As Dusk Falls

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 66

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An interactive crime drama with masterful storytelling that rewards repeated playthroughs.

Play It

Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 66

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 66

An interactive crime drama with masterful storytelling that rewards repeated playthroughs.

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Critic Reviews for As Dusk Falls

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

66

Reviews

Average Score - 79/100

79%

Ranges

4/5 stars

Keza MacDonald (Guardian)

A branching thriller played out from different perspectives, including characters’ histories, is clever though at times repetitive.

July 19, 2022 |

Full Review

An interactive movie that tells a memorable story of human choices.

July 18, 2022 |

Full Review

Recommended

Robert Purchese (Eurogamer)

7/10

Nick Gillett (Metro GameCentral)

A tense and dramatic interactive movie with superbly realised characters, a breathless plot, and a still-frame animation style that’s likely to prove extremely divisive.

July 18, 2022 |

Full Review

Keza MacDonald (Guardian)

4/5 stars - (Read Review)

A branching thriller played out from different perspectives, including characters’ histories, is clever though at times repetitive.

Robert Purchese (Eurogamer)

Recommended - (Read Review)

An interactive movie that tells a memorable story of human choices.

Nick Gillett (Metro GameCentral)

7/10 - (Read Review)

A tense and dramatic interactive movie with superbly realised characters, a breathless plot, and a still-frame animation style that’s likely to prove extremely divisive.

