demo adventures

i've played the demo but not the whole thing yet. from steam prison onward reviews of the demos will be in notes, because there isn't really another way to review demos...! i will note if i purchased previous ones though.

The first level of this one was a fucking blast. It felt like something with a kind of Pizza Tower vibe, though I know Antonball came out a while ago? There's Going Fast, there's fun movement mechanics, the animation and spritework is Real Good. Unfortunately the other level didn't click with me as much because it fell into the trap of Precision Timed Platforming that I don't really fuck with. I wish it hadn't just because it's very fun and chaotic!
I keep playing Pikmin demos and every time I have a genuinely excellent time but I keep like. putting off actually buying the games. I really need to actually buy pikmin someday. Anyway this game feels like it's going to whip, I love Oatchi and would absolutely die for him and the squad is pretty fun. I was a little thrown by what was going on with Olimar though, is this like a soft reboot or something or does he just keep crashing? Maybe I will understand if I actually play Pikmin.
I know Octopath isn’t super well regarded among the hardcore JRPG-heads of Backloggd but I personally liked it! It definitely had areas where it could be improved, sure, but I had a lot of fun with it. It had great music and I enjoyed the characters’ storylines, and it was pretty fun to see how they all converged at the end.

Octopath II seems like it’s doing its damnedest to improve on the first game’s flaws and add more spice, which is very cool! The characters having different path actions depending on the time of day is pretty neat, though I am curious to see how they may or may not overlap the way skills in the first game did. I also really like the characters themselves, which was a great part of the first game! Even if the demo doesn’t get to it, it sounds like there will be more of an effort to have characters interact with each other, and that’s already starting to feel like the case with in-battle banter. I also thought it was neat to have guest party members, too. I started out with Temenos, and his dynamic with Crick was deeply enjoyable. He was also very enjoyable in general. I had high hopes for that horrible twink and he completely delivered. Throne’s story has that interesting dark flavor and I’m curious to see how their actual dynamic plays out! And I’m very excited to see the rest of the cast, of course. I wanted to start with Osvalt but it sounded like you were stuck in prison for way too long to get past the demo, so they definitely tried to nerf The Best Character Class Action from being on your team the whole time… but Temenos had a great opener so it helps.
Purchased
I’m new enough to Metroid that I don’t really know if I screwed myself over or if I’m just bad at video games or I couldn’t figure something out… that said I did enjoy what I played of this, although I find it baffling that you can’t save your progress and carry it over to the full game. Like why isn’t that a standard feature in demos for games like this?
God I kind of miss the good old stylus gameplay from the 3DS. If the Switch had a second dedicated touchscreen and stylus it would be too powerful. The field stages’ wavy lines in particular are taking some time to get used to with a joystick versus how intuitive the stylus was. Other than that it whips! I can’t believe I’m actually considering digital deluxe for the extra songs… but like I fuckin love the music across Square’s various franchises so maybe? Augh I prefer physical but To Zanarkand….
Purchased
Oops! I immediately purchased this after I finished the demo. It was on sale, okay, and I have been craving Picross. This is even more dangerous than standard Picross, because you have a little wizard spirit friend who unlocks puzzles for you when you solve riddles by combining the subjects of previously solved puzzles. It's so dangerous. I cannot wait to play all of it. You also get puzzles of janky failed attempts at making concepts your Little Guy tried to make before you came along and started actually solving the grimoire. I love this. I think there are also fan-submitted puzzles too?

Thank you Jupiter. You are real ones.
Another entry in the burgeoning “figure out what’s going on based on context clues and enter the answers into a book that helps you figure out what’s going on” genre like Obra Dinn and Case of the Golden Idol, it seems. This one makes me feel kind of dumb because I’m not always sure what it’s asking for… still seems neat, though! I’d be interested in it, I think.
This game seems pretty neat! There’s a lot of mystery here, and I’m curious to see where it goes. Though, like, do I need to know the original Blue Reflection to get into this…? Anyway, while the battle system and concept seem interesting, the models seem a little janky. I mean, I’ve dealt with worse, but it’s maybe a little offputting.
This game is absolutely going to be good as hell, I cannot wait. The mouthful and copy abilities are a lot of fun and are working out really nicely in the shift to full 3D over 2.5D. I always love my good lad kirb! He’s so cute! So is everything else! One minor quibble is it felt like the boss ran a little long but I wonder if that was just ice not being the best power up for the job. I did want to try it out because it was the first time it showed up, though.

