Unending Dusk Reviews

Bought this game years ago but only played it recently. I am having quite a lot of fun with it. Plays and looks like the beat'em up in the late 80's and early 90's, but with some simple RPG elements. The game is pretty simple to play even though the spawn rate of the enemies is crazy in the higher difficulties. Just a heads up, the last 4 stages involves fighting multiple bosses at once. The final stage has 3 waves of boss fights. First wave are bosses from stages 1-5. Second wave consist of bosses from stage 6-7. You fight the final boss in the third wave who has very annoying AOE attacks. Some stuff are not stated in game nor could be found on the internet. for instance: 1. You can play as all 6 characters one the same save slot. You need to choose which character to play each time you start a game. 2. Progression, level and gear for all characters in the same save slot is not shared but credits are shared. 3. It's the second heavy attack that can be charged (the one that can launch the enemies). 4. Special attacks and ability attacks have alternate modes activated by holding their respective buttons. Alternate special attacks usually comes with a buff to attack power, movement speed and damage reduction. 5. Higher tier mods are obtained as mission reward, bought in secret shops found in missions or bought at the forge when you unlock nightmare and hell difficulty. However, for the forge, you pay credits to get a random type of mod. 6. A skill(tech) is awarded every 5 levels. You need to choose one out of 3 at level 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 30, 35, 40, 45, 50. To respec, just select the other skill you want and pay the required credits. Max level for the game is 50. 7. Max mod slots is 50, starting from 1. You gain one slot per level. 8. Mods can only be upgraded for a max of 2 times. Some can only be upgraded once. 9. You have 45% base resistance in normal mode, 15% in nightmare, -45% in hell mode. But no worries, it is still very easy to increase the resistance beyond the cap, which is 75%. Certain skills can increase that cap. 10. You don't take damage when blocking attacks that can be blocked. 11. Templar's auras hit the whole screen (alt special ability attack, default special attack). Finally, an advice. Don't start your first play through as rogue or templar. These characters cannot run thus very difficult to use. Best start as either of the other 4, finish the game and unlock endless mode. Farm adequate credits, then start your play through as a rogue or templar. The first level is easy and can get you to level 5. Buy 5 mods of your choice and upgrade them to max value. It will make the following stages bearable. This game is worth getting on sale.

I understand why maybe the complete lack of velocity in the jump landing would turn some people off, but once I realized that this was more of a walk-n-block sort of brawler, I really fell in love with it. Then again, I'm an easy sell: there's a bunch of buff robots and demons trying to beat the hell of the each other in a post apocalypse mega city and that's pretty much always going to be something i recommend. The fact that it's in a universe of a beat em up with learnable enemy patterns is just a happy coincidence for me, and maybe for you, too.

