Growing up, games like Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank were some of the adventures that made me fall in love with platformers. So when I got the chance to try Duskfade, Weird Beluga's upcoming action platformer, I was curious to see how it would approach that same style of adventure.
I spent some time with a pre-release version of this new Indie game, exploring its first major area and getting a glimpse of what the full experience has to offer. While this build may not represent the final version of Duskfade, it already shows a clear love for the classic action platformers of the PS2 era while building a world that feels distinct from its inspirations.
A Charming Story with Impressive Presentation
The story follows Zirian's adventure through Tearfeld after his life is thrown into chaos by a mysterious event involving his sister, Allira. At first glance, this might seem like a fairly familiar premise, but Weird Beluga manages to make it stand out thanks to excellent performances from its voice actors and a beautiful art style.
Movement That Makes Exploration a Joy
Movement can make or break games like Duskfade. When a game puts so much focus on platforming and exploration, everything depends on how good it feels to actually move through the world. Thankfully, this is one area where it immediately impressed me.
Zirian feels incredibly smooth to control. Jumping, dodging, and moving through the environment all feel responsive, with his movement in the air being one of the biggest highlights. As you progress through the game and unlock additional abilities, traversal becomes even more enjoyable, giving you more freedom to explore and move around the world.
But great movement can only take a game so far. If there is no reason to explore, even the smoothest controls will eventually lose their appeal. Thankfully, Duskfade gives players a clockwork-inspired world filled with secrets, collectibles, and plenty of breakable objects to discover.
Making the Adventure Accessible for Everyone
One thing that stood out while playing is how approachable Duskfade feels. The menus, HUD, and overall interface are simple and easy to understand, and multiple difficulty options make it easier for players to find the right balance of challenge for their adventure.
The game does take a bit of time to find its rhythm, though. During the opening sections, I found myself slightly lost, as there is no minimap or traditional objective marker telling you exactly where to go. However, after completing what feels like the prologue, a new mechanic is introduced that points players in the right direction without constantly holding their hand.
Finding the Right Balance in Combat
Combat is probably the area where Duskfade still has the most room to grow. That said, the foundation is already solid. Zirian's attacks feel smooth, and the perfect dodge mechanic is extremely satisfying, slowing down time for a brief moment and creating an opening to strike back.
The main issue I encountered was that fights started to lose some of their impact as I spent more time exploring the first major area. Facing the same types of enemies repeatedly made encounters feel a little predictable, so adding more enemy variety would help keep battles feeling fresh as players progress.
The camera was another thing I noticed during fights. In busier encounters, keeping track of enemies and positioning attacks was sometimes difficult. The lock-on system helps with this, although having it mapped to Caps Lock on keyboard feels like an unusual choice. Because of this, I found using a controller to be a more comfortable way to experience the game's combat.
Final Thoughts
After spending time with this pre-release build of Duskfade, I came away genuinely impressed. There are still a few rough edges to smooth out before launch, but none of them took away from the fact that I was having fun.
The biggest compliment I can give it is that I didn't want to put the controller down. By the time I stepped away, I was just waiting for any excuse to jump right back into it.
Duskfade is launching on August 13, 2026. If you want to follow Zirian's journey for yourself, you can wishlist the game on Steam now.