History VideoGame / Dusk

The plot [[ExcusePlot (what little there is)]] is essentially thus: your FirstPersonGhost player character, a guy nicknamed as the "Dusk Dude" is a treasure hunter by trade. After learning of a "[[SchmuckBait hidden treasure]]" hidden below the quaint, small town of [[TitleDrop Dusk]], he sets out to see what he can find - only to be knocked out and hung up on meat-hooks by the [[HillbillyHorrors insane hillbillies]] that currently resides in the town. After wrenching himself free and fending off his attackers, Dusk Dude slowly learns of a more serious threat - something from [[EldritchAbomination beyond the pale of our reality]] has touched the redneck residents of Dusk, and it is driving them to do horrible things to each other. Armed with an arsenal of old-fashioned guns and magical weapons, a running speed that would put an Olympic runner to shame, and a whole lotta moxie, Dusk Dude sets out to stop the cultists the only way he knows how: with the business end of a shotgun.

* AbandonedMine: The Cutty Mines, filled with cultists. [[spoiler: Also filled with the first jump-scares of the game.]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Nyarlathotep''': Who you were before is insignificant. Who you are now is ''inconceivable''.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: A memorable set-piece in [=E1M3=] features this. You go to open up a red door.. [[spoiler:and the [[JumpScare floor opens up right beneath you,]] sending you straight into a monster arena.]]
* BigNo: PlayedForLaughs when you [[spoiler:flush yourself into the Ratacombs secret level.]]

* BoozeBasedBuff: Drinking beer bottles raises morale by one point up to a max of 100 but drinking several in a row [[ImpairmentShot temporarily messes with the camera, making it much harder to aim]].

** [[spoiler: [=E2M10=], The Gauntlet, which only has one enemy: the Guardian, who protects the portal to The Nameless City]].

* BubblegloopSwamp: [[spoiler:[=E1MS=] (That is, the secret level in the first episode), the Dim Slough, takes place in a swamp being polluted by a nearby factory of sorts. And filled with mad cultists]].

* CerebusSyndrome: The first episode is a badass brawl against a town full of madmen, ending in your victory. The second episode takes place in military complexes in a much more intense fight for survival, and the locations get darker and darker over time, such as you descending into a massive [[spoiler: HumanResources harvesting plant called the Thresher]] that leaves you without a flashlight, surrounded by invisible enemies, and later [[spoiler: into the entranceway to an EldritchLocation called "The Nameless City".]]

* DamageSpongeBoss: [[spoiler: The Guardian, the final boss of Episode 2, has ''17,000 hp''. To compare, the two Experiments fought at the end of Episode 1 have 6000 and 4000 hp. Luckily the stage in which you fight him has a lot of Riveter rivets; you're gonna need them]].

* DevelopersForesight: The crossbow can shoot through walls. Many of the boss encounters are prefaced with a large door you have to open yourself and unleash the boss from behind it. You might get the idea to... yes, the boss is not just spawned into the map but is there all along and you can damage it with the crossbow before you can even see the boss's health meter!

** In [=E1M2=] you can find Rachael's secret, while Lavender's secret is in [=E3M8=]. Rachael and Lavender are David Szymanski's wife and daughter, respectively.

* EternalEngine: [=E2M4=], The Infernal Machine, takes place in one [[spoiler: filled with the mulched flesh of the victims of the "Thresher" you got into in the previous level]].

* EvilTowerOfOminousness: [[spoiler:[=E2M8=], Blood and Bone, has a giant tower (surrounded by smaller red lit boxes, as well as obelisks) harvesting unknown energy from an unknown area. It's implied that this energy is used to power the Crossbow bolts as well as the teleporter to the Nameless City]].
* FleshGolem: [[spoiler: The Guardian, the final boss of Episode 2, appears to be a walking pile of abstract gore adhered to some kind of bipedal skeleton.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Blood and Bone has the "The Darkness is Spreading" on a wall, as well Crypt of the Flesh features, also on a wall, "The Chaos Crawls to me", and the penultimate level is named "The Dweller in Darkness", [[spoiler:alluding to various identities taken by Nyarlathotep, the main antagonist of the game.]]

