I played this with keyboard, and have currently SSd all levels in Bronze and Silver.
I have 320 hours in Celeste focusing on doing deathless runs of the individual chapters. I have 80 hours in N++.
Celeste is my favorite game of all time. I heavily enjoy games made in the Source engine, specifically ones which allow for skill-based movement like Bunnyhop, Surf, Rocketjumping, etc. I heavily enjoy N++. I think Super Meat Boy is overrated and not good when stacked up against other 2D platformers we see today.

I'll keep this short; I doubt I'll ever get to experience a lot of this game.

Primer: Dustforce has a ranking system: F to SS. It also has different tiers of levels, in order of difficulty: Bronze, Iron, Gold, etc.

Dustforce starts out with a couple of tutorials. 1 and 2 are very easy, but 3 is surprisingly difficult to get an SS on. I had to come back way later after SSing all of the Bronze level section to defeat Tutorial 3 once and for all. It is very odd that Tutorial 3 is more difficult than a lot of the Bronze levels.

Bronze and Silver for the most part are a breeze. There's occasional difficulty spikes due to a weird trick you have to learn, but it's not insane. It then starts to get tricky at the Gold levels. Not all Gold levels are similar in difficulty though; some are way more difficult than others. But where the real kicker is is getting to these levels. Dustforce is unique in that it makes you work just to GET to the difficult level. A difficult level is blocked by a trickjump that you have to figure out. Some of these you HAVE to look up (once is mentioned on the one (1) newbie guide for this game on Steam because it's so obtuse and unintuitive). I've had to ask for help in the Dustforce Discord. I've seen some other reviews praise this game for not "holding your hand", but damn I'd love some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ guidance every once in a while.

Overall, I ended up losing steam and stopping at around some of the Gold levels. There's a lot of depth and skill-based movement here, but the difficulty imbalance and poor guidance stops most players from ever getting there. This is easily one of the greatest platformers ever made, I know it. The problem is just having places to learn how to get good in a way that doesn't require you to just try a difficult level over and over and over again that's far beyond where you're able to comfortably attempt.

So, if you're very experienced with platformers and want to try this one, I highly recommend. Just get ready to have the learning curve whip back around and punch you in the face.

Also:
-Amazing soundtrack.
-Unique menu system combined with a hub world; very cool.

[h2]Dustforce is a stellar and incredibly unique 2D platformer that is bogged down by attempts at great design that end up falling flat to newcomers. I VERY tentatively recommend it and only IF you have difficult platformer experience. I have not and likely will never finish this game.[/h2] [h3]Background:[/h3] I played this with keyboard, and have currently SSd all levels in Bronze and Silver. I have 320 hours in Celeste focusing on doing deathless runs of the individual chapters. I have 80 hours in N++. Celeste is my favorite game of all time. I heavily enjoy games made in the Source engine, specifically ones which allow for skill-based movement like Bunnyhop, Surf, Rocketjumping, etc. I heavily enjoy N++. I think Super Meat Boy is overrated and not good when stacked up against other 2D platformers we see today. [h3]Review:[/h3] I'll keep this short; I doubt I'll ever get to experience a lot of this game. Primer: Dustforce has a ranking system: F to SS. It also has different tiers of levels, in order of difficulty: Bronze, Iron, Gold, etc. Dustforce starts out with a couple of tutorials. 1 and 2 are very easy, but 3 is surprisingly difficult to get an SS on. I had to come back way later after SSing all of the Bronze level section to defeat Tutorial 3 once and for all. It is very odd that Tutorial 3 is more difficult than a lot of the Bronze levels. Bronze and Silver for the most part are a breeze. There's occasional difficulty spikes due to a weird trick you have to learn, but it's not insane. It then starts to get tricky at the Gold levels. Not all Gold levels are similar in difficulty though; some are way more difficult than others. But where the real kicker is is getting to these levels. Dustforce is unique in that it makes you work just to GET to the difficult level. A difficult level is blocked by a trickjump that you have to figure out. Some of these you HAVE to look up (once is mentioned on the one (1) newbie guide for this game on Steam because it's so obtuse and unintuitive). I've had to ask for help in the Dustforce Discord. I've seen some other reviews praise this game for not "holding your hand", but damn I'd love some fucking guidance every once in a while. Overall, I ended up losing steam and stopping at around some of the Gold levels. There's a lot of depth and skill-based movement here, but the difficulty imbalance and poor guidance stops most players from ever getting there. This is easily one of the greatest platformers ever made, I know it. The problem is just having places to learn how to get good in a way that doesn't require you to just try a difficult level over and over and over again that's far beyond where you're able to comfortably attempt. So, if you're very experienced with platformers and want to try this one, I highly recommend. Just get ready to have the learning curve whip back around and punch you in the face. Also: -Amazing soundtrack. -Unique menu system combined with a hub world; very cool.