Tag: Times & Galaxy

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

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Times & Galaxy – Demo Impressions

It is a pleasure to report that this game is stellar.

Times & Galaxy

Developer: Copychaser Games

Release Date: 2024

Embark on an interplanetary adventure as the first robo reporter for the Times & Galaxy, the solar system’s most trusted holopaper. You’re just an intern, but if you can get the scoop, write great stories, and impress your colleagues, maybe you’ll get to keep your job!

I am having a blast with all of the new ideas on display at LudoNarraCon 2024 and Times & Galaxy is no exception. In this demo we are an intern robo reporter, given the opportunity to take on 2 very different cases and explore our central hub.

I am not a stranger to adventure style games, particularly enjoying the detective type. In those games you generally hunt for clues, trying to get to the bottom of a mystery in order to deliver justice. Times & Galaxy takes that general concept but adds its own entirely new spin on it. We do get to inspect scenes, snooping around as we see fit and interviewing witnesses, professionals and suspects alike, but delivering justice isn’t necesserily the end goal, unless you want it to be.

Our actual goal is storytelling. Just because we have figured out the culprit of a crime it doesn’t mean we actually have to tell anyone, especially if it aligns with our own morals or interests (how morally right or wrong that is is a whole other discussion). It is up to us to choose the angle of the story that we present to our readers based on the information that we have collected. Writing about a spaceship crash.. Do we implicate the police, do we play it down due to the fact that it is not an infrequent occurrence in this area, or do we expose a huge scandal that we may or may not have discovered based on how much digging we did. Do we respect a persons wishes for anonymity at the cost of our reputability, or do we break their trust and tell everyone exactly who the are for our gain. We get to shape the identity of our cosmic newspaper one story at a time.

I already applauded the whole twist on the detective genre, but there was a second stroke of genius here – setting the game in space. I would have been happy enough trekking around our world reporting on global events, but the extra terrestrial setting allows for anything to happen. Anything. What a choice this was. You can give me the most mundane scoop to chase and there will be fun in it due to this funky universe we are scrutinizing. Of course, the cases available so far are anything but mundane. When my colleague scoffs at me for being delegated menial cases like the intergalactic cat show, all I can do is scoff back about the things I saw.

The excitement of space shines through the entire style of the game. Colourful, cute and creative, it is almost comic like which makes sense in this world because we are literally making holopapers. This runs through everything from the UI to the environments we are scouring. It is all so bold, smooth, and it just fits. The puzzle isn’t only about finding as much information as possible, but asking the right questions to get responses that fit your narrative.

If you are looking for a new take on the adventure genre where you value being learning about and being within a world as much as the play, then I do recommend checking this one out. It is charming, it is cosy as heck and it gave me a good laugh.

Demo Length – 1 hour 30mins+
At a glance
+ New take on detective genre.
+ Player has a lot of agency.
+ The reward for exploring is getting more data for you to decide how to use.
+ Creative cases.
+ The reveal in Chapter 2 got me good.
+ I really appreciate the commitment to the jokes.
+ Feels it will be easy to pick up and play a story at a time.
+ The bold and colourful aesthetic is energizing.
+ Only being able to ask a limited amount of questions makes you think about which questions are worth asking.
+/- Has a familiar, comfortable structure of hub, story, hub, story.

More from Ludonarracon 2024

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