Are you ready, Gramps?
When we look back at some of gaming’s finest moments, we often think of the 90’s and with that era comes some of the best platforming mascots ever created. Those icons that have stood the test of time. I’m looking at you, Sonic, Mario, Crash, Ratchet & Clank, and so on.
Whilst their stars continue to shine, and, in some cases evolve further. The platformer genre has fallen on hard times. Remasters and the like remind folk of the joys yesterday’s flavour can still bring, but they appease a niche market, without actually thrusting the platform genre back into mainstream popularity.
Yet, here we are. It’s August 2026 and the indie studio “Weird Beluga” has brought us a lovely little heartwarming release called Duskfade. (Could Zyrian’s star shine as bright as those from games gone by?)
Duskfade tells the story of a young man, Zyrian, desperate to honor his Gramps Tristan, testing the path of time on a journey that sees him frantically trying to remove the shackles of time from the grandmaster clock tower to save his sister Allira from the evil entity known as despair. Accompanying Zyrian on his newfound adventure is a cute little clockwork bird known as Cuckoo. Gamers dash, swing, glide, slash, and time travel through a plethora of landscapes.
Ranging from lush woodland backdrops in the Ezarus Forest to the floaty, light, and delightful skies of the Celestial Kingdom. Levels truly do look gorgeous; I found myself often marvelling at how polished and pleasant the game presents itself.(Particularly when one considers this isn’t a triple AAA budget release).
Throughout DuskFades varied levels, the game reminds us why platforming titles can be a fulfilling, unique experience that other genres just don’t provide. Rocky pillars collapse under your feet, airborne platforms have shock pads, rotating wheels often have fire risks and rotate in the opposite direction, making the timing of jumps, grapple hooks, etc vital to get past obstacles. The grapple hook helps reach unexplorable areas and treasures, jump onto the rail slides for some high-energy, adrenaline-filled exploration, whilst the occasional side-scrolling puzzle offers a different perspective of how to advance through the game. Levels are linear, but the variety in terms of reaching the endpoint is impressive.
Cuckoo provides Zyrian with in-game conversation and combat support. The dialogue between the two can often go between hurling insults to one of friendship and support. There’s little voiceover support (outside of the main cutscenes) and not much facial animation, which can let Duskfade down during its storytelling. Without going into spoilers, Zyrian expresses emotions of remorse, guilt, and anger throughout flashbacks seen as you progress. The story is moving, but due to those character/ budget constraints, it also made it hard for me to feel any real level of sympathy for Zyrian and his cause.
Across the game’s span of play, you’ll encounter many NPCs known as cloudies; these little cuddly characters had to abandon their homeland of the celestial kingdom (one of the game’s most enjoyable levels). The NPCs offer some useful dialogue, but generally speaking, most of the NPCs you encounter don’t add much to the atmosphere, and interaction enjoyment is minimal.
For the large part, the dialogue is rather lacking, but at least by having them there, the worlds don’t feel empty. Worlds don’t quite feel completely lifeless, but I’d have liked to see more mini-games thrown in, and better, more engaging/memorable personalities brought into the worlds.
This brings me onto my next point: Duskfade has some smooth gameplay, with fantastic visuals and impressive free-flowing movement, but just like the interactions within the world, combat (outside of the boss fights) feels limited. (Also, I found the lock-on system didn’t always appear effective).
Perhaps if a future update included additional attack combinations, special combo moves with Cuckoo, and an environment players could use to their advantage, I’d have found more enjoyment in this part of the game.
On the positive side, the boss fights are generally challenging and took me a few goes to get to grips with the timings and patterns to beat them. The Father Gorth showdown up in the clouds, dodging attacks, sliding on the rails, and timing your hits felt neatly fulfilling.
These boss fights take around five minutes and have the same routine of knocking the health bar down, avoiding the boss maneuvers employed, and then using a power source, the environment or a mechanism that pops up to weaken the boss further and then continue to beat down until defeated. These proved more enjoyable due to the upgrades Zyrian receives becoming intertwined with the design of the fight in order to progress.
The game does have a small upgrade system, using upgrade gear and star shards; these can be redeemed in Tick Town at the upgrade shop for bonuses to Cuckoo and Zyrian. Completionists will also be pleased to see there are a few challenges to be had in each level.
Discover time rifts to find rare treasures. Whilst other goodies such as music boxes, coins, rainbow Ingots, and more unlock further customisable features. This unlocks perks such as changing outfits, the color of weapons, and completing a card collector’s album.
Fans of Kingdom Hearts will be keen to see there are a few nods to the franchise. The main hub of Tick Town reminds me of Traverse Town with its neon lights/signage and multi-colored light bulbs that embrace the buildings scattered around the starting location.
Zyrian’s running animations look identical to those of Sora, and Zyrian’s sword strikingly looks similar to the Keyblade. Then there are the clockmaker statues that look eerily like Organisation 13 in their hoods (image attached below). Probably some more nods to the KH franchise, but it’s clear that Duskfade has been shaped and influenced by games from yesteryear.
For those looking for a game with plenty of replayability, you won’t find it with Duskfade; this is a single-player experience with no online aspect, no -co-op play or multiplayer features. This is a game that’s had a lot of love poured into the offline mode and will rightly earn plaudits for its fantastic nod to platform games of a bygone era. The price point of £24.99 (£19.99 if ordered within the first two weeks of release) seems more than fair; the game took me between 10 and 12 hours to finish. The quality and polish found in this gem really should shame some of the bigger releases that come riddled with more scandal and flaws than FIFA’s Gianni Infantino.
Zyrian’s first outing is a heartwarming, fast-paced, special journey that arguably highlights how neglected the platforming genre has been. Weird Beluga have released a banger of a title. Platform games deserve more love, and I’m hoping Duskfade could help ignite the torch.
Read on below for a breakdown and summary of the review score. Many thanks to Fireshine Games for the review code. DuskFade releases August 13th 2026, on the Steam platform, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2
