Demo Play Thursday - Time Walker: Dark World On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Time Walker: Dark World, from the developers Heartfun and publisher 2P Games.

I had seen this game on the eShop and i was curious how it all worked. the screenshots looked busy and i couldn't understand from them what type of game it was. i was really curious how the game would teach us, the player, how to manage such busy screens.

The demo's home screen doesn't mention that it's a demo and by the end of the video we also learn that out of the 5 options we have on screen, only Start and Settings work. for some reason the developers chose to keep the other 3 options highlighted even tho they don't do anything.

when i started, i was at a screen with four characters. i knew from the eShop page that the game had classes, but what i didn't understand...even now...is whether i started playing the game with 4 regular people who gained their class when i found it in the level or if they kept their class and i had to remember which of the same looking characters was which and give them the correct class.

Time Walker: Dark World, before i had started playing the game, hadn't given me enough information to understand what was happening and then when i started playing it dumped me straight into a combat situation with no tutorial. i had to pause and look around the screen for some hints as to what was happening but all it really said was press Y to fight.

once the fight was finished we're greeted by one of the worst tutorial screens i have ever seen, a screen that used the term "ability" when the only other term we had seen is class, and offered just 3 short sentences, one of which was "Then Fight". Needless to say i had no idea what was happening and my short time with Time Walker: Dark World was mostly one of confusion and frustration.

Atrocious tutorial aside, Time Walker: Dark World does have nice graphics and i was enjoying the music. but it's not enough to make up for the poor user experience i had playing this demo. i finished it, earned some purple stuff the game never told me about, unlocked stuff i seemingly couldn't access, and was given 3 choices. "Talent", "Play Again", and "Back to Start". i guessed Talent might have something to do with abilities or class, but wasn't sure as it wasn't explained. i thought play again would restart the game at the first dungeon and back to start would take me back to the home menu. i was wrong, Play Again took me back to the home menu and i was done with Time Walker: Dark World.

The demo told me little about the game and i might even argue the demo was a waste of time. i would've got just as much from watching a video on the game than playing the demo they released for it. i don't recommend people try the demo, and if this is a representation of the final game i don't recommend people get that either.

Demo Play Thursday - Angel at Dusk On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of  Angel at Dusk, from the developers Akiragoya and publisher Sanuk.

I'm not good at shmups so when i saw a demo for this one on the eShop i was interested in trying it as i hoped that the demo would give me a good idea on how it's difficulty is. but honestly, i wasn't expecting it to be as approachable as it was.

Angel at Dusk has a great tutorial that i would recommend to anyone interested in shumps. the game makes the point that this tutorial isn't just for this game, it's designed to teach players the basics of the genre. Angel at Dusk does have it's own game mechanics and not only does the tutorial tell us how to use it, it gives suggestions on how best to use it against enemies in game.

The demo consists of the tutorial, which is about 20-25 minutes, and the first two stages from the game's story mode. unfortunately, i can't really comment much on the story as it passes really quickly. there are text boxes, but as i'm not good at shumps my focus was on the action rather than the story as the game doesn't pause to tell it.

after trying out the demo, i would recommend Angel at Dusk to anyone curious about the shump genre and who are looking for a game to try. the demo is worth trying, but i'd recommend wishlisting the game and when it's at a price that's good for you i think it'd be worth getting. it has a fantastic tutorial, the options are cool as well as let you customise colors for many things, and whilst the game has it's own mechanics they never felt overwhelming. they were simple but effective, and due to the tutorial i was confident on how it all worked.

Demo Play Thursday - Botworld Odyssey On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Botworld Odyssey, from the developers Featherweight Games.

I didn't read too much about this game on the eShop before downloading the demo, it was the screenshots that drew me in. the game looks colorful with a wide range of localities. the fighting looked exciting and the robot aspect interested me as i wondered how close to a "Pokémon" style game would they go or would it be more of a "Metabots" game.

the first screen we're greeted with not only makes it clear that we're playing a demo but also provides a way to pre-order/but the game from the Switch eShop. it's always surprising when a game doesn't have a way to pre-order it or buy it from a store. there could've been a message saying this is a short demo, maybe saying outright or giving a hint as to what we can do, either on the first screen or before the next Character Creation screen. very few games do something like this but here it might've helped as i was surprised when the demo finished as abruptly as it did.

the character creation is limited but what we can make looks like it's part of the world. Out of the Buffalo, Rat, Cat, Dog, and Lizard options, i chose to create a cat character and i was satisfied with what was made. then we're thrown straight into the game and the beginning tutorial section. for the most part i found the tutorial section to be good. but it did feel like they were missing out on incorporating the family more into it. and then the tutorial seems to suddenly end right when new things are opening up. the big example in this video is how the game works with 4 robots. i didn't realize that only 3 can be on the field at a time, so it was confusing why we now had a fourth that did nothing.

