Dust: An Elysian Tail

Dust: An Elysian Tail is an upcoming indie, side-scrolling action RPG game by Dean Dodril (a.k.a. NoogyToad) and Humble Hearts for the Xbox 360. It stars a titular protagonist, who has no recollection of his memories and sets out on an adventure with his fairy side-kick Fidget and the ancient sword Ahrah in hand to find the answers he's looking for while helping an oppressed village in need of a hero.

The game was first planned as an Xbox Live Indie Games title during its early developmental stages, although after the submission of the game at Mircosoft's Dream.Build.Play contest at PAX East of 2009, Dean Dodril won the grand prize of a contract with Microsoft to release the game as an Xbox Live Arcade title at the event.

Dust: An Elysian Tail is also part of a series set within the An Elysian Tail universe; The series currently consist of this game and an animated film titled Elysian Tail that is also currently in production. Although there has been no word of an official release date, but according to Dean Dodril, Dust: An Elysian Tail is expected for a 2011 summer 2012 release.

The beautiful yet dangerous world of Falana is a site of the following tropes:

 * Amnesiac Hero: Dust.
 * Combos: Naturally, although players are free to mash their way to victory and enjoy the story rather fight with finese.
 * Cool Sword, Empathic Weapon: Ahrah.
 * Fairy Companion: Fidget, to Dust.
 * Homage: Of the developer's favorite side-scrolling action games.
 * Petting Zoo People
 * Metroidvania
 * Quest for Identity
 * Scenery Porn: This game is up to par with Vanillaware in terms of beatifully detailed and hand-drawn scenary.
 * Sidequest