Review: As Dusk Falls is an engaging story let down by its mechanics

videogameschronicle.com:

There’s a constant frustration in As Dusk Falls where it feels like it could have been so much more.

For every well-developed moment of story interaction, for every revelation that took us by surprise, and for every interesting piece of art, it’s undercut by dialogue that vacillates between contemporary drama and first-year uni project, and an art style that benefits the quiet moments, but utterly wrenches any momentum of action from the piece.

As Dusk Falls is a crime drama that unfolds across two different time periods. The game begins in the late 90s. You follow an ensemble of characters before eventually meeting in a motel, where a hostage situation develops.

Vince and his wife, daughter and father are all just trying to repair their car, when a group of teenagers on the run from a sheriff they just robbed, take them hostage.

It’s a great set-up and injects a lot of drama straight away. We think that these early scenes are mostly well realised, even if the tension occasionally gets ratcheted up at light speed rather than a slow build. It can feel like nothing happens for ages and then suddenly half the cast is dead. Or survive.

Because at its heart As Dusk Falls is a choice-based interactive narrative. Every chapter you complete spills out a long web of choices that you could have made, some of them veering off in five different directions.

There’s a sense that most of the time it comes back to land in a similar situation, but it does encourage further playthroughs to see just how different the story can be.

Your interaction with the game is basically limited to moving a cursor over a conversation option, and occasionally pressing the A button when a QTE asks for it. It’s limited by design.

“Your interaction with the game is