Elroy and the Aliens – 24 minutes completed demo. This one is a hand drawn adventure game with really good music, quite good voice acting, a normal adventure game system that is easy to handle with mouse controls, an interesting story and puzzles that aren’t super obtuse. I think this will be a really solid game in that genre, and I will be glad to get it on sale or bundled. 9/10
Fracas – 10 minutes lost in demo and got a game over. This one is a dungeon crawling monk fighter kind of SMT looking game. The graphics reminded of the original SMT on the Super Nintendo. The navigation with the Series X controller feels a little more off when moving around and doesn’t feel as clean. Battles are too much including 1 that killed me after I took 1 step after another battle. Honestly the gameplay was alright enough, but not super exciting. The story was okay I guess mainly told through notes. The music is horrible reminding me of old RPGMaker game soundtracks sounding very, very MIDI. I like to support dungeon crawlers, but this one feels like it needs refining. I have my eye on it at least. 6/10
Heartsworn Abyss – 6 minutes played enough of the demo. This one is a hand drawn, well voiced thriller visual novel. In this one you play both a girl and her boyfriend, and the girl seems to be a well-off lady. The guy is sent a video of her being kidnapped or something (her secret) and the part I was on was her upbringing before said incident. Pretty much the point of the visual novel is to protect her from an evil organization and mentions NTR, which I don’t like NTR at all, but it may or may not be preventable. These are some pretty high production values, but other than the intrigue, I’m not as much into the storyline. I do think this will be an interesting visual novel nonetheless, but it’s just not for me. 6.5/10
High Times - Dating/Cooking Sim – 29 minutes completed demo. This is a really nicely animated, okay voiced (the voices are a little loud and not as properly balanced), good sounding lofi grunge soundtrack, and an okay simulation of yourself running a doughnut shop where you make doughnuts that affect peoples’ moods. In taking over said shop, your main character meets with old exes and flings among other characters and makes doughnuts and conversation with them. This has been one of the better versions of the running a shop while interacting with customers demos I’ve played in a while. It shows a little bit of a lack of polish with the voices I mentioned as well as a tinier font than I like. The personalities are neat though, and the doughnut making isn’t too bad either. Honestly it was pretty chill and I really wanted to get to know some of the exes and all. This will likely be a buy on purchase or on sale, and I would gladly get it bundled. It just made me feel good playing it. The company has made several good visual novels and I have played at least 2 of them. 9/10
Hunt the Pale Gods – 19 minutes finished demo. This one is a Slay the Spire kind of like except you move around on a grid. It shows you where the enemies will move and if they’ll attack (the red box will be their range). You try to go out of their range and attack in when they buff or do something else. Every hit causes a stagger and I believe 10 total stagger causes the condition where you draw 2 cards and do double damage I believe. When you become staggered you cannot move, I believe. The graphics in this are okay enough. I like the art style, but the graphics themselves and animations are a bit basic. I think the balancing is kind of off. When you stagger an opponent, you beat them down so badly that their life just drains away. The final boss I beat fully in 2 turns after I got my attacks off since I was doing so much damage. Overall, I like this game enough to get it bundled, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it unless it’s super cheap. 7/10
Kemono Teatime – 80 minutes abandoned demo after a few days as it was just a very long demo. This one is a kind of visual novel X café simulation. It pretty much amounts to choosing a desert at the beginning of the day and making tea for customers while talking to them a lot, spending time with your sister, and spending time with one other in the house. The background for the story is not as interesting honestly with a pandemic taking place and people are kemomomini’s in this village and the main sister character is the only human. There is a lot behind the characters as it’s hinted that this is their final time and likely they’ll die off or something. There isn’t much behind the simulation itself (very light on getting new stuff and figuring out recipes), but the characters drive the story. I liked some of them, and the main character herself is one of my least favorite anime stereotypes with a ditzy busty girl who takes everything so seriously and tries to be happy all the time and dotes heavily on something, in this case her sister. I think this game would be fine cheaper or in a bundle, and I was enjoying seeing the days of the characters in more slice of life anime with some darker stuff likely going on in the background. The graphics are amazing with great animations and the sound and music are perfect as well. 7.5/10
Komadori Inn – 57 minutes completed demo. This one is an 18+ hotel type simulation where you play someone doing tasks in a hotel while getting to know guests and completing quests. The little mini games aren’t that fun on a controller (keyboard/mouse may be recommended). The graphics are fine and everything seems pretty alright. I enjoyed my short time with it and these games are usually fun to play. 7/10
Ladie’s I’m Ready – 12 minutes completed day one which I think is the whole demo. To think at one time FMV games were the future. This one is a simple one where you play a new transfer student in an overseas academy. You meet two girls and live college life I guess. The writing and acting were a little off for this, but not completely terrible. The video quality was decent enough. It needs subs especially because I could barely understand what the mom and dad said. I think I might be out of FMV games and only get them bundled, and if this bundled, I’ll get it, since I’ve heard it’s very short and ends abruptly. I don’t think you’re missing much here unless you really love those FMV dating games. 5.5/10
