
There are a wide range of choices to make – sometimes players may be debating whether to try grabbing a gun, or lie to a mobster, but other choices might entail keeping secrets or trying to calm an excitable dog down. As players are frequently tasked with making major decisions for the game’s characters, there can be rippling effects on the story. However, As Dusk Falls will not tell every player the same story. For the player in charge of making decisions for him, Jay’s compassion means you’ll want to do everything you can to stop his environment dragging him down.

Despite his circumstances Jay remains kind and empathetic, which means his personality clashes with everything he’s been dragged into.

Jay Holt, the youngest of the brothers, is the most interesting to follow: Jay isn’t as keen to commit crime as Tyler, and doesn’t have the same distaste for society as his violent middle brother Dean. Instead, each character’s motivations feel richer and more compelling for the added exposition. The darker story beats usually unfold through flashbacks, but don’t overshadow the Desert Dream Motel’s ongoing events. Impressively, As Dusk Falls explores these topics without losing sight of itself along the way. This nuanced approach to life means that As Dusk Falls is able to thoughtfully tackle several tough themes, including domestic violence and the long-reaching effects of generational trauma. As you get to know Two Rocks’ cast, villains will become empathetic victims of circumstance and even the loveliest goodie two-shoes can hide a sun-bleached skeleton or two in the closet. Everyone has their own motivations, own desires, own fears – and although As Dusk Falls begins by painting morality in black and white strokes, it takes the scorching Arizona sun minutes to melt that down to a compelling shade of grey.Īs Dusk Falls thrives in this moral grey zone. Interior Night uses flashbacks to weave each character’s backstory into the hostage situation, and the (often dramatic) exposition means the cast feels like living, breathing people. It’s not such a far cry from Tyler, the oldest of the Holt brothers, who is trapped in a nightmarish police standoff because he’s willing to do whatever it takes to provide for his family. Family man Vince Walker has weathered plenty of life’s punches, and will do anything to protect his wife and daughter. And then the police get involved.ĭown the barrel of a gun, both families start to share a few similarities. In the beginning, both families look vastly different – until their paths cross at Two Rocks’ Desert Dream Hotel, where the gun-toting Holts take the Walkers hostage in the aftermath of a daring burglary.

READ MORE: The art of storytelling: How 20 years spent making narrative games led Caroline Marchal to ‘As Dusk Falls’Īs Dusk Falls is split into two arcs – called books – and follows two families: the middle-class Walker clan, on a cross-country trip toward their new life, and the poverty-stricken Holts – three brothers pushed into a heist by the hand that life dealt.As Interior Night‘s debut interactive drama about an ill-fated family road trip plays out, you can feel the tension in every moment before, agonisingly, a messy saga about morality unfurls. As Dusk Falls revels in being pulled apart.
