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Longer combos yields higher experience point bonuses, and thus, more frequent level ups for Dust. The combo system of Dust's combat is also part of the role-playing aspect of the game. One early such acquisition is the Dust Storm, a special attack that allows Dust to spin his sword quickly, hitting enemies dozens of times in the span of a few seconds. Dust is able to acquire more abilities as the game progresses, opening up combat to longer and more complex combos. Its protagonist, Dust, is able to perform combos using his talking sword of Ahrah and his sidekick Fidget (who is a "nimbat," a flying creature similar to a mongoose or a ferret, and an oft-parodied aspect in some portions of the game).
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Gameplay CombatĪt its core, Dust: An Elysian Tail is a hack-and-slash game. The game has been praised for its art style, simplistic yet addicting gameplay, and its large world, with frequent comparisons to the " Metroidvania" style. The game was finally released on Augfor 1200 Microsoft Points (the equivalent of $15.00 USD), and quickly garnered critical acclaim from numerous publications, including top scores from Electronic Gaming Monthly, Official Xbox Magazine, Games Radar, and Game Informer. Additionally, at a PAX East 2013 panel, creators Dean Dodrill and Alex Kain announced that the game would see a release on Steam within the next few months. Very little was heard about Dust for the next two years, until it was announced in June 2012 that the game was going to be part of the 2012 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade promotion. Previously Dust was being made as an Xbox Live Indie Game after winning 2009, an annual contest held by Microsoft to highlight quality independent games, however on July 7th, 2010, Dodrill announced that Microsoft will be publishing it as an official Xbox Live Arcade title. The game itself is a tie-in to Elysian Tail, an animated feature also being worked on by Dodrill.
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Dodrill is the sole developer and has hand-animated and coded the game by himself, with HyperDuck Music Studios contributing the music. Dust: An Elysian Tail is a two-dimensional side-scrolling action role-playing game developed by Dean Dodrill.
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