Enjoyable game. Puzzles aren't too challenging for the most part - in fact many of them are the sort of stuff your math teacher gives you at the end of the schoolyear when you already got through the entire curriculum. But it's not necessarily a bad thing - it's pretty much perfect if you're looking for something more relaxing.

What really got me though was the story. For a major part of the game it isn't anything to write home about. But the final act is so satisfying, heartwarming and exciting that it's really hard to just ignore this aspect of the game. It even makes some of the gameplay quirks beliveable within the world of the game which I absolutely loved. I also loved the animated cutscenes - they are so well-made and well-voice acted (Luke's accent is so lovely) that they almost feel like a reward for solving the puzzles. With that said - WHY DO THEY PLAY ON THE BOTTOM SCREEN INSTEAD OF THE TOP ONE??? It really takes away from the experience. I also disliked the "see you in the next game"-type villain, but hopefully the next games characterise him a bit better.

Overall it seems like a good starting game for the series. Looking forward to playing the next games.

An original and interesting world, multi-layered characters, investing story and setting, choices which impact the game and most importantly exceptional writing. At times I was more invested in this game than in any other piece of media I engaged with in recent memory. It actually felt like I was forging my own path within the difficult world of the game, based off the principles and ideals I (Brante) acquired and I absoulutely loved that. What I love even more is how open-minded the game is if you decide to take a more questionable path or make an immoral choice - it doesn't judge you, but instead just alters the narrative in a way that would be respectful of your choices.

Long story short - this would have been the best game I've played this year. But then I tried to replay it.

It seriously baffles me how a game with so many possible outcomes can have such a fucked up save system. In the final chapter of the game I had 3 different paths to choose from. I initially went with one of them and finished the game. Then to play through the other two, I had to play through the ENTIRE CHAPTER twice as well. For some reason (presumably because it could make farming achievements too easy? but I honestly have no fucking clue) the game overwrites your save whenever a new event starts and then if you want to make other choices you can only do that by replaying the entire chapter from the start. Manual saves would easily fix the entire issue, so I don't know why the devs went for such a stupid choice. I would honestly replay the game a couple of times if I didn't have to sit through all of this stuff. There is so much content in it, but it somehow feels like the devs don't care enough to give you access to it.

Still, if you only do one playthrough (which is even somewhat thematically fitting - you know, every person has one life etc.) the game is definitely worth your attention - even with the lacking design. It's thought-provoking, it's original, it's very well-written and it's a very good game / interactive book.

After spending over 13 hours to finish it I can say one thing for sure - this game LOVES to waste your time.

Initially there is no way for the player to realise this. You get a very decent moveset, an original combat system and 4 worlds with seven levels + boss. The overall presentation is nice too, though this artstyle with 2d characters placed in 3d space isn't really my thing. So you play through the first world - it's alright, nothing extraordinary. You beat the boss which is kind of annoying but whatever, 3 worlds left to go. You then notice that after finishing each world all the non-boss levels turn into something like b-sides in Celeste - essentially the same level but with some minor changes. You play one to check it out and it's not very interesting - the collectables are different and enemies are a bit more powerful but aside from that it's almost the exact same as the original level. Oh well, at least there is some postgame content.

As you go on the enemies get more powerful (additional armor, machine guns), and the levels get bigger. Obviously that's pretty standard for a video game, but it never causes Demon Turf to be more challanging - just more frustrating. Combat starts to get tedious because while the enemies are stronger, you aren't - you just need to use grapling hook on them and it fucks with camera in a such a way that it will easily get you killed at least a couple times. Camerawise you also get the choice between manual and automatic but they are equally terrible. The level design gets more and more confusing so you keeping repeating huge chunks of levels because you have no idea when a good time to put up a checkpoint is (on each level you can place up to 3 checkpoints, if you don't place any you go back to the start of the level when you die). Dying takes a longer time, beacuse the levels are placed higher above the sea level or whatever, and the character takes more time to get lethal fall damage (which also applies to enemies, making arenas overly time consuming as well). And the levels themselves are only memorable if they have some annoying fucking gimmick, like jumping from a moving train or onto a mountain lift. The long jump, potentially the most interesting move in the game is almost never utilized in a satisfying way. Every boss is somehow more annoying than the last as well.