The fighting aspect of the game is a real highlight. it's simple enough that the games tutorial covered it well enough that i knew what to do, but there's also depth in what we can do. by the end of the demo i was already thinking about how to strategically place my robots to work around the enemy robots. it's too early to tell how this part of the game will grow and change, for example it would've been nice to see how we could swap out a robot for another one in a way to change our strategy. a nice touch was how we, the player character, to interact with the fights and attack.

But i don't think i ever understood how to change my own loadout. i either missed it in the tutorial or there wasn't one for it. the game also failed to have a tutorial for upgrading our robots. it did introduce upgrading them with material we found. but i don't remember it ever telling us to upgrade their Ai or how that system worked.

The demo for Botworld Odyssey is good and after playing it i would be happy to continue playing the game. i just feel that it's disappointing that the tutorial works so well until it doesn't. it's very noticeable when something new happens in the early tutorial part of the game, but there's no tutorial for it. But it's not a big complaint when compared to how good the rest of my experience with the demo was. i'd recommend people check out the demo for sure.

Demo Play Thursday - Ys X: Nordics Demo On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Ys X: Nordics Demo from Nihon Falcom.

Ys is a series that i've heard about but not one i've ever played before. so trying out this demo wasn't just for the site, it was for me too. i was curious about soo many aspects and hoped that the demo would let me know if i want to get the game or not.

Unfortunately, my time with the demo got every increasingly frustrating and i didn't enjoy my time with it. nearly every aspect of the game felt outdated or that it was built for a different console, whether that's the #Switch or maybe if the initially started planning this on Vita. graphically, the PS4 version feels like a downgrade. the lack of shadows make certain items in the game look like stickers, but there's the opposite problem where there are shadows that make characters look like they have scars.

The artwork for buildings looks so bland, and the draw distance is so close to the camera that later on islands in the background started to blend in with the sea so it looked like a wall of a single color. the characters were the best looking thing in the game, but don't look to closely as their mouths don't sync up with their speeches. 

I also found the game's story wasn't syncing up with what i was doing and that was probably the most frustrating thing as it meant i was having to pick what to say from a choice of something that makes no sense or something that makes only a little sense. very rarely did the game offer me something to say that i, the player, wanted to say.

The demo also hit a technical issue where i had single digits of frames. this started with the dual battle with the "Princess" and maybe a combination of luck and low difficulty setting meant we could defeat the wolves even if nothing was moving on screen.

Unfortunately, i can't recommend the PS4 version of the Ys X: Nordics Demo, and as my experience with the game was so negative i can't really recommend people getting the game. it felt like it's only for the hardcore fans who are maybe used to the outdated designs and complaints i had through most of this video.

Demo Play Thursday - Card-en-Ciel On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Card-en-Ciel, from the developers Inti Creates.

Reading the eShop listing for the game, i was interested in the game. i thought the story idea was different and i was curious how the card mechanics would work. this demo seems to be from the start of the game and i think it's a great start. the tutorial, the story, the mechanics are all introduced smartly and in a way that feels right for the universe.

After playing an hour, the only thing that felt off was that the text on screen didn't auto scroll and that there didn't seem to be an option to turn it on. This is an older demo but it felt quite polished, which leads me to think that perhaps the Japanese release of the game has already happened.

One great feature of this demo is how it does the tutorials. it doesn't just put up a block of text, there's a video showing it in action. the text could have multiple pages, each with their own video. but what i thought was really cool and something i don't remember seeing else where was how the videos could be made full screen. i've played plenty of games where the picture/gif/video used in the tutorial is small, but here, the ability to make it full screen really felt modern and something that other developers should be looking at implementing. 

This first hour is basically the tutorial for the game and each point seems to add a new mechanic to the game. each one isn't huge, but by the end it did feel like there were quite a few things to think about each turn. i don't know if it's a case of too much too soon or just too much in general. i enjoyed the simple mechanics at the start where each card could either do an action or move your character. i thought this was an interesting twist but then the game adds cards which, for example, can be used to avoid an enemies attack and counter them.

After my hour with Card-en-Ciel, i'm genuinely impressed with it. this demo is the start of the game and it shows that Card-en-Ciel is an approachable game that has a good first hour. i would recommend people trying out the demo first. this is a game that ties together a few different genres like card battling, visual novels, and rpgs. fans of each of those may like Card-en-Ciel and this demo is a great place to start.

Demo Play Thursday - Metaphor: ReFantazio - Prologue Demo On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Metaphor: ReFantazio - Prologue Demo from Atlus.

Going into this demo, i didn't know anything about the game. i had somehow missed previous trailers and news about it. so other than it being an RPG, i didn't know what to expect. So i went in with no real expectations, it was all up to the demo to showcase itself.

And it did a fantastic job at that. the demo appears to be the first few hours of the game, tho it admits there are some changes from the retail game. The demo is quite open about it being a demo and that the aim is to showcase many aspects of the game. it's also clear that our save from this demo can be carried over into the final retail version.

one of the cooler features of this demo is the difficulty choice. if your focus is story, then choose that mode. the demo makes it clear that you won't die from battles. the other difficulty levels revolve around how difficult the battle aspect of the game becomes. i did this demo on normal and after this hour and a half i'd say it's probably fine to keep it at Easy and focus more on the story. the fights are fine, but they don't add much to the game beyond the style the game already oozes. 

