Dawn After Dusk

Dawn After Dusk is a very unusual little game that caught me off guard with how seriously it approaches its subject matter. It is an interactive fiction experience set around a stay in a psychiatric hospital, with the story dealing with mental illness, finding meaning and what happens after coming close to death. The whole thing has a strange mixture of psychological horror, dark humour and serious personal moments. I was not really sure what to expect going in, but I found myself wanting to keep reading because the situations are so unpredictable. The main gameplay is based around making choices and deciding how I respond to different situations. Rather than having traditional action or exploration, I spend most of my time reading conversations and selecting different responses. There are also internal thoughts and delusions that affect how I understand what is happening around me. I liked this because the game does not always make it completely obvious what is real or how I should interpret a situation. I also enjoyed the way the game uses some mechanics inspired by Disco Elysium. The choices feel connected to the protagonist's mental state, and I found myself thinking about whether a particular decision was sensible or whether I was simply making things worse. The asylum setting gives these choices more weight because even ordinary conversations can become uncomfortable or strange. There is a constant feeling that something deeper is happening beneath the surface. The darker subject matter will definitely not be for everyone. Dawn After Dusk deals directly with serious themes including suicide, death, mental illness and religion, while also occasionally throwing in some very dark jokes. I think the game is at its best when it treats these subjects thoughtfully rather than simply trying to shock me. Some moments are deliberately uncomfortable, but that discomfort is part of what makes the story memorable. I think the biggest weakness is that the experience can feel rough and uneven. The writing has some genuinely interesting ideas, but not every scene has the same impact. The presentation is also fairly basic, which makes the game feel more like an experimental piece of interactive fiction than a polished commercial adventure. There are choices to make and consequences to discover, but I sometimes wanted the game to give me a little more context about what was happening. The short length works reasonably well for the type of experience this is. I was able to get through the story without feeling like the darker themes were being stretched out unnecessarily, although I still think some parts could have benefited from more development. The fact that it is free also makes it much easier for me to recommend to someone who is interested in unusual narrative experiments. I would just suggest going in knowing that the subject matter can be quite heavy. Overall, Dawn After Dusk is an unusual and sometimes uncomfortable interactive fiction game that I am glad I played. I liked the choice based structure, the unreliable feeling of the protagonist's perspective and the way the game mixes serious psychological themes with moments of dark humour. It is not always polished, and some ideas could have been developed further, but there is enough personality here to make it stand out. It feels like a very personal experimental game rather than something designed to appeal to everyone, and I think that is part of its charm. Rating: 6.4/10

This was one of the most fun experiences ive had in a game in a while. I think the only thing im upset about is, its the only game Alexis Clay has produced. I cant wait to play through and try different scenarios or see what the options (if chose) kinda produce. Me and my wife plan on doing a play through and my work friends all are looking to do one as well. lots of fun. i hope you make more games like it! lots of possibility!

A unique text based choose your own adventure game, You try to keep your delusions in check, and try to keep from gaining more. I was genuinely surprised when what I thought were small unimportant actions actually got referenced later on. 7.8/10, it does get a little confusing at some points