But whatever, you got through all the worlds so you can finally beat the final boss. Except you can't, because the creators of the game decided you also need too beat 3 of the b side worlds, essentially making you play through the game twice. This is such a shitty choice that I'm pretty sure the devs don't even know what the fuck they did it for. They even give you the option to skip a level in exchange for some collectibes, which you can only spend on some shitty cosmetics aside from that anyway. But then they try to discourage taking advantage of it by making the character teleport to the gate of the level, and making them go all the way back to the store which sells the level skips. The achievements for beating each world also don't trigger if you just skip the last level until you restart the game, which is a cherry on top of the many bugs connected with the fact that the characters are 2d in a 3d space (glitching on pieces of environment, falling trough small holes, sipping all the fucking time).

The game as a whole isn't even THAT bad. It would be an above-average patformer if it wasn't for all the stupid design choices the devs made. I'd still recommend it if you're looking for something to play in the background while binging a 26-season TV show (which is what I did). But there are many better options if you're looking for a competent 3d platformer.

If you're looking for a good noir detective game with antropomorphic animals play something like Chicken Police. This is essentially a glorified visual novel which just happens to have a detective as the main character.

(minor spoilers)

It's also not really a mystery game either. While the main character is presented with a case to solve, it never really does get solved in a fulfilling fashion. I didn't mind that at all but I can defiinitely see why people are disappointed by the final chapter of the game. I would even say it does feel a bit underbaked when compared to the rest of the game. However, I do not believe it is a reason to just disregard the game as a whole. The story takes a turn in Chapter 3 (out of five), so by the time it reaches conclusion the player should already embrace that the conclusion might not be what they initially anticipated.

A lot of the criticism also comes from the fact that the relationship between Howard (the main character) and Renee (side character) which begins to form at the end chapter 1 just kind of stops existing after chapter 3. Funnily enough the writers of the game kind of dug themselves into a hole in that aspect. Some of the dialogue options seem to assume that you will like Renee right after the first conversation with her (there is even an achievement for "trusting her right away") and the character is definitely written in a way to make it the case for many of the players. Howard frequently mentions her in his thoughts as well, which sort of gives the impression the writers REALLY want you to connect with that characters for ultimately little to no payoff. I personally didn't fall for it, as aside from a common goal I didn't really see a reason to fully trust her, which I guess influenced my view of the entire game as well.

(major spoilers)

From all the chapters in the game, the first two are the least memorable to me. Aside from the plot twist at the end of the first one and maybe the conversation with Florence in the second one there isn't really anything all that interesting in there. Then the hypnotysing final sequence of chapter 3 happens (and unfortunately ends with Anatoly getting killed off for some shit-tier shock value), followed by a transition to the best location in the game, filled with characters who actually form some kind of community instead of randos on the street or the same newspaper salesman reused for a "comedic" effect. It actually felt like I should get to know these guys, because maybe I'll have to stay there for a while. That of course doesn't happen, but hey - that's life. You can't stay on the playground forever and your parents don't really care if you'll not see the kids you were playing with for the rest of your life. The same exact rethoric can be applied to Renee, except the player actually witnesses the choices she has to make afterwards. Which takes me back to what I said earlier - I think the negative voices come mosty from people who feel cheated by the story - by Howard's death, by Renee's choice to work with Clarissa, by the close to non-existing resolution of the case. And again - it's fine if they do. But I do believe that it's worth acknowledging that the creators of the game made a gamble. They took a concept that basically writes itself and decided to experiment with it. Not only with the story itself, but also with the way it's told. Maybe the quality is not fully up there, maybe the script could use some tweaks here and there, but I will take this story over another generic noir mumbo-jumbo any day of the week.

Also the pixelart in this game is gorgeous. The water reflections, the sun setting down - just beautiful stuff.

