Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Via NoisyPixel

Quantic Dream has announced that the Red Thread Games-developed single-player story-driven action-adventure game, Dustborn, will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on August 20, 2024.


The story of Dustborn follows a road trip to transport a package from Pacifica to Nova Scotia. Protagonist Pax is traveling undercover with a punk-rock band, exploring an alternate America and visiting pit stops to recruit new members, build relationships, fight off pursuers, and take on assignments.

Creative Director Ragnar Tørnquist said the following:

“Dustborn builds on our experience creating single-player, narrative-driven projects such as Draugen or The Dreamfall Chapters, and gave us a chance to explore the action/adventure genre. It is, first and foremost, a character-driven game about people and the power of words. Dustborn is all about understanding your crew, their relationships, and how your words shape the world around you. We cannot wait for players to embark on this bonkers road trip.”

The digital release of Dustborn will cost 29,99€/$29.99, while the physical edition will be 39,99€/$39.99. The special edition will feature the following:

• 2 postcards from key locations visited by the crew;
• A map of the American Republic, listing all the pitstops the crew has to make before arriving to their final destination;
• A 32-page prequel comic book about the crew’s life before accepting this risky mission;
• Stickers of iconic elements from the game.

 

[Kupfer]

Wow, the first thing that strikes me about the game is that the design of the crew hammers diversity into my face so forcefully that it's no longer to be taken seriously. It feels like a long checklist was simply ticked off, so that nobody has anything to complain about.

It seems like there was zero sensitivity shown here, and as someone who could belong to one of the represented minorities, I would probably be outraged by the fact that one is not taken seriously here and is merely used to appear as inclusive as possible.

Well, it will probably find its audience; if such games help someone feel better, they probably have a reason to exist

I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, Beyond and Detroit, but I don't feel addressed at all with this one.

A physical release is nice though.

Edit; misunderstood, Quantic Dream is only the publisher and not the developer behind this project.

 

[Mokus]

Ugly women out of the gate in the trailer.

I bought everything so far from Quantic Dream and I loved the games despite many saying how bad they are. But I will be skipping this woke trash.

 

[StueyDuck]

how to say sweet baby inc made this game without saying sweet baby inc made this game

jesus christ, even after all the diversity and wokeness the game looks like hot shit... these people with these personalities just aren't talented.

 

[mdkirby]

I love this sort of game. But absolutely everything in that seems terrible, including the narration .

Looks like design by tickbox and committee gone mad, at the expense of anything remotely interesting, and bottom of the barrel narrative/dialogue. Very clunky gameplay and animation too. Feels like a “wish” version of Road96, which was a great game.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

this is a ragnar joint? got dayum dont do me like that!

 

[balls of snow]

Ugly women out of the gate in the trailer.

I bought everything so far from Quantic Dream and I loved the games despite many saying how bad they are. But I will be skipping this woke trash.

QD publish. This is Red Thread Games who are ex Longest Journey and Dreamfall devs.

 

[balls of snow]

this is a ragnar joint? got dayum dont do me like that!

Yep still willing to give it a go. I am replaying through Dreamfall again on the steamdeck and it still is as good as I remember it being even with the shit combat.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Yep still willing to give it a go. I am replaying through Dreamfall again on the steamdeck and it still is as good as I remember it being even with the shit combat.

The Longest Journey and Dreamfall are some of my favorite adventure games. For some reason though I couldn't get into Dreamfall Chapters, maybe because it runs very badly on PS4/PS5 (it stuttered a lot last time I tried to play it). I guess I'll have to pick it up on Steam one of these days...

 

[Alan Silvestro]

Sweet Baby APPROVED.​

 

[Ogbert]

Looks fucking shit.

 

[balls of snow]

The Longest Journey and Dreamfall are some of my favorite adventure games. For some reason though I couldn't get into Dreamfall Chapters, maybe because it runs very badly on PS4/PS5 (it stuttered a lot last time I tried to play it). I guess I'll have to pick it up on Steam one of these days...

Its dirt cheap on Steam sale. Should run pretty well now on most pcs. Will try it on the deck whenever I get to it.

