Game Review: As Dusk Falls – The Way It Was Meant To Be Played
Introduction
Hello, dear readers! My name is Victor, and I am a totally blind gaming, technology, and entertainment journalist. I am also an ambassador for universal design, an accessibility consultant, advocate, and tester.
As Dusk Falls, the thrilling narrative adventure game developed by the talented people at Interior Night, is available today on PlayStation consoles and since I received early access to it last week, I managed to prepare some content for you to hopefully enjoy.
When I first reviewed As Dusk Falls for Xbox and PC, I said that it is one of the most interesting, captivating, gripping, and accessible games that I got to play in 2022. Now, I’m very excited that PlayStation players will get to experience this gripping story as well.
A Dark, Gripping and Thought-provoking Narrative
For those of you who are not yet familiar with As Dusk Falls, I can tell you that it is a critically acclaimed, multiplayer interactive drama that explores the entangled lives of two families across decades. This gripping crime story, created by Caroline Marchal, the Lead Game Designer of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, offers uncompromising, branching storytelling with players’ choices having a powerful impact on the characters’ lives.
The premise of the game is that every family has secrets and that every secret has a price. As such, in As Dusk Falls every choice has a consequence and the player can take different paths and experience different outcomes every time.
Welcome to Two Rock! One town where two families with decades of dark secrets will collide in an explosive showdown with unforgettable and unexpected consequences.
The narrative explores the entangled lives of two families across thirty years, starting in 1998 with a robbery-gone-wrong in small-town Arizona. Just like in other similar games, in As Dusk Falls, the choices you make have a powerful impact on the lives of the characters. We can draw comparisons to Heavy Rain or Life is Strange, which are also driven by powerful stories, captivating characters, and freedom of choice on the part of the player, but in As Dusk Falls, the mechanics are, by design, a more simplistic and accessible.
Accessible by Design
This excellent game can also be played by low vision, blind, and gamers with motor impairments. This new version of As Dusk Falls has Menu Narration, which you are prompted to enable or disable immediately after the game starts. You will be able to see all the accessibility features available in the video that I have embedded in this article, but I can tell you that we also have audio descriptions via TTS, one-button interactions, adjustable UI elements, extended timers for actions, and other nifty accessibility features that will ensure as many people as possible will get to experience this dark and gripping narrative adventure.
The addition of audio descriptions and intuitive touch controls enhanced the experience for me, and I’m happy to report that it was really fun, entertaining, and intriguing to play As Dusk Falls again, this time on my favorite console.
A Social Experience
You can play As Dusk Falls on your own, in couch co-op – fighting for decisions with a friend or a family member, and even online, allowing others to make the choices for you while you stream via the dedicated app.
Conclusion
If you want to experience an unforgettable and uncompromising story of betrayal, sacrifice, and resilience that will stay with you long after you reach the multiple endings and you roll the credits, pick up As Dusk Falls as soon as possible!
I want to congratulate everyone at Interior Night for a job well done, for continuing to improve the game even more, and for consulting with blind accessibility advocates like Brandon Cole and Ross Minor on accessibility features. Thank you all and keep up the great work! Can’t wait to experience your next interactive adventure!
As I always say, disability happens when accessibility doesn’t, but luckily it wasn’t the case with As Dusk Falls. I had a great time and no problem playing the entire game from beginning to end, although I am totally blind.
As Dusk Falls is available now on PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox consoles, PC, Steam, and Xbox Game Pass. All versions of the game have been updated with audio descriptions.
Victor Dima
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