Purchased
Holy hell this demo slaps dude. I’m so excited for the actual game, it’s really fun to play and it’s got the same fun vibe as the original. I do wish they let you have the whole team to see their dynamic, though, because Nagi seems like a riot. I’m kind of sad Minamimoto didn’t really bounce off Rindo and Fret’s stupid banter, but it does make sense for him to be above it all. Maybe he’ll get more involved later? Anyway, the game looks great, the character portraits are really fun and dynamic, and the music rules. I think the way they adapted the gameplay from the chaotic DS original is a lot of fun and honestly way more comprehensible, though it feels like it’ll take some practice to get good! The one problem I have is the overworld can be a little rough to navigate with the fixed camera angles, but it’s not too much of a problem. I’m glad pigs are back too. Purchased.
This is a pretty cool VN so far! I really like the aesthetic choices, it’s visually very striking. I’m really curious to see where the story is going, as well. The main character is a fun disaster, and his fantasies are really entertaining. The only part I’m torn on is that Kawase sucks and I can’t tell if it’s in a fun way or an awful way yet.
Seems neat! I’m not really great at this type of gameplay but it was pretty fun. I was kinda sad they left stuff blocked off so I couldn’t go full metroidvania, but the story and artwork were neat. Honestly the biggest thing that keeps me from wanting to actually buy it is that like. Listen I know this industry is super fucked in every company and they’re all garbage. But Ubisoft sucks shit.
It's picross baby! Honestly I'm always glad to see themed picross, I think they're neat. When DO we get another nintendo one.
It’s Mother Fucking Kirby Baby! I never got around to playing the version for the Wii because after a certain point I could never quite get around to playing anything that wasn’t portable on some level, so I’m excited to actually play this one. I did watch a LP and thought it was pretty neat though! I have been missing the more technical copy abilities with, like, actual move lists from Kirby games for a while now, so I’m excited for this one. Also excited for that Magolor epilogue!
Purchased
Aw this shit is good as fuck, dude. It looks great, sounds great, and the gameplay is addictive as hell. RTS never quite grabbed me all that much, but I really dig what’s going on here. It’s definitely got the stuff I like from Fire Emblem going on, but it’s very clearly different enough that I’m really digging it.

I didn’t actually complete chapter 1 because I got so distracted by literally every sidequest, but I am pretty curious to see where the story goes and what kinds of characters I get to recruit on my way through. Not sure if this is a Day One thing because I have SO many meaty games to get through, but I do recommend the demo. It’s nice and chunky! Seven hours of free video game. You should try it!
An intriguing introduction, to be sure. I like the art a lot, and I’m pretty curious to see where it goes and how the gameplay actually plays out. It seemed like A Dream so is it all going to be dives into the heart? It’s also kind of neat to see stuff from cultures I’m not super familiar with outside of very broad strokes. That music Atma used to distract the civil defense guy was pretty neat honestly I’d listen to more
AH YES A SICK REMAKE OF THAT GAME I WAS GONNA PLAY A ROM OF AT SOME POINT… I guess they had to whip out the HD 2D and the voice acting because everyone who’s interested has already probably pirated and played the fan translation, huh. Thankfully the remake additions make a nice looking game look even nicer, the soundtrack is a banger, and the voice acting is a neat addition! I’m very excited to see the whole thing. I read a let’s play long enough ago that I think it’ll be a pretty fresh experience.

