DaRmaZat Clearly aiming for the same audience that grew up with titles such as The Legend of Zelda and Jak and Daxter, brand-new 3D action-platformer Duskfade attempts to revive that particular style with a colorful, time-driven fairy-tale world at a time when the genre is already heavily oversaturated.
When it comes to the story, Duskfade certainly does nothing wrong. Stepping into the shoes of young hero Zirian, you are immediately thrown into chaos after your magician sister, Allira, botches a spell. For the sake of that much-needed plot conflict, her magic naturally goes wildly out of control, transforming the surrounding land into a realm of pure enchantment, which includes unleashing a bunch of rogue monsters. Worse yet, Allira herself goes missing, apparently taken captive by the dark forces of Despair, the sinister main antagonist. Your quest to save her brings you directly to Tick Town, an idyllic fairy-tale village currently under total lockdown. Overlooking the area, a creepy, spellbound Clock Tower hangs right at the center of Tearfeld, suspended by massive chains, and your sister is effectively trapped at its center.
Before long, you meet Cuckoo, a robotic bird who quickly decides to join you for this quest to save your sister. Wandering through the diverse, hand-painted environments – ranging from forests and caves to underwater realms – you will frequently run into blue floating ghosts called Cloudies. These spirits seem to have known your grandfather, referred to as Gramps, and love sharing tales about the ancient Clockmakers, though figuring out the bigger picture is mostly up to you.
Cuckoo proves to be a handy traveling companion, chirping up whenever you leave something behind, helping out during combat, or simply when he feels like chatting. The dialogue between the two never shies away from crude jokes like “it smells like farts in here”, which won’t be for everyone, but I can appreciate the lighthearted effort. Visually, the game also looks right from the start like something straight out of a Pixar or Disney animated movie. Weird Beluga clearly aimed high with its presentation, delivering surprisingly strong cinematics, smooth scene transitions, and slick storytelling animations.
Mainly, navigating Tearfeld revolves around grappling and rail-grinding in beautiful, picturesque environments, clearing platforming sections, and fighting off monsters with Gramps’ sword, called Minutero. The crisp graphics and responsive controls make the journey feel great right off the bat, while the integrated tutorial teaches you the ropes without ever feeling like you’re sitting through a lesson.
Unfortunately, I have to admit that combat is one of the weaker parts of the game. Surprisingly, though, the combat itself feels smooth enough despite the lack of blocking or parrying. The real issue is the camera. Timing your dodge perfectly triggers a momentary slow-motion effect, which helps keep things under control for a brief moment. However, real-time brawling against groups of enemies quickly becomes chaotic, as the camera constantly swings all over the place, with enemies often disappearing from view behind you, even when using the available auto-lock-on option.
During boss battles, dodging at the right second is no longer enough; you also have to quickly swing around with your grappling hook while dodging magical attacks coming at you from every direction, almost like playing a Soulslike game. It feels like a jarring contrast compared to everything that came before it. Luckily, you can always turn down the difficulty settings, so the game is still quite accessible.
Visiting The Traveler’s Shop in the village from time to time is also worthwhile, since it lets you upgrade both Cuckoo and your gear using components and Shards scattered throughout the world. You can discover plenty of these Shards in hidden secrets, though to be honest, they are rarely hard to find.
Only when you unlock the grappling hook does the difficulty suddenly take a massive leap forward, since the gameplay up to that point is a bit too straightforward. Instead of a traditional mini-map, you navigate by following the chime of Guide Bells and checking your journal, with teleportation stations offering quick fast travel between major regions. But while fast travel makes getting around easy, there is little else to do for long stretches besides platforming and taking on similar groups of enemies, all while collecting the same Shards, which can start to feel rather repetitive until you meet a new boss.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Duskfade is a solid action-platformer with a surprisingly cinematic audiovisual presentation. While the chaotic camera certainly has an impact on the increasingly challenging combat and the gameplay becomes somewhat repetitive over time, the intriguing lore, magic-infused world, and fun platforming actually keep you hooked. If you really love those classic 3D adventure platformers and don’t mind some grinding, this is definitely a title worth trying out.
Additional Information
Release Date: August 13, 2026
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Weird Beluga
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Relevant links: Available via Steam.