* TheGhost: The evil voice that mocks you throughout the game, but is never shown. [[spoiler:He turns out to be the leader of Nyarlathotep's cult]].

* HopeSpot: Done twice, consecutively. [[spoiler:In the final level, the Dusk Dude kills Jakob and appears to have finally put an end to, or at least wounded, Dusk's cult, and seems to be allowed to exit until they're thrown into darkness as the true mastermind, Nyarlathotep, reveals himself. And then he fights Nyarlathotep, and when he has ''one'' hit point remaining, decides to [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie turn the Dusk Dude into his new second-in-command]] rubbing salt in the wound by saying he has many more forms, basically telling Dusk Dude that he had no chance of winning.]]
* HopelessBossFight: [[spoiler:Although it isn't obvious at first, Nyarlathotep is this. In an unusual example of this trope, he's also the final boss, which brings the inevitable DownerEnding]].

** "DUSKMARE": [[HarderThanhard For masochists only.]] Enemies are ruthless and their attacks [[OneHitpointWonder kill in one hit.]]

* LethalLavaLand: [[spoiler: [=E2MS=] (The secret level in Episode 2), The Foundry, is the game's strongest candidate, featuring no small amount of the stuff. Unless you have a Thermal Suit, falling in there will kill you in seconds, even if you are at full health]].

** A variation- many of the nastier enemies (Cowgirls, Horrors, etc) each have distinct moans, rasps or other [[Main/VaderBreath Vader Breaths]] that warn the player of their presence...and build paranoia, natch.
* LevelOfTediousEnemies: [[spoiler: [=E3MS=], the Ratacombs, fittingly]] contains no other enemies except rats [[spoiler:and one giant rat as a boss]].

** The Wendigos are introduced in [=E2M2=] by way of you going through a few minutes of the level with no enemies. At first, they're just not there, but after a little bit of progress you find plenty of them - as corpses that ''something else'' already killed. The only hint as to what happened before your arrival is writing on the wall telling you "DON'T GO IN THE RUINS". Alas, the door to those ruins is locked with the yellow key, so [[TemptingFate you know exactly where you're going...]]

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfUnits: Mostly averted, it is a game after all but there are a few outliers.
** [[spoiler:Apparently, no one outside Dusk's exclusion zone is aware of a giant BloodMagic generator or a towering laboratory in the sky, considering that it's implied that the structures are ''very'' tall]].
** Despite being classified as a town, Dusk once had a population in the ''five hundred thousands'' [[spoiler: and even has about ''eight skyscrapers'' (according to the level design in ''Erebus Reactor'')]], making it more of a large city than a town.

* OneHitPointWonder: Zig-zagged when playing on ''DUSKMARE'' difficulty. ''Technically'', you still have the full quotient of hitpoints and [[AntiFrustrationFeatures so you can still rivet-jump or otherwise hit yourself with splash damage safely]], but all hits from enemies will instantly kill you, making you this trope in spirit.

* OneManArmy: ''Dear God,'' Dusk Dude. When cultists, [[spoiler: soldiers, and [[EldritchAbomination things that basically make no sense]]]] barely stand a chance against him, you ''know'' he qualifies as one of these.

* PuzzleBoss: [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep. He's immune to all your attacks unless you hit the cracks in the wall he creates when trying to crush you to a pulp. This causes sunlight to shine on him, rendering him vulnerable for a short time]].

** The cultist mages' chant references ''DUSK''[='=]s video game inspirations, including ''Videogame/{{Blood}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}''.

** One secret area in [=E1M4=] ends with a wall dropping along a ScareChord to reveal [[spoiler:the [[VideoGame/CommanderKeen Dopefish]]. Hitting the Use key on it prints the message "Dopefish Lives!".]]

** In [=E1M7=] "Dead of the Night" there's a room with a [[Film/{{TheSilenceOfTheLambs}} well and a bottle of lotion.]] Mousing over it has the game prompt "Rub lotion on skin", doing so will have Dusk Dude say "No hose for me."

* SpecialGuest: Stephan Weyte, famous for voicing Caleb in ''{{VideoGame/Blood}}'', is in the game as [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep]].