I do kind of feel like I may have screwed myself a little trying to do a pacifist run of the ninja chapter, though, and I kind of wonder if I missed out on the memory card for Cube………… oh well!!
Purchased
It’s Picross baby!!
I fuckin love picross dude
I did like this, actually! The opening leaves me curious about where things will go with these goofy goobers, and I’m pretty charmed by the MC’s looney tunes antics. I was expecting far worse from a bishoujo game from the 90s. With that said, the translation is a touch iffy-not unreadable, mind. The dialogue feels pretty natural, but there’s a case where a character named Minami was called South in the name field and a professor probably has the wrong pronouns. Probably. I hope it gets edited before the full translation release.
This seems like a fun game, but I don’t feel like the demo is particularly good. It does demonstrate the action and some of the mechanics but doesn’t do that great of a job tutorializing and does absolutely nothing to introduce the characters and story! Also one of the levels they showcased was a sewer level? I dunno maybe I should’ve tried another level but I feel like this demo isn’t as representative as I’d like.
Ah I liked this demo a lot! The battle system is pretty fun and the story and characters are pretty cute. It does seem a little old school but I do dig it! I’m kind of curious to see where it goes. I also like that you can see the different portraits from the different versions of the game, which like man, the PSP generation sure looked like that, huh. Also seems to have some replay value since you can presumably play through with Claude as the main character as well. But ah, so many games….
It’s more Picross! Shit I love Picross! I should probably get the other Picross S games just because I want more Picross.
honestly i just wanted to play some picross for free. mario super picross's ultra stages weren't scratching the itch because they don't have the nice qol features.
Purchased.
Holy shit this whips, it’s like if pikmin was a platform puzzler with bugs who formed a cargo cult. I absolutely love it and want to play more. The only real criticism I have is that the timing on the glide jump feels a little funky especially at first, but I feel like it got better once I had a longer glide. Definitely want to get this one for sure.
picross :3
This game seems pretty neat, but I’m not sure if I’m Definitely going to get it. The pixel art is pretty nice and the story seems intriguing… but I’m worried the kind of game it is might not gel with me. It looks like it might get haaard… though it does seem fun! I don’t know! I might wait and see what other people say.
So, if you have a Switch and you have any interest in TRPGs, you should play the demo for this. It’s basically an early access preview that the devs released in order to look for feedback like with the Bravely games and Octopath Traveler, and if you play it Nintendo will send you a survey asking for your input.

Granted, this game is shaping up to look really solid even from this really early demo! The graphics are beautiful, and the gameplay has a lot of neat ideas like manipulating the terrain with spells and even being able to scout things out in exploration segments before the battle themselves, and you can even do sidequests to change parts of the environment in your favor!

As far as the story goes, it doesn’t seem super original for this genre, but the choice mechanics are really cool. I like that you’re leading a democratic army where you have to persuade your allies to vote for your preferred choice. I also really like the mechanic that lets you hit a button during cutscenes to access character’s profiles, which seems super handy in a game with a lot of characters from different factions.

There were only two major things I thought needed improvement. One is that the voice direction needs… a little work… and the other is that I didn’t like how characters recruited in Side Stories were relegated to the Encampment of Plot Irrelevance. I hope in the full version they get to vote or at least provide arguments you can use to persuade the people who do vote! Also the camera feels maybe a little squirrelly.

But even if those things aren’t fixed, I’m still really excited for this to come out! It looks like a great way to fill that Final Fantasy Tactics-shaped hole in my heart.

Purchased.
A charming little point and click with a very cute aesthetic and funny dialogue. I have no idea if the first character outside the main duo stonewalling everyone and looking dramatically disapproving is a demo limitation or if she’s actually like that in the full game. I hope so. But yeah, this seems like a cute, fun murder mystery puzzler, and I’d be interested in playing the full version.
So I tried the other Monster Hunter demo that was on the Switch Eshop... Generations, I think? And man, that did not really tell you anything about what to expect and just kinda left you to ram your face into the game until you figured it out. As someone who never touched the series before, it was a real turnoff... but wow, this demo is way better at telling you how to play the game! I still struggled with anything above the Great Izuchi, but that hunt was pretty fun. I feel like if I were to actually buy the game it’d do a better job at easing me through the hunts and figuring out what’s going on. One problem I’ll admit I have is that muscle memory from Hades makes me keep using items when I mean to attack... maybe I oughta try rebinding the buttons for this game. Anyway, the aesthetic is really nice, the music is good as hell, and I love that you can have the ultimate team of the player character, A Good Dog, and A Good Cat. I’ll probably mess around more with the demo on and off to try out more weapons but I might consider actually picking this up at some point. You know, after I’ve finished some other things up.
Picross But With Sega! The music is pretty good and I like the subject matter, but it’s kind of a bummer that there’s only three clip Picross puzzles. I still definitely want it though.
Seems pretty neat! I think I’d definitely like to pick it up at some point. The eerie vibes combined with the chill fishing create a pretty neat atmosphere, and I’m pretty curious to dig in more! Hopefully I don’t experience horrors beyond my comprehension.
This was really cute and fun! I liked it a lot, the characters are charming and the gameplay is pretty neat. I’m kind of bad at the diving part to start out but the restaurant part isn’t too bad in terms of being a reasonable pace. I’m sure it ramps up as the game goes on and you get more customers, of course, but it starts out kind of relaxing compared to the more tense diving bits. I really want to see where it goes!
Definitely seems promising! The art is very nice, the music slaps, and the puzzles are kinda fun. Kind of feels like Chrono Trigger meets Tales of meets Mario and Luigi. The default fight difficulty does seem tuned a little high, though that might be because it just kind of drops you into the middle of things. I feel like I might’ve preferred being taken through the start of the game proper instead of being tossed around bits in the story, honestly; I get the impression they wanted to show off with the goofy pirates but I don’t think the main party got as much of a chance to shine. Still, it definitely seems like a game to watch!
Much like the first game (which I have played the demo of but never picked up fully), the central conceit of this game is a lot more appealing to me than the mainline MH games because one, I’m better at turn based RPGs, and two, I want to befriend the monsters instead of just killing them! Honestly the true goal is Monster Hunter Snap, but a mons game is close enough to what I want. Especially a game where you hatch adorable weird baby monsters that look like they have zero thoughts in their heads. So between that and the exploration aspect involving the different mounts having different abilities, this game seems really good! The story is a little generic but I feel like the characters are charming beautiful art direction carries it. I also appreciate that I got to make a weird little gremlin girl with a snaggletooth to play as. With all that said… I’m not really feelin’ Navirou here. He’s not objectively bad I guess but I really wish we could have a normal-ass Felyne friend instead of this janky cartoon animal. Especially when the misguided rival Hunter lad has a cool ninja cat! What the hell!
IT'S PICROSS BABEY!!
Game… weirdly compelling. I’m usually more into story-driven stuff than retro sandboxy stuff, but I still like those sandboxes? It’s fun. Exploring is fun. I feel like maybe I should tone the difficulty down for a breezier experience though, MP management feels weirdly difficult…
Seems kind of neat, and I am pretty curious to see where it’s going… but maybe on a computer. I dunno, I’m not quite sure if the button mapping on the Switch quite works for me. Anyway the pixel art is nice, although the attempt to scare me with a cat was not quite effective. I just wanna pet that kitty.
A lot of people say 6 wasn’t very good and based on the demo I think this one is a lot more immediately fun and memorable based on the characters. They’ve got fun chemistry and I laughed quite heartily several times. I did find it a little tougher than the other Disgaea demos, admittedly… I guess it’s because you get only two unique units? Anyway it’s nice to have a disgaea about a bunch of funny adults. Cannot wait to see what’s up with Fuji and his adoptive daughter man.
Eh. I don’t really have much to say about this one, it’s cute enough but not especially compelling. I liked Etrian Odyssey demos but I might just not be a dungeon crawler person
Supergreatfriend tried this out on one of his streams so I was not surprised by the plot being a bunch of furry children bashing fash in a weird tank that, in a desperate situation, can use one of their souls as ammunition to instawin boss fights. I did not, however, know that there is a collectible that is an in universe comic you can read that basically feels like Furry Tintin. This game rules and I definitely want to buy the whole thing at some point.
Pretty intriguing so far! I remember getting the DS original back in the day but I was a stupid baby so I didn’t get very far. The game looks extremely nice, and I think it’s very cute how they updated the DS lookin’ gadget to a Switch lookin’ gadget. I hope this means the glorious return of CING. Maybe they’ll do a remake of Hotel Dusk so I can play that, too…
I am SO excited for this game and the demo makes me want it even more. I haven’t played DQM past the second one so I’m pretty excited to mess around with the newer systems like talents and seasons and such, and I’m super excited about the story and concept. It’s mother fucking Dragon Quest 4 Babey! I cannot wait to play as my boy Psaro. I hope there is a part where you get to teach the local animals to talk. There probably won’t be and I’ll still have fun if we don’t but I want to teach the cat how to talk with the secret of evolution. Hell yeah.

