August 15th 2012 6:00 am PT

Arcade: Dust: An Elysian Tail

Content: Dust: An Elysian Tail
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
Availability: Check availability in your Xbox LIVE region
Dash Text: Immerse yourself in a gorgeous hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior, Dust, you must master the ancient Blade of Ahrah to battle dozens of enemies with an intuitive combat system, take on a variety of quests, discover powerful upgrades throughout the massive, open world, and uncover the story of an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction as you fight to uncover

Add the game trial to your Xbox 360 download queue

Arcade, Marketplace By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2012/08/15/arcade-dust-an-elysian-tail/

rhooper

Amazing game, totally recommended!
The best one in this Summer of Arcade, by far…
Guest0481

I have been waiting for this!!
http://twitter.com/MykeJayy Michael J

The only game that i’ve been looking forward to for this Summer of Arcade, hope it doesn’t disappoint!
LPHeadstrong

What does this game have to do with Dust? Is it like a sequel or a port or what?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry-Lane/1211827364 Terry Lane
  
  nothing. Entirely different game.
http://twitter.com/StrikeSudden StrikeSudden

Did not buy a single summer arcade game. I have grown tired of this style they have been releasing. We need to get rid of the hardwood games and have a new hearts spades and backgammon with mor varrients. How about a full house casino. liers dice .
- http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
  
  full house casino is a great idea!!! I’ve been saying that since the fail full house poker came out!!
Lee Rayson

Ill atleast give it a try. but im nto expecting much
makegoldbetter42

This game is phenomenal. Finally something worth spending some points on
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516951649 Justin Stewart

This is a great game I can’t wait to play it more.
http://twitter.com/Navarin Buster Wolf

Fantastic game, will run you a fifteen hour playtime minimum too!
Still, only one game out of five worth your time from Summer of Arcade this year. Do you really think that’s good enough, Microsoft?
- Corellianrogue
  
  Huh? The only games I’m not buying are Tony Hawk HD and Hybrid and I’m only not buying Hybrid because it’s multiplayer only, even though it’s supposed to be a great game.
  - http://twitter.com/Navarin Buster Wolf
    
    Okay okay, MAYBE I’m being a bit brash with that comment but you can’t deny this has been a down year for Summer of Arcade. I don’t want to say worst, but I’d happily say least good.
    
    Dust is amazing though, so glad we got that.
    - Corellianrogue
      
      Wreckateer and Deadlight look cool (I haven’t had the chance to get them yet, but watching videos has made my mind up to get them) and so does Hybrid even though I won’t get it as I hardly ever play multiplayer. Plus I would have thought Tony Hawk HD is great for people who like the Tony Hawk games. (Couldn’t get the handle of them myself. Well, I did only try the 1st or 2nd one, whichever was the 1st Dreamcast version.) So I don’t see the problem. Plus this year you don’t have to buy all of them to get the bonus MSP, just 3 of them I think. (Plus there are the free Trials Evolution bonus tracks and Minecraft skins, you don’t even have to buy the Summer Of Arcade games to get those.)
  - http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
    
    hybrid is awful. gotham city impostors is a much better game.
Nick Peck

I will get this, but I have to wait as I’m only a few hours into Darksiders 2, then have Transformers coming next week so I won’t have time for it. But I will pick it up, looks like a great game.
http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose

lovely visuals and controls are solid but 1200 for a single player game is a no no for me
- http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller
  
  -_- Please tell me you’re joking? People like you are the reason why a lot of AAA single player games go MP.
  - http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
    
    I’m not spending 1200 msp on a game I will finish in a day. don’t blame “people like me” for AAA single player games having to have mp added or for failing, blame M$ and the devs for having the prices too high. look at lollipop chainsaw – fun game but in no way is it worth £40/$60, its a AA arcade game at best.
    - Corellianrogue
      
      Dust is supposed to be a huge game that’s bigger than many on-disc games, so I doubt you’ll finish it in a day.
      - Bee Man
        
        Dust is a really great game but once you’ve found everything…. and it looks as though I have in less than a day, there is nothing left to do… ZERO replay value. Unless you call starting over again from scratch … replay value. Which it isn’t. Unless I’m missing something. If you’re on the fence with this game, hold off $15.00 is a little high for a short game with no replay value. It will go on sale. Anyone that plays these types of games will beat it in a day max. It’s not that hard.
      - Corellianrogue
        
        A guy above said that it’s got a 15 hour minimum playtime, how long have you been playing it and how close to the end do you think you are? 15 hours is huge and a total bargain for 1200msp, what sort of replayability are you expecting? I don’t replay games as there are too many of them so it doesn’t bother me if there’s no real reason to replay it other than just wanting to play the game again. Why don’t people criticise Limbo? That’s so overated, it’s REALLY short and has just a handful of puzzles and only about 5 or 6 enemies (in total, not enemy types), it feels more like a demo. I hope the sequel is about 10 times longer!
      - http://twitter.com/Navarin Buster Wolf
        
        I criticise Limbo all the time. I get vilified for it, but it really is just a boring mediocre platformer. Dust is anything but, it’s an indie game that’s actually good.
      - Corellianrogue
        
