As Dusk Falls is a narrative adventure game from developers Interior Night. The game was released on Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Windows on July 19, 2022, and also became available to play on Xbox GamePass the same day.
At times As Dusk Falls truly feels like players are controlling a TV show with chapters used to split up gameplay and flashbacks peppered throughout. It uses a motion comic graphical style to tell its story of two families' fates that intertwine after a botched robbery leads to a hostage situation at a motel. Heavy use of characterization for players to make informed decisions gives As Dusk Falls some fantastically memorable characters.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
10 Zoe Walker
Narrating the whole story from the outset, Zoe was just a young girl in 1998 when she was tragically involved in the night at the motel. A kind young girl who is scared of the dark and likes to play games with her father Vince, Zoe’s life would be changed forever.
Seeing Zoe all grown up in the 2012 timeline, we learn she is a victim of night terrors and flashbacks of the kidnapping and shootout at the motel. Zoe is considering dropping out of school and only when Jim gives her advice to face the past can she finally look it in the eyes and put it to rest.
9 Joyce Walema
Owner and manager of the Desert Dream Motel, Joyce is a no-nonsense mother with a heart of gold. Taking pity on Vince who only had $52, she allowed him and his family to stay the night even though the cost was $70.
Mother to Ash, Joyce did not take kindly to the Holt boys arriving and taking her and the guests as hostages. Standing her ground against the Holts was brave of Joyce, however, defending her motel and the people within was perhaps not the best decision she had ever made.
8 Ash Walema
Joyce’s son Ash was thankfully not at the motel when the events leading up to the massacre were unfolding. Ash is an artist who loves to draw comics. He also has a sense of adventure and follows a map a friend drew to find a secret in the woods.
Leaving the motel on the hunt for the location of his friend's drawing, it turns out the picture was actually of the secret cabin owned by Bear Holt. Injured and seeking water and heat, Ash comes face to face with Bear, who is not the most pleasant to the young boy.
7 Bear Holt
The father of the Holt boys and husband to Sharon, Bear lives a life of drinking and gambling whilst taking out the results of both on his family at home. He often berates Tyler and Dale, leading to a fist fight between the father and his sons.
During As Dusk Falls, a dangerous man comes to the Holt house and makes underhanded threats to Bear via Jay. Not taking kindly to this, Bear tries to even the score with the man and after an altercation, tied him up and takes him way out in the desert with Jay, intending to bury the man alive.
6 Vince Walker
A loving father and family man, Vince is still recovering mentally from an accident at work that cost him his career. Caring and fun-loving, Vince has come upon hard times having to accept a new job and move his entire family cross-country.
Showing bravery during the hostage situation the Holt boys create, Vince stands up to the Holts and puts himself at risk several times during the night. Loving to his wife and accepting of his father's reappearance after thirty years, Vince is a wholesome family man that has fallen upon some hard times.
5 Paul Hayes
Local handyman at the Desert Dreams Motel, Paul is a helpful man who comes to offer to help fix Vince's car after the accident they had with the Holt boys on the road. Paul seems to have a good memory as he recalls seeing Jim come around town fifteen years previous to the events in the game.
Paul is the cousin of Sheriff Dante and is a timid man with a drinking problem in his past. Trusting and easily led, Paul ends up lying to his cousin and even leaving him for dead as he makes his escape with Sharon.
4 Sharon Holt
The fierce matriarch of the Holt family and the only person that can get the boys to listen to reason. Scheming and thieving her way through life, Sharon cons the Sheriff into letting her enter the motel during the standoff between the boys and the police.
Sharon seems to be tangled in the wide web of events that have occurred in town over the years. Familiar with the Sheriff's dodgy dealings as well as stringing along Paul who comes to her aid in getting away from the law after the massacre.
3 Jim Walker
The grandfather of young Zoe, Jim is traveling with his son Vince and daughter-in-law Michelle to see their new home. He abandoned Vince and his mother for thirty years and has only recently been welcomed back by Vince to meet his granddaughter.
Jim is mysterious and Paul recognizes his face at the motel, a moment in which Jim acts rather suspicious. During the last chapter of the game, players hear a phone call from Jim to Zoe explaining he did indeed have ulterior motives when suggesting the pit stop which lead to the events at the motel.
2 Vanessa Dorland
Vanessa first meets Jay in 1998 after he is left by his brother Tyler and mom to survive on his own. Vanessa, as it turns out, actually recognizes Jay from high school and agrees to help him escape from the FBI and police.
Vanessa is rebellious, she dislikes school and has dropped out after several bad reports. Her father is stern with her, and she has not got a good relationship with him. Becoming an accomplice after helping Jay, Vanessa goes to Canada with Jay even against the wishes of her pleading father.
1 Jay Holt
Jay is one of the most complex and interesting characters in As Dusk Falls. The youngest of the Holt brothers, often at the end of their teasing but also defended by both Tyler and Dale.
The youngest Holt is seen as a central figure in both the 1998 and 2012 timelines. Escaping to Canada after the Motel Massacre with Vanessa and keeping in touch with Zoe, he is a troubled soul. Revelations about his past in the story, while trying to fit in with his two older brothers, tears Jay between his criminal family and living a peaceful life.
As Dusk Falls is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.