Demo and Sale Roundup 1
In the recent autumn Steam sale I got a bunch of games (also aseprite in the foolish thought I may use pixel art in a future game so that I do not need to use any more van Gogh paintings), and in the current Steam Nextfest I played a couple of demos.
Because even taken together the ones I already completed were relatively small, this here blog post is going to be a round-up of those games and demos.
Games
Donut County
Donut County was on my Steam wishlist for a long time, and when I saw it on sale for around 2 bucks, I could not resist.
I knew the game was going to be a fun time, not a long time, but that it ended up below 2 hours for a first playthrough was still a bit of a surprise.
The gameplay is simple; you control a hole in the ground that gets bigger the more stuff goes inside of it, and you have to swallow up pretty much everything in a level.
Why are you doing this? Well, there are some sweet unlockable items for a professional hole driver; things every other person would be envious to have if they ever ended up inside a hole.
The story itself is told in snippets between levels, jumping between the aftermath of having so many holes and the creation of them before later resolving the issue of too many holes.
It is slightly nonsensical, but so are donut deliveries that end up swallowing half a city and its residents.
Visually the game has some cute 3D characters and environments, the style is simple but effective, the colors are warm, and the soundtrack that accompanies your destructive action is quite good.
I enjoyed playing the game and think, due to its simplicity and shortness, that I will end up replaying it at some point (maybe even go for all achievements).
Death’s Door
I did not enjoy this game that much, even though it feels like I should have.
Death’s Door is a hack and slash where you control a crow that is sent to collect souls and is part of a bigger crow reaper society under the orders of the lord of doors.
On your first in-game mission, the big soul you are supposed to reap gets stolen right under your beak.
Now you have a reason to run through the world where your soul thief is holed up, get some spells, slay some bosses, get back that soul to finish your job, and stop the clock on your own mortality.
The order of things is pretty much predetermined; while there are three bosses you need to defeat at first, each of their areas comes with its own gadget that you will need to traverse further, and even to enter the other bosses’ areas to begin with.
Enemies in those areas are mostly only annoying when they come en masse, like inside the Avarices, small arenas you need to complete in order to get your spells.
Besides that, map traversal is hardly a problem unless you are overconfident or not used to an enemy’s attack pattern.
The variety of enemies has only the downside that the standard grunt enemies look somewhat samey, but besides that the enemies are themed around their area and not bad-looking.
Bosses have their own arenas, move sets, and gimmicks; they also have save points before them so backtracking is not an issue when you die.
While I do not hate it, I did not enjoy the gameplay loop or story that much.
The hack and slash action ended up with me trying to wait for an opening and doing basically the same thing x times, or getting frustrated because at least one boss tends to move quicker than they should when you do certain things.
Health, damage, and mana were not really problems.
While you only have 4 hits and can find shards to get more, I only got one full health point extra before the story’s final boss and did not have any big issues before that.
When it came to upgrades, I mostly got the damage and speed boosts and kept using the standard weapon, as the others I found were slower or weaker in some way.
I think what disappointed me the most was how slim the story felt, especially at the beginning.
You get a quite flimsy reason to start your journey, with less even of a choice in any of the things you do after that, and while NPCs exist, the interactions with them feel stiff.
One of the better quest-like sequences I got was after finishing the main part of the game with a squid that you can take on a nightly stroll and chat with.
You get dialogue, and it felt actually a bit immersive; the normal level traversal before was more or less just a walk to the next boss, maybe with a snippet where you can see said boss and they shit talk you for a moment before going away.
The fact that the main guy who leads you to do all that work has barely anything to say to you between bosses and hardly gets to be a character the game lingers on is, in my opinion, a good example of what I felt lacking.
The post-game looked like a big fetch quest, and it was at this point that I stopped playing. I had seen the story so far, fought the big bosses, and frankly did not feel like playing further was going to be fun.
I do not regret having bought or played this game, but it was not as good as I had hoped.
Demos
Puppy Truck
When I started following Sean Dick on Bluesky, it was because of a small cutesy puppy looking truck that barked. And by now there is a demo where you can play as the titular puppy truck, and it is a delight.
So far I have spent about 4 hours in the demo, because it is very fun and hits that 3D platformer feeling I did not have since Ninjabread Man; also, it somehow triggered the “I need to try and break things” part of my brain similarly to Fallen Aces.
