Eldrum: Black Dust review - “A satisfying and immersive text RPG”

• Engaging quests with multiple endings
• Immersive turn-based combat
• A compelling narrative

Explore a city in the desert and surrounding ruins in Eldrum: Black Dust. You play as a poor individual who finds themselves deep in debt to a criminal organization. Despite attempts to run from your debtors, you’ve been cornered and now have little choice but to do their dirty work until your debt is repaid. 

A good text RPG needs a compelling narrative, and the newest instalment in the Eldrum series doesn’t disappoint. Detailed on-screen descriptions meld perfectly with vivid illustrations and melodic background music to immerse you in a harsh and violent world. 

Eldrum: Black Dust Offers Branching Storylines

Quests can be completed in a variety of ways, letting you personalize your experience. Whether you choose to be ruthless, noble, or something in between is entirely up to you. How you decide to approach a quest can change how it plays out.

 You'll pick up intriguing side quests as you explore the city, some of which lead you to dangerous new locals. Sometimes, you can talk your way out of a sticky situation if your charisma is high enough. No matter how you choose to play, there will be times when you have no choice but to fight.

Eldrum: Black Dust features engaging turn-based combat. When in battle, you'll see your opponents on screen, and their current health is shown below. You get three moves per turn, which you can use to attack, move, or select an offensive or defensive stance. Activating an offensive stance increases your speed by 25% and critical hit chance by 5% for three turns. Conversely, activating a Defensive Stance increases your protection and chance to block by 50% for three turns.

Besides a basic attack, you'll gain access to other attacks depending on what type of weapon you have equipped. For instance, equipping a staff unlocks the Stun and Trip abilities, while using a short sword unlocks the Thrust, Strike, and Cut attacks.

Eldrum: Black Dust - Dreadnoughts or Jackals?

Once you complete the quest The Pit and join a stable at the arena, you’ll be able to unlock new traits and abilities. Joining the Jackals gains you access to Rogue abilities while joining the Dreadnoughts lets you unlock warrior abilities. As a member of the Jackals, you’ll immediately unlock the Sand Toss ability. This lets you disorient enemies, reducing their chance of hitting you by 20 per cent.

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Once you join a stable, you will be able to unlock traits like the Jackals' Bloodletter trait, which gives you a 15 per cent chance to add bleeding each time you use a basic attack. Some traits have multiple levels to unlock, increasing their potency.  

Get Ready to Die

Eldrum: Black Dust isn’t easy. You’ll often find yourself confronted by cutthroats after earning enough cash to rent a room or buy a new weapon, and yes, you’re going to die quite a bit, but that just adds to the challenge. Luckily, when you die, you'll have the option to try the encounter again or load a previous save, meaning you can always backtrack if you paint yourself into a corner.

Eldrum: Black Dust is a sincerely engaging text-based RPG with surprisingly immersive turn-based combat. The colourful quests will keep you enthralled as you journey through the desert city, completing quests and paying back your debt. In-depth combat and character systems add a layer of strategy to each choice you make. If you're a fan of text RPGs, you won’t regret delving into the enticing world of Eldrum: Black Dust.