Category: Demo Impressions

Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall – Demo Impressions

The perfect kind of sequel.

Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall

Developer: Brave At Night

Release Date: 2024

Rule your crumbling kingdom as you try to satisfy the petty needs of your people in this cinematic kingdom management RPG. Balance your resources, collect taxes, hire agents and make difficult decisions to see your kingdom prosper or fail.

It feels really important to preface this post by saying – Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall is a direct sequel and I highly recommend playing the original game, ‘Yes, Your Grace‘, first. Deciding not to is a viable and reasonable choice, but since I had such a phenomenal time with it, it would be a disservice not to explain why.

Firstly, this game opens with a recap of all the major story beats of the first. This was fantastic for me as it is quite a while since I played it and great for anyone who isn’t going to, but if you even have a slight interest in a Game of Thrones the video game, kingdom simulating, stressful decision making, trauma inducing, jolly old time then do consider going back and playing before spoiling it. If you like this game you will almost certainly like that one too and it is worth your time. Secondly, if you wish, choices you make in the first game carry over into this one, meaning that everyone can have their own slightly different canonical story. How much do these choices impact this game? Only time will tell but at the very least – somewhat. For me, I love the idea that some of my desperate decisions to survive the first game may come back to bite me in a sequel that I had no idea was even going to be made at the time. It is almost poetic with the themes of the game.

Alright, I have made my pitch, now onto Snowfall itself. This demo raised my blood pressure. As soon as I found myself perched back into my familiar throne room I was overcome with feelings from the first game. Feelings of life or death stress, trying to please everyone and barely scraping by… and it made me so happy. Even from the hour that I played, the demo confirmed that at it’s core, it is going to follow a very similar structure to the first. A structure of impossible choices, humorous and heart felt family time, tragedy, responsibility, treachery and hope, but with some shiny new upgrades.

The intensity of the resource management is felt after the very first week where you may be finding yourself squeezing your community for all its worth just so that you can pay one of your staff. This is also when we get to feel some of the new mechanics of the game. Resources have categories, and while it may feel harder to have stock of everything you might require, satisfying villagers needs can be more flexible as a result. More flexible, but also difficult to optimise most efficiently. Excursions beyond the castle have also been upgraded, adding another weight to balance on the scales, attempting to do enough to drive folks stories forward while still being able to tend to new folk in need.

Finally, and possibly the most grateful change to me is the ability to ask your people to wait once they have told you their woes. The one little change that changes everything – “Hold up a minute sir, let me back out this request for a second, let me go and have a mooch around to see if I can scrape some supplies together before I commit to rejecting your cry for help, dooming your friends to death. I am back! Yeah sorry I couldn’t afford to buy what you need but at least I tried, come back in a few days and maybe I will have saved enough money to pay for the funeral.” In the previous game you had to make a decision there and then so talking to people felt like a huge commitment in itself.

Of course there are other things to mention like the graphical and cinematic updates, but the biggest thing that I want to point out is that this demo gave me faith that this sequel is the perfect kind of sequel. It takes what was good about the first game, makes some QoL changes, presents a slightly different challenge while retaining the tone that made me fall in love with it originally. I can only pray that this game goes smoother than the first did as I am not sure how much more the King can take.

Demo Length – 1+ hour
At a glance
+ A true sequel.
+ Maintains the charm and draw of the first game.
+ Cinematics add to the drama.
+ A fun family to follow through their life.
+ Weighty decisions.
+ QoL upgrades.
+ More layers to the resource management.
+ Decisions follow from first game.

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The Horror at Highrook – Demo Impressions

Screw the madness, I have got to know more..

The Horror at Highrook

Developer: Nullpointer Games

Release Date: To be announced

The Horror at Highrook is an occult card crafting RPG. Explore a haunted mansion with your team of investigators, summon dark entities, craft powerful protections, uncover the fate of the missing family, and choose your own path through the darkness.

I have been searching for my perfect crafting game for a while now. So often I have the urge to gather stuff to make things, to distribute them, to gather more and make more, but I have yet to find the jackpot game that satisfies my very specific itch. I didn’t even consider I would find it here. The Horror at Highrook demo allows players to play through Chapter 1 of the game. I could have played a LOT more. I am not saying that this is the perfect game or the jackpot, but based on this first hour, it not only hit that compulsive management corner of my brain, but made my eyes sparkle at the idea of increasing complexity. All of this, seasoned with a really enjoyable flavour made this demo an absolute treat.