        I’m glad somebody does. Although to be clear, I think what little gameplay Limbo has got is good it’s just that there’s very little of it. Like I said, it’s more like a demo than a full game.
      - http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
        
        I got limbo for 400 or 600 and thought it was worth it. would I think it was worth it at 1200? no freaking way. because it has avatar awards? oh please……..
      - Corellianrogue
        
        So you think a game that’s not only a couple of hours long at most with very little gameplay in those hours (as opposed to say a side-scrolling shoot-em-up that’s action-packed for virtually every second, minus stuff like menus and cutscenes obviously), probably only about 10 – 20 mins plus thinking time (to solve the puzzles) from what I remember, is worth 400 – 600msp but an action-packed platform hack & slash adventure game that’s at least 15 hours long with probably 90% of that time being active gameplay from what I’ve seen isn’t worth 1200msp? What planet are you from???!!!
      - Bee Man
        
        I finished with all achievements in about 15 hours as did a lot of other people. Some were already at 117% complete when I was half way through the game. Limbo is a different game altogether. For starters, you don’t level up and find weapons, blueprints etc… And it was quite unique in its approach. So i dont mind starting a new game every time I play. With Dust you have to start all over again with no weapons and powerups and personally i like going back and starting over with my saved charachter. So many other games have done it, even fez did it.
      - http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
        
        exactly
      - Roger Jonson
        
        Seems like you enjoyed it though? What percent did you complete? How many hours on leaderboard? Thanks for reply, as there are currently players with 45 hours on leaderboard, 43, 36, 33, 33, 33,31, 31 etc. That’s over 24 hours BTW.
      - Bee Man
        
        I did enjoy it a lot. I am just bummed I can’t play with a saved character. Ive been playing games like these for a long time and since chrono trigger have loved the ability to start over with everything. I got 117 complete. It was weird too as it went from 83 to 103 with little action on my part. I’ll probably play it one more time on the hardest setting and then move on. I do hope for a sequel.
      - http://www.facebook.com/AutomaticOcelot AutomaticOcelot GB
        
        Take what you just described about replayability and apply it to Super Metroid, one of the best games of all time. Which Dust basically cribs from, mechanically, as a metroidvania.
        
        I really really want someone to explain what the psychological barrier of five extra dollars or five fewer hours is toward enjoying something well crafted as a whole package. It is not the developers and the COD clones, it is gamer entitlement that is devaluing the medium. Usually from spoiled kids who don’t remember paying $70 for an 8-bit cartridge in 1988 money. That’s probably not you, but you’ve seen it.
        
        I don’t like to buy most retail games at $60, so I wait. I just ordered AC:Rev for $23 brand new from Amazon. I’m fine with that; I paid $60 for ACII and $50 for Brotherhood, so I’m a little tired of the Ubidrain on my wallet.
        
        I don’t like to buy soft drinks that are $4 when most restaurants are $2.50. But if you’re thirsty at a movie theater you don’t have much choice, except tap water. We’re currently coming out of a game drought, and I look forward to having enough time to finish up Dust before my fall classes start and I no longer have “15 hours a day for video games” like so many seem to… One looks at time a little different the older you get.
      - http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
        
        says you…….. 24hrs in a day – 15hr game = 9hrs or are you bad at math?
      - Corellianrogue
        
        Buster Wolf said 15 hours minimum, plus you forgot to add those trivial little things in your calculation such as eating and sleeping as well as school or work for most people. So do you only buy games that have a minimum play-time of over 24 hours, even if they’re only 1200msp or cash equivalent for disc games??
    - http://twitter.com/Navarin Buster Wolf
      
      You will not finish this in a day.
  - Russell Gorall
    
    So, someone not spending fifteen bucks at the end of a console cycle on a DLC game is ruining the game industry in your mind?
    - http://www.facebook.com/moose.mcmoose.54 Moose McMoose
      
      Thank you!!! the gaming industry is a throwaway industry & that is the way it has been, is & forever will be . every piece of software/hardware that comes out loses its value every day after release but not digital tittles. if I bought a game on xbla and finish it in a day what am I going to do with it? i can’t trade it for another game and I can’t get half my money back once I complete it. chase achievements? meaningless to me. the arcade games need a more diverse pricing instead of 400 (which is very rare), 800, 1200 and what is soon to be the norm,1600 msp. I’m not spending as much on XBLA games any more because I am fed up with buying broken/glitched games that have all support stopped a few months after release like fez, mnc, fhtp, gci, to name a few because of m$’s strict updating rules. it’s us thats missing out not them and I’m personally fed up with buying a retail game at £40 for another version to come out in the same year. the home console needs a revolution beyond apps and other useless things that the majority of hardcore gamers aren’t interested in. how many people on here honesty believe the way digital games/content is priced and delivered on consoles is acceptable? l4d2 dlc free on pc but on xbox 500+msp. we are being blindly ripped off. if the wii u doesn’t become the console I think it will be then I don’t know what will get the console industry to change.
      - Corellianrogue
        
        Home consoles have a revolution, it’s called Kinect and anyone who doesn’t have one and haven’t supported the core games for it can’t call themselves a hardcore gamer. Neither can those who can’t play it properly unless they have a very good reason. (I mean as in skill. Obviously if you don’t have enough space then it’s fair enough if you don’t get one.) Support core Kinect games so developers make more of them.
        
