AN OBSESSIVELY TUNED, FINELY CRAFTED SHOOTER.

$28.95 | PC | newblood.games/games

AT THE BEGINNING of Dusk, I’m meathooked (at least the third-worst way to wake up) and trapped in a hostile world mostly unarmed. Like the ‘90s shooters it draws inspiration from, the first tool Dusk gives players is speed. This is a game where pressing the forward button zips me along the ground, and, charmingly, bunny hopping adds momentum just like it used to in ye olden days. With a heavy W-finger and a lot of jumping, exploring the creepy farmhouses and buildings of Dusk’s first chapter felt like touring a retro videogame art museum.

Dusk is brilliant because it understands that replaying old games is frequently kind of a letdown. Half-Life is a classic, but playing it today shows how different parts of it haven’t aged well. It’s just not quite as fun as it was when it first blew my mind in 1998. Dusk doesn’t recreate what FPS games were like in the ‘90s just to do it again. Dusk instead captures how those games feel now in my mind, tinted by 20 years of rose-colored memories. It shouldn’t be possible, and it’s a remarkable achievement.