Molytropia: Dead Stars Still Shine Here – 7 minutes demo crashed on me. This one is an interesting looking VN about a guy who meets a girl in a video store and she is disabled and they talk and interact and get to know each other. It’s a little bit depressing and all, but honestly seemed pretty alright. I liked the art style at least, but the crashing didn’t help much. Still would likely get it bundled, as it could be an interesting story. 6/10
Moonchild – 71 minutes abandoned demo. This one is an Earthbound like in RPGMaker I’m pretty sure. It starts very much like Earthbound with an alien waking you in the night. There are a lot of weird stuff and weird stuff attacks you. There is a bug where if you analyze a creature, it wont attack again (I’m guessing they’re missing information and it breaks the enemy AI). Honestly other than the RPGMaker limitations it was pretty alright. It feels very Earthbound like, has decent graphics, has some quirky characters, and likely would be interesting. One big negative is some story elements were very, very slow and repetitive to get (why did I have to read like 15+ signs going up a staircase each time?). I would probably only get it cheap or bundled, but it’s on my radar now, and my radar doesn’t crash the enemy AI. 6.5/10
Mousebusters – 15 minutes completed demo. This one is a kind of adventure game where you play some guy who moves into an apartment that has some history. He ends up turning into a mouse and another mouse calls you in and tells you the apartment is haunted by ghosts. Then you kind of get a Ghostbusters parody thing where you fight ghosts and can’t get caught by apartment tenants. Maybe someday the guy will be a guy again and not a mouse. The little battle system is okay enough with the Series X controller, though a little loose for aiming. I enjoyed this one enough with good graphics and a little bit of a unique story. I would get it pretty cheap or bundled. 7/10
Order Automatica – 49 abandoned demo after a few levels. This is a strange auto battler taking place on a 3x3 grid. You buy units which can be combined to level up with 3 of a unit. You can also equip items, and later levels give you ambitions (stuff that happens like extra essence which is a currency each turn, +2/+2 to middle grid, etc….) and certain spots on the board give bonuses as well like 5 defense. It’s a bit repetitive, but this is pretty unique. I would think it would need a higher number of creatures, but then it would be hard to level them up. The graphics/sound are good. I think I’d only get it bundled, but I’m intrigued by it. 7/10
The Phantom – 14 minutes completed 2 levels. This one is a kind of janky but nice looking 2D beat em up with some decent moves, repetitive enemies and some somewhat janky controls with the Series X controller. The sound/voice/music were all solid. I liked this one even though it was a bit messy. It still played better some recent junkers like the GI Joe beat em up. Felt a little glitchy at times especially the throw. I’d probably get it very cheap or bundled. 6.5/10
Ritual of Raven – 26 minutes abandoned demo. This one is a weird farming/magic game where you are a witch who arrived in a new world and meet another witch. You learn how to do things like farming, but in this one you use familiars and programming with cards. It adds tedium as well as taking away tedium. There was some nightmare puzzle at the end where I had to move and plow tiles but there was no move and plow command. I gave up on the spot. The programming part doesn’t control very well with the Series X controller although everything else controls fine. It has some charm and I liked the characters, graphics, sound and music. I just was not a huge fan of the programming part. It felt clunky and more like a puzzle game especially to get more tarot, but I hope it’s cleaned up to make it a lot less tedious before that I was liking it quite a bit, but I’ll still keep my eye on it, but would only get it bundled. 6.5/10
Seeds of Calamity – 16 minutes grew bored of demo. This is a Stardew Valley like where there is a calamity and people are trying to survive after it and like every one of these games you inherit a farm, except these tools are enchanted so your watering can never runs out of water and such. It’s just another one of these games. It looks and sounds very similarly to Stardew Valley and I didn’t really see anything that interesting honestly. There are quests and level ups for skills and such. I don’t think it’s a bad game overall, and is a one developer project, but I wasn’t excited either. 6/10
Sentinel Point Heroes – 4 minutes abandoned demo. This felt awful to play. It’s a deck building game where you have a timer for cards and once a card is done you can queue another and you use time to draw cards. It just feels awkward and also the card play felt weird to not as clean as some other games where you just slide a card up and can play it. It may work for others, but I’m not going to be seeking out this game at all. 4.5/10
Shumo: Prologue – 15 minutes abandoned demo after completing one level. This one is an okay Slay the Spire clone where the difference is you can only play defense when attacked and only one attack card a turn unless it combos. You can play any number of green cards a turn (generally may draw cards or gain life). It was okay for a bit and also looked OK. Then it started slowing down and running horribly for a bit. The boss was next to horrible as well taking both my revives to kill it as it attacked multiple times. I wasn’t enjoying this much and was ready to kill it after it started running like poop (it doesn’t look good enough to require much computing power). Nothing special here and I would only get it bundled and it would have to be super cheap in said bundle. I ignored the main game already, so I’m not really sure why I got recommended this in my queue. 5.5/10
Signy & Mino: Against All Gods – 28 minutes completed demo. This one is a pretty unique turn-based RPG with timing-based mechanics for attacks. The closest I can think of off the top of my head is Project X Zone. The graphics are relatively detailed for characters kind of like Paper Mario looking, but the backgrounds and moves are okay, but less detailed. The story seems OK and the battle system is fun. I can see myself getting this one early on. It at least doesn’t feel like it’s trying to copy something else like the few Earthbound likes I tried. 8/10
The Silent Kingdom – 57 minutes completed demo. This one is an RPGMaker game but done pretty well. First of the portraits of all characters are very nice. The music is quite good and the default characters don’t look super cheap. The fighting system feels very RPGMaker like, but still animates well. It just looks simpler than other parts of the game. I was surprised by this, as I generally don’t give basic RPGMaker games a chance, but this one is pretty nice. I would love it bundled and would get it on a higher sale. It was Kickstarted and it feels like they used their money well. It’s in early access and I wouldn’t play RPGs really until they’re fully done. 8/10
Smack Monkey – 12 minutes abandoned demo after failing so many jumps. This is a meme speed runners’ game where you play a monkey trying to get to the top of something for a date. You also act like pinball every time you run into something and get flung around like nothing. Everything feels super floaty and when you mess up obstacles and the flinging throws you to a previous screen this just isn’t for me. It was infuriating me and making me want to quit. I was tired of the physics and all, but I know there will be a small scene for this game. I would only get in the cheapest of bundles. 5/10
Steel Century Groove: Midnight – 65 minutes completed demo. This one of the most unique mixes of Pokemon (dance battles everywhere) and Osu. In this rhythm action game, you follow a story about dancing robots and at the end of the demo there is more stuff going on. It feels like a rhythm game Pokemon where you level up robots and can get mods for them. This helps you do moves during Osu style rhythm games where you have to follow the beat, attack when necessary, use moves, and generate energy when you’re low. It wasn’t too hard for with the Series X controller. The graphics are decent in this other than the character models, which are just OK. The music is excellent with many electronic songs, and I think in the full game you’ll be able to do custom songs as well. I was surprised by this and it also reminded of the classic Bust a Groove from the PSX. That and its sequel where some of my favorite early rhythm games. Very likely a buy on release to support games that just aren’t as much around anymore. 10/10
Tales of Seikyu – 50 minutes abandoned demo. This one is a pretty janky open world kind of Genshin Impact/Breath of the Wild kind of like crafting game, with some quests in a Yokai world where you get to farm, build up stuff, expand on relationships and just do stuff. This may be too ambitious and doesn’t run well at times. It controls well enough with a Series X controller but switching menus and items doesn’t feel as good. I can’t tell if AI is used for character portraits, but these portraits match the 3D models (which are pretty nice) well enough that I don’t think they’re fully AI generated. The interactions seemed a little shallow like an early Harvest Moon game. I would get this bundled, and I hope they get through the early access fine, but Guardians of Azuma is coming this year and feels like it will just be this game but a lot better. Still decent enough and I did feel like it had potential. 6.5/10
Uberich: Advent Sinners – 14 minutes abandoned demo. This is possibly one of the most confusing, weird UI action sci-fi, way too many choices that mainly might just do a psychological assessment or something. The graphics are kind of like a hand drawn hard outlined style. Honestly, I didn’t understand much as a drugged thing and some black core and shadows that people are fighting, along with so many character profiles with stats even though I think it’s just a visual novel. This seemed way too messy for my tastes and I already don’t like super action-packed visual novels anyway. I think AI will do the personality assessment as well, which I don’t even know. 6/10
Urban Myth Dissolution Center – 64 minutes completed demo. Pretty weird game about urban myths and investigations and a pretty annoying main character girl who is duped into working for this center. There is a lot of investigating, dialogue, and it’s interesting enough. I’ve heard the ending is not good though. The graphics are excellent and the actual gameplay is alright. Putting stuff together can be annoying, but it’s not terrible. You really do feel like a detective, although sometimes the writing can be a bit silly. I do like this one and think it would be cool to play, but I think I’m more on the wait for a steeper sale or bundling. 7.5/10
Yokai Landlord: Monster Mystery! – 44 minutes completed demo after a terrible first run. This one is a Werewolf style murder mystery game where you have to figure out which one is the Yokai in your apartments and evict them before they bring calamity. What’s annoying about this game is you have to manually take down notes by pressing a button and then later can use it as evidence. I was not doing this during the demo and when I confronted one I thought was a Yokai, they lashed out and kicked me away since I had no evidence. It’s a weird system and I wish things would automatically go down. I like the art and the characters enough, but this was an annoying system for sure. I think it could be OK, but I think I prefer a system more where it can highlight words to use or evidence like a Danganronpa game. You have to connect these manual takings to get suspicion and you may get a clue in the beginning like in the chapter they say yokai cannot lie, so if someone denies yokai exist that needs to be noted down. It was trickier than I thought, but kind of fun. Still there is potential, but I think I would mainly only get this bundled or very cheap. 6.5/10
