PYŁ (aka DUST)

The year 2798. Another year of imperial crisis - a year when more planets will stand over the dark abyss of barbarism. The next billions of lives will be consumed by the fire of wars that have long since escaped the control of the Imperial Peacekeeping Forces, taking on unimaginable proportions.

You are, or rather - were, a soldier of the elite regiment of the Imperial Light Cavalry. The corruption of the commanders led to the complete defeat and destruction of your corps in one of the private wars for the food resources of some agricultural planet - your proud unit was defeated by a mass of hungry and desperate shepherds and farmers, armed only with homemade lanterns and electric flails...

The money from the equipment sold and the back pay allowed you to get this far - to the "Arena", a desert moon orbiting a gas giant ironically called "Big Brother".

"Arena" was one of the planets of the Empire's peacekeeping system. On planets like this, the Imperial Peacekeeping Force oversaw the resolution of any interplanetary conflicts - all to prevent them from escalating. Time has shown it to be in vain...

Now Arena has become the home of meth-heads and thugs from all corners of the galaxy, hoping to find some sort of weaponry, military vehicles, computer data or technologies that will allow them to acquire great wealth and power, or at least enable a safe escape from the planet - and this has become your hope too.

• In Polish from A to Z (now English!)
• 5 extensive scenarios
• 17 extremely interesting levels
• Combination of an action game with elements of adventure
• Interact with the supporting characters of the game
• Advanced graphics and lighting effects
• Full support of the 3DFX accelerator
• Surround sound (doppler effect, echo, reverberation)

~ translated from the back of the box

Being hidden in the streets of Poland since its debut in 1998, Pył is a shooter that was way ahead of its time. The late 90s was a time when a few developers were experimenting with the genre but 1998 was when the boomer shooter became more thoughtful. This was the year of Half-Life, Unreal and Thief: The Dark Project. Pył by Optimus Nexus and E-People fits right into this esteemed group. It's just a shame it never left Poland.

Considering how huge those aforementioned games were at the time, it's still entirely possible Pył - or Dust to give it its English translation - would remain a hidden gem even if we did see it on the shelves of Electronics Boutique or PC World. It's a tough-as-nails shooter that does little to ease you in to its unforgiving gameplay; a design ethos that does little to warm someone who admittedly isn’t the genre's biggest fan. I did, however, like the more story-focussed approach of Half-Life and the whispered comparisons between the two had me intrigued.

You can shoot out lights that can provide the extra cover of darkness (left).
If it's too dark, light a flare. Their smoking embers also act as marker points (right).

From its very first moments, Pył jumps you into the deep end. As Sole, a deserter from the evil Empire's army, you find yourself on the dust moon of Arena with an aim to escape the war raging on the planet below. We join him in a rusty corridor with a hatch wheel that opens into a particularly run-down room. Smoke is billowing, sparks of electricity are flying and we get our first glimpse at some impressive lens flare work. We also get told, through a text prompt on top right, that we should test out our scope sight and shoot some rats. This attracts a nearby thug who begins frantically shooting at you. I died here on my first play through, but I got a little further on my next – the next room. This one is a large open area with a ton of enemies but no matter what, I couldn’t get past. I hadn’t enough ammo to go in guns blazing, let alone health so a stealthy approach is required.

There are three weapons available to you at various points in the game, and two utility items to aid in combat. Of the guns, the one you’ll use the most is the Assault Rifle. It’s a versatile weapon that two modes of fire; rapid fire and single shot. Both can be used with the sniper scope, but as you can guess the single shot is best suited for it. You’ll need it frequently, though; ammo is scarce and most adversaries wear bullet-soaking armour so you’ll need sniper mode to aim for the head. On top of this, the rifle has two types of grenades as a second attack. Frag Grenades take 3 seconds to detonate, but they do a lot of damage for anyone caught in the blast. Perfect for enclosed spaces. While much rarer, the Gas Grenades are far more deadly. Their puffs of smoke kill anything that breathes it in making for an effectively stealthy attack.

There are many welcome puzzle moments in the game. This elevator is
carrying too much weight, so destroy the barrels to get it to run.

The Shock Lance ejects a beam of electricity that stuns the enemy draining his health just as much as your ammo.  Once it hits, it locks on so accuracy isn’t as much of an issue as the Assault Rifle but considering how infrequent power cells are for it, you’ll likely save it for special occasions. The last weapon is a Rocket Launcher. It plays just like it does in any other shooter instantly killing almost everything caught in its blast. You won’t get a peek at it until much later in the game and you’ll be lucky if you ever fill up your ammo reserves but it’s fun while it lasts.

Beyond simply weaponry, there are a couple of items that help you survive. Mines can be thrown and detonate when someone comes into close proximity - including you. Alternatively, you can set it explode at the push of a button. Either is useful when you're being chased, but can also destroy breakable walls or blockages. Then there's the flares. A left mouse click will throw it on the ground in front of you lighting up the darkness in a pinkish hue. It's embers will also let you know the roads already travelled. A right click will keep it in your hand until spent. Being your only means of illumination, flares are indespensible when running down the many pitch-black areas of Arena.

Other pick-ups include health items. As is the running theme, these are relatively sparse to find too. And you'll need them! Sole is pretty weak, only taking a few hits before he's kaput. If he manages to survive with a smidgen of health, his vision becomes blurry, his movement is slower and - more importantly - his aim becomes shaky and unstable. If you ever find yourself at this point you might as well reload a save as your as good as dead anyway. Biostimulants will bring you back to full strength, but you can only carry six of them at any one time if you're lucky enough to find them. More commonplace are bottles of beer. They instantly give you a small boost of health and are usually found near areas where enemies are stationed which is helpful.

Karla is one of the few friendly NPCs you'll meet.
You'll have to save and free her first or else it's game over.

Out of all of these attacks and abilities, the most used will be the rifle in sniper mode. The problem this is that I never once got the hang of it. When you bring it up, a sight on the left hand side appears duplicating what you see in front of you except zoomed in. This confused my brain a little too much and I had great difficult aiming at static targets let alone moving ones. My only recourse, like any casual fan of shooters, was to cheat. Hold Ctrl then type “E-PEOPLE”. It was the only way the development company were credited in the game, so in some ways cheating is a moral duty.

Once I enabled god mode and filled up my ammo, I saw a lot more of the game, and it is actually quite enjoyable and innovative for its time. You’ll come across some impressive set pieces while exploring the ravaged facilities including an un-killable giant praying mantis creature that can only be stopped by doors and some minor platforming that gives Half-Life a run for its money.

If you like a difficult, slow paced shooter that was way ahead of its time, then Pył is for you. I can imagine there are quite a few people out there who would revel playing it as intended. It tipped the scale a little too and a little too soon for me but even as a non-fan of the genre, I can see there is something truly special here.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox SVN build of DOSBox 0.74 to bring the game to modern systems. Software and 2 Glide hardware versions (OpenGL & Direct X) playable. Polish Manual and its English translation (thanks you yours truly) included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 278 Mb.  Install Size: 599 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


Pył (aka Dust)is © Optimus Nexus
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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