**Read all 66 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (66 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Juanma F. Padilla	90 / 100	07-25-2022	Have you ever been watching your favorite series, charged with tension, and wished you could influence what was happening on screen? Well, that’s the feeling that As Dusk Falls gives us, only instead of an innocuous warning to the television, this time the guys from INTERIOR/NIGHT allow us to do it. A very well told story that will involve us, a beautiful artistic invoice and thousands of options to take our own path make As Dusk Falls a must for anyone who likes to enjoy good stories.	Read review
3DNews	Алексей Лихачев	9 / 10	07-30-2022	One of the best interactive movies with a great story and a memorable cast of characters. The gameplay is kind of questionable but the amount of possible different outcomes is staggering.	Read review
AnaitGames	Marta Trivi	Recommended	07-22-2022	With its virtues and its flaws, As Dusk Falls is a more than remarkable experience. A game that bets (almost) everything on a story that is approached in a direct way, without the need to lengthen it to meet the requirements in the duration of a more traditional experience.	Read review
Atomix	Sebastian Quiroz	80 / 100	07-18-2022	Despite its mistakes, As Dusk Falls is something that Xbox and PC users cannot miss, thanks to an entertaining story built by our decisions,	Read review
AusGamers	Kosta Andreadis	6.5 / 10	07-20-2022	The characters too feel real, down-to-earth, and the sort of archetypes you’d expect to see in a branching crime drama.	Read review
BaziCenter	Omid Sedigh Imani	7 / 10	08-07-2022	Caroline Marshall’s first independent project may not have panned out exactly as planned, but it shows enough potential in its story telling to convince some to give it a try, and if you already own a Game Pass subscription then you are just investing your time, which will probably worth it.	Read review
But Why Tho?	Quinn Hiers	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is a memorable experience. The generation-spanning story is intriguing with its many twists and turns and too-human characters.	Read review
CGMagazine	Khari Taylor	9 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is the kind of game that Xbox Game Pass was made for, in the best possible sense of such a compliment; it’s a narrative thriller and adventure that’s easily worth the price of admission, and more importantly, it’s absolutely worthy of your time.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Victor Tan	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls tells a wonderful story that is not only thought provoking, but willing to discuss difficult subjects that aren’t often talked about. With every decision having an impact and putting the focus on characters, the story themes are effectively communicated and make you interested in seeing what happens next. Experiencing the game with your friends is also enjoyable, fostering discussions of your choices and what kind of decisions you make. While getting 100% completion for the game can be a tough journey, you are rewarded with story details that open up character motivations and keep you thinking about the characters long after you put down the game.	Read review
COGconnected	Mark Steighner	90 / 100	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls delivers a tense, dramatic and thoughtful story. Its narrative is always engaging and player choices feel impactful. While some moments can feel rushed or resolve too conveniently, many others are surprising, moving, and hard to forget. Thanks to a compelling story and characters, As Dusk Falls is one of the best interactive dramas in recent memory.	Read review
Digital Trends	Tomas Franzese	3.5 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is an atypical narrative adventure game with a compelling story about family.	Read review
EGM	Michael Goroff	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is exciting, beautiful, and heavy-handed. Its more streamlined approach to narrative gameplay and its less traditional art style create an immersive experience that engages with the player’s imagination. That it can work both as a morally challenging single-player story and a party game for multiple players speaks to the confidence that its developers have. But its second half of the story undercuts some of the tension that its excellent first half builds, and a terrible cliffhanger might leave you feeling betrayed.	Read review
Eurogamer	Robert Purchese	Recommended	07-18-2022	An interactive movie that tells a memorable story of human choices.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Giuseppe Arace	7.7 / 10	07-18-2022	Imperfect but fascinating for style and themes addressed, the adventure of INTERIOR / NIGHT wants to narrate a lot, and succeeds in a somewhat discontinuous way.	Read review
Game Informer	Matt Miller	8.8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls hides many secrets down the winding paths of its story web, and by its nature, you won’t get the full picture in any single playthrough, encouraging replayability. But you may also be tempted to play through one take on the story and then step away, content that you’ve seen “your” version play out. Either way, this is a weighty and gratifying excursion into interactive drama, confident enough in its writing to not rely on superpowers or fantasy. For players interested in the progress of interactive narrative frameworks, it’s a laudable success. But even for someone who never plays games, it works. That’s because good characters and storytelling make for a universal experience, and this is a project that has both.	Read review
Game Rant	Dalton Cooper	2 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	Interactive drama game As Dusk Falls has a strong start, but it’s quickly bogged down by pacing issues and an uninteresting second half.	Read review
Gameblog	Tiny_Ellie	7 / 10	07-19-2022	As Duks Falls is a very unique game with a distinctive art style. Off to a strong and gripping start, it loses its touch on the second half. A game you savor like a Netflix show that you can’t stop binge-watching.	Read review
