Is this a full Duskfade review?

No. It is a sponsored first-look playthrough of the opening hours on PC. The host stops around Scorched Grove and still calls the game a knock-out on looks and movement.

What platforms is Duskfade on?

Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2. The video starts hoping for a Switch port, then corrects: it is already out on Switch 2.

Is Duskfade worth trying if you miss PS2 platformers?

That is the pitch. Ratchet-and-Clank / Kingdom Hearts energy, Treasure Planet silhouette, and the kind of stylised 3D the host wishes more films had chased.

Duskfade Review: Peak Eye Candy Action-Platformer

Covered on

Pros

Looks like a PS2 game given modern graphics: volumetric fog, storybook Tick Town, clock-hand UI
Movement already feels complete: double jump, wall jump, air dodge-roll, generous i-frames
Off-path secrets, stained glass, challenge rooms closer to Sunshine than a hallway
Out now on Steam, PS5, Xbox and Switch 2 — not a ‘hope it comes to handheld’ wait

Cons

Sponsored first look, not a finished-campaign review
Wall-jump camera fights you in the opening
Easy early combat: potions and checkpoints sit on the path, no reason to hoard

This page is a condensed take on This Masterclass Action-Platformer Is Peak Eye Candy! - Duskfade — not a recap of the playthrough. Fireshine sponsored the video. Other takes: the launch review, the Switch 2 review, and the scored PC review.

What this first look is

Wander treats Duskfade as a mascot platformer in the same lane as Ratchet & Clank and the PS1/PS2 games AAA mostly walked away from. Weird Beluga made it; Fireshine published it. The session is PC / Steam, opening Tick Town through Ezarus Forest and into Scorched Grove — not a credits-to-credits review.

The comparison that sticks: a PS2 game given modern graphics. Kingdom Hearts in the outfit and how Zirian holds Minutero. Treasure Planet / Jim Hawkins in the hair. Storybook lighting instead of the old yellow fog.

Eye candy and UI

The word the title promised is the first reaction, repeatedly: gorgeous. Volumetric blue fog, ethereal Tick Town, stained-glass pickups sitting in tiny secrets. The pause-menu cursor is a clock hand; the host clocks that as someone in UI being quietly very pleased with themselves.

It is also the kind of world he says he could waste too much time just looking around in — the good kind of waste.

Movement, combat, and secrets

Double jump and wall jump show up immediately. The wall-jump camera in the tutorial does not want to cooperate; the rest of the kit does. Air dodge after a double jump feels mandatory for this genre and is here. Dodge i-frames are generous.

Checkpoints restore health. Potion crates sit on the path. Early on there is no reason to hoard. Lock-on works. Enemies do not hit that hard yet. You cannot stunlock them at the start — you dodge and read.

The charm is the density of tiny secrets: stained glass, jars a Cloudie literally dares you to smash, a diary you are told not to read. Guide bells chime a route. Four biomes plus a finale sit on the progress screen. Teleporters back to Tick Town exist but start out of sync with the tower.

A challenge room plays like Super Mario Sunshine gone longer: platforming more than puzzles, bonus pickups, a Chronoblast gadget (energy blast with recoil). Reflecting one projectile can knock the rest back with it. Rail grind is shown in marketing and gated behind a later upgrade; the host is waiting for it on purpose.

How far the session gets

It does not reach a biome-end boss. The host assumed a puzzle dungeon and found an area transition instead — off the obvious path, already in Scorched Grove, unsure of the route, and fine with that. The retraction at the end matters: he wanted it on Switch, looked it up, and it is already on Steam, PS5, Xbox and Switch 2.

His own Unreal Engine CPU crashes are called out as a hardware issue, not a Duskfade takedown.

The recommendation

Deeper and broader than a short video can cover. The kind of game he grew up on and still misses. “Knock it out of the park in so many different regards” is the closer — looks, movement, and that PS2-plus-modern-lighting brief.

If you want a finished-campaign score, use the compact clockwork review. To play, start with the beginner guide or the walkthrough.