Dust: An Elysian Tail

Submission 6,148

About

Dust: An Elysian Tail is an action role-playing game written by Dean Dodrill, developed by Humble Hearts, and published by Microsoft. After debuting on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2012, the game was ported to Windows, Playstation, and eventually the Nintendo Switch. In the game, the player plays as Dust and travels a fantasy world while guided by the guardian for the Blade of Ahrah, Fidget. The game features a "Medtroidvania" style of play where players traverse the world and gradually open new areas.

History

Dust was developed almost entirely by Dodrill, who took three and a half years to complete the game.^[1] After winning a contract for the Xbox Live Arcade, Dust released on August 15th, 2012. The game ported to Windows on May 24th, 2013, OSX on December 17th, 2013, Playstation on October 7th, 2014, and the Nintendo Switch on September 10th, 2018.

Reception

Dust was favorably reviewed by critics, receiving between a 79 and 91 across various ports on Metacritic.^[2] Critics praised the gameplay and art style of the game. Gaming Age^[3] wrote, "It’s a great, 2D experience that harkens back to the popular Metroidvania sub-genre of adventures games, but manages to blaze its own path and stand out as a wholly unique experience."

Online Presence

The game has 25,000 likes on Facebook^[4] and a subreddit with 160 followers.^[5] However, the game has developed a significant Fan Art community around the character Fidget, an anthropomorphic bat who guides the player character through the game. The character is highly represented on DeviantArt, where there are over 1,200 collections devoted to the game (examples shown below).^[6]