Demo Dive #2 - August '25

And so the end of Summer is upon us. September is just around the corner, and with it, at least for me and in my mind, an earnest start to Autumn and, of course, the long-lasting, two-month-long Spooky Season! It’s time for pumpkins, chestnuts, orange leaves, and horror movies. But before we get our spooketh on, let’s wrap up this summer with a few more cheerful games and their demos. Let’s roll!

WOODO

WOODO is one of those games I’ve followed for years without really knowing what kind of experience it would be. All I had was the art - the sublimely gorgeous elements of its cutesy, woodcraft world. Everything I’d seen so far filled me with rustic wonder and awe - every object, character, and texture brimming with the impeccable craftsmanship of a real wooden toy, made with love and care. Whatever the gameplay turned out to be, I knew it would be beautiful to behold.

Now that the demo has landed, we finally know what to expect. It’s a… coloring book. A 3D one, yes, but the core loop is about filling a scene with objects that rotate and shift until you find where they fit. Like a cross between a hidden-object game and a fill-in-the-gaps coloring book. It’s as rudimentary as it sounds, and yes, it risks becoming repetitive. But WOODO has a couple of clever tricks.

First, its story - revealed piece by piece as you complete each scene. And second, the liveliness of the objects themselves. Every placed item comes with a charming little animation, bringing life to the scene and rewarding you for every step forward. In short, the game knows what it wants to be - a gentle story with a soothing atmosphere, cosy to the maximum. And I can absolutely cherish that.

NEON VILLAGE

I keep seeing more games like this - experiments to make a roguelike-structured match-3 title. We’re in that era where every genre is getting zapped with the Roguelike spell, and devs everywhere are trying to see what sticks. Honestly, I’m not against it. I love progression, skill mastery, and learning systems inside out… and match-3 is hardly a bad foundation to put through the roguelike wringer.

NEON VILLAGE is a little rough around the edges. The music, for one, is painfully grating - after a minute, I had to mute it for the sake of my sanity. But the gameplay shows promise. You match colors, of course, earning coins for each success. But the real fun comes from special symbols that offer extra rewards or bonuses if matched under certain adjacency conditions. To my surprise, it works quite well.

Yes, there’s plenty of randomness, and yes, the demo was almost laughably easy to complete. Still, the potential is there. With better music, more demanding score targets, and a bit more control over the falling tiles, this could develop into a match-3 roguelike worth sinking time into.

RACCOIN

Did I just say everything is becoming a roguelike? Nothing is safe! And so, we now have the latest experiment in the “push it through the roguelike-inator 3000” pipeline - a coin-pushing machine! If you’ve ever been to a shady casino or an unapologetically shameless arcade, you’ve probably seen one: a big shelf nudging piles of coins forward, with the hope that a few will tumble back into your waiting hands. Simple, yes - but simple concepts often make the best roguelikes when spiced up with random elements.

The RACCOIN playtest genuinely impressed me. I never expected a coin pusher to be so thrilling, but here we are. The developers clearly put thought into clever design choices: special coins, ticket stickers, keychains, expanded holders for rare coins… There are so many little systems to tweak that, despite the inherent randomness, you never feel robbed of agency. You still decide when coins drop, when to use your specials, and whether to trade your hard-earned tickets for more chances to keep the run alive.

And, as with any good roguelike, the potential to Go Bonkers is delightful. Finding the right combo of special coins and bonuses can trigger an explosive cascade, racking up huge combos and shoving coins into your pocket like there’s no tomorrow. It’s already a thrill to play, and I can only see it getting better.