Veil of Dust: A Homesteading Game

[b][h2]TLDR:[/h2][/b][b][h2]Veil of Dust: A Homesteading Game is a historical adventure that challenges you to imagine the difficulties, love, and mysteries of the Old West.[/h2][/b] This game is a strange, but wonderful, mix of a farming simulator, romance, and light combat. [b][h2]Brief Summary: [/h2][/b] You have the choice to play as either Aine, (sorry, I am missing the accent here) the sister, or Shane, the brother, two new arrivals to Oregon into 1860. The siblings arrive after a series of tragedies to find themselves in charge of a patch of land and the duty to figure out how to use it. However, things on the homestead are more than what they seem. The first important choice of the game is to choose your player character. In another game, this is just the choice between which gender you want to play as, but in Veil of Dust the question is much more important. The narratives of both siblings follow the same throughline, but we experience the plot through two incredibly different lenses. As Shane you play the world through the eyes of a man, viscerally aware of your place in society, the racism against Irish Americans (among many others) faced in 1860s Oregon, and the burden of leading a family with secrets when you’re just becoming a man yourself. - OR - You can play as Aine, a young woman distinctly outside of even the realm her brother can interact with. She sees the magic of the world, and for her safety, she must find her place in nature, rather than with other people. Both siblings are treating their homestead as a new beginning, but it becomes obvious that the world around them, and the past they’ve left behind, are more than just the background to their new lives. [b][h2]What It’s Like to Play:[/h2][/b] Balance is key. Each character in your household has mood bars that need to be maintained: [b]Health[/b], [b]Morale[/b], [b]Hunger[/b] and [b]Stamina[/b]. [b]Health[/b] is affected by potential attacks. Health will recover a little bit per night, but if it reaches zero things become more drastic. [b]Morale[/b] is the true *mood* bar. Life on the ranch can be harrowing. Your characters will naturally wonder if their desperate bid to make a better life for themselves through farming will work out. Characters can get depressed (especially if you feed them certain food), which can affect your stamina. Pleasant conversations and good food improve morale. [b]Cooking[/b], not just what you plant, but what products you get from animals and nature, means that [i]what you cook and eat matters just as much as how often you eat[/i]. Your meals might improve your hunger or stamina, but they could bring down your morale or health. As the player, you have to find the right balance between what you can afford to eat instead of selling, what the benefits are of the meals you can make, and when you feed your household (the player character is responsible for giving food to their siblings). Hunger will always drain over time. [b]Stamina[/b] is your energy to *do* things. Whether that’s hunting, climbing, watering crops, planting crops, swinging a weapon, or any number of physical activities. Stamina improves while you sleep, so it’s worth it to try and get a full night of rest. However, that might mean getting less work done. While actively juggling your mood bar, your character is also playing the main story. The theme of the main plot surrounds family, outsiders, society, and personal growth. I found the main story compelling and fulfilling for both characters, and I was more than a little sad when I reached the end of the game. Luckily, ending the main plot doesn’t end the game, it just gives the player more time to devote to the other aspects of it. One of those aspects is romance. Your player can pursue romances with one of three characters (each sibling has three potential romantic interests), which will progress at certain intersections with the main plot. I only played through three of the six total (because of the save system, more on that later), and found each to be impressive. All the romanceable characters reveal another area of this society, what problems the characters might be facing, and what they want out of life. It was great to see these characters grow as individuals and flourish into a healthy and loving partnership. Another key aspect of the game is the farming simulator. You need to take care of the ranch, both by farming and by making your ranch an actual home (which will increase your statistics and unlock other streams of income). Building and improving the ranch requires certain materials, which you will either need to find or buy. Money is hard to come by, but you can sell your goods at the local store, or work at the store for some additional income. Veil of Dust unfurls based on your timeline and wishes, but it requires a careful balancing act that highlights the difficulty of what life back then must have actually been like. [b][h2] So What?[/h2][/b] [b]Oh, I loved this game[/b]. I didn’t think I would. I bought it on sale many months ago while it was still in early access, but I do get a general sense of nerves when a game tells me I’m going to play as a set character. I start to wonder how strong the writing is, and if it’s necessary to be set in a specific identity. In this case, yes, I completely understood why Shane and Aine were the main characters, and the way they were written not only made me love them as characters but as a family. I found it particularly fulfilling to play the game from one perspective, and then to play the game from the other sibling’s perspective. It made both characters make more sense, and their teamwork felt more amazing than ever. I wish I had a brother to hug after the game was over. The farming was FRUSTRATING, and I actually LOVED THIS. I was always struggling between how much food I could sell, how many crops I needed to make new seeds, and what I could keep to feed both siblings. Is it better to have my sibling go out hunting, knowing that they might return with nothing, or spend a full day working at the shop, knowing that they’ll have wasted a day and brought back barely any money? Even at my most successful, there was only ever just enough money, (although ultimately my house improved massively). The farming made me really think about the history of homesteading, what was constantly at risk, and how hard it must have been to depend on so many factors that might not ever pan out. However, love and persistence make you want to try your hardest not to fail. The game is excellently done. Although I do have a short list of gripes! Three save slots were not enough!!!! Why would you do us this way? I want to play all six routes, but I’m unwilling to fight that big bad again or lose my save slots. [spoiler] Why do the monsters still attack after the end game? Shouldn’t that be over? [/spoiler] Lastly, I wish that you could play the main game from one sibling’s perspective and then, once they’re married and happy, play the other sibling’s perspective. As it is now, the epilogue leaves me a bit befuddled. I’m not sure if there’s more after the characters get married, or if this is just the opportunity to get that fancy couch I could never afford before. I think it might’ve been a good idea to let us have the option to switch and play as the other sibling for the epilogue so there was more to do and more to pursue! Just a thought. [b][h2] Rec or No? [/h2][/b] I enthusiastically recommend this game! One more thing! Thanks to the devs for their help when I was stuck! [h1] Visit [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41411199/] A Variable Review [/url] for more reviews [/h1]