Unending Dusk is an old-school beat-em-up with ARPG mechanics and a pretty decent, darksynth-esque soundtrack that was admittedly rough around the edges in its early days, but regular updates have smoothed a lot of those edges and made for a compelling cooperative experience whenever I can rope friends into playing it. The developer even does double XP events on occasion, and eventually decided to leave it up permanently. It has up to four-player online coop but regrettably no local option in the story mode, though it is available in the arcade mode, which disables the RPG elements, and can use Remote Play. The time and place: a dark cyberpunk future in the last city on Earth, still recovering from a fierce intercorporate war. The onset of a of seemingly endless night spells impending doom for the city given its reliance on solar power. A brilliant cyborg engineer has taken it upon himself to gather a band of the deadliest mercenaries, assassins, bounty hunters, war veterans and even religious fanatics he can get to find the source of the unnatural darkness and combat the strange forces it has arrayed against them. Together, this cabal of cybernetic warriors must shoot, punch and stab their way through a seemingly infinite tide of corrupted androids, cultists, monstrous creatures and worse. Unending Dusk's player classes are easy enough to pick up but take time to master. The Assassin uses a sword and can cloak and ambush, the Brawler is self-explanatory, with nasty charged heavies, the Gunslinger has unparalleled range for a beatemup character with guns and grenades, and the Engineer is spammy with a lot of AoE electrical attacks. These four were initially available, with the Rogue and Templar added in later updates. The former is a fast-hitting character with the option for ranged attacks and fast-recharging specials, the latter an extremely slow-moving heavy hitter with long melee reach and screen-hitting holy auras. They have varying stats and attacks, but the control scheme is simple. You can walk or sprint, perform light attacks or charged/uncharged heavies, block, and use special and super attacks. Unlike many games, you can block without fear of chip damage, though some attacks, often denoted by an enemy flashing red, are unblockable. Certain passive upgrades even give you a temporary buff from a successful block. The Rogue and Templar cannot sprint, though the former has half the dash cooldown of other classes. Notably, the ability to throw enemies was added in a later update, with the classic "walk into an enemy to grab them" mechanic. Upon first selecting a character and after completing a stage, you return to the Engineer's safehouse, from which you can access shops, your character's equipment and skill trees, use a stage select, and use practice dummies to gauge your attack damage. Stages must first be played in order but can be repeated ad nauseam for additional money and experience. The first five stages can be played on Normal difficulty, though stages five and six may test a particularly low-level player. However, later stages must be played on higher difficulties and these have a recommended minimum level exceeding what you would be on a first playthrough, unfortunately necessitating some grinding. When I first wrote this review I hadn't played the later stages, as the game is much more fun when played in coop and my friends weren't high enough level yet. One of them actually finished the last stage before I did! General game feel is similar to the beat em ups of the SNES and Neo Geo, though with less emphasis on combos then games like The Ninja Warriors Again. There's some added depth in the RPG mechanics: Every five levels up to the cap of 50, you can choose one of three passive skills flavored to your class, and each level increases your mod capacity. These mods are the game's equipment, most conferring passive stat bonuses and some adding additional projectiles or other damaging effects to your attacks and abilities, along with new visual effects. The latter are called "Keystone" passives, and only one of a given type can be equipped at a time, but any number of non-keystone Mods may be equipped at at time, your capacity permitting. Different characters have different ratios of Physical to Plasma damage output, and inherit different percentages from the associated Power and Energy stats, meaning you won't want to use the exact same Mod setup on every character. Of note is the game's generally forgiving respawn system: If you die in a stage, instead of kicking you back to the safehouse or out of the game entirely like in the old days, you can simply pay a fee taken from credits picked up in that stage, only being forced to start over if you run out of credits for revives. This cost understandably escalates based on the current difficulty level. There is no option to revive downed teammates in coop however. If someone dies, they have to pay to get back in, no exceptions. I wasn't able to power through Unending Dusk like a lot of other games, and completing the Story Mode took many hours of play, via grinding for levels and upgrading mods. The game could stand to be less grindy still, but I've enjoyed my time with it and it has only improved with each update. I look forward to getting the rest of its achievements one day.

Simply put, it feels like Shadowrun if it was a beat-em-up. It has the same cyberpunk aesthetic, the same RPG-ish elements where you can customize your character with cybernetic enhancements, and a story about mega corporations destroying the world. This is 1000% my kind of game. The graphics look like a higher end SNES game, and the music is awesome and keeps you pumped as you blast your way through hordes of androids and cultists. There are six different characters to choose from and almost endless ways to customize them, so there is a ton of replayability. Yeah, some people may not care for the grind of leveling up your characters, but there's no reason that you HAVE to do that. I have my two favorite classes and I'm focusing on leveling them up. I don't care much for the "tank" characters so they'll probably end up the last to be maxed out. Plus the devs have a double XP event going on now, so it's the perfect time to give it a shot and get your characters a great head start.

2d arcade action beat em up with currently 5 different characters with their own skill trees, it can be a bit grindy at time but its just fun and persistent loot and levels is a plus, some of the hit box detection can be a bit wonky at times but all in all solid time killer.