* ViolationOfCommonSense: To end [=E3M8=], "As Above, So Below," you have to [[spoiler:impale yourself on the meathooks you escaped at the start of the game]]. Seeing as the rest of the level is a deeply surreal combination of PlanetHeck and a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, it's clear [[RealityIsOutToLunch "Common Sense" died a while back.]]

** [=E2M6=], The Erebus Reactor, pits you against dozens of enemies in a huge-ass reactor room. [[spoiler:And after that, there's the Big John boss fight]].
** [[spoiler:[=E3M9=], The Dweller In Darkness, consists in a gauntlet of waves upon waves of increasingly difficult enemies]].

* WhamLine: In the final level, [[spoiler:the player finally defeats Jakob, and makes their way through a tunnel of light... Only for it to become suddenly dark, and some''one'' to start speaking.]]
-->[[spoiler:"He was worthy, you know. And he accomplished so much. But then... You came along. You, who were stronger. You, who were faster. You... I like ''better''. Who did you expect at the end of all this? God? The Devil, perhaps? No... It's just... ''me''."]]
* WreakingHavok: The sole "modern" gameplay mechanic is that items like boulders, human bones, sawblades, barrels, and boxes have physics applied to them, allowing you to pick them up and push them around. They can occasionally be used to circumvent some low walls to get into secrets, but they're really not made for stacking on top of each other, and they can be used to shield yourself from enemy attacks, but they won't last long before breaking, so the best use for them is tossing them at enemies - which, depending on the size and distance you throw them from, is generally an instant kill. Smaller and lighter objects are generally the best because the Dusk Dude will throw them faster, thus needing less space between him and a target to get the best results; sawblades are about as effective as you'd expect, moving fast and bouncing off walls to hit people if you miss with the initial toss, but the truly deadliest physics object is [[spoiler:the humble [[LethalJokeItem bar of soap]], at least one of which is available in every level. There's even one hidden in secret areas in the finales of the first and second Episodes - and if you toss it at either the Experiments or the Guardian, it'll instantly kill ''them'' the same as it will anything else.]]

** A variation- many of the nastier enemies (Cowgirls, Horrors, etc) each have distinct moans, rasps or other VaderBreaths that warn the player of their presence...and build paranoia, natch.

* EasyLevelTrick: In a few levels, most combat encounters can be skipped even without using glitches. The challenges of 2-1 and 4-1, for an example, skip most, if not all combat.

* BagOfSpilling: In the classic form, where each new chapter takes away all the weapons the Dusk Dude accumulated across the previous one, leaving him only with the starting sickles. Starting the game in Intruder Mode takes it UpToEleven and has the Dusk Dude lose his weapons between each individual ''level'', in the vein of pistol starts for classic ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.

* SickeningSlaughterhouse: The Thresher, a machine designed for the mass slaughtering and mulching of Human Resources. [[spoiler:And then it's taken UpToEleven with "The Infernal Machine", where we see a ''sea'' of mulched human meat flowing through the interior of the massive, mechanical hell.]]

** The "Mamma Mia Gore Palace" Endless Mode map that debuted with the Nintendo Switch port is a replica of Peach's Castle from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64,'' except it's made entirely of MeatMoss. [[https://youtu.be/GJ2ZtyH0cDQ The video showcasing the map]] drives the point home by having the Dusk Dude enter the map through the portrait [[spoiler: of Jakob]], he and all the enemies using voice clips and sound effects from the game, and the Slider theme plays before transitioning to "Murder Machine Inc."

[[caption-width-right:350:Welcome to Dusk. Population: [[NumberOfTheBeast x6x66]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge and slowly]] [[OneManArmy decreasing]].]]

* AwesomeButImpractical: Soap. It deals 1,000,000 damage to anything that it's thrown at, more than enough to OneHitKill anything in the game, including the bosses. Its insane damage is balanced by the fact that throwing it, picking it up, and throwing it again is very impractical when fighting a large group of fast moving enemies, some of which actively zig zag to avoid your shots. It doesn't help that the soap is timing and requires a high degree of precision to pick up while moving.

