Dustwind Resistance Review: Tactical Grit Held Together by Duct Tape and Heart

If you’ve ever wanted to command a ragtag squad of survivors in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, complete with a dog that can climb ladders, Dustwind: Resistance has your back. Developed by Z-Software, this single-player tactics sequel of its own Dustwind clearly aims high, attempting to craft a tense, strategy-driven campaign with real-time pause mechanics and brutal, gritty combat. And in some ways, it gets there. But in too many others, it stumbles hard.

You play as a farmer initially seeking your wife in a world gone to ruin, quickly joined by companions and a very good dog named Diesel. From there, you’re swept into a mission-based campaign of skirmishes, stealth, and survival. Each map requires a different tactical approach, sometimes sneaking through raider camps, other times holding a defensive position against waves of enemies. The vibe is very Fallout Tactics meets Commandos, with a little bit of Wasteland sprinkled on top.

The biggest compliment one can give Dustwind: Resistance is that it clearly tries. It punches well above its weight for what is obviously a low-budget production. There’s a charm to the clunky animations and ramshackle aesthetic. The environments have personality, and the idea of managing a squad in real-time, with the ability to pause and issue commands, remains compelling. Some missions even nail a sense of tension, where precise movement and good planning feel rewarding.

That said, much of the game feels like it was duct-taped together on a deadline. On Xbox, where we tested it, UI scaling is once again an afterthought. Text is small and difficult to read from a couch, and menus are often more frustrating than intuitive. Item management or using the interactive wheels require too much fiddling. They certainly tried to have controller in mind, but it doesn’t flow well. Also some things just don’t work properly. For example, when a companion goes down, you select Heal and place the cursor over them… but nothing happens, and you need to do it again to get them up. Are they stabilized with that first heal? Do downed characters take two heals? None of this is adequately explained.

Worse still is how punishing and inconsistent the game design can be. Enemies have an unfair advantage in several missions, not just due to strength or numbers, but because of poor level readability. There are turrets hidden behind rocks or inside buildings, and walking too close to a wall can trigger a hail of gunfire from something you had no way of seeing. There are mines that will blow you away if you step too close, making the harder difficulties save-scum affairs. These aren’t tactical puzzles with clear solutions… they’re ambushes. And while the game allows you to tweak autosave intervals, relying on that feature to make up for unfair design isn’t a real solution.

The game’s pacing suffers for this reason. When you’re forced to reload multiple times because a turret obliterated your squad from behind an invisible angle, it stops feeling strategic and starts feeling tedious. There’s a fine line between challenging and punishing, and Dustwind Resistance crosses it far too often.

Despite these frustrations, there are moments where the game shines, usually when it leans into its quirks. Watching Diesel the dog sprint across a battlefield to take down enemies with robotic efficiency is oddly satisfying. Seeing him climb ladders, though clunky, somehow adds to the charm. The story is minimal but serviceable, and manages to give a sense of personality to the otherwise grim tone.

On the looks front, Dustwind: Resistance is passable. The top-down camera gives a decent view of the battlefield, and while textures are dated, they get the job done. Explosions are loud and messy, and weapon sounds have just enough punch to sell the post-apocalyptic aesthetic. Performance is mostly stable, with only minor frame hitches when lots of enemies appear. The inability to zoom out works against you a lot, though.

Dustwind: Resistance is a game you root for more than enjoy. You can tell the developers had big ideas, and there’s a certain gritty charm buried under the rough edges. But too often, the experience is dragged down by poor design decisions, a lack of polish, and difficulty that veers into the unfair. If you’re a die-hard fan of tactical games and can forgive its shortcomings, there’s something here to explore. Just be ready to squint, reload, and swear at turrets hiding in the shadows.

RATING: 2.0 out of 5.

Dustwind: Resistance is now available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X.