The Alters (PC) (Demo)

20240617:
I started playing this game today. It was getting late and I stopped some time after getting the message from a mysterious person. Thus far the game looked good. I found there was something off about the look of the rain, but that's a minor detail, especially for a demo.

Setup: Changed resolution to 4K.

Steam Game Time: 19 minutes

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Summary:
None at this time

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The Alters (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
The Alters (Steam Store Page)

Two Souls (PC) (Demo)

Overview: Control two characters at the same time and figure out how to escape each level. Oh, and don't die

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20240617:
Simple, but fun.

Setup: Initially tried to play with Xbox controller but it felt inconsistent and I switched to keyboard. Using the keyboard, the characters moved faster and the game became playable.

Steam Game Time: 16 minutes

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Two Souls (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Two Souls (Steam Store Page)

Europa (PC) (Demo)

20240617:
Not only did the game look beautiful, but the movement and controls felt smooth and satisfying. That is, the animation for the player character's actions look amazing, but during execution and in between. For the most part, I felt like I knew where I was going, but sometimes I felt there could have been so much to explore. The developers did a great job of putting cues into place such that the experience was directed despite the world feeling big. Speaking of directed, the game did a great job of introducing all the movement incrementally and queueing key interactions with the world. I particularly like the color choices, with the magic color blue contrasting very well with the color palette of the world. Finally, I already mentioned the motion felt smooth, but a particular mention to the pure awesome feeling of the follwoing three actions: gliding on water, flying into the air, and gliding.

Perhaps the only minor downside is that the story is told through journal pages which can only be listened to in a single spot. I'd rather listen to the story while continuing on with the adventure.

Setup: Xbox controller

Steam Game Time: 23 minutes

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Europa (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Europa (Steam Store Page)

World's Worst Handyman (PC) (Demo)

Overview: A comedy stealth game where the player character is trying to save an animal shelter from going out of business by taking on handyman jobs.

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20240617:
Steam Game Time: 36 minutes

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20241124 Comment:
I remember having some fun with the demo. While the game does have stealth elements, I recall it feeling a lot more hectic and casual than other games I've played in the stealth genre.

Demo Rating: 3.6 out of 5

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World's Worst Handyman (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
World's Worst Handyman (Steam Store Page)

Glyphica: Typing Survival (PC) (Demo)

Overview: A typing-based horde survivor game (level up to choose weapons and upgrades)

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20240614:
This game is simple, yet fun. Initially I thought it would be like the survival mode in Epistory, but it ended up being way cooler than that. The game makes use of the horde survivor formula and differentiates itself by combining it with the typing genre.

I could have played more, but opted to stop playing after two runs in order to get some sleep and play other demos tomorrow morning.

Setup: Balanced difficulty

Steam Game Time: 44 minutes

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Glyphica: Typing Survival (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Glyphica: Typing Survival (Steam Store Page)

Dungeons of Hinterberg (PC) (Demo)

Overview: Somewhat typical action adventure game.

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20240614:
I saw this on a list of demos people were interested in playing. While downloading the game I saw the developers playing and the hoverboard power seemed cool. As such I was excited to try the game. However, the demo itself was underwhelming. In particular, defeating the first dungeon didn't appear to offer any significant reward. After defeating the first dungeon, the player returns to the town where she is supposed to meet various NPCs. I decided to stop playing at this point. Overall, I didn't see anything in this game that was novel or executed in a way that's better than what games before it has accomplished.

Setup: Xbox controller

Note: At one point in the game I was stuck, but apparently I didn't see a switch (triggered by the player character's beam)

Steam Game Time: 56 minutes

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Thoughts:
Pros:
Artwork is great

Neutral:
The game talked about targeting enemies but I didn't catch how to do it... Not knowing how to target was frustrating against the first dungeon boss
There's some sort of time mechanic which I'm not sure seems fun or not
One part in the first dungeon had the player walk around a sphere similar to the core gameplay of Super Mario Galaxy. It seemed to be a superficial inclusion as there didn't seem to be a reason why the physics of the dungeon should work in such a weird way

Cons:
Hoverboard is cool for transitioning between areas, and speedy movement, but the movement is a little nauseating, the player can't jump and do any simple tricks (seems like a missed opportunity when it comes to implementing a snowboard/hoverboard mechanic)
The character doesn't jump and moving forward to jump platforms removes engagement; in addition, it can cause the player character to fall off which then becomes the game's fault... at least allowing the player to jump and missing the jump is the player's fault
Some areas in the beginning are devoid of enemies making for a slower start to the game
The heavy magic attack was hard to judge distance and I often missed. I feel like that attack should be smarter.
The player character should have a greater run speed and slower board speed. The camera for using the board seems to move the camera, which is annoying and likely contributes to the nausea

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Dungeons of Hinterberg (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Dungeons of Hinterberg (Steam Store Page)

Tiny Bookshop (PC) (Demo)

Overview: Run a book shop.

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20240613:
The demo was short, and it hardly satisfied my interest in the game, i.e., I wanted to play more and didn't expect it to end so abruptly. I felt the developers could have at least let me repeat the one location. With that being said, the game looked beautiful. While I enjoyed the graphics, I would have liked a button to fast forward, because waiting for customers to come at the start of the day was boring. Overall, while the game seemed promising, the length of the demo was too short to fully assess interest in the game.

Steam Game Time: 33 minutes

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Tiny Bookshop (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Tiny Bookshop (Steam Store Page)

Dungeon Clawler (PC) (Demo)

Overview: Go through a dungeon, build an item deck, and use a claw machine to collect those items.

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20240612:
This game shares a common concept with Slay the Spire, except with a very distinct gameplay mechanic with the claw machine. Overall had a lot of fun with the game and I intend to play more of it.

Setup: Keyboard

Gameplay Log:
Played the first character
Played the second character and won. Easy strategy around metal items and collecting coins. The coinbased weapon is eventually very strong and basically one-shotting all the enemies.
Played the third character.
Played the fourth character.

Remark: while the game has a clever name, it also put itself into a hard position as being difficult to search for (searching the game title will bring up results for Dungeon Crawlers)

Steam Game Time: 3.8 hours

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Dungeon Clawler (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Dungeon Clawler (Steam Store Page)

Aestik (PC) (Demo)

20240612:
This game had good artwork, but the gameplay felt too simple, there was a lack of variety in enemies, and the plot/lore was uninteresting. Overall, I felt the game failed to contribute to the Metroidvania genre in any noteworthy way.

Setup: Xbox controller

Game Time: ~27 minutes*
*For some reason the Steam Game Time is sitting at 6 minutes, but I recorded for about 27 minutes

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Aestik (PC) (Demo)

Relevant Links:
Aestik (Steam Store Page)