        Also games shouldn’t need patches, if they’re broken blame the developers not Microsoft for their update policy. It’s fine to criticise them on some of the restrictions, but they shouldn’t be blamed for developers’ mistakes. (Although if it’s a game made by just 1 guy for example I guess they should be allowed a little leeway.)
        
        As for some things being free on PC but not on the Xbox 360, you are aware of licencing fees aren’t you? That’s why PC games are cheaper in general compared to console games as there’s no fee to be paid, on consoles developers/publishers have to pay a fee to the console maker for every game they make for it. Also developers are allowed to release a certain amount of DLC for a game on the Xbox 360 for free, at least that’s what I read somewhere.
        
        Personally I’m actually against mandatory digital distribution, I wish that at least the big XBLA games, had an optional disc release, even if they cost more on disc, as I prefer physically owning my games. And I mean simultaneous release, I know some XBLA games come out on compilation discs months or even years after their XBLA release.
      - Moribund Cadaver
        
        Great viral marketing post, 8/10 would read again.
      - Corellianrogue
        
        It’s not a viral marketing post. Did you miss where I said I’m against mandatory digital distribution, something Microsoft are really pushing by having a lot of their big exclusives on XBLA instead of on disc? Also in another post I said Limbo was totally overrated, that’s a game that Microsft hyped the hell out of. I’ve got criticism for Microsoft but I also give credit where it’s due. Although I credit Dean Dodrill more for making Dust, the first game he’s ever made as in made all of it except the audio, but good on Microsoft for not only publishing it but also giving it the hype it deserves. Then again they could do even more, like TV ads for it, in fact they should run TV ads for Summer Of Arcade and similar XBLA events in general.
    - http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller
      
      Lol, you’re funny. I didn’t say anything about it ruining the industry, nice try though. I think.
      - Russell Gorall
        
        You are the reason a lot mulitplayer games go singleplayer.
      - http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller
        
        Good! I want to be that person. Try harder.
      - Russell Gorall
        
        We have fun.
      - http://twitter.com/GreenMistt Miller
        
        we sure do
- http://twitter.com/Navarin Buster Wolf
  
  1200 for a single player game is too much, 1200 for a multiplayer game is too much, will you people make up your dang minds?
  - Moribund Cadaver
    
    Saying $15 is too much money for a single player game that’s 15-20 hours long is insane. What do people want? $2? Fifty cents? $15 is less than the cost of a 2 hour movie on blu-ray.
    
    Really, it may just be a sign of increasing nihilism among potential customers and the audience. People don’t believe anyone’s work is worth money, even when it presents a lot of content, made by one person, and is the antithesis of a ‘corporate’ game that people love to gripe about these days.
- aStrangeDisease
  
  A lot of people, including me, spend more than $15 for a two hour movie, or one hours worth of gas in the car, or a one hour lunch break. A good game with over 10 hours of gameplay is worh at least $15.
http://twitter.com/BubBobz neil

1 vs 100 … bring it back!
Russell Gorall

I notice Microsoft PR in full effect in the comments.
- http://twitter.com/trinidadchris Christopher Trinidad
  
  Don’t be dumb.
  - Russell Gorall
    
    Don’t be dumb.
- http://www.facebook.com/AutomaticOcelot AutomaticOcelot GB
  
  Well Rusty, if we can call you Sony PR then it’s all good.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516951649 Justin Stewart

I bought the game and I love it!
http://www.facebook.com/PANDEMlC Ryan Babcock

The game’s fantastic, by far the best SOA game this year. The best arcade game I’ve played in a long time, since the likes of Bastion and Limbo. Beautiful art, interesting story, good voice acting, fun characters, smooth combat mechanics and a nice rpg-esque leveling system. Hopefully this game blows up by word of mouth, I have nothing to complain of as of yet and I’m 4 or 5 hours in.
GoombaZ

I’m loving the game, but I’ve gotten to a part in a cave under Aurora where if I go to the next tile, the game crashes me back to the dashboard. It’s happened several times now, and I lost some sweet armor because of it. Anyone have suggestions? I checked other xbox forums and found no solutions.
- GoombaZ
  
  Transferred my save to the cloud and that seems to have fixed it.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Serge-Hernandez/1222175444 Serge Hernandez
  
  Oh its good to heard that..I thought was my xbox that sent me to the dashboard a couple of time..that’s why I keep saving it..I’m afraid to lose things I have that took me a lot to get them..
Matt S

For a minute I thought this was that other Dust game. Sadly disappointed. This game plays terribly. I miss when 360 came out and actually had good arcade games. We always had some old game like Smash TV or some newly made good game like Trials HD. Now the games are just so crappy I never download them.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Serge-Hernandez/1222175444 Serge Hernandez

I love The game..just best it..and start over again on hard mode
So addictive!

August 15th 2012 6:00 am PT

Arcade: Dust: An Elysian Tail

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