any decision made, automatically going with their own choice. However, another player can override the override, which should lead to some interesting mind games. Multiplayer is cross-platform across Xbox Series X/S, PC, Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, Steam, mobile devices and even via PCs connected through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Everyone needs to own a copy though.

Of course, playing with local co-op can be done via one’s phone and the Companion App. No additional copies are required and up to seven players can connect. The Companion App supports Android 4.4 (Kitkat) and upwards while iOS users need OS 12.0 or better.

Finally, there are several accessibility features from menu and gameplay Narration, control remapping and subtitle size to text to Speech, Speech to Text, disabling timers for choices, and much more. Check out all of them below.

Text To Speech Settings

• Menu Narration – Enables menu UI to be read aloud by the screen reader.
• Gameplay Narration – Enables in-game UI and important gameplay elements to be read aloud by the screen reader.
• Text to Speech – Enables chat text from other players to be read aloud.
• Speech to Text – Transcribes audio chat between players.

On-Screen UI

• Flatten Choice UI – Enabling this will remove the slightly angled appearance of interactive choices, making them appear flat on screen.
• Lower Case Only – Sets UI text for hotspots and action choices to being lower case only.
• Choice Color – Sets the text and background colors of on-screen choices and hotspot UI. The default is white text on a black background.
• Options Background – Allows the player to set the background transparency of in-game UI. The default is partially transparent.

Gameplay Adaptations

• Hotspot Display Type – Allows the player to have all the hotspots to stay on screen after being discovered, or to have them all appear from the beginning of the scene.
• Quick Action Types – Allows the player to remove mashing interactions, or to set all interactions to require a single button tap.
• Extended QTE Timer – All Quick Time Events (QTE) have 10 second timer to finish. For the Mash, it will have a longer amount of time to do the same amount of mash.
• Choice Timer – Allows the player to disable timers in all choice scenes and Timed Hotspots.
• Extended Override Timer – Extends the override timer from 10 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Broadcast Mode Timer – Allows the player to set the choice timer length when in Broadcast Mode.

Additional Settings

Within the game’s broader set of options players can adjust other elements to improve their experience.

• Subtitles – Allows the player to enable subtitles during the game.
• Closed Captions – Allows the player to enable text descriptions for in-game sound effects and non-spoken audio.
• Subtitles Size – Adjusts the size of on-screen subtitles.
• Subtitle Background – Allows the player to set the transparency of subtitle background. The default is partially transparent.
• Subtitle Color – Allows the player to set the text color and background color of subtitles simultaneously. The default is white text on a black background.
• Cursor Sensitivity – Allows the player to change the sensitivity of the current profile’s cursor.
• Cursor Size – Allows the player to change the size of the cursor.
• Controller Remapping – Allows the player to remap gameplay inputs on their controller to suit their preferences. Input customization is organized by action (eg. Select/Basic Quick Action, Cancel Selection, Override, Quick Action)
• Mouse & Keyboard Remapping – Allows the player to remap gameplay inputs on their mouse and keyboard to suit their preferences. Input customization is organized by action (eg. Select/Basic Quick Action, Cancel Selection, Override, Quick Action)

The story is separated into two books spanning decades with players making decisions that impact the lives of the main cast. TV shows like Breaking Bad and Fargo, along with the movie Dog Day Afternoon, were big inspirations for the overall narrative which offers big choices with high stakes and smaller decisions that create drama.

As Dusk Falls supports co-op for up to 8 players at a time locally and online. There’s also a companion app so that players can make choices using their phone or tablet. Throughout a session, you’ll gain insights into your play style and how you handle different situations.

As Dusk Falls releases on July 19th and will be available on day one for Game Pass.

As Dusk Falls is a cinematic adventure game, with a focus on storytelling. The game involves players taking on the roles of people caught in a robbery in 1998 gone wrong in a small town in Arizona, and spiralling out from there.

The game’s story presents players with the question of whether they can break free of the characters’ family’s toxic influence, and what the players would be willing to sacrifice for the ones they love. As Dusk Falls follows the stories of two families.

As Dusk Falls will feature co-op multiplayer with up to 8 players either locally, online, or a mix. It makes use of a companion app on smartphones to help facilitate the multiplayer mode, allowing players to vote for choices.