The game begins with an instruction manual which I found incredibly easy to read. It suits this game a lot more than a conventional tutorial would, immediately setting you loose playing god over a group of investigative explorers. The house that we are inspecting is our board, the team and their belongings are our cards, and it is up to us to set everyone away doing tasks, using the resources that we have to discover new tasks to perform.

As we perform our tasks we find journal pages and other bits of lore scattered throughout the mansion. This guides us forward as we follow in the footsteps of the family that lived here. Doing questionable rituals to appease eldritch horrors is never a good idea, with one exception. Luckily for us, we are doing it to rescue someone, which makes it absolutely fine, and we can all be sure that nothing terrible will happen.

I like the cast of characters. One of them wants to leave – rightfully so might I add – but is reluctantly convinced to stay due to history with another character and despite the fact that I have only known them for 30 minutes, I totally believe it. I didn’t expect to empathise with a card on a board but it is the little details like that that engage the player within the story and make it a memorable experience.

It is hard to put my finger on the exact reason this game hits for me. It has a lot of elements that I like individually, like crafting, management, cosmic horror, character interactions, investigation, and even exploration somehow works considering we are on a static board. Everything feels additive to the next thing with no padding involved. So far it has been linear and I imagine the rest will continue to be the same, I just hope the game continues to feel as fresh as the beginning, as getting new cards is a dopamine rush that only has limited legs. Either way, I will certainly be keeping an eye on the game, consider it wishlisted!

Demo Length – 1+ hour
At a glance
+ Easy to learn.
+ Drip fed the story.
+ The character interactions.
+ The theming is great, especially when surprises happen.
+ I just love arranging my cards on a mystery mansion.
+/- On one hand I could see the game remaining engaging with complexity, but on the other I could see it getting repetitive. Hoping for the former.
+/- We can choose the way we manage our time and characters but the overall story so far appears to be linear.

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The Drifter – Demo Impressions

I can’t think of a better set up for a point & click adventure.

The Drifter

Developer: Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd

Release Date: To be announced

A Pulp Adventure Thriller – A murdered drifter awakens. Alive again, seconds before his death. Hunted and haunted, help him untangle a mad web of conspiracy in this fast-paced point ‘n click thrill-ride.

The Drifter is a demo that I tried for the first time around 2019, back in one of the early Steam Next Fests. It left such an impression that it has been on my Wishlist ever since. I was thrilled to see the game in the LudoNarraCon line up and delighted that I enjoyed it just a much the second time around as I did all of those years ago.

The first thing that immediatly stands out to me is the presentation of the game. The pixel art and animation is fantastic, the colours immediatly setting the gritty tone that will continue throughout the entirety of the chapter contained within the demo. The game is fully voice acted, including narration from the main character himself which in my opinion, elevates The Drifter from a typical point and click adventure to a more unique cinematic experience.

The demo can be played in less than 30 minutes and even in such a short space of time manages to establish two excellent story hooks. One is more realistic, setting the tone in what immediatly feels like a very down to earth game. However, the other is a science fiction twist that has the potential to allow for some very stressful, suspenseful, intense story and puzzle scenarios, or even hilarious ones if they want to. One of these hooks would have been enough but together, along with the entire aesthetic, this is the set up for a narrative that I am itching to see play out.

Demo Length – 30 minutes
At a glance
+ Lovely pixel art and animations.
+ Great story hooks.
+ Narration.
+ Writing feels good so far.
+ Drama.
+ Nice, clear, time saving UI.

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Hauntii – Demo Impressions

A pleasant journey through Eternity.

Hauntii

Developer: Moonloop Games LLC

Release Date: 23 May 2024

A beguiling adventure in which you uncover the secrets of an expansive and mysterious world – haunting both the environment and its denizens to craft ingenious solutions to the many challenges that await.

When I read ‘twin-stick shooter’ and ‘action’ as tags on steam I was a little hesitant, but felt drawn in by the art style on display. Thankfully for me, there was a lot less action than I expected. The demo showed off a game of exploration, collection and puzzles where navigating the dangerous dark land of Eternity is our goal, guided by the welcoming lights around us and the friendly locals.

While our character moves quite slowly, shooting feels great and is used for many more purposes than just shooting enemies. We are Hauntii, a ghost that has the ability to posses objects and other things, influencing them to do as we please. This could be lighting up a previously unlit path, growing to allow us to reach other places, becoming a turret to shoot heavier objects or even allowing more traversal to find all of the secrets. Our goal is to collect fragments of our past, bringing them together to paint a clearer picture of who we were and how to free our self from the tether this land has on us.