The controls are simple, and the demo does not have any grand narrative or story introduction.
It does, however, show off the controls and systems, what kind of puzzles you can expect in the game, and that there will be NPCs to interact with.
If you like chill 3D parkour with bark action, then I recommend checking out the demo.
Guns of Eschaton
This one blipped up on my radar because of the ever-so-informed Dominic Tarason; the concept was intriguing enough so I installed the demo and played.
About 20 minutes in, I was not amused.
The starting area was overlooking a small town square, and what I found out quickly was that if an enemy from the square spotted me, it would keep shooting at me from afar without me being able to hit it back due to damage falloff.
Also, some melee enemies could get aggro on me even if I did not see them, run around, and end up behind me when I did not expect them.
In retrospect, at least the aggro was okay, but the reach of enemy firearms was still an issue.
After spending an hour or so getting used to the gameplay, exploring the map a bit, and leveling up myself and my gear, I started to like it.
What had started as a chaotic flailing of helplessness turned into a better-practiced ballet of death.
In terms of story, the demo does not reveal too much.
You got sent into the spirit realm by the black rider, are currently following his foot hoofsteps, and end up in that village where something is at the church on top of the hill; something that needs killing.
There is an optional small side area that houses some special enemies.
If you manage to defeat those, you get an ephemeral scene with a bit of extra lore hints but nothing that reveals any secrets of the universe.
The game’s pacing is a bit slow at first, but once you have gotten used to the fact that you need to shoot specific spots on enemies and remember said spots on the enemies, then things speed up.
The whole setting promises to make for an interesting experience, and the available skills, powder, and special bullet mechanics show that there is a good variety for the gameplay styles it offers.
I enjoyed the demo, and while I probably am not getting the game on release, it now sits on my wishlist.
Queen’s Domain
A King’s Field-inspired game in more than its name.
I did like the graphic style and the level and enemy designs but did not enjoy the actual gameplay.
You are slow, deal little damage, and have only so much health.
Enemies can be somewhat fast and deal okay damage, and the moment three of them are on you, you have a big problem.
Somehow the slowness of everything made exploring less fun.
I did end up getting to the demo boss and dying two times before dropping the demo.
It is the kind of game that has an audience of which I am no part, but if you liked King’s Field, then you probably are.
MR. RECORDS
You play an old man who opens his own record store.
In order to know what a record is worth and some extra information, you first have to play it in terms of music on your record player as well as a level.
The gameplay inside each level is that of an auto-scroller that lasts as long as the music does, so there is no big speedrun potential, I am afraid.
Besides the music levels, there is the shop side of things, where a customer gives you some vague hints and you have to pick the correct record from the ones you have unlocked so far.
On success the customer gives you some money (more if you played the level in hard mode), and with that you can unlock even more records to play and then sell.
In terms of difficulty, I did not find the demo too challenging, while it also managed to show how things might get more difficult in the actual game with things like timed elements or vanishing obstacles.
The demo comes with a couple of songs, which showed some range, and overall it was a pleasure to play.
I think this will be a good casual game to relax with, as well as something rhythm-game sickos might use to torture each other with custom-made levels and mods in the future.
VAL’TY
Alien mom and her child causing havoc in an early Unreal-looking first-person shooter.
Your gun has multiple modes, a slow sniper, and either a shotgun or an automatic rifle, between which you can seamlessly switch via the mouse wheel.
Enemies as well as level designs are whacky and slightly gory.
The gameplay was fun, except for a small Crash Bandicoot section where the controls felt off.
There are some rough edges, but I am pretty certain they will be smoothed by the time the full game releases.
Because I was on the market for a fun-looking shooter, this demo became a wishlist item after about 40 minutes of playtime.
Beastfolk Barber
Very cute game in which you have to cut the hair of many different Beastfolk, like a double-headed dragon or a bunny.
The game is dialog-heavy and clearly leans on its narrative more than the haircutting gameplay, as the latter seems to be some small input prompts in between talking with the customer.
The better you are at selecting the right haircut and pleasing your customers, the more likely they are to return, and probably the more pleasant the narrative will be.
I will keep an eye on this one, as it seems quite chill, and the demo has already introduced some lovely and good written characters, which I would like to know more about.