The grind is REAL in this game. A lot of dedication and love has been put on this game, and it shows. I bought it since I am a fan of the Beat'em up genre, and was looking to have RPG and skill tree mechanics. It did not disapoint, and got my $'s worth of value and entertainment. Pros: - Different characters to try with very different play styles. - Skill tree with 50 tiers and 3 skills in each tier. Do not expect Diablo 3-esque talents with visual skills and new mechanics. Most of them (at least for the 2 or 3 characters that I've tried) just rebalance certain attributes. - Synthwave soundtrack, very good and adds to the ciberpunk ambience. - An tem and enhacement management system (very J-RPG'ish) with lots and lots of items. - An interesting (if somewhat basic) storyline that adds flavor to the grind. No in-game cutscenes, though, just text you encounter in the road. Cons: - The grind, THE GRIND! I haven't reached the end of the game, but it is asking me to replay all levels in a new difficulty (Nightmare). New enemies are added to former levels, so the challenge ramps up. However, the gameplay loop stays the same and it gets monotonous eventually. - The "levels" are just horizontal hallways you fight your way through. Yeah, it is a 2D game, but even older 2D brawlers have mixed use of terrain in vertical or perpendicular perspectives. This adds to the monotony of the grind. - Unresponsive controls. The new standard for Beat'em up controls is Streets of Rage 4 (also River City Underground plays nicely). Unending Dusk, unfortunately, feels clunky and unresponsive, especially in the mid of a combo and when you want to turn to the other side to face enemies (you get stuck). - No in-game guide or tutorial to use items, types of damage and various add-ons. This can get confusing, and you'll end up just experimenting, and those experiments will cost you in-game money, which in turn you get by grinding... repeat the cicle. All in all, I recommend this game for brawler fans that like character progression and do not mind the grind. Also, if you have a low-spec computer, and are looking for a challenge in the style of the old Streets or Rage games but with more depth, search no more and give this game a try.

I went into this game with already low expectations, but boy is the actual game even worse: - 6 characters, all with stiff as hell controls, and don't be fooled by the swords, there is no melee combat, since getting close you get automatically hit. Instead, melee characters send short shockwaves that make them s**k both at close range and long range. But generally, you can forget about basic attacks, here is how an effective playthrough will work: you guard until your special is ready, then you use the special that should fill your ultimate gauge; repeat until the gauge is ready, then kill everyone with your screenwide ultimate and go to the next area. - as a fan of games with upgrades, these are the most underwhelming upgrades I've ever seen in a game. I can't imagine a scenario where I say "cool, I hit the enemy and random blocks fall on his head, repeatedly". You get upgrades that either boost stats or boost a bit less and give you an ability, but there's absolutely zero variety: there are only 2 choices at any given time, one for int, and one for str, so you will buy that specific item every time, even multiple of some. - as a fan of beat-em up/brawling games, these are the stiffest animations and controls I've ever seen. It's even hard to explain, they just don't move as they should, both aesthetically and input wise. For example, the dragons you see in the sample images aren't some cool dragons that travel through the screen of have some cool animations, they just appear when you use the ultimate as enemies around you suddenly die, hit by nothing. In the end, I just hope my review will convince people not to make the mistake I made buying this game. I bought it at 90% off, and there has never been a game I wanted to refund more than this. Conclusion: Don't make my mistake, don't buy it, it's much worse than it looks.

Very old school beat'em up. The combat is pretty unresponsive. Requires a lot of timing and understanding of when an enemy is going to attack to prepare for it : ). The items are pretty fun. Can augment attacks with a whole bunch of elements and watch everything just explode. The stages are kind of randomized. I don't really like this. It makes the rooms feel pretty disconnected and makes it feel more of a grind. Add to that the 2-4 waves of enemies per room and it just gets to be a tad bit frustrating. On top of that, some rooms have stage graphics in front of the room, which can hide things like enemies and traps. We're talking things like pillars and the like. The enemy corpses also don't decay, which is a bit annoying. 3 waves of enemies later and you can't see the floor anymore. There isn't much variety to traps. They're all more or less the same thing. Little circles to not step on. It just feels like a grind to me because the rooms kind of blend together with no flow to them and each room has so many waves of enemies. That's just my opinion. I don't think that I'll be doing nightmare mode and whatever is after that. Just don't want to grind the same stages over and over again for enough currency to have enough damage to do things like nightmare mode well : /.