 

[RavageX]

I gave the trailer a chance. This looks awful in every way.

 

[KiteGr]

The Woke is strong in this one.

 

[IFireflyl]

 

[Davevil]

 

[Eiknarf]

Will there actually be any members of NeoGAF who will buy this???

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Dustborn: 'No-one forced us to make a game with a diverse cast'

Adventure game Dustborn aims to tell a story about a diverse cast trekking across the USA.

www.bbc.co.uk

"We're just making one game that will hopefully find an audience.

"Maybe it's a different audience, and I think we can afford to be different," he says.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

The artstyle is cool and the idea of a road trip as well, but after playing a demo, it doesn't look like a game I want to play. It's just too dated, clunky, boring and not very interesting in terms of gameplay. I think you better off replaying games like Life is Strange or Until Dawn which are much more interesting. Maybe I'll give it a try on a deep, deep, deep, deepest sale of them all, or I won't, which is a lot more likely.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Yep still willing to give it a go. I am replaying through Dreamfall again on the steamdeck and it still is as good as I remember it being even with the shit combat.

Love Ragnar... but this is shit.

 

[8bitpill]

Who didn’t see this coming…

https://gamerant.com/dustborn-review/

 

[Plague Doctor]

THIS. IS. MY. JAM.

I love games about boring frumpy looking fuckers who are what clueless devs think gen z is and who are all quippy and sassy.

It's like dark souls combat but exclusively for my patience in shit characters and my overall faith in humanity.

I can't wait to rubberneck this game in the news cycle!

 

[BbMajor7th]

Almost like a send up of the modern gaming scene, but lacking any self-awareness. What a strange project to spaff cash on.

 

[TVexperto]

Did an AI write this game?

 

[Von Hugh]

The GameRant's review should probably Been only one star if there's almost nothing but negatives?

Pros
+ The diverse cast's goal of fighting back is noble

Cons
- Its dialogue is irritating and never lets up
- The bloated narrative is full of poor or meaningless beats
- Buggy
- Combat is extremely shallow
- Its interpretation of fascism is too simplistic

 

[Kupfer]

The GameRant's review should probably Been only one star if there's almost nothing but negatives?

Pros
+ The diverse cast's goal of fighting back is noble

Cons
- Its dialogue is irritating and never lets up
- The bloated narrative is full of poor or meaningless beats
- Buggy
- Combat is extremely shallow
- Its interpretation of fascism is too simplistic

Did they edit it?
Right now it is like :

Pros

• The alternative-history version of America includes some intriguing elements
• Lots of different gameplay elements keep it entertaining

Cons

• Clumsy writing with limited character development
• Fails to stick the landing

archive.today


EDIT: GameRant =! Screenrant. Whoopsie, my fault.

 

[Schmendrick]

So the target demographic for that are......activist college girls or something? Do those even play games?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

At least they created a new IP instead of taking a big shit on some existing IP, I’ll give them that.

Still gonna laugh when this bombs though.

LOL and it releases the same day as Concord and Black Myth Wukong. August 20 is officially “ugly character day”

 

[Von Hugh]

At least they created a new IP instead of taking a big shit on some existing IP, I’ll give them that.

Still gonna laugh when this bombs though.

LOL and it releases the same day as Concord and Black Myth Wukong. August 20 is officially “ugly character day”

There's like a whole spectrum of DEIness between Dustborn, Concord and Wukong. From maximum DEI to no DEI at all.

 

[StereoVsn]

Wow, this looks like a complete pile of . What’s weird is that this dev used to make decent games.

Good luck with this crap to them, but I don’t see it selling, like at all.

 

[STARSBarry]

 

[Frwrd]

I gave the trailer a chance. This looks awful in every way.

I managed to watched that piece of shit for 23 seconds... Not a tenth more. I literally said: "fuck that".

Who the fuck comes up with shit like this? All this money could be put to good use, so many talented people trying to put their fucking ideas, dreams out there, and we get these corny-ass titles trying to push a fucking agenda left and right, fuck all of that.

