The first time that I heard about Dustborn is when it popped up on Amazon as a coming soon game for the PlayStation 5. At first, it seemed like an odd-looking game with a not-so-clear genre based on the cover art, screenshots, and overall description. So when August came knocking and this game popped up as a release during the month, I thought that this would be worth trying out. This decision is probably the best decision I have made all year! Dustborn is so good and weird that this is almost guaranteed to be my game of the year! While I have all of this gushing out into the world, I should probably explain what this game is and why I love it so much.

Dustborn follows the tale of an unusual group of individuals who are on the run in a divided America. The goal is to make it through the various countries that comprise what used to be the United States of America and deliver a special package to score the payday of a lifetime. What makes this band of misfits unusual is the fact that most of them have a type of mutation, called a Vox, which gives each of them unique abilities.

These mutations do not give these people abilities that are common in fantasy worlds of superheroes, but rather odd gifts that change themselves or others. The main character that we control can change what people do by using her words in a certain manner while one of the first side characters we have with us can change the density of her body based on her emotional state.

I mentioned earlier that the setting for this game takes place in a divided America, but that is only the tip of it. The separation of this timeline from our own seems to have started on November 22nd, 1963. In our world, that is the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In the timeline of Dustborn, Jacqueline Kennedy was assassinated on that day.

This led to a whole myriad of dominoes falling to bring us to where we find the Dustborn. While not all of the lore is given to you off the bat, there are enough things to find and people to encounter that fill in the details as you travel through a Divided America.

The band that you follow, The Dustborn, are made up of four primary characters; Pax, Sai, Noam, and Theo. Pax is a woman who has been on the run her entire life and can use negative words to affect people in a variety of ways. Sai is a woman who is best friends with Pax and can manipulate her body based on her emotional state.

Noam is an individual who can manipulate others through positive emotions and used to be in a relationship with Pax. Theo is the only normal one of the entire group with no Vox and is the most removed member of the group. Throughout the game, this band will expand to include some other interesting characters.

While a majority of the gameplay is a choose-your-own-adventure, there is so much more that the game throws at you to do that I was not expecting. From time to time, you will make stops with your band and play music at a venue in a Guitar Hero-like way where you have to hit the right buttons at the right time to keep the crowd happy and pass through. If that doesn’t work out or if you are ambushed, you will get put into combat.

The combat is fairly simple with not much to it, but the ability to use the Voxes of your various characters does give it a little spice. There is a type of Ghostbusters part of the game where you have to take down Echoes of the Broadcast with a special device that Pac acquired. Beyond all of this, you can explore most areas to find unique dialogue, gifts, and other items along your journey.

The music in this film is quite good, especially the songs that you have to perform as a band. The songs aren’t all available at once as you will have to unlock them throughout the story. I don’t know if there is a chance of this at all, but if they ever release the music on vinyl then I will buy it in a heartbeat.

Overall, I think this is the greatest game that I have played this year! So good in fact that I have already pre-ordered a physical copy of the game. For those who don’t know, I tend to do this for games that I really enjoy so that I can support the development team even more. So I hope that you will check out this amazing game and explore a strange alternate reality! If you are looking for other story focused games, check out Alexx’s article on the upcoming Quiet Place game right here. I hope you have a good day and we will see you in the next article!

A PC review copy of Dustborn was provided by Quantic Dream for this review.

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Dustborn

39.99

10

Score

10.0/10

Pros

• Amazing Story
• Great Voice Acting
• Varied Gameplay
• Phenomenal Soundtrack
• Beautiful Artwork & Graphics