This game has soo much style and design i would argue that perhaps it has too much. there were a few moments where there was a load for some flashy stylish thing that only lasted a few seconds before there was another load back into the gameplay. On a PS5 where load times may not even exist this may work better, but on PS4 it felt more like a waste of time. 

For me,  the biggest shock was how poor i thought the story telling was for most of this video. but this could be explained due to Atlus cutting some story elements from the demo. But the story bounces from the present to the past, from one group to another, and often there was very little linking anything that was happening together. it took about an hour for all groups to be tied into the story together and for things to start feeling more harmonious. But once it got going i really got into it and enjoyed it

I would recommend the Prologue demo for Metaphor: ReFantazio. beyond the main story that's told, we get glimpses of something entirely different teased as the game asks for our name like we were another part of it's story, rather than us controlling characters. Having many difficulties makes it approachable to a wide audience, and there seems to be a lot here to play.

On PS4 i'd say that it plays great. there are some cutbacks that are noticeable but they don't really affect gameplay. for example, the main city we're in at the start looks big and interesting, but there aren't as many people around as you'd expect. the loading was better than i expected and the game uses a very short walking anime to help cover the loading of a new area of the city, so it feels like this PS4 version itself got attention rather than it being a straight port from PS5.

Demo Play Thursday - Epic Mickey: Rebrushed On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the PlayStation 4 version of Epic Mickey: Rebrushed from Purple Lamp.

Even tho i had a Wii, i never actually played it before. back then, whilst the idea was very popular there were many complaints about the execution and i wasn't into Disney enough to give it a go. But with this "Rebrushed" version, i was curious if they could not only make it look modern but also feel modern.

One thing i bring up a few times throughout this video is how slow it feels whilst Mickey looks to be going so fast. it must be that the levels are big and Mickey is small, but even when running there's no great sense of speed. i would go so far as to say that the running speed is closer to what i expected the walking speed to be. The only other minor complain i have about how it feels to play it is that sometimes it was difficult to judge jumps. once or twice it was because the camera got in the way, but other times it was a mix of the lack of speed and difficult to spot shadows making it hard to judge 3D space.

there is a lot of other things that this did well. graphically, i was impressed. it doesn't feel like the Wii version but HD, it looks like they went through the game and re-did a lot, if not all, of the assets. the controls are good, the music is good, and everything is nice and clear. If this was the version that came out originally, i probably would've tried it.

But i still came away with many questions about this game. i feel like the game doesn't talk about the consequences of our actions. as i say in the video, there's a disconnect with it being a Disney game and us having the ability to destroy the world. it feels wrong, it feels like there's a morality system at work that the game doesn't reveal. i felt like i was second guessing myself, wondering if i should be creating, that in doing so i would get a better ending. the same applies to the enemies. we can destroy them or make them our friends. then the demo introduced a guardian system that gives us one use guardians, but we need to create or destroy to get a guardian of that type. It honestly felt like the game was adding too many mechanics to the game when all i was interested in was the story.

So whilst it is an effective demo, after playing it i'm not interested in getting Epic Mickey: Rebrushed. i do recommend people try it. but for me, it just didn't do enough to answer all the questions i had about the game.

Demo Play Thursday - Eden Genesis On PS4

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the #PlayStation4 version of Eden Genesis from Aeternum Game Studios, @AeternaNoctis. 

Demo Play Thursday - Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess On PS4

This week's DEMO is the PlayStation 4 version of Capcom's Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess.

This is one of the better demo's i've played this year. the video starts with it saying this isn't the final game, some things may not work, and there's no support. it's making it clear this is a demo. after some options, we're greeted with the main menu and it also says it's a demo. what's great is that there's an option to go to it's PSN store page. Capcom have made it clear that it's a demo and made it easy to pre-order the game. 

At the end of this video, there is the first ending to this demo and once again Capcom have given us a link to pre-order the game. the only way the end could've been better was if Capcom added screenshots and/or a trailer for the game. It knows it's a demo, we know it's a demo, so we can focus on the game itself.

i assume this is from the start of the game, maybe with the opening cutscene and story cut from the demo. the tutorial and initial stages are very well done and work well together. i never felt overwhelmed nor did i feel that things we too easy. there were a mix of tutorial methods, ranging from the basic box of text on screen, to a check list to help you try out different attacks. later in the video, we'll get access to new moves and a little gif plays showing what it does. overall, i was surprised how accessible the game is for new players.

My time with Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was so positive it made me wishlist the game after playing. if you're unsure, playing this demo will be great for you. but i do think that Capcom has a good game here and for some they should simply pre-order. i would've liked more of the story, more of the why, but in terms of gameplay its good.