About The Game

In Duskfade, the world has been plunged into an eternal night by a mysterious, looming Clock Tower. Players take on the role of Zirian, a young apprentice accompanied by his mechanical Cuckoo companion, on a quest to restore the fabric of time and save his sister from the clutches of Despair.

The gameplay is a seamless blend of dynamic platforming and fast-paced combat. You will jump, dash, grapple, and glide through a series of stunning "clockpunk" realms shaped by the Master Clockmakers. From ethereal forests and underwater expanses to sunlit dunes and dizzying heights, the world is designed to be alive and brimming with secrets. The developers have emphasized tight, fluid movement and combat that recalls the magic of early 2000s 3D action-platformers, while integrating modern quality-of-life features to ensure the experience feels polished for today's players.

History and Inspiration

The development philosophy behind Duskfade is rooted in pure nostalgia. Weird Beluga Studio, the team behind the well-received Clid the Snail, has explicitly designed this title as a tribute to the platforming favorites they grew up playing. The goal is to capture the "juicy" jump combos and high-flying traversal that defined the golden era of the genre, while layering in a deeply personal story about loss, courage, and letting go.

By partnering with Fireshine Games—who have a strong track record of publishing standout indie hits—Weird Beluga is aiming to prove that the "collect-a-thon" style of 3D platforming still has a vibrant, essential place in the modern landscape. The development team has spent significant time refining the movement systems, including recent adjustments to jump physics, animations, and camera navigation, to ensure the game feels as good as it looks.

Critical Discourse and Player Feedback

The response to the recently updated demo has been overwhelmingly positive, with many players noting that it effectively captures the spirit of classic platformers. Community members on Steam and various forums have lauded the game’s "style" and its commitment to rewarding exploration with hidden collectibles.

However, some players have pointed out that the visual contrast and detail, while beautiful, can occasionally become overwhelming. There have also been minor reports regarding performance fluctuations when switching between keyboard/mouse and gamepad controls, which the developers are actively working to address. The introduction of four distinct difficulty settings in the latest demo build has been particularly well-received, as it makes the platforming challenges accessible to a broader range of skill levels.

My Hands-On Impressions

Duskfade was clearly inspired by the golden age of platformers (Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Spyro, Jack and Daxter) and the developers clearly paid a lot of attention to detail. The visuals are beautiful and the music is really good as well. The game opens with a typical cutscene where something has gone wrong in the world and its up to your character to fix it. Standard stuff, but exactly what you would expect from this genre, in a good way. The art direction of each stage is clearly lovingly crafted with a lot of detail to look at and lots of items to break and collect. I suspect some of the items seen in the demo will also be collectible in the full game, but that remains to be seen. The combat is very well built with semi-auto aiming when a new enemy comes close (although the camera seems completely manual), and the ability to lock-on to enemies (although that seems a bit finicky in the demo - sometimes it would lose the lock-on and I would have trouble getting it to reactivate in the heat of battle). Your character also has health potions he can use, and they can be refilled with items in the environment. It has upgrades for your weapons, warp points, stores and all the other core elements you would expect. Overall, it seems like a well-crafted game, but there is still a hint of jankiness that is likely due to it coming from a small studio. 

You can watch my gameplay from the Duskfade demo in the video below: