Never Stop Sneakin'

Dust takes place in the fictional world of Falana, inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. Gameplay is presented on a 2D side-scrolling plane. The player controls the titular main character, Dust (Lucien Dodge), as he tries to remember his past. Dust wields a sentient sword, the Blade of Ahrah (Edward Bosco), as his main weapon.

Fidget (Kimlinh Tran), the sword's guardian, acts as a companion for Dust and can use magical attacks (such as spitting on monsters) As the player travels the world, they can acquire power-ups that alter gameplay, such as the ability to double jump or climb to previously unreachable areas or flying like a tornado. Incorporating elements of role-playing video games, Dust can gain experience points by defeating enemies, and in turn may level up. These can be used to raise various attributes, such as health, strength, defense or magic. Non-player characters can be interacted with throughout the game's world to sell items or receive quests.

The game begins with Dust (Dodge) awakening in a forest meadow, approached by a floating, sentient sword known as the Blade of Ahrah (Bosco). Dust is joined by Fidget (Tran), a small flying creature called a Nimbat, who is the sword's guardian, and sets out for a small town in search of answers.

Upon arriving in Aurora, the group find the town overrun with monsters. The mayor of the town asks Dust for his help, and he tracks down the leader of the enemies, Fuse (voiced by Edwyn Tiong). Just before he dies, Fuse reveals himself to be a Moonblood, creatures who are victims of a genocide perpetrated by General Gaius (voiced by River Kanoff). Fuse also tells Dust that he played a role in the war at some point.

Aside from voice acting, soundtrack, and parts of the story, Dust was designed and programmed entirely by Dodrill. A self-taught illustrator and animator, he had previously done artwork and cinematics on Epic Games' Jazz Jackrabbit 2, and was in the process of creating an independent animated game, Elysian Tail. He assumed it would take three months to complete the game; it actually took over three-and-a-half years. He originally envisioned the game as an 8-bit-style platformer, similar to earlier entries in the Castlevania series. Inspirations for the final game came from such titles as Metroid, Golden Axe, and Ys I & II, which Dodrill cites as his favorite games.

The game was originally targeted for the Xbox 360 Indie Games channel, but upon winning the 2009 Microsoft Dream.Build.Play Challenge, it was awarded a contract for an Xbox Live Arcade release. Dust: An Elysian Tail was originally expected to be released in late 2011, but was later delayed until summer 2012. A version for the PlayStation 4, with 1080p support, was released on October 7, 2014.

Dust: An Elysian Tail received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Metacritic provides a score of 83 out of 100 from 59 critics for the Xbox 360 version, 85 out of 100 from 7 critics for the PC version, 91 out of 100 from 4 critics for the iPhone/ iPad version, 79 out of 100 from 5 critics for the PlayStation 4 version and 84 out of 100 from 6 critics for the Nintendo Switch version.

Official Xbox Magazine gave the game 9.5 out of 10, praising the detailed environments and animations and also approving of the combat system.