Nystr0

DO NOT let the 'furry' characters turn you away! To this day I am decidedly not a fan of 'furry' anthropomorphic animal visual works, but (and I do not say this lightly) Dust: An Elysian Tail represents the only exception. History should remember this game as a masterwork of art AND interactive media. Dust's single developer (though this game would be as excellent if produced by a team) accomplished a trifecta with its handpainted visuals, moving sound, and engaging gameplay all tied together by a well-written story with unforgettable characters. One cannot truly understand the experience of Dust's 2D combat through either words or video; neither can represent the complex yet approachable gameplay. Few games deserve a 95+/100 and even fewer perfect scores; Dust overwhelmingly deserves it. The Metacritic User and Critic scores inappropriately underrate this game, an 8.3 and 8.0 are remarkably unfair. Fortunately, the Steam community's 11.2k reviews do Dust justice with a 96% (overall) and 100% (recent). I am so glad I gave Dust a chance. Thank you Xbox for featuring Dust on Games with Gold, it is highly unlikely I would have ever given it a shot otherwise.

This game had 25+ hours of for me. Given the low price point, Earth Wars is an easy eShop recommendation given how much fun the combat is. The game runs excellently; I experienced no bugs while playing. Art style is a bit bizarre, especially the female ANTI soldiers, but it honestly works.This was one of the few games that kept me coming back for more.

The game has a critical flaw where the render fog (in this case black fog) makes seeing across rooms and corridors incredibly challenging. This combined with poor framerates makes for an experience that simply isn't fun when it should be. Additionally, the timed challenges like bomb defusing create frantic situations where you find yourself frantically trying to find the bombs in the low render distance. I would gladly sacrifice the semi-destructible environments for increased render distance. If it weren't for these problems I would easily recommend this game.