Dusty Revenge:Co-Op Edition

My first instinct when I saw the art for this one was to keep scrolling. An anthropomorphic rabbit with a scythe and dual pistols, set in a steampunk old west populated by mercenary hippos and armored rats, could have been a vanity project that peaked at its own concept art. It did not. PD Design Studio put genuine mechanical ambition into Dusty Revenge: Co-Op Edition, and that ambition is worth talking about honestly, flaws and all. At its core this is a side-scrolling beat-em-up with light platforming threaded through ten hand-drawn environments. You play as Dusty, a rabbit with a personal score to settle against a tiger warlord named Kraven and his army of criminal wildlife. The Co-Op Edition adds Kitsune, a ninja-styled second character, plus a new level and fresh boss encounters. Two players can share a couch and run the whole campaign together, though the co-op is strictly local. No online. If your brawler partner lives across town, this is a one-person night. The Co-Op Edition also bolts on a boss rush mode that strings all eight bosses back to back, which is a genuinely punishing way to spend thirty minutes once you feel you have mastered the rhythm of the fights. What earns Dusty some real attention is the combo architecture. This is not a simple two-button mash. Dusty builds combos across three attack categories: fist-and-foot low moves, scythe-driven high moves, and ranged attacks split between quick pistol taps and a held-down shotgun blast. Mixing them with precise timing unlocks increasingly flashy strings, and an EXP system gates new combos as you level up, which keeps the mid-game fresh. Rondel and McCoy, two support allies, add another layer: you can switch to Rondel's artillery arc or McCoy's sniper scope mid-fight, but while you are directing their fire Dusty stands exposed. It is a smart risk-reward design that keeps you from going completely autopilot. The soundtrack deserves a mention here too. The western tone, dusty strings and measured percussion, is a deliberate, calm counterpoint to the violence on screen, and it works in that slightly mystical way that only niche indie composers seem to manage. The frustrations are real, though, and they compound on each other in ways that matter. Hitbox accuracy is inconsistent enough that you will occasionally eat damage from attacks that visibly miss. Some boss encounters feature invincibility windows with no visual feedback, so you find yourself punching air and wondering if the game broke. Getting caught between two enemies can lock Dusty into a juggle with no recovery option, which stings more on harder difficulty. The voice acting for Dusty leans so hard into gritty gravitas that it drifts into self-parody, and the story underneath it is thin even by beat-em-up standards. Steam's own user reviews sit at a mixed fifty percent positive, which is about right: half the audience found the combo depth worth the rough ride, the other half bounced off the unpolished hitboxes and moved on. For the right player, specifically someone who played Streets of Rage or TMNT arcade games with genuine fondness and does not mind learning a move list, there is a compact, visually striking brawler here with a couch co-op mode that makes a reasonable weekend afternoon. For everyone else, the caveats stack up faster than the combo meter. Go in informed, go in with a friend if you can, and treat the boss rush as a victory lap rather than an introduction.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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