There can be no doubt that the days of the retro throwback are far from over, as nostalgia continues to prove a powerful draw for many in both mainstream and indie markets. We seem to all crave games that evoke a bygone era or bring a series back from the ashes in a blaze of glory. Sometimes, indie devs can even rejuvenate old ideas with modern sensibilities, creating not only a loving homage to the past but something that is truly special in its own right. Crystal Story: Dawn of Dusk from developer Fred Brown is one such homage that takes heavy cues from adventures of old while hoping to bring something new to the table with some unique mechanics of its own.

A Familiar Tale: Does Crystal Story’s Narrative Shine?

The player is thrust into the shoes of Mina, a young girl who lives in a world similar to our own known as ‘Dawnside.’ After some strange and frightening dreams, as well as a surprising encounter with a monster in the woods, she finds herself in the world of ‘Duskside,’ a blighted land that is threatened by a beast known as Termina. Armed with a sword, a spear, and some handy magic known as Arts, she must explore this strange world and maybe even uncover the truth about what happened to her long-lost brother. It’s a story that definitely feels like something from the days of the Super Nintendo.

As a disclaimer, before I continue, the story this game tells is but one portion of the entire saga, which is something I did not know myself before playing. So, any critique I give the game for its story may very well be rectified later on, and I accept that completely. But I was left a little shocked when the credits started rolling after about three hours in, and with what the game has presented in terms of its narrative so far, I found it difficult to feel engaged.

Nothing really comes together in a way that feels complete, and the characters just feel too half-baked and underdeveloped. They fit nicely into specific tropes but don’t do much to expand beyond those confines just yet, so they end up feeling a little weak. They may show hidden depths in a later portion of the story, but from the outset, they really didn’t do anything to engage me within the world this game is trying to build for itself. Occasionally the game uses wonderfully designed pixel art to illustrate certain moments, other times it just describes moments to you, the epitome of telling, rather than showing and it’s a real shame. There’s some genuine creativity shown within the designs, but beyond that, they just feel sort of forgettable.

The Art of Combat & Puzzles: Do Crystal Story’s Core Concepts Shimmer?

But the story isn’t always everything; it can certainly enhance or elevate an experience, but so long as the game itself is good, then that is arguably more important. However, I don’t think that Crystal Story sticks the landing here either and fumbles both of its core gameplay concepts. Drawing from 2D Zelda titles, one portion of Crystal Story sees you controlling Mina from a top-down perspective as she slashes her way through enemies and solves puzzles. Along with this, she has access to her Arts, which are usually used to stun enemies before you can actually defeat them. Different enemies require different Arts to make them vulnerable and this sounds like a decent concept in theory, and occasionally the merits of the idea do shine through. It’s incredibly easy to switch between Arts on the fly, so you can flip your strategy no matter what foes you encounter.

However, combat starts to become problematic when you are constantly shadowed by one particular enemy that just does not leave you alone. At first, this enemy only hurts you, but later on, it will teleport you back to the start of the dungeon, and even later, it will essentially poison you. The only way to get rid of the poison? Use the type of Arts that this shadowy creature isn’t harmed by. So you switch to that, only to have to switch back in order to attack the shadow as it descends upon you again. Dealing with this shadowy menace while other enemies are also out for your hide, encounters quickly become a frustrating experience.

Combat is also marred by a lack of polish overall; when harmed, you are frozen in place for a brief moment and can’t do anything until the game gives you back the controls. This makes it very hard to actually retaliate, and wonky hitboxes on some foes don’t help much either. While you can move while casting a fireball spell, you have to be standing still to use the bombs, which further stymies the experience. This also brings down some of the puzzle elements, too, as certain sections would be far less aggravating if you were allowed to move and throw bombs.

Puzzles, in general, are probably one of the strongest parts of the game, but I unfortunately felt like these were undercooked, too. Certain concepts are introduced to you, but for others, you are just flat-out expected to guess. One particular solution requires you to know something about a certain enemy type to be able to solve it, but the game never tells you about this, or if it does, it does not make it as blatant as it probably should. It isn’t impossible to guess what to do, but it feels a little unfair to withhold important information from the player. I don’t expect the game to hold your hand, either. I welcome it when a game gives you free rein to solve puzzles, but Crystal Story doesn’t feel as if it cares enough to tell you sometimes.

Turn-Based Trouble: Are Crystal Story’s Bosses a Cut Above the Rest?

This is where I need to address the other gameplay style featured within Crystal Story. The boss battles deviate from the Zelda-style exploration and swordplay, instead switching to a turn-based system akin to Earthbound. These sections are aesthetically amazing, but the mechanics here are just very poorly done. They hang in the balance between being too simple and too complex for their own good as there isn’t much to the combat outside of attacking, charging your AP for Arts, or using items, but then charging your AP requires you to complete a short, timed, Zelda style puzzle section and dodging enemy attacks requires you to do so in a similar fashion.

Again, hypothetically, this should be an interesting approach to turn-based combat; other games have successfully injected gimmicks like this into their own systems to great effect. But here, all the roughness and uneven edges of combat and puzzle-solving make these sections exasperating more than anything else. I found myself actively avoiding charging my AP since the one time I did use Arts on a boss; the damage output simply wasn’t worth the effort in the end. So, I just had to hit the attack option over and over while focusing on the dodging portions instead. The game later forced me to engage with this charging mechanic anyway to deal the final shot on the boss, and at that point, the resulting attack did way more damage, so the whole system feels arbitrary anyway.

The End of the Tale So Far: Is Crystal Story Worth Your Time?

Here are a few other small issues, just off the cuff: I found myself soft-locked at one point and had to redo around half an hour of gameplay; there is no map outside or inside the dungeon areas, which isn’t a huge issue at this early point of the game’s life, but it could get troublesome as dungeons and areas get more and more complex; entering a new screen locks you into place for a moment until the area name vanishes from the screen; I got stuck for a moment because the button for landing your aircraft is the same button used to progress dialogue; the optional CRT filter often wouldn’t stay on, despite it being prominently featured on the game’s store page.

I really think there is something good within Crystal Story. There’s merit in its ideas, its concepts, and sometimes even its execution. The visuals are excellently crafted, and clearly, a lot of love has been put into them. The soundtrack is fantastic, too, especially in the boss battles. But in the end, if all of these elements don’t actually come together, it just leaves behind a throwback that just can’t replicate what made those bygone classics truly special.

I can’t recommend investing time or money into Crystal Story: Dawn of Dusk right now. In so many ways, it just feels incomplete. It feels more or less like a demo that you have to pay twelve dollars for. My sincerest wish is that the developer can polish this game into something greater because, for what it’s worth, I can see the love and the effort. I just think it needed a little more time to be a true indie gem.