As Dusk Falls’ couch co-op makes a middling thriller a lot more memorable

Image: INTERIOR/NIGHT

As we played As Dusk Falls, a tense new interactive thriller that recently launched on Xbox Game Pass, we would often turn to each other on the couch and say, " coin flip."

Up to eight people in a local co-op can vote on what the game's characters should do next. Jackbox has a brand ofTrivia mixed with Black Mirror. Similar to Jackbox games, you don't need a controller, just a phone.

It can be difficult to make decisions in a hostage situation at a motel. We had to decide whether to point the gun at someone or drop it on the ground. The option with the most votes is usually the one the character will actually do. The game will pick between the options if there is a tie.

We relied on this coin flip a lot throughout the course of the game. Is a character calm or aggressive? Sometimes my wife would make a more chaotic decision just to see what would happen when I chose the safe route. Some choices would be equally good or bad so we could split the vote and allow the character to die. The coin flips made the characters feel like they were making their own decisions.

Image: INTERIOR/NIGHT

It wasn't a new idea to play a narrative-driven game. Hidden Agenda was a party game. I hope more games follow a similar approach. Playing with my wife made what would have felt like a just-OK B-movie thriller plot into a much more unforgettable experience. We have an excuse to come back to the game because there are a lot of branching paths.

We beat As Dusk Falls in about seven hours over the course of a few nights, but we still have a lot of great couch co-op games on the Game Pass. We had a great time playing the first few hours of Nobody Saves the World, a dungeon crawlers where you play as all sorts of creatures and characters and mix and match their powers. We faked it with her on the TV and me on the laptop, so that it wouldn't launch with local co-op. The feature was officially added in April.

There are a lot of things to play in the Game Pass co-op. Andrew has written about how the classic arcade games are captured in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. My wife and I have never done a physical escape room but I think we will have a lot of fun with the game's virtual ones. I am excited for the split screen mode of the game to come out so that we can explore the other side.

Microsoft adds games to the Game Pass at a rapid rate. I would like to go back to As Dusk Falls with a bigger group of people.

As Dusk Falls is available on a number of platforms.