Game review
DUST - Post Apocalyptic RPG
6.2 / 10
- Developer
- SEGEDI INC.
- Publisher
- SEGEDI INC.
- Released
- 1 May 2022
- Platforms
- Windows
- Genre
- RPG
- Monetisation
- One-time purchase, no DLC or in-app purchases.
- Players
- Single-player only
The short version
DUST is a turn-based, choose-your-own-adventure-style survival RPG set in a randomly generated wasteland, ported from a prior mobile release: manage food, ammunition, medicine and gear durability across a permadeath run, with every encounter boiled down to a pair of choices. Steam records only 11 English-language reviews, too few for a formal score but reading as Positive — 9 positive, 2 negative — and this review read every single one.
The reviews that engage with the game in real depth are consistently enthusiastic about the core loop: resource management under real pressure, meaningful build choices, and genuine tension from permadeath. What holds this review back from a stronger score is a specific, independently corroborated problem: two separate reviewers report the game black-screening and softlocking, with one identifying the exact trigger — a late-game boss encounter called "Robotron" — that can force a forced suicide and restart after hundreds of in-game days invested. A third reviewer reports the same category of freeze during ordinary travel. Separately, one detailed review checked the store page's claim of "constant updates" against the game's actual patch history and found only two total content updates since launch; this review independently confirmed that count via the developer's own public news feed.
Biggest strengths
- A genuinely addictive core loop built on meaningful two-choice decisions, praised specifically by multiple reviewers for real tension around resource scarcity (food, ammunition, medicine, gear durability) under permadeath stakes
- Real build variety: character stats, skill choices at each level-up, and a meaningful melee-versus-guns tradeoff driven by genuine ammunition scarcity
- A surprising amount of world variety for the price — stores, diners, airports, wrecked vehicles, and standing communities each with their own traders, quests, and currencies
Biggest weaknesses
- A specific, independently corroborated bug: two separate reviewers report the game black-screening and softlocking during play, with one identifying the precise trigger — the "Robotron" late-game boss encounter — forcing a run-ending suicide after potentially hundreds of in-game days invested
- Real balance complaints from a detailed review: hit chances as low as 35% in high-level areas, armor rating weighted so heavily that several special suits are only useful to sell, and at least one quest item ("plutonium charge") described as absurdly rare to the point of impracticality
- Mobile-port control issues persist: one reviewer reports the Escape key closing the entire game rather than backing out of a menu, a real usability problem carried over from the original mobile version
Who it's for: Fans of tough, RNG-driven roguelike RPGs and choose-your-own-adventure-style survival games who can tolerate real mobile-port rough edges and a real chance of hitting a late-game softlock.
Our recommendation: A good buy at its low price for genre fans specifically drawn to permadeath resource-management RPGs — the core loop genuinely works for players who stick with it — but go in aware of the corroborated late-game bug and treat the store page's update-frequency claims with some skepticism.
6.2 / 10
Introduction
DUST - Post Apocalyptic RPG puts players in a randomly generated wasteland as a scavenger managing food, ammunition, medicine and gear across a permadeath run, with every encounter — a door, a fight, a scavenged item — reduced to a pair of choices in a style closer to a choose-your-own-adventure book than a conventional action RPG. Developed and published by SEGEDI INC., it launched on Steam on 1 May 2022 at NZ$6.39, ported from an earlier mobile release. Its 11 English-language reviews read as Positive — this review read every one of them.
A genuinely addictive core loop
The reviews that engage with DUST at length are consistently enthusiastic, and specific about why. "This is primarily a resource management game... It's tough but fair. The gameplay loop is fun and addicting," reads one detailed review, describing the tension of stretching scarce ammunition, rationing food, and repairing gear that "breaks quickly, a bit too quick for my liking." Another long-form review, written after extensive play, calls out real build variety: character stats can be tuned toward melee, guns, speech, or lockpicking, with skill choices offered at every level-up. One reviewer with roughly 50 hours on the prior mobile version urges other readers directly: "PLEASE PLAY THIS GAME."