Gamefa	Amirhossein Ranjbar	7.5 / 10	07-25-2022	As Dusk Falls is definitely one of the best surprises of the year. it’s definitely one of the best interactive games of recent years. If you’re a fan of interactive games and in general enjoy a good narrative, experiencing As Dusk Falls is a must for you. But be careful, if you want an engaging gameplay, this is not for you.	Read review
Gamerheadquarters	Jason Stettner	7.2 / 10	07-23-2022	As Dusk Falls provides an interesting first half with a latter portion that felt boring and stretched out. Pacing aside this is a very interesting middle ground between traditional series viewing experiences and interactive gaming.	Read review
GamesBeat	Dean Takahashi	60 / 100	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is a valiant attempt to tell a good crime drama where actions have consequences. The story went on a lot longer than I expected, as the tense moments at the motel spawned a lot of different threads — both flash forwards and flashbacks — that I didn’t expect. But ultimately the tale failed to move me in the way that I had hoped for.	Read review
GameSkinny	Peter Szpytek	9 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is gripping from start to finish and has a lot to say, becoming one of the few games where your choices actually can upend the story.	Read review
GameSpace	Suzie Ford	9 / 10	07-27-2022	Thanks to its ability to constantly cut the ground from under its feet, As Dusk Falls does not turn into a run-of-the-mill narrative that we will forget in an hour. Instead, the game leaves its mark on us, the sad but understandable problems of its characters casting a long shadow. And it certainly won’t get out of my head for a long time, making me think what if I did one way or another.	Read review
GameSpew	Kim Snaith	7 / 10	07-18-2022	We have a lot of gripes about As Dusk Falls, but we’ve still very much enjoyed our time with it. Its story will keep you hooked from start to finish, but some of its narrative gaps will leave you with questions. Should that keep you from playing? No – ultimately, this is a very well-executed narrative drama complete with excellent voice acting and a unique art style. Yes, it could have been better in many ways, but it’s still worthy of your time.	Read review
GameSpot	Mark Delaney	9 / 10	07-18-2022	Due to its strong script and pitch-perfect performances, Interior Night’s debut stands among the very best games of its kind.	Read review
GamesRadar+	Dustin Bailey	4 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls blends Netflix-style prestige drama with Telltale-style game storytelling to great results	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Eric Hauter	8.8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls offers a great new take on the adventure genre, focusing on a story that feels grounded in the real world, made all the more impactful through its stellar artwork. The multiplayer works fine and is fun, but I found myself wanting to play without others. Satisfying narratively regardless of your choices, As Dusk Falls is weighty and serious, surprising with great writing, realistic characters, and plenty of twists. Highly recommended.	Read review
GamingBolt	Shunal Doke	7 / 10	07-22-2022	As Dusk Falls is an incredibly easy game to judge within its opening hours. If, by the time you finish the first chapter, you find yourself liking the characters and wanting to know what happens, As Dusk Falls is great. If it can’t grab you by that point, however, there isn’t any other reason to keep playing, thanks to its dull gameplay and hit-or-miss art style.	Read review
GamingTrend	Abdul Saad	75 / 100	07-25-2022	Despite having dull gameplay mechanics, As Dusk Falls is a thrilling narrative drama with an endearing cast.	Read review
Generación Xbox	Alejandro Serrador	8.2 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is an interactive drama that highlights a structure based on the choices we make and the narrative possibilities of each of them.	Read review
God is a Geek	Chris White	8.5 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls tells a superb story of how two family’s lives are changed forever, with great writing that leads to some huge decisions to make.	Read review
Guardian	Keza MacDonald	4 / 5 stars	07-19-2022	A branching thriller played out from different perspectives, including characters’ histories, is clever though at times repetitive	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Jordan Helm	3 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	Without digging too deeply into the real reasons behind Interior Night’s choice of aesthetic and presentation, As Dusk Falls is one of those cases of a solid foundation let down one too many times by its execution.	Read review
IGN	Gabriel Moss	9 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls’ interactive crime drama is a masterwork of branching storytelling where decisions matter and repeated playthroughs are rewarded with even more revelations.	Read review
IGN Italy	Davide Mancini	7.8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls works as an intense first season of TV show who just you can’t stop binge watch. Interior/Night cinematic adventure works great when tries to depict how three destinies are entwined after a dramatic moment lived together, while sometimes fails to build drama in believable way. Anyway, the strange mix between thriller, teen drama and family story delivers an empathetic narration and compelling gameplay, with some minor flaws here and there.	Read review
IGN Spain	David Oña	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is a perfect video game to play in company regardless of the experience of the people involved in the game, a well-written and remarkably resolved decisional adventure that delivers an interesting story, and will guarantee you a couple of nights of good entertainment.	Read review
Impulsegamer	Scott De Lacy	5 / 5 stars	07-31-2022	As Dusk Falls exceeds all expectations and is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining experience for single and multiplayer alike.	Read review
