“Lesser” Games: DUSKWORLD
This series is a departure from the typical Quake Champions ranting we’ve all come to know and love. This is a love letter to the AFPS genre as a whole. The intention here is not to steer anyone away from QC. It’s to give a little perspective and to encourage our fragmented communities to get together, spread some love and not be so damn closed off.
Just to break it down, we’re about to go on a little journey through some games (old and new) that we in Cthalha’s Keep have selected as being fun, community-driven and (most importantly) Quake-like. That is to say that, these games are similar to QC or fill a void we can’t get out of it.
No, Overwatch is not featured. I don’t think they need me to promote for them. Neither is CS:GO.
None of these devs are currently paying me a dime. I just love AFPS games and want to see you in the arena.
As always, if you see something interesting here, just ease that mouse over to our Discord link and drop in to find more info, friends, and frags.
Duskworld
I can’t say enough good things about this game. It’s slick, it’s cool, you get to shoot KKK-esque cult members in the face. I can say, being honest, that this game has my absolute favorite single player FPS experience since Doom 2. You start off in a rural PA setting mowing down chainsaw-wielding maniacs with wheat sickles and the action never lets down as you dig further into a very non-descript C-O-N… spiracy!
Ol’ Andrew Hulshult does the soundtrack. Maybe you know his work from Bombshell, Doom soundtrack remakes, QC. He’s the best in the biz for badass metal soundtracks if you ask me. Hello, Mick Gordon!
But you’re not here for that. You’re here for fast-paced, PvP action. Well… Duskworld has that.
Currently, there are enough servers to cover North America and Western Europe for some sick deathmatch action. And New Blood Interactive, soaring atop their well-deserved sales, has outlined all their plans to continue to deliver for FREE. More mods, more modes, co-op gameplay, console ports, AND EVEN… soap?
Yeah. They aim to give us what we want and it’s all been laid out for us.
Movement
If I were designing an Arena FPS, I would set this game as the gold standard for movement. It’s FAST. And in these wide-open maps, you’ll need it. With an interesting blend of styles, you can get away with traditional Quake strafing OR you can move and air strafe just like Anarki (but you must hold W) all around the map with the greatest of ease (though also currently no auto-hop).
You’ll run into some very interesting hitboxes out there so out-moving your opponent and beating them in long, drawn-out shooting matches is a staple. Currently, there are only “Hallowed Health” and the “Fast Fire Totem” (double fire speed) to manage in terms of powerups; these tend to be well hidden so it’ll be interesting to see new players battling over them and trying to deny access. Also, of note is the fact that you can pretty much walk/jump on any sloped surface. And there are TRAPS. Someone here was playing some Q2.
I will leave this saying that you WILL love the jump pads OR you are a communist.
Weapons
There’s a lot to unpack here. Take your Quake weapon knowledge and file it in the nearest paper shredder.
First off, for melee, you start with two wheat sickles to slice and dice at 50 damage a cut. These are quick, slick and easy to use. You will also find these big, sexy longswords doing 300 damage a swing, and if you charge it up a whopping 900!
You then have traditional pistols and single barrel shotguns that can be dual wielded for quick easy frags. And if the basic shotty ain’t enough for ya, the double-barrel Super Shotgun is. It is. Shut up IT IS!
There is no LG equivalent nor rail gun. The closest we find here are the Assault Rifle and Hunting Rifle, each very fun and each unique.
You will find the crossbow a fun long-range alternative.
Hopefully, I don’t need to spell that out to you.
The mortar (grenade launcher) in PVP… is basically useless as far as I can tell. If you have some advice on this one HMU in the Keep. Otherwise, I hope New Blood either figures it out or drops it from Duskworld.
What I DO wanna talk about is the Riveter. The “biggest gun of them all” is our projectile rocket launcher; fully-loaded with a SUPER fast rate of fire and rocket jump for days. The directs are no joke and you can really punish other players for not shaking things up with their movement.
Also, you can enjoy a nice cigar…
Maps
If you queue up in a Duskworld server right now, you’ll find a rotation of several refined (and still being worked on) maps.
I’m not gonna spend a lot of time breaking them down for you individually. You should go ahead and give New Blood your money. What you need to know is:
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- The power-ups are not easy to find. Find the Hallowed Health and hope your opponent doesn’t know where it is
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- The maps, in general, are WIDE THE FUCK OPEN
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- You can expect anything from barns, hay bales and tractors to castles and electric laboratories
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- The weapons are scattered about in a charmingly random-seeming manner
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- I mentioned traps before and by that, I mean there are switches that turn on giant meat grinders and shit like that
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- Turn off auto weapon switch because that mortar seems to always be hanging out
- Honestly spawns need to be fixed in this game as you currently spawn almost right where you died
Duskworld Community
New Blood is doing an excellent job supporting this game and giving back to the folks who have made them a huge success. Their Discord channel features FRAG NIGHT events every Saturday, Duels at Dusk is growing. There’s a lot to love here.
As far as The Keep(Discord Community) is concerned, we want nothing more than to support this game and New Blood in general. You can certainly expect to see us putting on events and producing content going forward.
Hit us up by joining the DISCORD.
Conclusion
Dusk is $20 on Steam. You can occasionally find it on sale for *haha* $16.66.
You will absolutely spend a lot of time figuring out sensitivity, key bindings and getting accustomed to the charming, but imperfect UI.
Rating out five gold Cthalha Coins
Give me a fucking break! If you’ve read up to this point, you’ve probably made a decision already. See you in the Arena, punks!