A specific, corroborated bug worth knowing about
What keeps this review from scoring DUST higher is a problem two reviewers describe independently and specifically enough to take seriously rather than dismiss as an isolated fluke. One reviewer reports the game "black screening" during ordinary travel, forcing them to close and restart, severe enough on their longest-running save that they put the game down for a while. A second, more detailed review identifies the exact trigger: a late-game boss encounter called "Robotron" that can black-screen and softlock the game, leaving no option but to let the character die and start over — a serious blow after, in that reviewer's case, "more than a few hundred days surviving" to reach it. Two independent reports of the same category of failure, one with a named specific trigger, is a real and known risk worth flagging plainly rather than treating as bad luck.
Balance and porting rough edges
The same detailed review lays out specific balance concerns: hit chances as low as 35% in high-level areas even with a strong build, armor rating weighted so heavily that specialised disease- and electricity-immune suits are outclassed by ordinary combat armor and end up only worth selling, and at least one late quest item described as so rare it's effectively a lottery. A separate, shorter but highly-upvoted review flags a genuine mobile-port control issue: pressing Escape to back out of a menu instead closes the entire game outright.
Checking the "constant updates" claim
One of the more thorough reviews makes a specific, checkable claim: that the store page's promise of "constant updates with new content, expansions, bug fixes and balance" doesn't match reality, citing just two total content updates as of that review, the most recent four months prior. This review independently checked that claim against the developer's own public news feed and found the same picture: exactly two posts across the game's entire history since 2022 — a "NEW CONTENT" update in December 2023, and a Mac build added in October 2025. That's not evidence the game is abandoned — the developer clearly remains reachable enough to add platform support years later — but it does confirm the specific, reasonable complaint that "constant updates" oversells what buyers should actually expect.
Verdict
DUST offers a genuinely addictive, tightly-built resource-management RPG loop for a low price, and its most engaged reviewers back that up with real enthusiasm rather than faint praise. But this review's full read of its small sample surfaces a specific, independently corroborated late-game softlock bug serious enough to end a long run outright, real balance rough edges, mobile-port control carryover, and a store-page update-frequency claim that doesn't hold up to a direct check. Worth the low asking price for genre fans who go in with clear expectations.
Pros and cons
Pros
- A genuinely addictive core loop built on meaningful two-choice decisions, praised specifically by multiple reviewers for real tension around resource scarcity (food, ammunition, medicine, gear durability) under permadeath stakes
- Real build variety: character stats, skill choices at each level-up, and a meaningful melee-versus-guns tradeoff driven by genuine ammunition scarcity
- A surprising amount of world variety for the price — stores, diners, airports, wrecked vehicles, and standing communities each with their own traders, quests, and currencies
- Cheap at NZ$6.39, with multiple reviewers explicitly calling it worth the price even with its rough edges
Cons
- A specific, independently corroborated bug: two separate reviewers report the game black-screening and softlocking during play, with one identifying the precise trigger — the "Robotron" late-game boss encounter — forcing a run-ending suicide after potentially hundreds of in-game days invested
- Real balance complaints from a detailed review: hit chances as low as 35% in high-level areas, armor rating weighted so heavily that several special suits are only useful to sell, and at least one quest item ("plutonium charge") described as absurdly rare to the point of impracticality
- Mobile-port control issues persist: one reviewer reports the Escape key closing the entire game rather than backing out of a menu, a real usability problem carried over from the original mobile version
- This review independently confirmed a specific, checkable complaint: the store page claims "constant updates," but the developer's own public update history shows only two content updates across the game's full history since 2022, the more recent nearly two years after the first
- No Steam screenshot support, an unusual omission for a game at this price point
Screenshots
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DUST - Post Apocalyptic RPGImage: SEGEDI INC. via Steam -
DUST - Post Apocalyptic RPGImage: SEGEDI INC. via Steam -
DUST - Post Apocalyptic RPGImage: SEGEDI INC. via Steam -
How the review scores each part of the gameWanderer Editorial -
The essentials at a glanceWanderer Editorial -
The short versionWanderer Editorial