New Dustborn trailer drops the action-adventure game's long-awaited release date

When Dustborn first poked its head above the parapet at the Future Games Show 2020, it described itself as a single-player, story-driven action adventure game about hope, love, friendships, robots and the power of words. That's a pretty impressive billing, but after seeing the game in motion at last year's Gamescom, we went one further to say it's a super-stylish blend of Borderlands, Telltale's The Walking Dead, and Kentucky Route Zero.

With all of that said, it's no wonder we're keen to learn more about when we might actually get our hands on Dustborn – and now we've got a release date: August 20, 2024.

That's this year! Which, of course, means our road trip adventure across the Divided States of America is just around the corner. Set in the not too distant future, Dustborn unfolds in the year 2030 following a cataclysmic event named the Broadcast. You play as Pax – an ex-con, an outcast, a con-artist, and the bearer of superhuman powers apparently fuelled by disinformation – and are joined ragtag gang of like-minded nomads-meets-amateur musicians traveling across America by bus to deliver a package. 

To make things more complicated, Pax is four months pregnant, and with the fanatical 'Puritans' watching her every move – an authoritarian police force who rule by force – making the proposed delivery isn't going to be easy. Where possible, you'll rely on your silver tongue to manipulate situations and individuals in order to get what you want; but in some instances, you'll be forced to throw down. That's where your motley crew's idiosyncratic powers come into play. Each with their own intriguing backstory, defined personality, and supernatural repertoire, it's your job as their leader to guide them into battle and put their area of expertise to best use.

And if you fancy any or all of that, you can finally dive in this August 20. It feels like Dustborn's been on our radar for some time now, but the end of its development roadtrip is near – and that's when its post-launch journey begins, on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and S, PS4 and Xbox One. 

If you’re looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.

Joe Donnelly
Contributor

Joe Donnelly is a sports editor from Glasgow and former features editor at 12DOVE. A mental health advocate, Joe has written about video games and mental health for The Guardian, New Statesman, VICE, PC Gamer and many more, and believes the interactive nature of video games makes them uniquely placed to educate and inform. His book Checkpoint considers the complex intersections of video games and mental health, and was shortlisted for Scotland's National Book of the Year for non-fiction in 2021. As familiar with the streets of Los Santos as he is the west of Scotland, Joe can often be found living his best and worst lives in GTA Online and its PC role-playing scene.