An impeccable homage to the old-school FPS, exemplary in fluidity and snap. Demanding but always fair, it will delight the nostalgic and fans of scoring and pure speed alike.
Your verdict
Category
First-Person Shooter1 player16+
Description
A landmark retro boomer shooter by David Szymanski, published by New Blood, ported to Switch in 2021. Shotguns, sickles and extreme speed in a rural-horror setting inspired by Quake and Blood. Labyrinthine level design, secrets galore and a metal soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult electrify a pure ode to 1990s FPS action.
Dusk review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
Andrew Hulshult's sound design is a pillar of the game: aggressive metal riffs that erupt on contact with enemies. The music doesn't merely accompany the action, it propels it, turning every shootout into a surge of raw energy.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Movement is the real subject: sliding, jumping, circling, never stopping. Aim is secondary to reading space, and this kinetic purity, inherited from Quake, delivers a fluidity very few modern shooters manage to recapture.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
The joy of moving is instant: with the first weapon in hand, the speed and fluidity deliver a glee that never lets up. The game wastes no time explaining, it drops you into the action and lets you revel in your movement.
The bosses break the frantic rhythm of the levels with brutal, readable arena fights. They demand mastery of movement more than aim, and their grotesque design, halfway between rural horror and the occult, sticks in the memory.
An underrated gem
The finest homage to 1990s shooters, faster and nastier than its models. For the purity of its movement, the inventiveness of its labyrinthine levels and its sickly rural atmosphere, it's a gem that reminds you why this genre marked a whole generation.
Is Dusk still worth playing in 2026?
Five years after arriving on Switch, Dusk remains the absolute benchmark of the 'boomer shooter' FPS revival, a genre more alive than ever. Its speed, readability and sickly rural atmosphere have no equal, and its metal riffs still electrify. While the market overflows with imitations, the original keeps a head start. It's the ideal entry point to understand this retro wave, and its snappy playability fits short, intense sessions on Switch perfectly.
