I don’t exactly know the first time that I saw or heard of Dustborn.  I honestly mixed it up with Lost Records: Bloom and Rage at first, before I realized it was actually a different game.  After seeing the trailer, and noticing it was on sale, I decided to take a flyer on it and check it out.  I can say that with some flaws here and there, I did not regret my choice in picking up the game.

Dustborn has us playing as Pax, the leader of a group of people known as Anomals.  Anomals have gained powers due to their ability to interpret a long dead language called the Protolanguage.  Pax can use words to emotionally affect other people, using fear or doubt.  Each Anomal can use their power in different ways, like healing people, or even emotional manipulation.  These powers can be used in fun ways when in combat, but it how the world around them affects them.

This is a different world in 2030.  The United States has split into different factions, where Anomals are hunted and banned in the largest territory, the American Republic.  Pax and her cohorts must go from Pacifica (formerly California) with stolen information and take it to Nova Scotia.  I have always been a sucker for alternative future history and Dustborn is no different.  Even average games like Homefront had me hooked in with the premise of the game’s history.  Thankfully, Dustborn does have a great story to go with its universe.

Dustborn does mash together several game genres together in its gameplay.  You have your combat, which is pretty smash and grab, but there is also the whole rhythm game mechanic as well.  Yes, there is a whole backstory about you being under the cover of a touring band to get across the American Republic without being found out as Anomals.  And of course, we do have our standard discussion mechanic that builds how the story will end.  None of these mechanics is great, but they work together well enough, even if they can be repetitive at times.

While most of Dustborn works well enough, I do have some issues with the decision mechanics and how they work there way throughout the main story.  It seems that as you play through the story, the game has temporary bouts of amnesia.  I will make a decision about a color I like, and the story will forget I made that choice, but remember it hours later.  It removes some of the feeling of my choices, as it seems the developer wants to make a certain story happen, choices be damned. 

Even with the fight over story continuity, I found myself coming back to Dustborn to see the journey of our characters.  It is not the perfect journey, and sometimes the combat can be repetitive, but it is interesting and fun.  I would say it might be better on a sale than at full price, but you won’t hate the experience, especially if you like your alternative history backgrounds.