The spooky times are over and Christmas is racing towards us! It’s time for my annual scramble to lock myself up and play everything I want to get done by the end of the year, but that won’t stop the endless flood of demos and excitement for the coming years of gaming they bring. Not a huge list this month but a nice varied collection before a massive blowout at the end of November – enjoy!

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Stand-Out Demos

(in recording order)

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Cobalt Core – Demo on Steam

This was a title I saw spreading around Twitter and had to test out for myself after hearing it be called ‘a mix of Slay the Spire and Into the Breach‘. Whilst I don’t exactly agree with that sentinment I instantly fell in love with both the mechanics and cutesy colourful design. The deck-building gets a lot out of fairly basic (at least to start) functions due to the need to actually move your ship around in order to dodge attacks or go for critical damage by attacking weak zones. Because of this, the iconography is able to remain simple and beautiful without harming the nuanced strategic gameplay. Put up shields, attack, move, and draw. This makes it extremely pick-up-and-playable in a way that’s dangerous to anyone like myself who is prone to getting sucked in to both the story, which folds into the dying and retrying nature of a roguelike; and the card play, which is both blunt yet deeply interesting. The movement system seems like a small change but it has a massive impact on the decisions you’ll take and fits winderfully with the theme. I know it may be tiring to have yet another roguelike deck-builder recommended but the entire vibe of Cobalt Core is a breath of fresh air to an admittedly oversaturated genre.

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Demos

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Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor – Demo on Steam

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank – Demo on Steam

The Talos Principle 2 – Demo on Steam

Paramnesia: Escape Together – Demo on Steam

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Dem-OH! Dashes

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NOTE: Ratings are basically representative of how much I enjoyed the demo and the likelihood that I’ll come back to the title in the future (or even would liked to have continued playing it right then), with regards to gameplay, quality, and (of course) personal preference to genre, etc. A zero represents that the game is too non-functional to really get a feel for it. It is essentially a non-rating.

No. 1

1. Doodle Harmony (1)
2. Acolyte of the Altar (3)
3. Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago (3)
4. Crossroad OS (4)
5. Outpath (2)

No. 2

1. Cobalt Core (5)
2. RUNGORE (4)
3. Kill The Topulus (1)
4. Drive Up (1)
5. CaS-Puz: Camera Surface Puzzle (2)
6. Hollow Cocoon (2)

No. 3

1. Tree of Ashes (2)
2. Pawggle (2)
3. Yubu: The Shoeventure (1)
4. Snowmen (1)
5. Hope is Gone (3)
6. 2×4 Nails (1)
7. Heroes & Redemption (2)