For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Master Key, developed by the solo dev Achromi .
Master Key is a black and white, tho there are other color palettes to choose from, RPG where you play as a fox who uses a key to attack. the game's e-Shop page made it clear that the aim is for us, the player, to go and explore the world ourselves rather than have the game lead us. This was true with the demo as well. it appears that the game wasn't changed for this demo as there was no mention that we were playing a demo, no mention of whether our progress carried over, and no tutorials.
The game relies on using pictograms to help explain what you need to do in some instances, but i personally found them a little difficult to read once they moved beyond faces that some NPCs would have, or my interpretation of them wasn't right. This lack of information also meant that there were instances where i just didn't understand what was happening, the biggest one being the cup of coffee. the music was faster, but other than that i just couldn't work out if it did anything or not. I also found the shop to be difficult to understand. not every item is labelled with a picture of what it does so i simply had to guess. I highly recommend players get the map as soon as you can. there was a point in the middle of this video where i felt like i was going round in circles and making no progress until i had enough money and worked out one of the items was the map. once i got it, i was finally able to make progress once again.
I understand this is a stylistic choice but clearly a con of it was how it made playing and making progress in the game more difficult. for some players this won't be a negative thing whilst for me and others it made the game more frustrating than it needed to be. But that's why Master Key having a demo is a great thing. It gives people a chance to actually try before they buy, for them to work out if this is something they want to play or not. for me, i'm actually glad i played the demo as there is a lot to like. the music for one is fantastic, i wouldn't say no to getting the soundtrack. the art is also really good. our character looks different from all the other characters. the world isn't overly busy and yet every place we went to looked really good with more than enough detail to make out houses, shops, fountains, and coffee carts.
So even tho Master Key isn't for me, it's still a game i'd recommend people try and this demo is a great way to try it.