* The cultist mages' chant references ''DUSK''[='=]s video game inspirations, including ''Videogame/{{Blood}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}''.

** It's implied that the titular level Blood and Bone, [[spoiler: as well as the architecture of two areas in [=E2M10=] ]], is nod to a line muttered by Jack Lupino in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne''.

** In [=E1M7=] "Dead of the Night" there's a room with a [[Film/{{SilenceOfTheLambs}} well and a bottle of lotion.]] Mousing over it has the game prompt "Rub lotion on skin", doing so will have Dusk Dude say "No hose for me."

* BossOnlyLevel: [[spoiler: [=E2M10=], The Gauntlet, which only has one enemy: the Guardian, who protects the portal to The Nameless City]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Dusk Dude defeats Jakob, the leader of the cult, only to end up facing up against the mastermind behind it all, Nyarlathotep himself, and right as the final blow seems to be struck, Gnarly turns out to be both unharmed and impressed, then decides to turn Dusk Dude into a superior replacement for the now-deceased Jakob.]]

* LethalJokeItem: Every level has a bar of soap in them somewhere. Throwing it at an enemy will kill them instantly.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Soap. It deals 1,000,000 damage to anything that it's thrown at, more than enough to OneHitKill anything in the game. Its insane damage is balanced by the fact that throwing it, picking it up, and throwing it again is very impractical when fighting a large group of fast moving enemies, some of which actively zig zag to avoid your shots. It doesn't help that the soap is timing and requires a high degree of precision to pick up while moving.

''DUSK'' is a retro-inspired first-person shooter developed by David Szymanski and published by Creator/NewBloodInteractive, taking direct inspiration from the likes of ''{{Videogame/Doom}}'', ''{{Videogame/Quake}}'', and ''{{Videogame/Blood}}'', though more on the ''Quake'' and ''Blood'' end of things.

* BadassLongcoat: Dusk Dude sports one combined with a wide-brim hat in a style reminiscent of [[{{Blood}} Caleb]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: Soap. It deals 1,000,000 damage to anything that it's thrown at, more than enough to [[OneHitKill]] anything in the game. Its insane damage is balanced by the fact that throwing it, picking it up, and throwing it again is very impractical when fighting a large group of fast moving enemies, some of which actively zig zag to avoid your shots. It doesn't help that the soap is timing and requires a high degree of precision to pick up while moving.

On October 28, 2020, the game received a digital ''UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch'' port, and Switch owners who pre-ordered the game receive ''DUSK '82'' for free. Physical Switch copies of the game will be released in 2022, which include a download code for ''DUSK '82'' and a full-color manual. They can be found [[https://newblood.games/duskonswitch here]].

** The Y-axis of your camera will be reset after landing a flip, helping to lessen disorientation.

* BagOfSpilling: In the classic form, where each new chapter takes away all the weapons the Dusk Dude accumulated across the previous one, leaving him only with the starting sickles. Starting the game in Intruder Mode takes it UpToEleven and has the Dusk Dude lose his weapons between each individual ''level'', in the vein of pistol starts for classic VideoGame/DooM.

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: "Accessible", "Go Easy", "I Can Take It", "[[GratuitousSpanish Cero Miedo]]", "DUSKMARE".

* LethalJokeItem: Every level has a bar of soap in them 'somewhere'. Throwing it at an enemy will kill them instantly.

The game released from Early Access December 10, 2018 with the third and final episode. It can be found on Steam [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/519860/DUSK/ here.]] Compare with ''Videogame/AmidEvil'', another retro-inspired shooter by the same publisher, more in the vein of ''Videogame/{{Hexen}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}''.

* AlienGeometries: In full effect in [=E2M5=], The [[Creator/MCEscher Escher]] Labs. And pretty much the entire second half of of Episode 3.

** The sole secret of "The Dweller in Darkness" allows the player to skip the entire gauntlet of enemies ahead of them if they decide to go any further instead of heading back (although there's grafitti that calls it "[[EasyModeMockery the coward's way out]]"). Said secret also has a Crystal of Madness, which can ''significantly'' lighten your load due to causing any enemies in vicinity of its mist after being broken to [[SetAMookToKillAMook start infighting]].
** As mentioned below, DUSKMARE is a one-hit kill mode, but self damage from splash-damage weapons like the mortar will only do normal damage. This means you don't need to worry about gibbing yourself while frantically dodging everything else trying to kill you.