Hauntii reminded me of some other indies that I have played or seen in the last couple of years, and while it isn’t exactly like any one of these games, I will mention why they prompted memories in me. My first touchpoint was Gris, a very artful, intentional experience promising emotions through imagery and sound. Chicory is the second game I was reminded of, due to the way that we can change the world as we interact with it, as well as having a sweet vibe underlined by a threat. Finally, The Wild at Heart was my third reference point, not at all through gameplay, just very vague aesthetics, exploration, an interesting forest family, a hub area and the use of the dark. If you like any of those games for any of those reasons then there is a potential that there will be something here for you too!

This feels like a one for the couch, to play on a cozy night in with the lights low, candles on, a blanket and a nice cup of hot chocolate in hand.

Demo Length – 1 hour
At a glance
+ Art.
+ Music.
+ The animation.
+ The use of colour.
+ The distortion in the dark.
+ Shooting feels very smooth.
+ Finding secrets.
+ The whimsy.
+/- The puzzles were quite simple, but I also didn’t feel like my hand was being held.
– Not sure why I was collecting things other than my memories.
– Movement speed is a little slow.

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Cryptmaster – Demo Impressions

Use your words.

Cryptmaster

Developer:

Paul Hart, Lee Williams, Akupara Games

Release Date: 9 May 2024

SAY ANYTHING in this bizarre dungeon adventure where words control everything. Fill in the blanks with text or voice to uncover lost abilities, embark on strange quests, and solve mindbending riddles. Can you conquer the crypt and uncover the mystery at the heart of CRYPTMASTER?

I have never played anything quite like Cryptmaster before, and that is not only down to my lack of dungeon crawling experience. In Cryptmaster, you gain your powers through words. Exploring, finding chests, solving riddles and killing enemies grants you letters, aiding in figuring out your characters next ability in this dynamic game of hang-man.

Is it cruel to make a crew of dead people play hang-man? Probably, but it is also very fitting with the games humorous tone. A huge part of the gameplay is being able to type words at any time, which you can use to take as many guesses at the game of hang-man mentioned above, but also to interact with the world around you. Our ever so slightly demonic looking guide will converse with us depending on what we try to do, resulting in me getting chastised for my virtual kleptomaniac tendencies more times than I should probably admit.

Combat didn’t fully click with me during my two times through the demo. The first time I tried the recommended ‘real time’, but the juggling act of remembering the words and typing them accurately with haste would send me off into a clumsy panic, struggling to decipher whether what I was doing was effective or not. The second time I decided to try the ‘turn based’ approach. While I did get hit less during this mode, I didn’t quite understand what consisted as a turn. Thankfully though, the riddle based sections were enough fun to compensate for the difficulties I was having.

The last section of the demo showed a preview of mechanics yet to come, but it ended before getting to experience them, including some resource management regarding using words. Time will tell whether these mechanics will work for me personally, but I can imagine the audience that thrives on this gameplay. For me, this feels like it would be a really fun live-stream game, as the collaborative effort of solving the riddles and the over-arching word puzzle of the abilities would be a lot of fun for everyone. Not to mention, getting to meet some absolutely bizarre characters with very fun performances.

Demo Length – 45 mins
At a glance
+ The riddles are fun.
+ Being able to type at any time is a great choice.
+ The freedom to explore.
+ Fun performances and character designs.
+ The sketched art direction compliments the word based gameplay.
+ The humour is fun.
– Realtime combat felt difficult, turn based felt confusing.

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The Posthumous Investigation – Demo Impressions

If at first you do not succeed, try and try again, and again, and again

The Posthumous Investigation

Developer: Mother Gaia Studio

Release Date: Coming Soon

Travel to a noir Rio de Janeiro in 1937 and investigate the mystery behind the murder of Brás Cubas, famed character created by Machado de Assis. Until the truth is out, you’ll be trapped in a time loop, amidst a plot full of conspiracy and treason.

The Posthumous Investigation has the makings of a time loop game done right. We have been tasked with solving the murder of a man, hired by the deceased himself to unravel whatever trouble he got himself into. We only have one day but fear not, if at first you do not succeed, try and try again, and again, and again.

The area in which we are investigating is alive, with events happening all around whether you are present to witness them or not. Whether this means you wander into a dramatic confrontation or stumble upon the aftermath of an incident, it makes each loop a joy as it becomes less about being in the right place at the right time, and more about reverse engineering the situation to discover what happened before.

The noir atmosphere and classic cartoon style complement each other wonderfully, setting the scene both in universe and to the player. In contrast, the UI is modern, clean and easily readable, almost as smooth as the jazz occasionally gracing our ears.