 

[Frwrd]

So the target demographic for that are......activist college persons or something? Do those even play games?

FTFY... you misogynistic fuck (jk! Lol! )

 

[Schmendrick]

FTFY... you misogynistic fuck (jk! Lol! )

At least they created a new IP instead of taking a big shit on some existing IP, I’ll give them that.

Still gonna laugh when this bombs though.

LOL and it releases the same day as Concord and Black Myth Wukong. August 20 is officially “ugly character day”

hey, leave the monkey alone.....

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

hey, leave the monkey alone.....

Ok sorry I didn’t realize you were attracted to monkey men. No judgment!

 

[Gonzito]

I hope the game bombs. Fucking woke garbage

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Wow sign me up!!

 

[Skifi28]

I hope the game bombs. Fucking woke garbage

 

[Kupfer]

 

[EDMIX]

The artstyle is cool and the idea of a road trip as well, but after playing a demo, it doesn't look like a game I want to play. It's just too dated, clunky, boring and not very interesting in terms of gameplay. I think you better off replaying games like Life is Strange or Until Dawn which are much more interesting. Maybe I'll give it a try on a deep, deep, deep, deepest sale of them all, or I won't, which is a lot more likely.

True.

The artists did a great job with this game, especially the illustrations and the UI

Though I didn't play the demo, from what I see, this game seems to try to do much more (maybe that is a bad thing lol) like it aims to have some whole combat thing with robots lol I'll take a strong narrative focus with the core of the game actually about that narrative vs being all of the place (I saw some rockband looking shit going on lol)

I love Until Dawn, loved Life Is Strange, want to like this, but it seems to be not as focused.

We'll wait for a sale to do it as a once over or something.

I also feel more games like this need to be PRICED LIKE THIS

https://www.amazon.com/Dustborn-Limited-Retail-PlayStation-5/dp/B0CYRN225F/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1W6LQS5OPVBN4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qByziAEhAuCDOAoMo93zfQ.9jWiMgO2V0pnz4bopsPUduGZAr_QPxszgrzAC8vHAIA&dib_tag=se&keywords=dustborn%2Bps5&qid=1724077658&sprefix=Dustborn%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-1&th=1

 

[Gambit2483]

At least they created a new IP instead of taking a big shit on some existing IP, I’ll give them that.

Still gonna laugh when this bombs though.

LOL and it releases the same day as Concord and Black Myth Wukong. August 20 is officially “ugly character day”

And that is why they strong arm devs to shove this shit into existing IPs (Spider-Man2, SuicideSquad, etc.) , because they know no one would buy it otherwise.

 

[8bitpill]

 

[Denton]

So the target demographic for that are......activist college girls or something? Do those even play games?

Queers for palestine crowd are the intended audience I think. Judging by the amount of pro-Hamas protests, this game should sell gangbusters in the West!

Personally I will pass, eventhough I loved TLJ trilogy and enjoyed Draugen.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Looks like a game for twats.

 

[diffusionx]

The GameRant's review should probably Been only one star if there's almost nothing but negatives?

Pros
+ The diverse cast's goal of fighting back is noble

Cons
- Its dialogue is irritating and never lets up
- The bloated narrative is full of poor or meaningless beats
- Buggy
- Combat is extremely shallow
- Its interpretation of fascism is too simplistic

If you read the review, the guy is complaining that the game is not woke *enough*.

 

[OppaiNinja]

Wow sign me up!!

Just when I thought PC Gamer couldn't get any shittier!

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

8 people currently playing on Steam. A smashing success.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

8 people currently playing on Steam. A smashing success.

Sorry to bust your bubble:

 

[STARSBarry]

8 people currently playing on Steam. A smashing success.

That's it's current height...

OK to be fair I suspect it will get higher to tonight when the yanks get off work etc, but I would be surprised if it's above like 100.

 

[Kupfer]

8 people currently playing on Steam. A smashing success.

Sorry to bust your bubble:

Although it's funny, there must be something off with this statistics?

I mean peak playercount is 8 in 2017