Dust by IkeC

[ClaudioDaffra]

A promising start, but with some mysteries yet to be unraveled.
This adventure began quite intriguingly, with a sudden awakening and amnesia that plunged us into an unknown world. The encounter with the young woman and the subsequent altercation immediately raised questions and created an atmosphere of mystery.
Arriving in town and meeting the sheriff further complicated the situation, leaving us with more questions than answers. The disappearance of the mayor’s daughter adds a layer of suspense and drives us to uncover the truth.
What I like:
The atmosphere: The Western setting creates a captivating and adventurous atmosphere.
The characters: The characters encountered so far are well-developed, each with their own unique qualities.
The mysteries: The numerous puzzles to solve keep us on the edge of our seats.
What I would like to see more of:
More details about the protagonist’s past: Who is he and what was he doing in that town?
Deeper developments of the supporting characters: I would like to know more about the young woman, the sheriff, and the other townspeople.
A faster pace: Some moments could be developed more dynamically to increase tension.
In conclusion, this adventure has all the makings of a captivating experience. I can’t wait to discover what the future holds for the protagonist and to unravel all the mysteries surrounding this story.

[IkeC]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to play my game and writing a review. I‘m glad you enjoyed it.

It is likely that you may hear of some of these characters again in the future.

[IkeC]

Now that there‘s a dedicated thread for Dust, I hope you don‘t mind me linking other reviews here, again with my heartfelt thanks for playing my game.

Doug Egan IFComp 2024 Reviews

“Dust” is a genre Western, written by IkeC, and according to the credits translated from German. The protagonist is trapped in an unfamiliar small town in the American old West, at a time just after the Civil War, who is forced to solve a missing persons case in order to clear his own name before he can leave town to move on with his own business. The tone straddles between serious crime drama and occaisional light humor (there is a joke about the red herrings in the general store which landed w…

[VictorGijsbers]

I’ll copy-past my own review here then!

Dust is a streamlined parser puzzler in the Western genre. Things start out normal enough when you wake up above the local saloon and go out for a walk. But fairly soon you are hit on the head, a damsel is missing, and your cowboy boots will have to function as the shining armour that knights are well-known to wear. Although the damsel in question already has a betrothed, so perhaps all you need is non-shining armour. But I digress.

For the most part, Dust is a friendly and easy game. You get very strong hints about what objects might have to be combined with what other objects, and the availability of said objects follows the order of the puzzles very closely. In fact, I would say too closely. It is obvious that one will need both the parrot and the lamp to enter the mines, but you first have to be stymied in certain ways before you can go to the relevant characters and ask for these items. This happens multiple times. You’re apparently not allowed to see the puzzle solutions before the game decides that it’s time to see them.

Going back to characters and asking them for things is a central mechanic, and one Dust did not convince me is a good one. Again, the game is doing the thinking for me. Instead of me deciding that I need a shovel to solve the problem I’ve met, I have to (a) run into the problem, (b) talk to the shopkeeper… and then the game has the idea that I need a shovel for me. There’s not much for me to do as a puzzle solver, which is a shame.

Not that everything went smoothly. I had a hard time opening the hatch under the gallows. For one, the puzzle doesn’t make a lot of sense to me: there’s only one place for the hatch to be – right under the noose – so why can’t I just locate it that way? But okay, I need to remove the sand. I tried several things, including this:

>sweep platform
Without suitable tools, this is a pointless undertaking.

Going back to Bill after doing this, does not give you the option to buy a shovel. On the other hand, if you try the far less logical action

>take sand
You try to scrape the sand away with your feet, but in this wind that seems to be a pointless endeavor. Perhaps you would have more success with proper tools.

then you can go back to Bill and get a shovel. I would never have found out about this without the walkthrough. This shows again the danger of the game’s approach to puzzles. (I also needed the walkthrough to find ‘drop hankie’, but perhaps that was me being thick-headed or not creative enough, or just not having a good mental picture of the scene.)

That said, Dust is still quite enjoyable. There’s a story here, some action scenes, an implied bigger quest that the character is on, and meticulous programming. But next time, I really think the players ought to be more firmly in charge of solving the puzzles.

[IkeC]

Thanks for playing and sharing your thoughts!

[IkeC]

Another review, thanks for playing and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

DemonApologist's IFComp 2024 Responses

49 | DUST

49 | DUST by: IkeC Progress: I completed the game with light use of the walkthrough/hints in about 1hr03m. For the most part, the hints I needed were instructions on how to phrase the thing that I was already trying to do, more than having no idea how to progress a given puzzle. Things I Appreciated: I really enjoyed the mood/atmosphere of this piece. Your player character has a distinct sense of identity without being overdrawn, and the town feels desolate because of the enviro…

[wolfbiter]

cross-posting my review

Wolfbiter reviews IFComp 2024 - latest: Dust

today’s today and tomorrow’s theme, courtesy of the rng-gods: two games set in an agriculturally challenging location (it’s one-a-day for a bit while I play more games, but God forbid I give up a bit) Dust by IkeC Playtime: 44 minutes The one where: we solve puzzles to rescue a damsel in the wild west The UI for this game includes some nice player quality-of-life features. There’s a fast-travel feature that I got a lot of use out of (I actually read it in the instructions but then forgot—bu…

@IkeC

It is likely that you may hear of some of these characters again in the future.

interesting! the ending did have a bit of that feel

[IkeC]

Thanks a lot for playing and your thorough review!

Mike Russo's IF Comp 2024 Reviews

Dust, by IkeC We’ve been self-deprecatingly saying parser puzzlers with traditional mechanics are medium-dry-goods games for decades now, but never I think have I seen that conceit made so literal as it is in Dust: progressing through this Old West adventure requires grit and a swift hand at the revolver, sure, but mostly it just takes a lot of trips to the general store. Crowbars, rope, matches, you name it, they’ve got it, which allows you to progress through a linear sequence of logical, sat…

I’ll be happy to discuss the game and any questions that may have come up after the competition is finished.

[IkeC]

Yay, another review!

Mathbrush's 2024 IFComp Review Thread

(I am now reviewing games that I helped test in some way. I won’t rate these on the IFComp website but will eventually put scores on IFDB. The only other game I plan on reviewing is the Apothecary one.) Dust by IkeC Dust is about a man in the Wild West who comes to town looking for his wife when he comes across trouble. It involves a lot of conversation and the use of a lot of tools. This game was entered in the German IF Gran Prix earlier this year, where I personally found it the best game …

Thanks a lot for playing, reviewing and being so helpful.

If it wasn’t for your kind review of the original version, I‘d probably never have considered the game to be worthy of a translation and to join this competition. Now I‘m very glad I decided to be part of all this, no matter the final result.