If you are looking for a simple street of rage clone, this is not it. In the story mode, its more of a beat em up rpg. You gain xp, find new mods to add more attacks to your moveset. This sounds great and all but one problem. this game becomes a horrendous GRINDFEST. The game goes like this, you beat the first five stages on normal difficulty, then nightmare difficulty along with a new stage is unlocked. But the new stage is only available in nightmare difficulty and also has a recommended character level of +30.. Being only about level 18 when you first finished normal difficulty. You going to have to grind back on the old levels on normal / nightmare to get stronger for the sixth stage. After you beaten the sixth stage on nightmare, hell mode and the final level are unlocked which has a recommended level of 45-50. Again, grind like mad on the old levels on nightmare / hell to prepare for the final level. I clocked in total of 40 hrs of grinding to beat the game. It was very repetitive torture. After you beaten the game, the endless mode is unlocked. Just more of the same grind. Also there is a traditional arcade mode with no rpg mechanics but also didnt bother since I was sick of the game after story mode. Pros - Good SNES graphics - Find new mods to add more attacks strings to your moveset Cons - Heavy duty grinding is required to beat story mode - Some achievements are very RNG based, you might never find them in your playthrough - Unpopular game, good luck finding people for multiplayer - Did I mention this game is a HUGE grindfest? 2/10

[b] Unending Dusk [/b] is a decent beat'em up if you enjoy grinding stats and finding rare attack mods. As you can see I dropped over 80 hours just to max out 2 of the 4 characters. I guess you could say that it has some roguelite elements, although there is no perma-death. The stages are randomly generated so you can run into a secret shop or a hidden area, and that is not counting the stat grind which is usually associated with the genre. For me the game managed to capture the nostalgia that I have for classic beat' em ups, despite having all those new features. In my opinion the combat, aesthetic and the controls are faithfully implemented. I play Streets of Rage (2) very often, by comparison the execution of attacks is essentially the same. Unfortunately, it has no grappling which is perhaps my biggest problem. There are definitely some modern features added to the formula such as character levels and different damage types, but overall it truly feels like a game that could be on Genesis - mainly due to aesthetic. [h1] Replay Value: [/h1] Each of the 4 characters can gain up to 50 levels which takes about 30 hours per character. All of them have a skill tree with many upgrades, not counting numerous attack modifiers that you can equip. You not going to get all content in one run as there are many randomized features, such as hidden areas and randomized loot. There are 3 difficulty modes, each of them increases the difficulty and loot quality, additional to adding one new level per mode (and even an endless level at the very end). Obviously the game will get a little repetitive after the first few runs, but if you enjoy finding rare attack upgrades I think you can get a lot of replay value. It has that "post-game" aspect that keeps going until you run out of steam. The developers also added a lot of achievements and a few hidden events, although the lore of the game is not particularly exciting. Most of the randomized events just give some extra experience or make a funny reference. [b] Pros: [/b] + 4 unique characters with individual skill trees + 3 difficulty modes with improving loot drops + decent RPG elements, many rare attack mods + good soundtrack & genesis-like aesthetic + online co-op + achievements & hidden areas + awesome devs, so many updates with no community [b] Cons: [/b] - combat is a bit repetitive due to lack of grabs - could have used more stage variety, elevator perhaps - does not support local co-op (online only) [h1] Overall Thoughts: 8/10 [/h1] Participating in this 'Early Access' title has been a very positive experience for me (bought it on day one). The developers made numerous updates to the game, despite not having a community to work with (literally just 3-4 people playing). They added a lot of content, new moves for all characters, skins, achievements, and improved skill balancing. While the core combat system is not great due to lack of grabs, this game has a lot of replay value if you like grinding. Unlike some of the beat'em ups it supports an online co-op for up to 4 players, so get some friends and see how far you can go before you need to grind for some gear. [code]Review By: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]