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Dustborn

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Dustborn
Developer(s)Red Thread Games
Publisher(s)Spotlight by Quantic Dream
Director(s)Ragnar Tørnquist[1]
Producer(s)Rodica Enciu[1]
Designer(s)Martin Bruusgaard[1]
Programmer(s)Audun Tørnquist[1]
Artist(s)Christoffer Grav[2]
Writer(s)Ragnar Tørnquist[1]
Composer(s)Simon Poole[1]
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
ReleaseAugust 20, 2024
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Dustborn is an action-adventure video game developed by Red Thread Games and published by Quantic Dream on August 20, 2024.[3]

Gameplay

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The game is primarily built around player versus environment (PvE) combat involving the player using the power of their language and voices to combat enemies.[4][failed verification] The game also features Guitar Hero-style rhythm minigames.[5]

Plot

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Pax, Noam, Theo, Sai
Main Dustborn characters, from left: Pax, Noam, Theo, Sai

In the game's alternate reality, John F. Kennedy survived his assassination and established the militarized police force, Justice, to protect the United States from domestic threats. Decades later, Samuel Ward became president and twisted Justice's original purpose to consolidate his power, allowing him to enact draconian laws on the United States, now known as the American Republic. In the year 2000, an event known as the Broadcast spread mind-altering "Echoes" throughout the country and turned a small percentage of the population into Anomals, Protolanguage-wielding people who can use unique powers known as Vocals to influence people and reality. The government enacted martial law and suspended presidential elections while Justice rounded up anyone discovered to be an Anomal.

In the year 2030, the protagonist Pax (Dominique Tipper) is an Anomal living in Pacifica, a country that was once the state of California before seceding from the Republic. Although she sustains herself with minimum wage work and small cons, she seeks to escape to a place where Anomals have rights. A scientist from the Weave resistance, Jacob, recruits Pax for a job to deliver Puritan Protolanguage data to the Weave in exchange for safe haven in Nova Scotia. Pax and her Anomal friends, Noam and Sai, team up with the Weave operative Theo in order to steal data from the Puritans. The crew breaks into the Puritan headquarters, fights against the organization's cyborgs, and copies the data onto a datakey. The crew then drives to La Torre in order to dispose of their getaway car and obtain a tour bus, which is part of the crew's cover story as a punk rock band. The crew also recruits a robot, later known as Caretaker, to drive the bus. Throughout the journey, Pax encounters a Puritan, Axiom, in her dreams, who condemns the negative effect of language on human civilization and beckons her to bring him the ultimate Vocal.

Once the crew enters the American Republic, they recruit various Anomals to their cause while trying to evade Justice and the Puritans. The new recruits include Ziggy in Oregon, Eli in Nevada, Girl and Sol in Colorado, Ophelia in the remains of Kansas, and Nainai in Michigan. The crew also discovers that Justice is secretly kidnapping children to turn into Anomals and that Justice caused the Broadcast for their Protolanguage experiments. The mission faces several setbacks, such as encounters with Justice, the Puritans' constant pursuit, and Sai unexpectedly leaving the crew. In an encounter with Justice in Rotown, Pax receives a near-fatal injury from Prefect Kim, Caretaker sacrifices themself to save Pax, and the datakey is lost. Kim and Praetor Walker confine Pax to a Justice-affiliated hospital, where they interrogate her and are surprised to learn of their superiors' Anomal experiments. When the Puritans attack the hospital, Walker releases Pax, who is then rescued by Sai, Ziggy, and Eli. Once they reunite with the rest of the crew, Sai reveals that Justice blackmailed her to give them the datakey, but she instead gives the crew a secret copy of the datakey before leaving to oppose the government in her own way.

At Schoodic Point, the crew gets into a three-way battle against Justice and the Puritans. At the pier, the Puritan Overseer takes the non-combatants of the crew hostage in order to force Pax to give up the datakey. Pax realizes that her usual brute-force approach to Protolanguage cannot resolve this situation, so she instead uses the empathy she developed throughout the journey to affirm her friends' paths in life. This results in a Vocal that encourages her friends, giving Theo the bravery to defeat most of the Puritans with an EMP device. Axiom kills Theo and attempts to steal Pax's powers, but Girl concentrates a multitude of Echoes into Pax's womb. This allows Pax and her unborn child to unleash a powerful Vocal to defeat Axiom, allowing the crew to mourn Theo, complete the mission, and find their paths in life. After the credits, a robot faction in Rotown reactivates Caretaker's head in order to recruit them.[6][7][8]

Development

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Tipper, Dominique
Dominique Tipper stars as Pax.

Red Thread Games and Quantic Dream privately funded most of the game budget, with the developer also receiving over 13.6 million NOK from the Norwegian Film Institute under the scheme "development of games after artistic assessment" (Utvikling av spill etter kunstnerisk vurdering).[9][10][11] Additionally, the game received a grant of €150,000 from the EU's Creative Europe project, and 300,000 NOK from Viken Filmsenter.[12][13][9]

The game was developed using the Unity engine and the team wrote their custom shaders to accomplish the comic book-inspired look.[2] Due to its character designs, the game was noted by the BBC as experiencing online backlash from those who believe developers are being forced to make their games more diverse, though creative director Ragnar Tørnquist denied the cast's diversity was due to outside pressure, stating that they were targeting a "wider and more diverse audience" than typical games.[14]

In August 2024, the developer released a statement condemning the "tidal wave of hate and abuse" aimed towards them and the game. The publisher released a similar statement affirming their support for the developer and their "zero-tolerance policy for threats, hate speech, or harassment" on their social media platforms.[15][16]

