Dustborn

About

Dustborn is a 2024 action-adventure video game following the story of a rag-tag group of smugglers posing as a punk rock gang transporting secret cargo through an alternate version of America. Perceived as inclusive and diverse, and failing to amass a significant player base on launch, the game became a subject of viral discussions, memes and jokes as it was juxtaposed against Black Myth: Wukong, a game also released in August 2024 that received criticism from some over its lack of diversity but became commercially and critically successful.

History

On August 20th, 2024, the action-adventure video game Dustborn, developed by Oslo-based developer Red Thread Games and published by Quantic Dream, was released for PC and consoles.^[1] The game follows Pax, a con artist who together with a rag-tag group of smugglers is transporting secret cargo through an alternate version of America (launch trailer shown below).

The development of the game was co-funded by the European Commission,^[2] from which the developers received a grant of €150,000 (appr. $167,000), and by the Norwegian Film Institute,^[3] which granted the developers 5 million Norwegian kroner (appr. $475,000) over a period of five years.

Gameplay and Features

Dustborn is an action-adventure video game with elements of a rhythm game. The player controls, Pax, a con woman wielding an upgraded baseball bat able to use her language as a weapon. The gameplay involves combat, managing relationships with other NPCs and exploration, resembling video games by publisher Telltale Games (gameplay video shown below). Both in fights and in conversations, Pax is able to use her words as powers, fighting with Shouts and manipulating the outcome of dialogues with Vox.

Reception

The game received mixed reviews from critics and audiences upon release in late August 2024. On Metacritic,^[4] the game had an average critic rating of 67 based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 1.3 based on over 150 reviews as of August 26th, 2024. On OpenCritic,^[5] the game had an average critic rating of 72, with 52 percent of reviewers recommending the game. On Steam,^[6] the game had a 75 percent approval rating with less than 100 reviews.

At launch, the game failed to amass a significant player base, peaking at 76 concurrent players on Steam on launch day.^[7]

Online Presence

Dustborn flopping led to viral discussions and the game being juxtaposed against Black Myth: Wukong, a commercially successful game launched on the same day. Moreover, the two games were compared against each other due to their perceived representation of games striving to be inclusive and including political themes (Dustborn), and games that seem to ignore these industry trends (Black Myth: Wukong).

For example, on August 22nd, 2024, X^[8] user @Mangalawyer made a post comparing the games that gained over 630 reposts and 9,500 likes in four days (shown below).

Several clips from the game went viral on social media in the days after its release. For example, on August 22nd, X^[9] user @LavenderGhast posted a clip in which the protagonist used the ability "Trigger" to accuse two officers of being racist. The clip, captioned, "Impossible to parody," garnered over 1,400 reposts and 12,000 likes in four days (shown below).

Impossible to parody pic.twitter.com/IBQtfomNdM

— LA\/ENDER (@LavenderGhast) August 22, 2024

The grants totaling nearly $650,000 from the European Commission and the Norwegian Film Institute received by the developers of the game also became a topic of discourse. For example, an August 24th X^[10] post reading, "Imagine your tax money wasted on this," by user @GiveMeBanHammer garnered over 1,100 reposts and 10,000 likes in two days (shown below).

On August 21st, 2024, X^[11] user @HeySlickThatsMe accused the developers of the game of copying the layout of an apartment from Grand Theft Auto: Online, with the post gaining over 260 reposts and 2,400 likes in five days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References