I also love how much more complicated the synthesis system is even if I miss the old conceit that the monsters got married and left you an egg. Maybe I can still imagine that’s what’s happening???

Also I’m a Sugiyama hater but I very much did go HEY IT’S THAT SONG FROM MY CHILDHOOD. It really was nostalgia all along.

One bad thing is that not being able to directly order your monsters in tournaments still sucks. I told my monster who cures poison to do the tactic that ostensibly cures status effects and that dude absolutely refused to cure anyone in my party of poison. Like everyone was poisoned but it kept attacking. Come on buddy.

Purchased
I’m not super big on SRPGs and honestly the gameplay segments are taking a bit to get used to, but everything else whips honestly. The artwork is incredible and the characters, story, and world are super compelling! I’m really excited to see where it all ends up going, because the demo really gives you a great taste of what to expect. Also Advocat is SUCH a sexyman holy shit
The vibes of the animated sequences are absolutely incredible, like god damn. Absolutely love the zany art style and the flow, it’s worth looking those up! The rest of the novel is a lot of fun, too. The cast’s very charming, the world is fun and goofy, and I’m pretty excited to see where things go from here! I would definitely consider getting this.
This game definitely seems pretty fun! Penny definitely felt like she could get away from me at times, but I imagine mastering the movement is part of the fun. The cutscenes were pretty cute, even if they're kind of limited. I like the art style, it's good.
What is it with VN demo save data not carrying over to the full version? It’s not like I’m not gonna buy the VN because I got to play the demo. It just makes me not wanna mess around too much with the demo because I’m going to be rereading a lot of stuff, which I’ll probably do anyway in a VN with Choices.

