Demo Dive #1 - June

Summer is here, at last. May was the coldest in last 30 years, no wonder I do not remember a colder May, curse it to heck and oblivion. BUT! The sun is back, in its full glory and splendour, shining upon us mortals with its nourishing rays, filling me - a solar-powered organism - with lots of energy to do stuff. And on top of doing stuff, playing games is part of the day to day joy of living. I hope y’all are enjoying the recent Curse of Plenty, for there are way too many games of worth coming out, week after week! Keeping up is becoming nigh impossible. Nonetheless, we try to help you discover neat titles. Here’s another jump into the DEMO DIVE.

HELL CLOCK

I am not sure if I enjoyed it or not. It’s a strange sentence on its own, since your level of entertainment should be self-evident, but HELL CLOCK was a strangely confusing ride for my mind. See, on one front, there is a lot to like here. It looks great, sounds fantastic, and the theme of the game is at least a bit unique. A bit spicy. Maybe even I would dare to go for a pun and say it’s… Caliente. You see, you dive into a hell infested basement as a local ex-soldier, and it’s all very grounded in what I believe is a smattering of Latin American mixture of beliefs about hell, demons, and rituals. Fighting the superstitions that are real and come to bite your butt.

But under the audiovisual layer, it is a bit of a same, ole same roguelike formula. It’s not bad! It is more than decently crafted. Everything works well, there is a good sense of progression, neat skills and upgrades, good tempo to everything, but… just… I played a thousand games like this. Not exactly LIKE this, but you know what I mean. It is a roguelike dynamic combat game without anything standing out too much. Without something truly unique to grasp my enthusiasm and smother it in its unyielding hold. The game could argue that the titular Hell Clock is a bit of its unique flair - you are time-limited in your run, and so you need to balance your desire for exploration with actually pushing the levels. But I’d say that a time limitation isn’t exactly a fresh idea, even if it becomes the core of the experience.

In short, HELL CLOCK is a perfectly fine roguelike adventure with the usual trappings of the genre, decked out with great visuals and style, but at least from the demo, lacking any truly distinct hook to stand out from the crowd of similar games.

FOGPIERCER

Oh gosh, another roguelike battler? How daring, how bold! But my little snide comment aside, this one is actually interesting! I repeat this often that finding something fresh in this formula is a hard challenge, so anything that stands out from the ordinary setup catches my attention. In here, the freshness comes from the fights on a dynamic, tactical grid. Controlling a train is the source of your turn-by-turn decision-making. Trains, after all, are not well known for their maneuverability, and so taking shots from the daring vehicular bandits is unavoidable…

Or it would be, if not for a superbly clever gunnery system. See, your main gun - a big artillery piece - doesn’t just damage your enemies, but also pushes them around on the grid. And those pushes can damage others, yourself included. The key to survival and efficient combat is, therefore, an ability to spot or fabricate situations in which a single well-placed round can set a whole bunch of enemy buggies for quick destruction. I must say this works way better than expected, and during the demo, I have a few moments of glorious discovery that made me go “oho!” Out loud. For example, I destroyed a truck on the front of the grid, and its wreck smashed into the buggy way further down the line. This unlocked in my brain another bit of understanding, how to utilize the enemies as weapons, too.

Add to that the constant need to shift your train, both to avoid critical damage as well as bring your guns into effective range, and you get a surprisingly involved bit of a mechanical dance. It definitely works like a charm, and I was more than excited for every new combat scenario, every new card, and especially fitting my train with a new wagon. Which has a beautiful sense of balance to it, because it adds a new armament and cards, yes, but also lengthens your presence, making it harder to avoid being nicked here and there. In short, can’t wait for the full release.

WELCOME TO ELDERFIELD 

Hah, what a shameless game! And I mean it with a positive spin, a crooked smile on my face and a wink towards the developer of this title, because… It’s STARDEW VALLEY. Straight up. It's a clone as much as possible, down even to the visual style and representation of certain components in-game. It’s a farming slash dating sim where, slowed, day by day, you grow your stuff, make a profit, talk with random villagers, find your love interest, and increase your relationship with them. Damn why do I even type this, it’s pretty much just STARDEW with a fresh coat of paint!

And so you might rightfully ask, why do I even bother covering such a blatant clone? Because, see, it is a clever one. A neat one. This isn’t merely a cheap bootleg. The production quality is high, and attention to detail - commendable. But it is not about how competently it is made. It’s all about the twist! And it is also obvious and well conveyed in a mere few minutes in-game - this game answers an ancient question that many have asked before: “What if STARDEW VALLEY was a cosmic horror game?”. As a great enthusiast of that eldritch genre, I was delighted to see that besides farming and talking to various shady, depressed, unkept villagers, you also going to fight, ole timey RPG style, with various creatures and monsters to defend your town and crops!

And so, this might not be the world's most original game (putting it lightly), but it has a very well-developed switch of aesthetic and vibe, and has that cozy horror feel to it. And heck, cosmic horror farming is pretty much what I always wanted, so I cannot be too hard on the rehash. Bring it on!