Dustborn Review

ign.com:

The almost parodically melodramatic characters and odd combination of genres that make up Dustborn lead to an eye-rolling first impression, but as my crew of mutated misfits traveled across America whacking people with an upgraded baseball bat and talking about our feelings, I realized that there's a lot more to it than I first thought. Dustborn is tackling big ideas, and it's doing it with robots in bunny hats, broken-hearted biker queens, and science-fiction squid things. This mash-up of comic books, Telltale-inspired narrative adventures, and rhythm games is like a buffet of styles, story, and action, and it works better than it has any right to.

You play as Pax, an aloof conwoman transporting secret cargo to Canada with a gang of fellow superpowered smugglers posing as a punk band. It's set in an intriguing alternate version of America where JFK was never assassinated, Marilyn Monroe is referred to as Lady Justice, and a blast of concentrated information has gifted some people with powers. Not laser eyes or flying – think more gaslighting, controlling minds with your voice, illusion magic, and more. Dustborn is primarily about making choices through dialogue and actions that drive your character toward a specific end to that road trip. Will you snuggle up with your ex? Will you tell the rest of the crew about your plan? Will you eavesdrop on their calls? (I mean that last one, obviously.)

When you're not talking to your allies through cute conversations that sound like they should come with a mental health TikTok hashtag, there is some action too. Your punk songs at gigs will play out as timed rhythm games, you’ll capture floating entities called Echos by dragging them into place with a modded handheld, and you'll even fight various people and robots by swinging around a boomerang baseball bat and using your commanding powers to push, freeze, or confuse enemies. I can never resist a bit of button-mashing music action, and while the combat is simplistic, it looks