Dusk getting classic HUD, weapon wheel and more this year

New Blood Interactive has detailed the updates that will be coming to Dusk this year, as well as a few that have just gone live for the chunky retro FPS. It's a hefty bunch of changes, including an optional 'classic' HUD, a revamped world map, and a weapon wheel, which should it make it easier if you're playing on a controller.

Let's start with the changes that have just been added as part of the latest patch. You can now delete your saves from within the game, and play through the game's three episodes consecutively (without having to go back to the main menu), thanks to the new 'Continue' button. Speaking of buttons, there's now a 'Max Loadout' button that will let you easily take your full arsenal into a level. Small quality-of-life tweaks, sure, but they make a big difference.

As for stuff that's coming later (there's no date given other than 2021), changes that have been made for the console versions will be added to the PC game "simultaneously" when they launch. The team have "completely redone the world map and loadout menus to be easier to read and navigate with a controller, keyboard, mouse and eyes", while you'll be able to switch between guns with the new weapon wheel.

Dusk's weapon wheel — (Image credit: New Blood Interactive)

But surely the best upcoming addition is the optional 'classic' HUD: a lovely, horizontal slab of pixelated information that's only missing a gurning Doomguy in the middle of it.

That's not all that's coming to Dusk, although the following features may not arrive as quickly. Steam Workshop and co-op support will be added to the final version of the game, while modders will find it easier to add new weapons, enemies and other bits. "Because we basically rebuilt the entire game to be 100% moddable at this point," New Blood says.

If you want even more Dusk, but you'd rather solve puzzles than shoot monsters, then your peculiar demand will actually soon be granted, as its April Fool's spin-off puzzle game Dusk '82 has turned out to be a real game. There's not really any new info about that in the Steam post, but New Blood says to "let us know if you'd buy a Game Boy Advance version. We're not kidding."

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.