Anyway this one looks really cool, I like the vibes of the art and what I got of the premise. I’d definitely love to actually buy it at some point, it seems like a fun cool thing.
This game is very charming and has great art direction, but unfortunately the gameplay just isn’t for me. It feels like an autorunner combined with a card game and those two things don’t really appeal to me as a combination! I’m sure if you like those things it’s good and I would love to see someone else play it, but ehhhhhhhh. It’s a nah from me.
Oh I am SO excited for this shit. The gameplay’s pretty fun and seems to put a lot more importance on strategy which is wild for a musou? Like… it feels like people actually accomplish things when you point them in a direction and order them to do something instead of requiring you to take control? I am genuinely unused to this even if I do like taking control. Anyway the gameplay is important but holy shit the story swerves here are wild. I only played the Blue Lions bit and am not sure if I want to play more because I have no idea how ng+ will work, but I cannot wait to get the full game and see what the fuck is going on with Arval and Shez, and the changes to the world state and appearances of a bunch of important background characters who were mentioned in the original game but never appeared in person is good stuff. But really I was hooting and hollering from the opening cutscene! You are definitely going to want to play 3H before playing this if you want to understand literally anything, but it’s good shit. It even carries over what you named Byleth in your 3H save! It’s so rad!!!
Purchased
Definitely has those Sonic vibes, and I really liked the art and music. I’m not as certain on the controls, though… they felt a little floaty and I kind of wish there had been a little more clarity in how the hitboxes work on enemies and a little more speed. There are straightaways that feel like you’re supposed to be able to Go Fast on but the speed doesn’t really increase. It should! I want to go fast!!!
This game seems like a really interesting experience! Graphically it looks neat, and having read up on the game I really like the idea of passing through the stories of NPCs as various different player characters. I tried it out on the Switch which may or may not be the best idea; I know in their review Jim Steph Sterling mentioned one of the minigames doesn’t control great and I wonder if it’d be better to give it a shot on Steam. Regardless of where I try it I want to give it a shot though!
This one seems pretty fun! The art and animation style is very cute, and I like the vibes. I also like the quack button, that's Good. However, there's kind of a weird problem in that it causes my controller to vibrate and I need to tab out of the game to get it to stop? (this is a Switch pro controller, btw.) I don't know if it's a demo issue or what, but it's weird.
It's kind of baffling that they didn't change the demo to include the improvements to the time progression that the full version has, because oof, I absolutely understand how much people were complaining about how quickly time passes in this game. With that knowledge going in, though, I actually had a lot of fun and did make it up to the end of Chapter 2. The setting is interesting and very pretty, the farming is fun, and there are a few really neat characters and ideas here. I'm very excited to see what else the game brings! The music is also very good. I hope to pick it up at some point!
Hey this whips. It’s like if Dangan Ronpa was an adventure game wearing a tactical rpg trenchcoat. I mean perhaps it’s not entirely Dangan Ronpa but it feels a little Dangan Ronpa what with the quirky cast made of mystery solving individuals with Big Specialties, and I’m pretty curious about the cast! They seem like they all have some fun stuff going on, and their quirks don’t seem too overbearing. I’m not sure how much I trust anything that’s going on and I kind of wonder if there will end up being some sort of timeloop… it’s neat!
Seems fun but perhaps a little fiddly. It looks pretty good aesthetically, and I do like the gameplay concepts here, but I don't know if I have the resources for it. When drilling through stuff you are always moving, and that's a little bit of a pain for me? I don't know. I'm not sure if it's for me.
I really like the majority of things about this. The art is great, the premise is cool, and I’m interested in seeing where things go. But, uh, this is kind of a weird complaint to have about a VN, but at the same time I think they made a weird decision… that being that the D-pad has specific functions, so if you try to use it to select things in menus you accidentally go into an investigation segment and use up one of your limited actions. I also feel like I skipped some dialogue boxes for reasons I cannot imagine outside of idk I pressed the button weird. The game does come out next year, though, so they’ve got time to smooth things out.
I haven't actually gotten a chance to play a SaGa yet, before this, but man, what a wild ride this demo was. The only available story is a delightfully insane jumble of Concepts, in which a magical girl has her powers stolen by a fuckin space marine or something? And then she has to get them back by wandering around and collecting cats? While pretending to be a normal schoolgirl making friends with boys who keep investigating supernatural phenomena? And then she world hops to somewhere completely wild??? I had a great time, is what I'm saying.

The battle system is equally baffling. I don't think I was ever completely clear on what I was actually doing, but occasionally it would sort of click and I would completely kick ass at a fight that I'd wiped on multiple times. It felt really satisfying when I actually managed to execute combos and interrupts and whatnot. Perhaps I am on my way towards being a SaGa pervert...

Outside of that, it's a little... hm. I don't know if I'd say it looked cheap, necessarily, but it was definitely an unexpected presentation style outside of the battles, which look excellent. I mean, graphics aren't super important to me and I like VNs so the weird maps and the VN cutscenes don't bother me, but I wonder if it might turn other people off....
Hell yeah this rules so far all the characters are weird little failgirls and the concepts are super juicy. I am not especially good at the gameplay which is unfortunate, but I would make a wholehearted attempt to Git Gud in order to figure out what in the hell is going on in this game and with these delightful weirdos. The chemistry between all the characters so far is just amazing, and I really want to know about the spiritual prequel as well. A friend of mine is big into Crystar and I was not quite aware how much the character writing ruled in this particular way??? Definitely want it when it actually comes out.
more of a free trial than a demo, it apparently lets you play the whole way through to the end of one of the dudes' routes? and like, i hadn't even met the guy after playing for the better part of two hours I'd say. So it's definitely chunky, but that's the only route you can play and you apparently can't carry over save data to the full game, so I decided to stop playing so I wouldn't spoil myself.