Reception

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Critical reception

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Dustborn received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic,[25] and 48% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic.[20] In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 32 out of 40.[21]

Malindy Hetfeld, writing for The Guardian, rated it 3 out of 5. Hetfeld noted the difficult balance as the game attempts "to alternate between fun moments, activism and drama – a balance it ultimately can't hit." Hetfeld enjoyed the game most when it "leans into the silliness of its supernatural storyline" calling it "the equivalent of an interactive Marvel movie, and that is OK."[24] Rachel Weber of IGN rated it 7 out of 10: "Dustborn brings angst to a comic book caper about an alternate-reality America, and you'll get an emotional ride with a few exciting punk performances if you stick with it through a slow start".[23]

GameSpot reviewer Mark Delaney, rating the game 5 out of 10, called Dustborn "one of the most overtly political and, more specifically, unapologetically leftist games I've ever played", which he felt "makes its early hours very interesting, but it falls apart in the second half due to monotonous combat and a final few chapters that undo the stronger first half".[22] GameRant commented in its 2 out of 5 review, that while "the diverse cast's goal of fighting back is noble", the "dialogue is irritating and never lets up" and that the "bloated narrative is full of poor or meaningless beats".[26]

Sales

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PC Gamer's Andy Chalk described Dustborn's launch sales as "apparently modest".[15] Eurogamer.pt reported the game appeared to launch poorly on Steam with a peak of 83 concurrent players.[27] In an interview with Gamer.no, director Ragnar Tørnquist said that the game sales have significantly exceeded those reported online but fallen below the studio's internal short-term expectations.[28]

Awards

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Dustborn was nominated in the Outstanding Video Game category at the 36th GLAAD Media Awards.[29][30]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Red Thread Games (August 20, 2024). Dustborn. Spotlight by Quantic Dream. Scene: Credits.
  2. ^ a b Parijat, Shubhankar (August 27, 2024). "Dustborn Interview – Setting, Art Style, Choices, and More". GamingBolt (Interview). Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  3. ^ "Dustborn". Steam. August 20, 2024. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  4. ^ "Dustborn on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Archived from the original on September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Loveridge, Sam (June 24, 2024). "Dustborn took me on a roadtrip where I fought with words, played Guitar Hero-like rhythm games, and made Telltale-style choices". gamesradar. Archived from the original on August 9, 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  6. ^ "Dustborn's politically charged action is a breath of fresh air". Digital Trends. March 29, 2024. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  7. ^ Wright, Autumn (June 24, 2024). "Dustborn let me smash fascists and flirt with my situationship on a road trip across America". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  8. ^ Handley, Zoey (July 8, 2024). "Dustborn might not be something you want to take on a road trip". Destructoid. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Red Thread Games. "Dustborn FAQ :: Dustborn General Discussions". steamcommunity.com. Steam. Archived from the original on February 6, 2025. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  10. ^ "Dustborn". Norwegian Film Institute (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on August 17, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  11. ^ "Post-2020 NFI".
  12. ^ "Dustborn". European Commission for Culture and Creativity. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  13. ^ "Stort spillfokus i årets siste tildelingsrunde" [Great game focus in the year's last award round]. Viken filmsenter (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  14. ^ Richardson, Tom (June 25, 2024). "Dustborn: 'No-one forced us to make a game with a diverse cast'". BBC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Chalk, Andy (August 30, 2024). "Dustborn devs call out the 'tidal wave of hate and abuse' that's engulfed the game: 'Those who engage in such behavior will be removed from our community'". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 12, 2024. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  16. ^ Shepard, Kenneth (August 30, 2024). "Dustborn Developers Condemn 'Tidal Wave Of Hate And Abuse' Directed At The Team". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 9, 2024. Retrieved September 9, 2024. Dustborn publisher Quantic Dream put out its own statement in support of Red Thread Games, saying it stands with the developer against "hate in all its forms."
  17. ^ "PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  18. ^ "Dustborn Xbox Series X Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 24, 2024. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
  19. ^ "Dustborn PC Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  20. ^ a b "Dustborn". OpenCritic. August 16, 2024. Archived from the original on August 24, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  21. ^ a b Romano, Sal (August 28, 2024). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1863". Gematsu. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
  22. ^ a b Delaney, Mark (August 14, 2024). "Dustborn Review - Words Hurt". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  23. ^ a b Weber, Rachel (August 14, 2024). "Dustborn Review: Have some patience and this punk comic book caper will win you over with its weirdos". IGN. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  24. ^ a b Hetfeld, Malindy (August 15, 2024). "Dustborn review – supernatural road trip across an alternative America". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 12, 2024. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
  25. ^ "Dustborn". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 2, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  26. ^ Leri, Michael (August 14, 2024). "Dustborn Review". GameRant. Archived from the original on August 28, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  27. ^ Salgo, Jorge (August 22, 2024). "Dustborn com lançamento desastroso no Steam". Eurogamer.pt (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on September 4, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  28. ^ Lønning, Mikkjell (October 16, 2024). "Dustborn dev opens up after brutal launch: "Caught us completely off guard"". Gamer.no.
  29. ^ Nightingale, Ed (January 22, 2025). "Nintendo nominated for GLAAD award for trans representation in Paper Mario". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  30. ^ Blake, Vikki (January 22, 2025). "Nintendo, BioWare amongst nominees for outstanding video game at 36th GLAAD Media Awards". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
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