** The Y axis of your camera will be reset after landing a flip, helping to lessen disorentation.

* AxCrazy: Everyone in the town. If the bagheaded, chainsaw wielding Leathernecks who are your first encounter in the game aren't a tipoff, then perhaps the floating, fireball-chucking Wizards will be?

* BlackoutBasement: There's a few areas which are naturally very dark, and no less horror filled than the rest of the game. [[spoiler: Also, your flashlight will break a couple of times in Episode 2 and 3, forcing you to make your way through nearly pitch black areas until you can find a working replacement]].

* BoozeBasedBuff: Drinking beer bottles raises morale by one point up to a max of 100, but drinking several in a row [[ImpairmentShot temporarily messes with the camera, making it much harder to aim]].

* CompressedAdaptation: The Graphic Novel covers the first two episodes, but cuts certain elements to fit the first two episodes into 24 pages, such as removing "Unseen" in favor of introducing the Wendigos in "The Infernal Machine", and ends at the Erebus Reactor.
* CoolSword: Found only in episode 3 and certain secret areas in episodes 1 and 2, and has a charged attack (available when your health is at 100 or above) that is pretty much a OneHitKO against any non boss enemy. An update gave it the ability to [[AttackReflector reflect projectiles]] when you have 50 or more morale.

* CreatorCameo: In [=E1M7=] (Dead of the Night), and again in [=E2M5=] (The Escher Labs), you come across a picture of a young man, interacting with it prompts the message "appears to be a cult leader". This is actually the yearbook photo of Dave Oshry, the founder and CEO of New Blood Interactive, the game's publishers. [[spoiler: The cult leader who speaks to you throughout the game does indeed have a face based on Dave's.]]

* DamageSpongeBoss: [[spoiler: The Guardian, the final boss of Episode 2, has ''17,000 hp''. To compare, the two Experiments fought at the end of Episode 1 have 6000 and 4000 hp. Luckily the stage in which you fight him has a lot of Riveter ammo, because you're gonna need it]].

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Dusk Dude is a treasure hunter, so picking up treasure increases his morale (the game's equivalent of armor).

* GenreThrowback: To first-person shooters of TheNineties. The fake MS-DOS startup screen even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this by claiming the game is loading from a folder labeled "dmclns" ("''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' clones", what people used to call FPS games [[FromClonesToGenre before about 1998]]).
* TheGhost: The evil voice that mocks you throughout the game, but never shown. [[spoiler:He turns out to be the leader of Nyarlathotep's cult]].

* HellIsThatNoise: Is the Escher Labs, you get the red key from what appears to be a ship made of viscera and bone, populated by Wendigos and speeding through a [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace black, red-streaked void]]. The background noise is an unceasing combination of [[SensoryAbuse scream and gale force wind]]. When you teleport back out, the cacophony instantly cuts out, replaced with the dim buzzing of the lab's flourescent lights.

* HeroicWillpower: Dusk Dude doesn't collect traditional armor or the like, instead gaining "Morale" from the treasure and loot of the former occupants of Dusk. So his [[MadeOfIron durability]] against gunshots, explosives, magic, claws, syringes, and potential brushes with death contraptions comes entirely from the satisfaction of pilfering riches. [[NintendoHard He needs it.]]

* TheKlan: The cult takes several cues from the KKK. The members wear robes and pointed hoods, there's an elite mook called the "Grand Wizard", and there are two bosses named the "Duke Brothers" (possibly a reference to David Duke; a real life Klan leader).
* LastStand: Endless arenas are basically this. You face waves of increasingly difficult enemies until you eventually die, your only objective being reaching a new high score.
* LethalJokeItem: Every level has a bar of soap in them 'somewhere'. Throwing it at any enemy will kill them instantly.