With that said, I'm interested! I like the protagonist and the setting has a lot of interesting mysteries to it. I'm curious about the dudes since I only met three of them by the time I decided to stop. I definitely think I'd like to buy this one at some point.
Oh this game is cute as heck! It took me a little while to figure out how to properly do the cooking battles, but they’re fun puzzles. I didn’t get that much of a feel for the action parts, but it seemed pretty fun there, too. I also really like the art style and presentation! The characters seem really cute and fun. All in all, this was a great demo and I’d be interested in playing the full game!
I get the criticisms people have of this game, as at present the battles are pretty easy and the movement is perhaps a little janky… but I’m not sure I care? It feels like a chill, dry-witted DM taking you through a nice little adventure as he puts some sweet Okabe tunes on. I like it, it feels like it’ll be a good chill out game with a Yoko Taro spin.
Well, the final demo did what demos are supposed to do and made me pretty dang excited for the game! I was really turned off by the difficulty of the first demo, but they did a good job of balancing it a bit better so it wasn’t overwhelming. I will say that it feels like the battles do take a while, but I imagine things will feel more manageable in the actual game where you can take your time messing around with jobs instead of trying to accomplish what you can within a five hour time limit. Anyway, the characters are charming, and I’m intrigued to see where the story goes and what wild twists and turns the game has in store. The environments, monsters, and character designs are great... but I have to agree with most people’s take that the way the humans are rendered was a mistake. I think they should’ve tried textures more along the lines of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon remake or FFT:WoL’s CG cutscenes to make them look a little less stiff and doll-like. They’re not really a dealbreaker! I still wanna buy this bad boy. But it doesn’t look great, and I kind of hope in future Bravely endeavors they make some different stylistic decisions when it comes to the character designs. Purchased.
I liked this demo a lot! Honestly having a whole family as the playable cast is very intriguing, and there’s pretty fun variety in how differently everyone plays. I’m very curious to see where it goes from here. I do hope that you can’t fuck up and fail to heal the good boy wolf pup, though!
Purchased
It’s a musou! Honestly I haven’t actually played any of the main series musou games so it was pretty fun to see what was up with it. The graphical style of this entirely is pretty neat, and I’ve gotta admit that I like that it’s about Nobunaga! Anyway between Age of Calamity and Fire Emblem Warriors I’ve enjoyed them so far, and this seems like more of a good thing. Though, the subtle mechanical differences between this and the other Warriors games I’ve played is kinda screwing me up. I wish the demo showed off how at least one or two other characters in the main gameplay mode so I could see how differently they play from Nobunaga.
Oh, this game is going to own. It has that same quirky humor and quick gameplay, but it has a pretty different approach than the ones they put out before. I’m pretty curious to see how all the characters play; I watched someone else play the demo too and so I know how all the ones available in the demo play, but some are still a mystery! I do hope there are boss fights like in the other Wario wares too.
Seems intriguing, and the art style is very nice. It's got that fun brain bendy adventure game type of vibe. However, the translation is a little spotty. The wording's a little clunky and it need another editing pass as far as proofreading goes... Even so, I wouldn't mind playing the whole thing.
Extremely cute and stylish! The gameplay seems pretty simple and I imagine people who are better at games will think it's too easy, but I'm curious to see how things turn out in the full game with all the different flavors of gameplay. I do understand that they can't show off everything in the demo, but the trailer at the end was a pretty exciting tease. Peach is very cute and the Theets have incredible Little Guy energy. I also like that you can slide down rails, that's very cute.
The art is cute and neat and the sound/vibration has some neat stuff to it, but man. Fuckin slenderman right off the bat? Also one of the puzzles had some really janky and unforgiving “shine the flashlight on these things” mechanics that I didn’t feel like messing around with further. No thanks man.
When is Dragon Quest not aggressively charming? Especially when monsters are involved, I love those goofy lil dudes. This game seems like a great theme and I’m pretty excited to see more of it! The treasure hunting mechanics do feel a tad janky though, some of the pictures weren’t terribly representative. Although while I love Eric and Mia I am absolutely bummed that My Boys are not present. You know who I’m talking about. I want idiot teen Jasper and Hendrik!! Where are they!! okay they’re off in heliodor but I miss them man.
Demo seems a little short to get a good idea of things, but it was pretty fun. I did see a LP of the gameboy Donkey Kong which was this kind of puzzle platformer and it seemed pretty fun, so I'm curious how complex it gets as it goes. I hope the ending of the GBA game is still in this because it was extremely funny. There's a LOT of stuff on the table to buy, though...
Ohhh this was a fun little mystery FMV! I enjoyed forming hypotheses and was delighted when I actually figured out the mystery even if I wasn’t sure if the game was giving me the options for it. It was a fun time, and I’m glad Square Enix is publishing weird little games like this every so often. It’s better than The Quiet Man and NFT shit, anyway…
I don’t understand how fighting game inputs work :(
I didn’t play the full demo because I hit the main menu without saving because I thought that might let me save. It didn’t give a “are you sure” warning or like, do any autosaves I think??? Not sure if i screwed something up or not. Anyway I liked this cute little Paper Mario-like, it’s extremely charming and the aesthetics are very good. I’d definitely be interested in playing more, it looks very promising.
This seems cute! It needs to do a better job of signposting the end of the demo, though. Anyway, the controls feel a little squirrelly, but it’s about swimming around and talking to people and fish, so it’s not really that much of a problem. The characters seem cute, too, both in design and personality. I like the weird little alien sea cucumber and the six limbed otter, not too big on the twins though.