At first, the game is pretty good - you collect items, buy skils, the graphics are nice enough. Unfortunately it only gets worse from there. The game is very simple - and I wouldn't normally have any problem with it, but here (at least on the basic difficulty level) almost all activities provided by the developers are completely unnecessary. Not once did I have to hunt animals or even gather mushrooms because my hunger bar was constantly filled with the canned goods or peanut butter I found. Although maybe it's for the better, because the combat in this game is a fucking joke - early on I found a weapon (machete) which was quite good on paper, but it turned out to be as useless as the basic pickaxe. Regardless of the weapon, every stronger opponents were still damaging me by half as much life as I was damaging them. Until I found a shotgun, which for some reason oneshots every enemy (of course, if the bullets decide to deal damage to them and not just fly through them) The game can at least be played without combat up until the very end, but the lack of combat makes it impossible to get the resources you need to upgrade your camp and thus the number of skills you can unlock (which include, among other things, the very POSSIBILITY to drop said resources from killed creatures). The icing on the cake are the numerous bugs, especially related to doors and walls, through which enemies can not only see me but also attack, and in which it is very easy to get blocked. A couple of times I managed to load the gameplay, where I was locked in such and could not move (the same thing, by the way, also happens occasionally to the enemies).

Generally speaking - another buggy co-op survival game, this time with an isometric view and a much too streamlined gameplay.

(^originally written in 2021, translated with the help of deepl)

This is generally a VERY good and VERY fun game with great gameplay loop and surprisingly well-made narrative, but it falls flat in too many details for me to give it 4 stars.

First of all the tutorial is bad. It's boring and it doesn't explain enough of the gameplay structure. While not getting tutorials on how and against whom you should use particular weapons adds a little bit to the already high difficulty of the game (and I guess the feeling of being a rollerdrome rookie), it also discouraged the usage of these weapons for me (namely the granade launcher and the laser thingy). For the shotgun there was at least a prompt on the screen telling me when to push the trigger, but for the other two there is nothing. I still don't know how to use the laser, and I only started using the granade launcher because the side uests required it. The real issue however is the lack of tutorials for the tricks. Every level requires pulling off at least one, but they don't tell you how. All it says is -> -> X , but I have no idea what the fuck this means. No matter how many different ways I try to input this, it just doesn't work. If there was like a training stadium where you can just roam around and try tricks out MAYBE I could figure it out, but for some reason the devs didn't think of it, even though this type of game practically begs for it. It would also help with learning how to use the weapons as I would not need to do it during the levels.

The "boss fights" are a joke. The two times they appear (and why only two? it feels like the devs ran out of either money or creativity) it's basically just the same, shittily designed boss (which prompts me to believe it was actually creativity). They aren't even that hard, mostly just annoying and uninspired - if you miss the leg platform you are basically doomed to be damaged (and possibly die) by the close-to-undodgable stomping attack. Aside from that it's just a standard level but witout ramps and a big robot spawning landmines from time to time. My question however is - why the fuck do I need to play through this shit every time I redo the level? You can skip the narrative parts, why can't you skip the bosses? Initially I was annoyed this because even if you complete a side quest you actually have to play through the whole level. Only later did I find out, that you can also just die, because after that the done quests remain that way as well. Why? Why can't I just leave instead? In boss fights of course dying and saving progress is not an option, as you only have the option to either try again or leave the level.

I do have some more complaints (I once fell of the map, the auto-movement is a questionable choice, it's basically unplayable on the keyboard) but I don't want to be that negative as the game is really good. It's just not the flawless masterpiece some people claim it to be.

This is generally such a lucklaster of a game. When you first boot it up you don't even get a tutorial. There are like what - 4 maps? One of which is dog shit (subway). There is no in-game chat. At some point I friended someone, and there is no private chat either. Cross-platform is also not configured Steam, so the guy wasn't added to my Steam friends but solely in-game (it's understandable if he was playing on console of course, but I somehow doubt it). I saw some other guy say there is no way to play 2v2 in a premade group - what the fuck is the friends feature even for then? And why the FUCK can't you invert the mouse scroll? Scrolling down should move cards to the right, not the other way around and you're psychotic if you think otherwise. This ultimately caused me to refund, because I found myself focusing more on this than the actual game.

The deckbuilding UI is shit, and so is the fact that you can only have 4 decks at once Like actually, what the fuck? This is a trading card based game and somehow it feels like they actually don't want the players to interact with it. The game should give you access to all the cards right away, or at least softlock only the legendary ones. It's so fucking infuriating to play against cards you don't have and would like to. But I guess it wouldn't make much difference, as I see completely zero potential to build a deck with like a gimmick or something. It's just annoying if you want to play with more weapons than debuffs or the other way, or generally the way you would like. Until you grind the cards out you're stuck with some shit-tier deck the devs decided would be good for the start (or in other words with the most boring stuff in the game).

