Dustborn, the narrative-driven Neo-Western game published by Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream and developed by indie studio Red Thread Games, was showcased during Gamescom Opening Night Live, and it’s bringing graphic novel-style art, branching stories and a road trip to remember (as well as robots).
Set in 2030, Dustborn sees you play as Pax, a pregnant ex-con hired to transport a mysterious package across a dystopian version of America controlled by an entity called Justice. Build a crew of misfits to join you on your pan-American road trip, and use weaponised words (literally) in combat to fight numerous enemies, motivate your crew, and manipulate the wills of strangers – with the ability to change the outcome of tense situations or stop enemies in their tracks just by speaking (getting real Dune vibes from this). Just to make the adventure even cooler, you and your band of outcasts are travelling undercover as a folk-punk rock band to avoid detection (there’s original songs to play throughout the game as well).
Dustborn is a story about “family, friendship, and hope in the face of overwhelming adversity,” according to the website, which also outlines the branching dialogue system that impacts relationships with the diverse cast of characters that each come with their own unique stories and personalities.
Based on the trailer and Steam page alone, it looks like Dustborn is shaping up to bring in-depth worldbuilding, a unique tale that borrows from current topical issues like misinformation, and an engaging story with a lot of heart.
Developer Red Thread Games has previously worked on Draugen, a first-person, single-player horror game inspired by fairytales and legends – so Dustborn’s single-player narrative sits comfortably in their wheelhouse with the backing of interactive storytelling heavyweights Quantic Dream as the publisher (Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human, and Beyond: Two Souls).
Dustborn is one of many upcoming games shown during the Gamescom Opening Night Live, with other announcements including release date announcements for titles including survival game Nightingale, and extended looks at story and gameplay for games including Alan Wake 2, Starfield, and Mortal Kombat 1.
While no release date was given alongside the trailer (the Steam listing currently just states “coming soon”), it was confirmed that Dustborn will be making its way to PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, PS4, and Xbox on launch. Given the timespan since Draugen was released in 2019, we can potentially expect to see this indie title sooner rather than later as it appears that Red Thread Games have been hard at work bringing it to life.
You can view a full rundown of all the trailers, announcements, and reveals made during the Gamescom Opening Night Live here – we’ll more than likely see more announcements and new games getting their spotlight as Gamescom gets into full swing.
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