Anyway I’d be happy to see more of this game! It’s not too expensive so maybe I’ll pick it up someday.
Purchased
Purchased
Seems cute, if kind of simplistic! I’m not sure how much I’d pay for it, but I kind of wonder what kinds of hidden paths there might be. There are hidden words and that’s neat!

26 Comments


3 years ago

question for followers actually, would it be kind of annoying if i commented on this list whenever i update with a new impression? idk are you all interested in reading my demo impressions in general. I think it's better to stick it in a list than on the game page since it's impressions of demos and not reflective of the actual game.

3 years ago

Updated with my impressions of Project Triangle Strategy’s demo! Who wants to bet that’s just what they call the dang game when they release the full version.

3 years ago

Updated with Summer Catchers. I think the review actually on the page is one I agree with.

3 years ago

Updated with impressions of Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest. I'm kind of curious what WoD-familiar people think about this one on account of the low rating on the page.

3 years ago

Updated with my impression of PHOGS! AKA Dogdog, I guess.

3 years ago

Updated with my impressions of Raji: An Ancient Epic! Seems Pretty Alright, actually.

3 years ago

Updated with Tangle Tower impressions. I am going to ellipses at you while my long hair blows dramatically in the wind.

3 years ago

Updated with Battle Chef Brigade! Man, this just makes me want a Dungeon Meshi game.

3 years ago

Updated with Monster Hunter Rise! I’m here to pet dogs and fight monsters and I’m all out of monsters.

3 years ago

Played like a minute of World’s End Club and it forced me to admit a private shame. Sorry dudes. This is why I still haven’t played the first dungeon of FF8 after all these years.

3 years ago

Updated with my impressions of Disgaea 6! It seems neat! So many RPGs, though......

3 years ago

Updated with Mythic Ocean! It’s cute!!

3 years ago

I didn’t vibe with the Ys 9 demo. I’m sorry. I still want to give the game a look somehow though.

2 years ago

updated with neo the world ends with you! I need to preorder this bad boy because it’s very exciting!

2 years ago

Updated with Monster Hunter Stories 2! Ma, there’s a weird cat out here!!!

2 years ago

Updated with Samurai Warriors 5! It’s no Pokemon Conquest, but very little is Pokemon Conquest. Musou are fun too.

2 years ago

Unbound: Worlds Apart added! Not feelin it sorry

2 years ago

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2 years ago

Road 96! Hey it’s politics in my video games. (All art is political.)

2 years ago

Updated with Arietta of Spirits! It’s nice but I wish I knew more about it…..

2 years ago

Tried Ultra Age. I dunno, is this trying to be soulsy?

2 years ago

Tried Wario Ware: Get It Together! Wario is, as usual, the winner.

2 years ago

Updated with Voice of Cards. I don’t know I’m here for Yoko Taro’s (deceptively???) chill ride.

2 years ago

Updated with Unsighted. Am I a bad enough dude to play an isometric action game?

2 years ago

Updated with Hashihime of the Old Book Town! God, what a mood this game is….

1 year ago

Wow I made it to 100 demos! If not necessarily 100 impressions. That will come some other time…


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