Were Plato alive right now, he’d declare a sixth platonic stable: de_dust2, representing the sixth aspect of devotion. This sacred configuration of geometry escaped its confinement in Counter-Strike and for eighteen years the map has lived within the hearts of males, re-emerging in desires, in different games with degree editors, and in mashed potato sculptures carved on the dinner desk. But within the far future, the final remaining copy of de_dust2 is maintained inside Dustnet, a multiplayer sandbox constructing self-aware deathmatch museum… factor? It’s out now, I’ve performed a bit, I am keen on it, and I’m excited to determine precisely what it’s.
“Welcome to Dustnet, please be respectful, this is the last copy of de_dust2 we have,” says the message of the day upon becoming a member of a server.
It is CS, in a approach, with bombs to plant and defuse as we roam a wireframe model of de_dust2 with a mixture of CS and Quake weapons. A closely modded server, then, of the kind that will have infuriated me again within the day with bizarre additions and instructions. Dust2 is simply the place to begin. Players can construct in and round and over it, slapping down new blocks, copying and pasting elements, and fiddling till pyramids are stacked excessive into the sky, hanging gardens rise from the void, and so many names are scrawled within the sky with lava cubes.
While common PC gamers are wee fellas scurrying round, gamers with cybergoggles can jack in to look as cybergods. They manifest in-game as an enormous pair of palms with two blinking sigils hanging above for eyes, and may zap massive explosions out the eyeballs on their palms.
You can even play in augmented actuality in your pocket phone, laying dust2 down in your flooring and crawling round like a pilgrim in a labyrinth. All on the identical server.
So you’ll be able to construct over the ruins of Dust2. Or play Dust2. Or wander by way of the mix of each, misplaced in a cyberdream about unreal areas I’ll now know higher than my childhood house. It is an enchanting strategy to keep in mind a map, a game, a tradition. I’ll want just a few days to course of Dustnet.
Made by Scrnprnt, Dustnet is out now for Windows and Mac. It’s on Steam and Itch.io, with a wee launch low cost bringing it all the way down to £4.07/€4.24/$5.09 till Tuesday the 23rd. VR-wise, it helps Vive and Rift goggs. The AR version is free for Android and Apple pocket phone editions.
Also, I’ve loved Dustnet’s startup sequence so very a lot (do watch with sound on):
