Sometimes you make a choice for a very particular reason, but Vince, or Jay, vocalise something entirely different.

This is a common problem in any game with dialogue choices where nuance can be lost between the player and game. Sometimes though, things don’t quite add up as you’ll expect. And most of the time is tense and exciting to explore these difficult choices and weigh up survival, loyalty, and trust against each other. The nature of the hostage situation works remarkably well, meaning that you’re not in control enough to change the big setpieces but still empowered to make some pretty drastic changes. Most games of this nature have only superficial decisions that don’t disembark from the main narrative, but As Dusk Falls is happy to spin you out as far as you can, bringing all the timelines back together for inevitable, unmovable scenes. It’s a meandering weave of choices and consequences, with so many dark spots of undiscovered potential. At the end of each chapter, you’re shown the timeline you traversed both in the past and present. What decisions you make during these flashbacks feed into his mood and actions at the motel while you’re controlling Vince.Īnd there are many options for how this will all play out. Other times, you play as Jay, the youngest of the bandits holed up with Vince and his family. These are often intriguing, subtly or overtly changing the dynamics back in the present of the motel. Some sections of each chapter are devoted to flashbacks that allow you to discover and develop the characters’ relationships. While some of the decisions you’re forced to make throughout the campaign are easy, all of them carry enough weight to grip you as the consequences unfurl.īut the story doesn’t entirely play out in the sleepy little motel or with just Vince. Each time you think you get a handle on the situation, someone throws another wrench, or bullet, into the mix, and you’re left reeling again. The pace and beats of the story are fantastic and feel like a modern classic thriller. You play as Vince, the father whose life was turned upside down thanks to corporate capitalism, with a strained relationship with your wife, father, and potentially daughter too, trying to survive well outside anyone’s comfort zone. Whether or not these are accurate portrayals of Arizona or the 90s, neither of these things actually exist. Thankfully, As Dusk Falls has much more than a mobile voting system to keep you invested.Īs you may have imagined, the story centers on a family moving across America in the late 90s and taking an unexpected stop at Two Rocks, Arizona, before all hell breaks loose. At first, with its constant reminders that you can play on your phone, As Dusk Falls might remind you of the short-lived PlayStation Playlink games that had you voting for outcomes against shoddy, strange, or experimental games. That’s without factoring in being taken hostage by a band of desperate thieves.Īs Dusk Falls is an interactive, multiplayer story with a host of characters, choices, and QTEs events that branch the story in a variety of ways. Even more so when you’ve got a child, a pet, and your relationship with your partner is strained. Moving is probably one of the most stressful things you can do, especially when moving across any border.

As dusk falls band