Often with these types if games it is impossible to tell in advance how well the full game will hold up. It is going to rely on the mechanics continuing to feel fresh, the story staying interesting and an appropriate runtime. However, the demo did enough to stop me playing. In a good way of course, I am interested enough that I didn’t want to play anymore until I could have the complete experience.

Demo Length – 1+ hour
At a glance
+ All in on the aesthetic.
+ User friendly options to prevent time loop tedium.
+ Lots of events happening inspiring ideas for next loop.
+ Clues carry over but items do not, creating a puzzle in the order of operations.
+/- I didn’t feel the (dialogue) writing was great but it did the job.

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Rusty’s Retirement – Demo Impressions

Not so rusty after all.

Rusty’s Retirement

Developer: Mister Morris Games

Release Date: Q2 2024

Plant crops, produce biofuel, and automate! A relaxing idle-farming simulator that sits at the bottom of your screen while you do other things.

Rusty’s Retirement is an innovative idle game that I imagine we will see inspiring other games of its kind in the years to come.

What makes Rusty’s Retirement stand out from the rest is that it is designed to be accessible when you are doing other things on your PC, whether that is watching YouTube or Twitch, working, or even playing another game. This game sits at the bottom of your screen taking up maybe a quarter of your monitor, allowing you to flick your eyes down to check on your little working farm at any time you please.

Farming and automation feel like a perfect fit for the idle genre, I am surprised I haven’t played this mixture before but I am glad that this one was my first. Growing crops in this game is simultaneously faster and slower than in a regular farming sim. Faster in the sense that you don’t have to wait for in-game days to pass, but slower in the sense that all you have to do is wait, at least early on. As you progress though you can turn your attention to other things such as upgrading your machines for better productivity and decorating your little slice of agricultural heaven.

I had the game running in the background for quite a lot of time during the Steam Next Fest. It is very refreshing to have it sat at the bottom of a second monitor, just checking in every now and again to plant new seeds and checking what I needed to produce in order to unlock the next type of vegetable. The progression doesn’t require a lot of focus but I personally found it nice to take a minute whenever there was a halt in my work and be distracted, ready to focus again once I had planted my seeds.

One thing to note – I wouldn’t really recommend Rusty’s Retirement as a first Idle Game, or at least the version of the demo that I played. This is simply due to the lack of tutorial. I have played a couple of idle games and various automation games but I still wasn’t 100% certain what to do at first glance. Of course, some of the fun for some folk may be figuring that out, but I feel previous familiarity would be very beneficial.

Overall, I honestly think Mister Morris Games are onto something here. I would not at all be surprised to see this concept take off with all sorts of other ideas that I can’t even imagine yet. It is a companion game that doesn’t demand your constant attention all of the time, just being there for you when you have a moment. The way that the larger games industry leans more and more towards live service and monetization every passing year, demanding full attention, daily logins or thousands of hours, Rusty’s Retirement feels humble, elegant and for the player. I wish them all of the success.

Demo Length – 8+ hours
At a glance
+ A genius innovative idea.
+ Cozy vibes.
+ ‘Always on top’ option allows me to interact with other windows without hiding or affecting the game.
+/- Only as engaging as it needs to be (allowing you to get back to work between planting sessions)
– Could use a small tutorial

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Crypt Custodian – Demo Impressions

One man’s trash is another cat’s treasure.

Crypt Custodian

Developer: Kyle Thompson

Release Date: 2024

Crypt Custodian is a charming metroidvania about cleaning up the afterlife. Play as Pluto- a mischievous cat who has died, and is sentenced to be the afterworlds janitor… FOREVER! Hang out with other doomed ghosts, battle beasts, and explore a vastly expansive landscape.

For a game that I expected to be action packed and all about the combat, I did not expect to be so completely and utterly charmed by the writing, dialogue and characters of Crypt Custodian, while a beat later holding back a tear.

The Crypt Custodian demo was huge. Every time that I thought ‘there can’t possibly be more’, there was more. More areas, more mechanics, more enemies. So much in fact that I didn’t complete this one. I reached a boss but after multiple attempts and multiple failures, I had to call time. There were optional upgrades that I could have pursued that could have helped me, as well as areas that I had yet to explore, so I am confident that with more time I could have made it through.

Generally, the game felt good to play. There is an overall reminiscence of Dark Souls with the bonfire-esque shrines, but the combat almost reminded me of The Binding of Isaac, not in mechanics but in rhythm. As you progress, you will meet new enemies and master the patterns of beating them, with that continuously being shaken up as you come across new waves and combinations. The health system is the other similarity being simple to understand, being hit takes away 1 health. Get hit 3 more times and you die. I personally didn’t get along with the dodge cooldown, finding myself frustrated at times, but there are difficulty options including both an easy mode and more personalised settings in the assist section of the settings menu.

