For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Quadroids, developed by Blue Loop Studio and published by Fabloo Games and Just for Games.
The screenshots for this game on the PSN got me really interested in this game. But i was very aware that this was a puzzle game with a lot of death and i'm typically not good at them. so i was keen to try out the demo.
It starts out with a very informative video that shows off the basic loop of the game, you play, you die, and it helps you get to the end. We do get a bit of story before a all too brief tutorial that really didn't help that much. We don't get all the levels from the first section of the game so it's possible that there are other tutorial sections, but i don't think that's the case. I don't typically mind a poor tutorial, but the game is monitoring how many moves you make and it is scored. i would've liked a practice room, or a practice dream, just to try and get the basics done. it's very much level after level.
By the final level, i was already out of my depth and struggling to play it. i am concerned that it'll just keep on getting more difficult. that's why i'm glad that there is a demo. it's clear that the game has some great ideas, but i'm happy to have tried out the demo and learnt that it's not for me instead of paying for it, struggling to progress, and ending up regretting a purchase and possibly souring my thoughts on the game.
Trying to manage four screens, each uses a different button, with a surprising amount of timing required to manage and progress, was a bit too much. at the end, the game has a demo end screen and in the bottom left it lets you try out a later level and i couldn't do it. This ending screen is nice but it's the most that the game acknowledges that it's a demo. the developers were perhaps a little too focused on trying to the theme of the game going over treating it like an actual demo.
But i do recommend you try out the demo. Playing the game does a better job of explaining it than just screenshots and a trailer. actually having to kill your character in the right spot, having to manage the timing of two characters so they meet at the right time, it's something that's better experienced through playing. the levels we get to try seem to be a good collection of new ideas. my guess is that in the game you'd get a level with a new idea, and the following level is that idea used in a different way, whereas in the demo we got to try out all the new ideas and mechanics.
Give it a go and don't worry if it's difficult.