Developer Humble Hearts is actually Dean Dodrill, making his one-man effort Dust: An Elysian Tail even more impressive, boasting stunning animation that outclasses many so-called AAA games. Players control the eponymous Dust, a wandering samurai type out to recover his memories. Joined by a mythic talking sword and a flying sidekick named Fidget, a deeper – and at times darker – narrative is revealed along the journey.
Gameplay merges action platforming and frenzied melee combat with role-playing elements, such as experience points and item crafting. Though there aren't too many surprises here, Dust builds up an expansive repertoire of impressive attacks, eventually allowing the domination of screens full of enemies with ease.
Yet it is the side-scrolling world of Elysia that is the real strength, full of beautiful backgrounds, clever level design and interesting anthropomorphic characters. Certain paths can be traversed only with appropriate moves or items and, while that generates some backtracking, you'll do so eagerly, hungry to discover what secrets await.
Practically the only flaw is an irksome tendency to replace assigned quick-use items when an arguably better one is picked up, though this is largely down to personal preference. With charming voice acting, speedy combat and – to hammer the point home – really lovely visuals, Dust instantly marks its territory as one of the finest digital download offerings on the 360.