Crypt Custodian is as much about exploring as it is about fighting, with worthy puzzles scattered around, sometimes halting and sometimes guiding your progress. The simple, colourful aesthetic perfectly complements the dark humour of the game and while I don’t have a hankering to continue with the fighting side of the game (which would be impossible to avoid as there are enemies around every corner), I could see myself making use of the difficulty features to make it though the rest as I feel quite enamoured by the world and the characters within.

Demo Length – 1+ hour
At a glance
+ Humour
+ Characters
+ Aesthetic
+ Exploration
+ Puzzles
+ Difficulty options
+/- Combat

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Astronomics – Demo Impressions

We’re bringing the factory to you.

Astronomics

Developer: Numizmatic

Release Date: Coming Soon (Early Access)

Top-down action and space exploration meet asteroid mining automation! Command a faithful crew of bots and get to work in the asteroid belt. Impress your employer, upgrade your equipment, fight off pirates and save up for that ticket to Earth so you can finally come home… for the very first time.

Astronomics isn’t your typical automation game. Where often you would expect to build from a fixed base outwards, mining ores, constructing and optimising your structures, in Astronomics, we bring the factory to the asteroids.

This game is all about collection. The more resources that we collect, the more one time use machines we can build to speed up collection. The more that we then collect, the more we can bring back and sell. The more that we sell, the more we can upgrade our machines to speed up collection, and so on.

The overall goal is to buy a ticket to earth, which is gradually done by taking a percentage of our earning. These are earned through expeditions. As the player, we get to take a look at asteroids that are close to our base spaceship (space base? base ship?) and make our choice which ones to deplete based on how much time they will remain within the radius of our reach.

This game isn’t going to be for everyone, but I particularly wanted to highlight it as it has a satisfying loop. My favourite part of automation games tends to be the beginning, with the task of getting established. Once things progress, they can sometimes become too complex or too stagnant for me, both of which inevitably cause me to lose interest. Since in Astronomics you are always visiting new areas, you get to do the beginning part over and over, with the progression from manual labour, to commanding an entire workforce of robots.

In Astroneer I enjoyed driving around collecting scrap. In Sea of Thieves I enjoy sailing around collecting treasure. This is a game about collecting, but this time with tools, and I will be keeping an eye on the development through Early Access and beyond.

Demo Length – 50 mins
At a glance
+ Expedition based gameplay.
+ Growing your team feels satisfying.
+ Going to new spaces and making priorities on the fly.
+/- A slow start (for me this made upgrades feel very valuable but won’t be for everyone).
+/- I didn’t have many interactions with Pirates so I can’t say how balanced is feels.

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Duck Detective: The Secret Salami – Demo Impressions

A quacking time.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami – Demo Impressions

Developer: Happy Broccoli Games

Release Date: 2024

Solving crime is no walk in the pond. You are a down-on-his-luck detective who also happens to be a duck. Use your powers of de-duck-tion to inspect evidence, fill in the blanks, and bust the case wide open, in a narrative mystery adventure where nothing is quite as it seems.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami leaves an immediate impression. Within the first 30 seconds of the demo I was staring at the screen, slack-jawed, processing what I was experiencing with amused delight.

In Duck Detective we scour environments, taking clues both officially and through context. We chat to friends, strangers and presumably suspects. The goal is to fill in the de-duck-tion sheet, placing the correct clue into the correct place in the story. Only then do we solve the immediate mystery and move onto the next, learning about our main chacter as we go. It is simple but fun as there are multiple solutions that will make sense. It is up to the player to fill in the gaps with the background knowledge that you will find via snooping.

While Duck Detective may feel like a light hearted comedy, there is more to it than that. It has a tragic side as it oozes noir, with the voice over dialogue and soft jazz. The game presents its dad puns openly, but between the lines, dark humour and satire are equally present.

I was overjoyed to discover the game is fully voiced. It is like a multiplier on an already atmospheric and charismatic game, not only making it more streamable for creators like me, but allowing the jokes to land in the way that the writers intended.

Finally, the full demo was short and sweet, showing everything it needed to and nothing more. At a time where demos seem to become increasingly more lengthy, it was a refreshing treat to be able to jump in and be sold within 20 minutes.

Demo Length – 20 mins
At a glance
+ Noir atmosphere.
+ Voice acting.
+ Logic puzzles requiring you to pay attention to context.
+ Funny puns and satire.
+ Attention to detail.
+/- The puzzles were quite simple.

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