What's also worth noting, fair matchmaking seems to be fucked (or to rather not existat all), as I got my ass kicked in about 75% of the matches I played. It's especially annoying given how little exp you get from losses. Exp is needed to level up and get money to buy cards, so essentially as you start with the most useless stuff in the game, you barely have a chance of getting better. If I'm playing one day after launch, and out of 20-something matches I played I get matched with a player on my level (totally green) only the quarter of the time then I'm sorry but this game is not gonna have a long lifespan. I don't know how you plan to keep your playerbase grow, but it's not going to if this is not fixed.

Given I've been seeing this game on my Twitter feed for fucking months now I would expect something more, but the fact that it premiered with 61 cards (many of which is shit like slow down/speed up or health up/health down) I don't see this game having a bright future. If it was free, it would be dead within a month, but since the entry barrier is $10 maybe people will actually feel like they need to get the value out and play for a little longer. It's worth checking out for the on-sale price, but I would never pay the full price for this (unless I actually had friends).

I also love how you can pay and additional $8 (or 36 PLN, idk how that translates) for a deluxe edition which adds literally nothing. Apparenty they will be adding microtransactions in the future, including stuff like "premium class expansions". Would love to tell you more about that but the description on steam is 3 sentences long. Shit seems shady.

First let's get some cons out of the way:
- jump and double jump feel very shitty outside of combat
- the tutorial sequences are a bit lenghty
- Chai and Peppermint are very annoying near the start (same for the 'rockstar' thing)
- Macaron's ability feels very clunky and is especially ankward when you need to use it on bosses
- the story is extremely predictable and cheesy (though for the most part it fits with the cartoonish aesthetic of the game)
- a couple of minor glitches
- the inability to skip through dialogue without waiting for the voice actors to finish the lines made me actively not want to speak with NPCs (even though the dialogue itself is pretty well-written)

Other than that it's an extremely fun game. Once you master the controls the combat is buttery smooth - and even if you don't, the game doesn't really punish for it. I feel like you can completely fuck up a level, or just generally only spam light attack and still get a grade B or higher (at least on the normal difficulty). The art direction and graphics in general are beatiful to look at, both if it comes to the game and cutscenes (also the way they intertwine - absolute magic). I also liked the cast of characters - despite a few flaws I think everyone can find at least one character they like in the mixture - be it a villain or a good guy (for me it's Zanzo <3). There are also surprisingly many good jokes - I thoght I would be cringing quite a bit but the game actually squeezed out more laughs than... cringes (?) from me.

Overall it's a joy to play. If you can beat like the first three levels of geometry dash and don't hate rythm games you should check it out - especially if you have game pass.

Well that was a letdown.
I've been wanting to play this game for a while now and finally bought during the last Steam sale. I finished it in one sitting today.
The best thing about the game is the soundtrack, which somehow sounds even better in-game than on spotify. However the ones without lyrics didn't grab my attention as much as the ones with singing. The gameplay is generally simple, but the level design makes it challenging enough to make you put some work into mastering it.
The game is very short, in order for it to feel like a pop album. I don't have a problem with that (in fact I prefer shorter games), but instead of a "WOW" effect which I hoped for at the end, all I said to myself was "so that was it huh?". Generally speaking the game is an action arcade game. Unfortunately while I was hoping for more action, I got more arcade. After every bossfight level there is a so-called "heartbreak" one, which is a bit slower and is technically supposed to be a transition from one location to another. The thing is all of them are very similair, and they are generally kind of boring, with an almost filler-like feel. I think the game lost some steam because of them. The game also has a good number of achievements, but all of them are hidden under riddles, which you have to solve in order to know what to do. That is completely moronic, and if it wasn't for the World Wide Web I would have definitely just quit the game after the first playthrough.
I think I wouldn't mind an even shorter, but more concise experience. I feel like maybe I will up the score by half a star after I master all the levels, but generally the game didn't blow my socks off as I thought it would.