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Normally with survival horror games, you usually know what you’re going up right off the bat. However, in the case with Misfits Attic´s “Duskers” it’s a bit of a different story. Because you’re only person left alive in the entire universe, so you must use salvage drones to figure out what happened to everyone else in the universe. That is not to say that the derelict ships you need to explore are not entirely abandoned.

As the drone operator, you have three steps: explore, adapt, and survive. And for exploration, you need to go from system to system and galaxy to galaxy to board derelict ships and stations. When you dock you will send your active drone party to search the “lifeless” corridors. Upon docking you’ll sometimes come across a log, which can be corrupted or make little sense as they’re one piece to different events that occurred. And in-order to adapt you must earn everything.

Things don’t make sense here, so you need to put two and two together.

Your drones must salvage everything that isn’t literally bolted to the ground (trust me, you really NEED everything that you can find): scrap, drone and ship modifications, and propulsion (in-system travel) and jump (between-system travel) fuel. Sometimes there will be a disabled drone or two that you can tow back to the mother ship. While some of them are broken beyond repair, their modifications can still be salvaged. Use the scrap and mods to tune up your equipment, but you’ll have to micro manage your inventory carefully.

The final step to follow is to survive. So you’ll have to learn the derelict ship’s layout, and figure out what kind of infestations you’re up against. Then you need to plan your moves. This part is not as easy as it sounds. Your equipment will break down overtime, or they may not be functional. Even the drone cameras and the ship’s main feed will cut off, meaning you’ll have to either fix the cameras or commandeer a new ship. Other events can be out of your control, such as door and airlock malfunctions, rupturing radiation-filled pipes, or meteors that can impact the derelict ship.

While it’s tempting to optimize everything, you need to watch your resources carefully if you want to keep going.

The game can be frustrating at times like these, but if you play methodically the results will be gratifying. While the game can be scary (most times when you unexpectedly run into an enemy) you’ll feel dread as you play from the uncertainty of what will happen next (saves work as they do in “FTL” (Faster Than Light), as in no save states). However, if you mess up badly you can always reset the game and keep all the logs you have found.

Everything is presented to you as though you are actually looking at a screen on the ship. Seeing the drone camera feed, looking over the Schematic Overview, and glancing over the menus immerses you to the point you feel like a drone operator. The designs, while going for an old tech look, has a strong 80s SciFi vibe to it. Not only do you feel like an operator, but you also feel like you’re working with an old computer system in the “Alien” series universe. Furthermore, The drones have some uniqueness to separate themselves from each other outside their overhead representation. Each drone will usually have a different color camera feed as it would see the environment. Honestly, this adds personality to the little guys.

You can only see what your drone “sees,” but that might be a good thing.

The drones’ uniqueness doesn’t just stop at their camera feed, though. Each one also has a different beep when they’re taken control or performing an action. It adds more to their personality to a point that they feel like crew members. Aside from their beeps, they will also send you audio feed from their microphones. Usually, they’ll pick up ambient noise but there are other sounds to listen for, such as banging on metal or anything that wouldn’t fit the abandon vessel description. Sometimes sound will occur when looking at the schematic overview as well since your ship is docked with the derelict structure. Hearing these sounds, like a pipe that is ready to burst, gives you that “Oh shit” feeling when you’re trying to calmly raid the place. So what about the music then? Well, there is none. Nevertheless, you could always play some 80s rock soundtrack from a Sci-fi if you want to add some immersion yourself, but that may throw off what you might need to hear.

Explore, adapt, survive. It’s all about strategy.

All controls from menu navigation to manual drone controls done by keyboard (yes, there is no mouse or gamepad action to be found here). As the developer wants you to feel as immersed as possible by giving you authentic 80s Sci-fi controls (even though you can still see your mouse pointer when you move it). As such you’ll also be using the terminal to perform a number of tasks. The terminal window is used to issue commands to drones (such as movement and use mods), open powered doors, and dock at different airlocks via command-lines. Commands are simple but if you forget a command you can type in “help” to bring up the guide. The terminal also has an auto-fill so you can save a second (as long as you get the first few letters correct). Gamers that have experience with MS-Dos, Dosbox, and Linux will feel right at home with “Duskers”.

Pros:
+ A very immersive game by gameplay and design.
+ This space survival takes it up a notch with its game mechanics.
+ Resets won’t ruin what progress you’ve made with the story, and it’s easy to get back in.

Cons:
– There’s a bit of a learning curve for those new to command-lines.
– “Duskers” can be a bit intense when starting on the default difficulty setting.

Gameplay: 5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound/Music: 4/5
Controls: 3/5
Replay value: 4/5

tgg grade 4 out of 5

Verdict: 4/5
After playing a number of survival horror games (including some of the Resident Evil games and Dead Space) I think I’ve found my brand. “Duskers” is a fantastic game that immerses you in the world by making the player feel like an authentic drone operator. The game can be a bit unforgiving though that’s life sometimes. But how much more can you make this game authentically immersive? Well, in my opinion, aside from downloading and printing an actual manual, none, none whatsoever.

Title: Duskers
Developer: Misfits Attic
Format: PC, Mac, Linux
Genre: Indie Strategy
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Release date: 2016-05-18
Difficulty: Tutorial Easy to Moderately High (Default settings)
Spent time: 17+ hours
Average grade internationally: 86.00% Gamerankings.com
PEGI/ESRB age rating: PEGI 7+/Everyone 10+
Price: $19.99