INDIANTVCZ	Filip Kraucher	9 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls tells a compelling story and offers an excellent gameplay experience. The game tries to fill a significant market gap because the demand for interactive visual novels is relatively high. But teams capable of creating a good story adventure are scarce. Nevertheless, we are delighted that INT./NIGHT studio has tried to do it. The gameplay brings nothing new to the table, but it still manages to tell a competitive story that you’ll be thinking about for days after you finish it.	Read review
LevelUp	Pedro Pérez Cesari	8.5 / 10	07-18-2022	Being practically an interactive movie, it may bore those who are looking for their time with video games to have action. On the other hand, those who enjoy this type of experience, will find an adventure that is worth knowing, especially if we consider that it will arrive on Xbox Game Pass on its opening day.	Read review
Luis Alamilla	Luis Alamilla	8.5 / 10	07-26-2022	As Dusk Falls is one of the more memorable and enjoyable adventure game’s I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in the last few years. While I loved the rise of the genre since the Walking Dead, it’s truly gotten saturated and at times stale feeling but it’s a game like As Dusk Falls that makes me remember how the genre can also be so impactful. The approach to both solo and party playing this game made it a much more enjoyable time and certainly added to its replayability I think will have people coming back for more.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	Nick Gillett	7 / 10	07-18-2022	A tense and dramatic interactive movie with superbly realised characters, a breathless plot, and a still-frame animation style that’s likely to prove extremely divisive.	Read review
New Game Network	Ben Thomas	68 / 100	07-21-2022	As Dusk Falls is held together by a strong start and good characters, despite the narrative deflating itself in the second half. Its choice and consequence system lacks real significance and more polish was needed for its atypical visual design.	Read review
NoobFeed	Azfar Rayan	90 / 100	07-21-2022	As Dusk Falls is a game that shouldn’t be missed playing, despite the override system being a bit of chaos. Even while the gameplay does not involve revolutionary breakthroughs, it indeed ensures that the players remain on their toes throughout. First and foremost, however, how well the audiovisual style works in conjunction with this production cannot be overstated. It’s a highly replayable game with many different paths its plot may go.	Read review
Paste Magazine	Mik Deitz	7.5 / 10	07-29-2022	From start to end, As Dusk Falls is all about moments-small interactions full of humanity that ground the flawed ambition of the experience and make the sum of the parts almost greater than the whole. The cliffhanger that the first half ends on-the narrative is charmingly divided into two books, Collision and Expansion-will be burned into my memory for a long time, both for its sheer audacity and how it pushes everything into new directions. It’s not a perfect package, but it’s one that will engross you for its entire seven hour playtime while dangling its many loose threads to entice you into yet another playthrough.	Read review
PC Gamer	Luke Kemp	80 / 100	08-08-2022	A gripping experience, despite an ending that kicks itself up the arse.	Read review
Polygon	Tauriq Moosa	Recommended	07-18-2022	With its ability to constantly pull the rug out from under you, As Dusk Falls doesn’t fade into a forgettable narrative experience we’ve seen a thousand times. Instead, it leaves its mark, with a long shadow cast by its sad but understandable characters’ hardships drawn across threads seemingly made of jagged wire. What will haunt you is whether the thread you chose really was the best one at the time. As in life, the answer will likely be: probably not.	Read review
Post Arcade (National Post)	Chad Sapieha	7 / 10	07-18-2022	Xbox Game Studios’ branching crime drama is best enjoyed in a group, with friends arguing over decisions and taking the blame for fatal outcomes	Read review
Press Start	Brodie Gibbons	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As it ran its course, I realised I quite adored As Dusk Falls. As a decades-spanning crime thriller throughout America’s western plains, it’s well acted and admirably realised. Although the cliffhanger beckons another chapter, my journey through As Dusk Falls felt whole, though I can’t wait to explore all of the possibilities on offer.	Read review
Rock, Paper, Shotgun	Hayden Hefford	Recommended	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is an interactive drama that places you at the centre of an incredibly tense robbery gone wrong. Aside from some rare wooden dialogue, it’s a touching tale of loss, betrayal, fear, and love that I hoped wouldn’t end.	Read review
Screen Rant	Scott Baird	4.5 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is going to launch on Game Pass on day one and it feels like the perfect game for the service, and that’s meant as a compliment. It’s a strange experiment of a game, with an odd aesthetic and concept, that people might have otherwise overlooked. As Dusk Falls is worth checking out, especially with friends who can commit to experiencing the full story, as it’s one of the few video games that have captured the feeling of controlling the story of a TV show, so long as everyone is fine with experiencing some HBO levels of dark themes, and the risk of sad endings along the way.	Read review
SECTOR.sk	Matúš Štrba	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is an interactive drama that tells a compelling story with diverse paths and real impact of your decisions. The art style can be a bit distracting.	Read review
Shacknews	Donovan Erskine	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is an impressive debut from INTERIOR/NIGHT. It tells an emotionally impactful story with some solid vocal performances. The branching storyline is cleverly implemented and the multiplayer features offer a convenient way to play with friends. As Dusk Falls is a clear indicator that the future is bright for INTERIOR/NIGHT.	Read review
