As Dusk Falls

As Dusk Falls is an original interactive drama from INTERIOR/NIGHT that explores the entangled lives of two families across thirty years. Starting in 1998 with a robbery-gone-wrong in small town Arizona, the choices you make have a powerful impact on the characters’ lives in this story of betrayal, sacrifice and resilience.

Choices matter in As Dusk Falls. Replay the story again and again to uncover vastly different outcomes for the characters and explore hidden nuances behind every decision. Will your characters survive unscathed? What kind of people will they ultimately become?

Like most interactive games, players progress through the story and are presented with choices at pivotal points in the story. The decisions made decide the direction that the story takes.

Many scenes and locations in the game are also interactive. Players can investigate and explore these scenes to gather more information. As Dusk Falls also uses quick time events (QTEs) usually during tense moments when a character needs to avoid danger. QTEs are played by following on-screen prompts.

The game can be played using a game controller, keyboard/mouse, or even mobile phone. By downloading the As Dusk Falls Companion app for either Android or iOS devices, players can use their mobile phones to guide character actions, complete QTEs, and input their decisions. (The proviso is that the mobile device must be connected to the same network as the players PC or Console.)

In multiplayer mode, the game can accommodate up to 8 simultaneous players. If the 8 players own the game, they can cooperatively (or not!) play through the story.

In similar vein, in local co-op play, up to 4 players can play together on the same screen by connecting additional controllers. 8 players can play on the same screen using a combination of controllers and smartphones.

In these multiplayer modes, choosing what characters say and do is the same as with the single-player game, but in co-op play the choices are counted as votes. The choice with the most votes wins, deciding the outcome from moment to moment. Players can also use special overrides when they disagree with the group. If the vote is tied, the game will randomly select the winning choice.

As an interactive game, As Dusk Falls is an ideal game for variety streamers to play with their viewers. Launching the game into Broadcast Mode when starting a game allows any viewer of the connected Twitch stream to vote on the games' dialogue choices. Viewers vote on outcomes via the stream’s chat window. Each choice is shown with a hashtag number (#3, #4, etc). Players enter in the number of their choice in the Twitch chat panel. As before, the choice with the most votes wins.

In this mode, the streamer still has the power to override their viewers and are also required to handle all quick time events.

As Dusk Falls launches on Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, and Windows PC via Steam on Tuesday, 19 July.

IGN's Gabriel Moss has been looking at the game prior to its release, and concludes their very positive review saying:

As Dusk Falls is a masterwork of branching storytelling that makes the best out of its comic book-style animations, which end up giving you the opportunity to fill the negative space with your imagination – and this works surprisingly well during some of the more intense scenes.

An Important Final Note: As Dusk Falls includes playable situations related to intense violence, family conflict, mental health, suicide, and other mature themes. Player discretion is advised.

Spoiler Alert! The game's first 15 minutes, captured by IGN: