Dustwind: Resistance
Developers: Dustwind Studios, Z-Software
Publisher: Z-Software GmbH
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $19.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
It’s always tempting to harken back to a familiar and beloved franchise, especially one that happens to have been all but forgotten about by its current owner. Combine this with other elements from the same genre that have been given some recent updates and the concept of creating a unique combination of the two is ripe for the picking. This can be said about Dustwind: Resistance, a sequel of sorts to its original Dustwind release seven years ago but set completely separate, giving players a chance to experience the post-apocalyptic setting for the first time here. Looking to capture some of the magic that a certain other post-apocalyptic tactics game offered and some isometric action that a commando series might offer, has this indie game managed to pull it off?
Story
As mentioned before, Dustwind: Resistance might be a sequel but players can jump in without any prior knowledge of the original game and feel right at home. The apocalypse happened and mutants can spring up here and there and farmers tend to giant frog looking creatures rather than cows or pigs, no biggie. Players take on the role of Jake, a farmboy who has managed to grow up happily alongside his childhood friend Amanda that soon became his wife and his long-lived dog Diesel. After many long years of farming normal seeming produce despite the mutants running around, Jake returns to his farming settlement only to find that it has been nearly destroyed by a roaming band of bandits all being led by an extremely powerful leader calling himself Warlord.
Warlord can give Jake a reprieve, deeming him too pathetic to kill (or instantly blast away with laser weapons if players try to attack), giving Jake a chance to survey the damage to his home and find what little remains of his family and people hidden away in the basement safe-room. It isn’t long before Jake sets out alongside his loyal canine Diesel to continue along Warlord’s war path and try to find help only to encounter more and more bandits and enemies along the way, including those that have seemingly slain his wife in her home settlement as well. With his wife seemingly slain by these monstrous bandits and no help besides the few stragglers that have managed to survive, Jake finds himself set on a path of not only vengeance, but one that will ultimately pit him against the monster that is terrorizing the region with his high-tech weapons and never ending band of raiders.
Dustwind: Resistance tells a fairly solid and serviceable storyline that players will get to experience across a nearly seventeen hour long campaign set in its own unique take on a post-apocalyptic world trying to survive even with a new monster in town. Unfortunately while this does make for a fairly lengthy game, the story itself is a bit threadbare as there are far too few characters to actually interact with. More often than not players will simply find themselves going from one mission into the next with little to no interaction between the characters. This does change up a bit once a certain someone makes a reappearance and a new companion joins the fight as well, but even then one would hope for a bit more story than what is on offer here. It is also worth noting that while characters can talk to some NPCs and have entire chat windows up with them, selecting various options to find out more or continue a conversation, the radio chatter that occasionally pops up in the top right corner is incredibly glitchy.
This tends to involve allies on a combat stage, most of which happen to be quite long, giving players an update, telling them one they might need to do next, or in the case of defense missions warning where enemy units might be approaching from. Unfortunately these radio calls often vanish the second they pop up, making them barely noticeable let alone legible since nothing is voiced in the game.Thankfully, players can always follow the marker towards their next objective should it actually be taking and traveling too, picking up, or setting down an item or defense perimeter. Then again, if it is as simple as having to wipe out the entire map of bandits, at least then it is self-explanatory even if players might find themselves caught off guard by flanking foes they would have otherwise been warned about if the game’s radio display box didn’t glitch out.
Gameplay
Although it may look like a tactics game, Dustwind: Resistance is all about action with tactics being an optional element. As players play through the game, Jake and his team will encounter enemies and all fights will happen in real time for better or worse. Players have the option to pause combat and directly dictate what they want each party member to do, such as having Jake use a skill to target the head of a bandit about to throw a grenade, hoping to knock them flat while also telling Diesel to run towards a separate foe entirely and start biting away at their legs to cripple or straight up kill them. Considering friendly fire is a thing, and happens far too often in many cases even on easier difficulties, of which the game offers numerous difficulties ranging from very easy to challengingly hard, players will always want to make sure to keep their melee fighters out of the way of their ranged ones.
Similarly, players can choose to press a couple of buttons at once and select their entire party to move from place to place, keeping the team together and this can be something of a double-edged sword in Dustwind: Resistance as the title is incredibly unforgiving, especially early on before players have gained extra party members. This is due to a number of reasons, such as ally AI running off randomly on its own to attack foes in a distance that will surely kill them and one that has already been patched since our time experiencing it ourselves in the form of some absolutely ridiculously bad balancing when it came to defense missions. While players have the option to play stealthily and sneak around, stealth rarely works correctly making sneaking a useless tactic even when leveled up, meaning often the best way to take on a situation is as slow and carefully as possible, picking off bandits and other enemies in small groups to avoid drawing a massive group.
This is primarily thanks to the fact that all attacks, even melee, have a percentage chance to hit and it feels incredibly cheap when a 90% chance to hit misses and an enemy can just rattle a teammate without any sign of failure. Similarly, enemy range and visuals are ridiculous compared to the players. Even when zoomed out, players will not be able to see snipers other than a vague red aura in their direction, meaning players will need to find cover fast or risk losing a lot of health to impossible to defend sniper fire, especially since the “dash” option is so short it would make anyone else look like an athlete, including Diesel. This means that facing off against enemies in a group is nearly always going to be met with failure, especially since players can only “pick up” a dying teammate by healing them twice with small almost instant nanopacks or once with a large nanopack. Trying to use bandages takes forever and not only leaves players wide open for attack but probable game over since, if a character’s medical skill is too low, they’ll take longer bandaging an ally up than it will take for them to “bleed out.”
That’s not to say that Dustwind: Resistance doesn’t have its perks. As mentioned before, this combination of real-time combat where players can pause and plan out a strategy to unleash hell on their enemies actually works out incredibly well past the first few missions and players have more options open to them. Players can utilize a wide variety of weaponry and skills to take and pick and choose their targets before resuming time and seeing how things play out. Thankfully not only can players set the game to regularly “autosave” in fairly short intervals, players can quickave easily as well, meaning that they can win a battle, save, and then not have to deal with that group again. It also must be said that Diesel is a delight and any game that could have a dog in it, especially one capable of fighting, should. Diesel can not only serve as a great distraction and way to cripple foes, he can sense and disarm mines, plant mines of his own to trip up enemies, and even somehow pull the pin on a grenade and throw it with his doggy jaws at enemies, blowing them away. Combine this with the fact that, rather than petting the dog, the dog pet’s the player’s allies to heal them with healing items but he can also take charge of the turret in the vehicle that players eventually obtain.
Similar to Diesel, using the armored vehicle to drive over, blast away, and simply destroy enemies is a real delight and something that it feels like Dustwind: Resistance could have used more of. We get trying to depict a gritty and grueling difficult world, but having some extra overpowered moments wouldn’t hurt here and there. It is also nice to note that the vehicle has an infinite storage capacity meaning players can dump as much random weaponry, ammo, grenades, and even unique weapons into there if they don’t need them at the moment or aren’t somewhere players can sell them. It is worth noting that while there is an equipment system and even a leveling system, it is rather basic. Yes, there are some hidden weapons throughout a few stages that offer unique strengths but for the most part players will be wanting to change up their gear to best fit a situation, even if it means lugging an incredibly heavy flamethrower or rocket launcher around or multiple types of ammunition for the same gun type as some might be more powerful or effective against some enemies.
It is also worth noting that while players can “level up” their party members, this isn’t done by XP earned from every enemy slain, but simply leveling up the entire party anytime a level is finished. Players can hang onto level up points as long as they want but it is worth noting that some abilities require a specific level of a certain skill to use efficiently or at all, giving this mostly action combat focused game a small RPG element nonetheless. That being said, there also feels like there are far too many skills and abilities available for how few skill points are dished out, something a bit questionable especially since there’s no real replay value to be found here for building characters in different ways other than simply because players can.
Audio & Visuals
Graphically Dustwind: Resistance is something of a mixed bag. Character portraits are handled quite nicely with every NPC that players and meaningfully talk to having a well-drawn and fitting looking portrait, including Diesel. Even fighting in combat is solidly done, with weapons feeling like they have some proper heft when used correctly as targeting a head or leg specifically with a skill can turn a character’s head to giblets, tossing a grenade into a group and sending them flying with no legs, or even roasting an enemy with a flamethrower can look satisfyingly brutal. Unfortunately though, the overall presentation of the character models themselves and the world that players travel through leaves a lot to be desired. While this is an indie game, Dustwind: Resistance looks like something someone would have expected two or even three generations ago. At least it runs smooth no matter what, including when driving around in the armored vehicle and unleashing hell on the enemy with your dog of all things being the vehicle’s gunner.
It is also worth noting that the user interface and subtitles have not been optimized for consoles in any way. This means that all text is incredibly small to the point that most players will have trouble reading it if they aren’t sitting quite close to their television sets. Ironically, given the graphics for the game, this issue harkens back to that same generation of consoles that dealt with this issue. That being said, it is also worth noting that there is no voice work of any kind in the game as mentioned earlier, there are some enemy barks and literal barks from Diesel but nothing more. The soundtrack is fitting enough for the post-apocalyptic setting but doesn’t stand out in any memorable fashion.
Overall
Dustwind: Resistance feels like it has a lot of heart behind it and it shows it at times. From a lengthy and solid enough campaign with some predictable but enjoyable little twists here and there and some well-designed combat mechanics that kind of fall apart when players find themselves outnumbered, there is something to be enjoyed here, especially with the fun little quirks. Unfortunately these little quirks and heart don’t help the fact that deaths often feel cheap due to enemy placement and range, graphics and user interface that feel a decade old, and some wonky ally AI at the worst of times and you have a punishingly difficult real time strategy game that tries to punch above its weight class but just can’t reach those lofty goals.
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