Sirus Gaming	Jarren Navarrete	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is a tense and exciting drama about crime and the families who get involved in it. If you love crime-drama TV shows, then you’ll feel right at home with this game. This storytelling video game feels intense and interesting at every turn. However, you should be aware of its shortcomings and limitations before purchasing.	Read review
SomHráč.sk	Daniel Palička	90 / 100	08-13-2022	As Dusk Falls is an amazing title that’s unlike anything else on the market today. The one thing that hurts it a bit is the lacking visual style, but if you can ignore that, you can look forward to a thrilling story.	Read review
SpazioGames	Domenico Musicò	8 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is undoubtedly a better written game than all the others created by Quantic Dream. with beautiful and complex characters and a compelling and mature story.	Read review
Stevivor	Ben Salter	7 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is the non-game narrative adventure for your non-gaming family and housemates. It’s the most engaged I’ve ever seen my lapsed casual gamer partner in a videogame and that’s because it has the familiar story pacing of a six-part TV series and almost no gameplay, which means minimal barrier to entry.	Read review
The Escapist	Marty Sliva	Recommended	07-19-2022	Video Review	Read review
The Games Machine	Claudio Magistrelli	7.2 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is a mixed bag. The story, while certainly not out of this world, provides good characters and a fair amount of drama, but the peculiar art style doesn’t always succeed in conveying the right emotion. The voice-over, and especially the Italian dubbing, also occasionally suffers from the same issue. The multiplayer mode does make the game more engaging, but it’s still an experience with very little interaction. Enjoyment might vary wildly depending on your tastes.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Nick Petrasiti	9 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls caught me by surprise, taking a genre of game that’s become a bit too familiar and injecting it with a tense crime drama and a singular flair. My hat goes off to Interior/Night and I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do next.	Read review
TrueAchievements	Sean Carey	4 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	For the most part, As Dusk Falls excels as an ‘interactive drama.’ With wonderfully crafted and relatable characters, superb voice acting, and unique art direction and animation style that lends itself to the story. The first few chapters alone are excellent, and they’ll have you gripping onto your controller when things are tense and utterly deflated when you’re forced into making a tough decision. The game is only let down by a weaker second act and a rushed final chapter, but overall, it’s still a great narrative adventure filled with dramatic moments, tension, and tough choices.	Read review
Twinfinite	Chris Jecks	3 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	I’d gone in hoping for a groundbreaking style of narrative-driven experience, one that operated on a sprawling web of branching paths over the course of 30 years of events, and was left underwhelmed by a fairly by-the-numbers entry in the genre that only dips its toe into its three decades-of family history and character entanglement. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll probably have some fun with this, but it’s hardly the revelation that the decision-based, narrative-driven genre feels like it so desperately needs.	Read review
VGC	Jordan Middler	2 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	Good characters, strong performances and well-engineered dual timeline storytelling are let down by pacing that’s utterly arhythmic and gameplay that’s fighting you at every step.	Read review
Wccftech	Rosh Kelly	9.5 / 10	07-18-2022	As Dusk Falls is a fantastic game that puts your attention where it rightly deserves to be, on the winding choices and tough decisions of desperate people caught in a desperate situation.	Read review
WellPlayed	Kieran Stockton	8 / 10	07-18-2022	This interactive crime drama packs a unique visual style and some gripping moments dealing with mature themes. The choices you make are crucial to the fates of two families, but the impact is more keenly felt in the first act than the second.	Read review
Windows Central	Samuel Tolbert	4 / 5 stars	07-18-2022	INTERIOR/NIGHT’s debut drama swings boldly, and it hits far more often than it misses. If you’re looking for a choose-your-own-adventure story that isn’t afraid to take some risks, give it a shot.	Read review
Worth Playing	Chris “Atom” DeAngelus	8 / 10	07-21-2022	As Dusk Falls is a fun little entry into the multiplayer movie-game genre. It’s neat to see a crime thriller as opposed to a horror movie and that alone lends it some charm. Unfortunately, the second half of the story meanders and is more disconnected than the first half, but it still is worth experiencing at least once. It doesn’t quite stick the landing as hard as you’d hope, but it has a lot of potential as a party game.	Read review
Xbox Achievements	Richard Walker	80 / 100	07-18-2022	Normally, with a choice-driven adventure, I’m once and done, ready for a post-game water-cooler discussion. As Dusk Falls’ warrants more than one playthrough, if only to see how differently things can pan out. If that open ending is any indication, there’s more to come.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

As Dusk Falls is about two families whose trajectories collide in the Arizona desert in 1999. Most stories start at the beginning, but this story starts in the middle, gradually widening outward to encompass multiple points of view over a thirty year span; a story spiral that explores the past, present and future of a single dramatic night.

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