Dust on the River

Fresh air. Fresh start. A new life in 1890s Australia.

Dust on the River is a story-driven Australian historical life game set in Crossing, a fictional river town inspired by the goldfields, railway towns and high-country settlements of north-east Victoria.

You arrive by steam train under a new name.

Once, you were a bushranger. Now you want honest work, quiet days and somewhere your past cannot follow.

Crossing offers all of that — perhaps.

Ride the stock roads, work on local stations, move cattle and sheep, fish the river, earn your keep and get to know the people of a small Australian town where the railway, river and old timber bridge connect everything.

But the gold-rush years have left more behind than abandoned workings and stories.

And someone remembers who you used to be.

LIVE IN AN AUSTRALIAN FRONTIER TOWN

Explore a world inspired by 1890s colonial Victoria: railway platforms and telegraph wires, river crossings, stock yards, public bars, goldfield remnants, redgums, ironbark country and roads running towards the high country.

This is not the American Wild West. Dust on the River draws its identity from Australian bushranger history, pastoral life, the Victorian goldfields and the coming of the railway.

BUILD A NEW LIFE

Take jobs from the town board and earn money through honest work.

• Muster and move stock
• Ride between Crossing and surrounding stations
• Fish along the riverbank
• Pan through old goldfield gravel
• Eat, drink and rest as you travel
• Explore roads, bridges, shops, yards and river country
• Save your progress and return whenever you like

A STORY ABOUT THE PAST CATCHING UP

You came to Crossing hoping to leave another name behind.

As you become part of the town, you’ll meet drovers, stock workers, railway people, storekeepers, goldfield characters and others whose trust matters.

Your former life gradually returns through telegrams, old records, rumours and the shadow of a bushranger named Red Jack.

What begins as a quiet new life becomes a story about trust, reputation and whether a person can become more than the name they once carried.

COSY, BUT WITH DUST ON ITS BOOTS

Dust on the River combines relaxed life-game play with a grounded historical story.

Expect:

• Warm low-poly Australian landscapes
• Horses, stock work and river exploration
• Steam trains and railway-town atmosphere
• A fictional story rooted in Australian historical settings
• Simple RPG and survival elements
• Touch, keyboard and controller support
• Short-session friendly gameplay
• A slower pace when you simply want to ride, fish or watch the river

Ride out from Crossing. Find honest work. Follow the river.

And hope your old name stays buried.