Tag: Goblin Cleanup

Noob’s Top 10 Demos played in 2024

Demos have not only made a comeback, they have firmly solidified their place in the gaming world.

Sometimes playing a demo will show that a game is not what you expected, is not for you, or simply that your device cannot handle what is required to run the game smoothly. However, sometimes you stumble upon a demo so excellent that sells you on the experience so well, that you would wishlist it 10x over if you could.

I have been covering Steam Next Fests and other festivals for years, but at this point in time, even without anymore festivals, I have so many demos to check out that I could play a new one every week and still have plenty left over for 2026. Not to mention that rarely a week go by that I am not alerted to at least one more demo that catches my interest, be it a game that I missed or a brand new release.

In 2024 I played somewhere around 80 game demos, writing impressions posts about 23 of them! Below is a list of my favourite 10 demos that I played in 2024.

The list is in order finishing up with my favourite, but all of them are worth checking out if you think they could be up your street.

Going into 2025 I still have demos of 2024 releases to play, as well as games from a few years back, and games that don’t have release dates yet. I hope to continue making my way through, highlighting the gems that I uncover along the way.

Other Demo Impressions

More end of year content

Sign up now to stay up to date with the latest posts!

Goblin Cleanup – Early Impressions

This dungeon is closed for cleaning. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Goblin Cleanup

Developer: Crisalu Games

Release Date: To be announced

A co-op cleaning game where you have to clean and rearrange a dungeon before the next adventurers come to complete it again.

As evidenced by my Powerwash Sim and Crime Scene Cleaner love, I have a bit of a tendency towards a nice, cleaning, task simulator. I am always so grateful when another game pops up like this and they are good. The line between compulsive and boring is surprisingly thin, it would be so easy to misstep, but this demo – along with the other games I mentioned above – sits on the compulsive side.

The game is planned for an Early Access release (no date at the time of writing) and that makes Goblin Cleanup all the more exciting to me. This was a great, fully functional, polished demo that showcases the core concept of the game. Community feedback will inform the direction of the rest of the game and the functionality of the demo makes me have confidence in the developers to really deliver the content.

What I mean by that is everything just worked so well. Goblin Cleanup is a twist on the genre where your job is to clean away the blood and gore of heros and adventurers that have fallen in the clients dungeon. Through the grime you will be both avoiding and resetting traps, placing the furniture back where it belongs and wondering what the heck happened to make such a mess. It is user friendly, snappy and there was only one mechanic that I would have liked an upgrade for.

The traps add a new idea to a tried and tested core, adding a slight order of operations puzzle to ensure maximum efficiency. After all, you don’t want to trip the crossbow to shoot you point blank because you didn’t move a piece of furniture earlier, spilling your own blood and meat over your freshly mopped floor. Navigation is also part of the fun, finding the best way to get the furniture to where it belongs without stepping on a pressure plate because you couldn’t see in front of your feet, because you were carrying furniture. Each dungeon has a large amount of levels, allowing you to experience the journey that the unfortunate heros themselves would face, with interesting winding level design and no way of knowing how to navigate until you try it for yourself.

I can’t speak for the co-op experience as these types of game are a solo endeavour for me, but it is certainly going on my wishlist as a podcast/tv show companion game. I only played 2 levels but I am sold that this is a fun time, worthy of it’s place in the genre. Adding magic to cleaning is an angle I didn’t know that I needed.

Demo Length – 2+ hour
At a glance
+ Another fine example of the genre with its own twist.
+ A funny concept.
+ Plays smoothly.
+ User friendly.
+ Compulsive.
+ Stays on the right side of fun vs tedious (so far).
+/- I did not get as far as levels with enemies yet so I can’t comment on whether that adds a fun challenge or frustration.
– My one problem was walking backwards and forwards so much to get fresh water, I could have used some pockets for my slimes.

More from summer game fest 2024

More from previous Festivals

Sign up now to stay up to date with the latest posts!