Dusk (2018)

***Dusk*** (stylized in all caps as ***DUSK***) is a 2018 retro-styled first-person shooter created by American developer David Szymanski and published by New Blood Interactive for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, and Nintendo Switch. The game is produced by Dave Oshry, who previously co-directed the 2013 remake of *Rise of the Triad*.

## Plot

*Dusk* takes place in and around the fictitious rural town of Dusk, Pennsylvania. A huge network of "Lovecraftian ruins" is discovered underneath a section of farmland, which attracts the attention of the government. Military personnel and scientists establish research labs and factories in the town in an attempt to harness the magic of the ruins. Much of the research team soon fall victim to a series of demonic possessions and industrial disasters, which force the remnants of the team out of the town. A large perimeter wall is built around the town, sealing it off from the outside world. The player takes the role of a nameless treasure hunter ("DuskDude" or "The Intruder"), who has heard rumors that hidden riches exist within the sealed town. The treasure hunter is apprehended by the town's denizens, brought to a secluded farmhouse, and impaled onto a meathook.

*The Foothills*, the first episode, is largely set in the country outskirts around Dusk's perimeter wall. After the protagonist escapes from the farmhouse, he travels across a variety of rural environments such as swamps, barnyards, cornfields, and sawmills. After breaching the perimeter wall and entering the town, the protagonist uncovers an underground passageway, which ultimately leads him to an industrial zone on the outskirts of the city.

In the second episode, *The Facilities*, the player must fight through the remnants of the possessed military and science personnel, who guard an array of occult machines within the industrial zone. In the penultimate level of the episode, it is revealed that the machines extract power from the minced remains of slaughtered humans. Deep in the ruins of the industrial complex, the protagonist finds an otherworldly portal, which he activates and walks through.

In the third and final episode, *The Nameless City*, the protagonist finds himself in an alternate reality. After passing through a cathedral, he travels through various locations, with him being forced into a trial that takes place within a corrupted version of his own memories. In the end, the protagonist confronts and defeats the cult's leader, named Jakob, who in turn is killed by his followers. As he attempts to escape from Jakob's lair, the protagonist finds himself trapped by the one responsible for everything that has occurred, an Outer God known as Nyarlathotep. A final battle ensues, and as the protagonist is able to deal the killing blow, Nyarlathotep deems him to be "worthy" and gives him an unknown power, presumably corrupting him in the process and taking Jakob's place as leader of the cult. Nyarlathotep then places the protagonist in a kind of stasis "until [Nyarlathotep] has need of [him] again".

## Gameplay

The object of *Dusk'*s gameplay is to reach the exit of the level, while surviving all hazards on the way. Such hazards include hostile enemies such as robed cultists, demonic livestock, sentient scarecrows, and possessed soldiers. The player has access to a variety of weapons, including dual-wielded sickles, dual pistols, single and double-barrel shotguns, an assault rifle, a hunting rifle, a magic crossbow, a mortar, a magic sword, and a weapon called the "Riveter" that shoots exploding rivets. A unique mechanic of *Dusk* is the unlocked rotational-axis, allowing the player an additional degree of rotation whilst in midair, which grants the ability to perform front and back-flips.

The multiplayer component of *Dusk*, titled *DuskWorld*, features an online deathmatch mode which supports up to 16 players.

*Dusk* inherits many design staples from 1990s first-person shooters, such as non-regenerating health, greater emphasis on movement and speed, and the ability to carry a large number of weapons at once.

## Development

The earliest concepts for what would eventually become *Dusk* were conceived in the mid 2000s by lead developer David Szymanski. At the time, Szymanski only had access to computers with low-end hardware, which precluded him from playing recent video game releases; instead, he played older first-person shooters such as *Half-Life* and *Doom*. These games would ultimately become major inspirations for *Dusk'*s gameplay.

*Dusk*'s development began in 2015, stemming from a series of tests Szymanski created in the Unity game engine. In an attempt to emulate the visual style of *Quake*, Szymanski modeled a low-polygon shotgun and fixed it to a camera; from that point, development on *Dusk* began in earnest. The artistic direction of *Dusk* drew inspiration from several sources. The rural farmhouse setting of Episode 1 was inspired by the film *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*, the video game *Redneck Rampage*, and Szymanski's own experiences of living in rural Pennsylvania. The abandoned factories of Episode 2 were inspired by the world of the *S.T.A.L.K.E.R.* series of video games, which takes place in an alternative reality version of Ukraine; Szymanski said that *Dusk* was initially to be set in Ukraine as a nod to *S.T.A.L.K.E.R.*, prior to settling on the game's rural Pennsylvania locale. In designing *Dusk'*s levels, Szymanski took cues from John Romero's level design in both *Doom* and *Quake*, emphasizing non-linearity and abstract geometry.

The visuals of *Dusk* were crafted to be evocative of 1990s first-person shooters. Through deliberate design, textures are low-resolution and have a limited palette, and both models and map geometry feature a lower amount of polygons than contemporary 3D games. Szymanski initially experienced difficulties adhering to the graphic limitations of 1990s shooters, as Unity engine continually introduced undesirable visual improvements throughout development: "[The] biggest challenge is just convincing Unity to stop doing things that make the game look better," Szymanski commented. Szymanski's next project, the 2022 video game *Iron Lung*, features a similar short-form horror experience with lower detail graphics as *Dusk*.

In January 2019, after the initial PC release of *Dusk*, Dave Oshry announced that the game would be receiving console ports, a physical PC release and more free content including a co-op mode, New Game + and mod support.

## Release

Pre-orders for *Dusk* opened in August 2017. In a nod to the episodic shareware releases of 1990s first person shooters like *Doom* and *Quake*, pre-orderers gained immediate access to the first episode of *Dusk*, *The Foothills*, in advance of the full game's release. A closed beta for *DuskWorld*, *Dusk'*s multiplayer component, opened in December 2017 to selected volunteering participants.

*Dusk* released into early access on January 11, 2018, containing both *DuskWorld* and the first two episodes of the singleplayer campaign. On June 12, 2018, New Blood Interactive announced that *Dusk* will be released for the Nintendo Switch.

*Dusk* fully released out of early access on December 10, 2018, on the 25th anniversary of its inspiration, *Doom*.

The Switch port was released on October 28, 2021.

## Prequel

On April 1, 2021, New Blood Interactive released a seeming April Fools joke in the form of screenshots of a 2D roguelike version of *Dusk*. The screenshots were soon revealed to be genuine previews of a real game.

*Dusk '82 ULTIMATE EDITION* was released on October 22 for Halloween 2021. The game is an action/puzzler similar to *Chip's Challenge*, though with thematic and story elements of *Dusk*, and features chiptune versions of the *Dusk* soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult.