September Feature Art

Dem-OH! September Round-up

A little short of individual demos this month, so we’ve cut down the Top 3 Stand-outs to just our very favourite this time around. There’s still plenty of demos to check out from our Dem-OH! Dash streams below and some wonderful low-poly horror from the Haunted PS1 Summer of Shivers game jam.

Expect much, much more from the next month’s Round-up as Oct 1st marks the start of a new #SteamNextFest – we already have plenty downloaded and ready to go!

Previews


Aztech Forgotten Gods [Demo] – Coming soon on Steam

Check out the Preview here!

Just a glimpse into the gameplay of the much anticipated God-slaying craziness of Aztech Forgotten Gods. In this 3D action game you’ll be using your seemingly magically and technologically enhanced right arm to fly around the battlefield and deal incredible damage to enemies ten times your size in tune with a badass heavy soundtrack.

Stand-out Demo (Top of the month)


FILMECHANISM Demo on Steam

A 2D puzzle platformer that will have you ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ at the fantastically fresh camera mechanics, allowing the player to snapshot the current stage layout and revert back to it in the future. This means returning falling platforms to their original position, blocking paths needed for climbing and then unblocking them again when needed, and so on. The demo generously displays the different levels of difficulty available and it is just packed with wonderful ideas and clever design that is sure to stump even the best of players.

Demos


Clid The Snail Demo on Steam

What a bizarre entry this is. A top-down twin-stick action shooter with a slew of different weapons to play with and puzzles to solve for permanent upgrades… about a badass exiled snail and his guardian ball of glowing light. Madness aside, this one seems like it could be a real blast if it keeps ramping up the gunfights and continues to throw fun bosses and strange story beats out there.

Themes of Dark and Light Demo on Steam

This simple 2D platforming puzzle game about flipping between light and dark worlds seriously sent me back to the flash days with its interesting mechanics and tricks centred around an incredibly basic set of fundamentals. And, much like those flash games of old, I have no doubt that this one is going to get real challenging by the end.

Trial of Two Demo on Steam

Fight solo or with a friend through temples full of trained warriors in this 3D voxel-based action fighting game. Armed with special abilities such as the classic dragon punch, a hurricane kick, and a parry-centric block system you must battle room after room of threatening foes, progressing to the champion of the procedurally generated map. By only dealing damage to enemies via smashing them into walls, it’s imperative to learn to juggle your opponents and bounce them around the room.

Goodboy Galaxy Was on Kickstarter with Demo

A tight and interesting level-based 2D metroidvania that is strangely targeted for the Game Boy Advance! Fortunately we’ll also see a Switch and Steam release for this charming little puzzle/action platformer because it looks and plays great. Full of upgrades, quests, collectibles, secrets, and all topped off with our cutesy protagonist and their weird (but still somehow also cutesy) sidekick.

Timemelters On Kickstarter with Demo on Steam

An RTS action puzzle game about manipulating time loops to be in several places at once, opening portal gates for faster travel across large distances, planning out routes to make the most of the little mana available, and setting up all sorts of magical traps to halt hordes of approaching enemies. This one could be really special. A significant challenge right out of the gates and the most interesting strategy mechanics I’ve seen in forever.

Kokopa’s AtlasOn Kickstarter with Demo

Sadly we didn’t get very far into this 3D exploration crafting game due to it’s odd distance blurring, frame drops, and controls issues. Hopefully we’ll see a more stable version to try in the future.

Dem-OH! Dashes Catch-up


As usual there are more demos that one can shake a stick at coming out on the daily, so we had to continue to on-going catch-up sessions in order to power through a bunch of them in one sitting. And with the help from a live audience, which is always appreciated! It’s a total blast to get to go through all sorts of random demos together so I doubt we’ll be slowing down with these live shows anytime soon.

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.

Part 1

  1. Inua – A Story in Ice and Time (4)
  2. Nura’s Wish (3)
  3. Spindle (3)
  4. Unbound: World’s Apart (4)
  5. The Darkside Detective (4)
  6. Hazel Sky (2)
  7. Holomento (1)
  8. Hourglass: Prologue (3)
  9. Leif’s Adventure: Netherworld Hero (4)
  10. Relicta (4)
  11. Tamarindos Freaking Dinner (2)
  12. The Adventures of Captain Carrot (2)

Part 2

  1. Ghost on the Shore (3)
  2. Guild of Dungeoneering (4)
  3. Jupiter Moons: Mecha (4)
  4. Painting Wether (2)
  5. Return to Nangrim (1)
  6. SciGirl: The Internship (2)
  7. When The Past Was Around (5)
  8. Tech Support: Error Unknown (3)
  9. Lost In Labs (1)
  10. Papertris (1)
  11. Pawnbarian (5)
  12. Splash Cars (2)

Haunted PS1 Summer of Shivers Game Jam 2021


This spectacular game jam, aimed at the indie low-poly ps1-style horror sub-genre, was a massive success and received 80(!) entries by the final count, from both the weekend and full-length jam participants. We just had to try get through as many as we could, revelling in the often totally insane mix of terrifying titles.

You can find all of the information about the jam, as well as a complete list of playable entries at https://itch.io/jam/hps1sos

Part 1

  1. Watershed
  2. Shadow over Normoth
  3. Näkkilahti
  4. The Keeper
  5. Endless Blue
  6. TSOS
  7. The Salvation Project
  8. I Spoke to God
  9. Remnants In The Water
  10. Courage The Videogame

Part 2

  1. The Bends
  2. The Sirena Expedition
  3. The Dreadnought
  4. Bowels of the Ocean
  5. Please Don’t Feed the Creatures of the Deep
  6. TARTARUS
  7. Shortcut
  8. WORKING TIDAL
  9. Konbini
  10. Sisters
  11. Deep City
  12. Undercurrent
  13. The Rite of Ammon
  14. Siren’s Wharf
  15. Resurfacing of the Tigershark
  16. Frontier Diver Progenexis
  17. SEACORP 02.06.2002
  18. 9194 TSUNAMI
  19. The Cleaner
  20. Beyond the Phone Screen
  21. Dagon: Hell Below
  22. OXYGEN
  23. THERE SWINGS A SKULL
  24. Symphony of Seven Souls