** Aside from each level having it's own theme, there's the aggressive musical sting when a Wendigo is revealed from invisibility.
** A variation- many of the nastier enemies (Cowgirls, Horrors, ect) each have distinct moans, rasps or other VaderBreaths that warn the player of their presence...and build paranoia, natch.

* MuzzleFlashlight: A given, and particularly worthwhile given that the game takes away your regular flashlight at a few points. This becomes the main use of the pistols after a point, as they A) having plentiful ammo and B) are only useful for CherryTapping the weakest opponents.

** The Wendigos are introduced in [=E2M2=] by way of you going through a few minutes of the level with no enemies. At first they're just not there, but after a little bit of progress you find plenty of them - as corpses that ''something else'' already killed. The only hint as to what happened before your arrival is writing on the wall telling you "DON'T GO IN THE RUINS". Alas, the door to those ruins is locked with the yellow key, so [[TemptingFate you know exactly where you're going...]]
** The Horrors get the same treatment in [=E3M4=]. You start the level in near complete darkness, with no enemies in sight, but with a horrific moaning/wheezing sound coming from the locked door to a nearby basement. Pressing a switch laying around shows a message: "[[OhCrap The basement door opens]]"...

* OneManArmy: ''Dear god,'' Dusk Dude. When cultists, [[spoiler: soldiers, and [[EldritchAbomination things that basically make no sense]]]] barely stand a chance against him, you ''know'' he qualifies as one of these.

* PuzzleBoss: [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep. He's immune to all your attacks, unless you hit the cracks in the wall he creates when trying to crush you to a pulp. This causes sunlight to shine on him, rendering him vulnerable for a short time]].

* ScareChord: Plays whenever you reveal a Wendigo, and continues until it's dead. This is also used for comedy when one secret opens up to reveal [[spoiler:a [[VideoGame/CommanderKeen Dopefish]]]].

* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted with the lever action shotgun, which is decent at medium range (so long as you don't [[GunsAkimbo pair it up]] to increase the fire rate), but played completely straight with the double barrel Super Shotgun, which utterly annihilates enemies at point blank range but can't hit the broad side of a barn at a few feet.

** The Mortar works identically to the Grenade Launcher in VideoGame/{{Quake}} 1 and 2, albeit with the ability to manually detonate your grenades with secondary fire. The Hunting Rifle acts like a less-flashy version of a Railgun as well, with a slow-firing, but heavily piercing shot that can multikill.

* SmokingIsCool: You can equip a cigar that regenerates a single point of health per-use. It also has the bonus of having an insanely high zoom.

* StandardFPSGuns: Played straight at first and later subverted. Of the 10 weapons Dusk Dude can use, a few serve shared purposes but separate roles. For example, the Hunting Rifle and the Crossbow both serve as a high-damage long range option, but the crossbow fires faster, pierces targets and holds more ammo, while the Rifle has a longer-ranged zoom and does more damage with {{hitscan}} bullets.

''DUSK'' is a retro-inspired first-person shooter developed by David Szymanski and published by Creator/NewBloodInteractive, taking direct inspiration from the likes of ''{{Videogame/Doom}}'', ''{{Videogame/Quake}}'' and {{Videogame/Blood}}, though more on the ''Quake'' and ''Blood'' end of things.

* WreakingHavok: The sole "modern" gameplay mechanic is that items like boulders, human bones, sawblades, barrels, and boxes have physics applied to them, allowing you to pick them up and push them around. They can occasionally be used to circumvent some low walls to get into secrets, but they're really not made for stacking on top of each other, and they can be used to shield yourself from enemy attacks, but they won't last long before breaking, so the best use for them is tossing them at enemies - which, depending on the size and distance you throw them from, is generally an instant kill. Smaller and lighter objects are generally the best because the Dusk Dude will throw them faster, thus needing less space between him and a target to get the best results; sawblades are about as effective as you'd expect, moving fast and bouncing off walls to hit people if you miss with the initial toss, but the truly deadliest physics object is [[spoiler:the humble [[LethalJokeItem bar of soap]], at least one of which is available in every level. There's even one hidden in secret areas in the finales of the first and seconds Episodes - and if you toss it at either the Experiments or the Guardian, it'll instantly kill ''them'' the same as it will anything else.]]