Duskfade Review – A Clockwork Tribute to Classic 3D Platformers

Explore vast levels, defeat enemies, and hunt down collectibles as you search for a way to rescue your sister in the 3D action platformer Duskfade!

I first heard about Duskfade when I saw people comparing it to Kingdom Hearts, which caught my attention right away as a big fan of the series. Traces of that inspiration are certainly present in its visuals, such as the main character’s weapon, although it’s based on clock hands rather than a key. However, Duskfade isn’t an RPG but rather a 3D action platformer, and learning that interested me even more.

You play as Zirian, a boy whose sister vanishes after a strange, chained tower appears and freezes time. Joining him is Cuckoo, a talking clockwork bird found in the wake of the incident. Their plan is to find and destroy each of the chains so they can enter the tower and save his sister. It’s an action game where you’ll fight ink-based enemies with a combination of simple sword attacks and a handful of other moves you learn over the course of the game. The combat is simple, but it can get challenging, especially against bosses. However, while combat is important, the heart of the game is its platforming, where you’ll use a double jump, wall jump, and similar moves to traverse each level. Not only will you gain a few new combat abilities over time, but your means of traversal also increase as you progress through the game and obtain new equipment, and each new boss fight tests your latest platforming abilities, too.

With four chains leading away from the tower, I initially assumed it would be a simple matter of exploring four levels to reach the end. To my surprise, however, I crossed through one level, and then another, and still hadn’t reached the end of the first chain, which was when I realized the world of Duskfade was much bigger and more expansive than I expected. On top of that, each new area is filled with items to find. There are gears you can exchange for combat upgrades, echoes of past conversations to expand the world’s lore, and even collectibles that unlock alternate costumes and aesthetic changes to your weapon. Every time I wandered off the main path, I found new places to explore, as well as paths I knew I would have to revisit later with new abilities. For someone like me who loves collect-a-thon platformers, it was a delight to see just how much there was to find.

In between exploring the zones and fighting enemies, you’ll return to Tick Town, which acts as a hub area. This town is inhabited by little sentient clouds, and I loved walking around to get new dialogue after each major plot point. Although the dialogue sometimes felt like it was trying too hard to be funny, it was generally entertaining. It would have been nice if there were a little more to do in Tick Town to break up the pace of the lengthy levels, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

The world is gorgeous, too, with colorful, stylized graphics and a clock aesthetic. Even the menu is designed to look like a clock. This time-based theme extends into the story, where the mystery of the tower and what happened to the ancient Clockmakers are all important mysteries to solve. The story is a little predictable, but it’s beautiful and heartfelt. It also has some nice attention to detail, such as Zirian’s collectible animations changing at a certain point in the story. On top of that, the music is beautiful and does a great job of setting the scene for both dramatic moments and exploration. Duskfade is a beautiful game, and I had a great time seeing what its world has to offer.