DEMO DIVE #2 - November 2025

I heard people say that 2025 was a fantastic year for gaming and I must say, I can feel it. This month is already proving to be too demanding on my gaming front. I can barely find time to squeeze in all the titles I would love to play. Not to mention from the Big Ones, both EUROPA UNIVERSALIS 5 and the superb OUTER WORLDS 2 are also squeezing me ruthlessly for time! And there are so many great titles coming out, and soon, like for example tomorrow's release of DIE FOR THE LICH - a fantastic dice-driven roguelike. Sigh! Guess I need to pack in extra coffees and stay up late to play them all... As for now, as is tradition, time for another Demo Dive with three excellent games to look forward to. Let's roll!

ISLANTILES

Sometimes you just stumble into a game that makes you go "oh-ah!" with ease. A game that is, it seems, custom-made for your brain to hook on. ISLANTILES is that game for me. It's perfect. How to explain it properly... It's a number-driven, score-chasing solitaire board game in which you must create dependable equations of technologies and cards to score big and bigger every turn. Sounds dry? Well, it does help that the whole game is a pleasant experience about settling little islands with colourful buildings! But the core of the game is surprisingly crunchy - you need to have some plan in mind and be able to do some on-the-fly calculations. There are, even in the demo, multiple strategies you can build upon. Productivity multiplier going up by placing just one building and depending on a big score multi? Or maybe instead lay down the island with smaller structures and then put in your advanced, golden, grand slammola structure to farm a big score from the entire island?

Wait. Score? Multiplier? Collecting and upgrading cards into a deck? Deciding which strategy to empower? Semi-permanent upgrades that modify your score chase? Oh you clever dogs, you got me - it's god-dang BALATRO all over again! Yup, once you gleam under the pleasant surface, the mechanics become a little cheeky, but I must say, hereby lies the spark of genius. Because even if the flow feels similar, the whole concept presents it in a completely different, fresh fashion! And the dimensionality added with the decisions of placements makes it more of a puzzle than an engine-builder. It's heckin' good fun and a good brain-scrambler all in one.

I am superbly excited now to get the full version - mostly because the DEMO itself shows the fantastic potential for a multitude of winning combinations. Each run can be very different. Every strategy seems valid, if constructed well. I scored big with barely any buildings, counting on technologies to carry me through. As well as empowering a specific branch of cards to smack down a big score. The previously mentioned preparation with lesser buildings to place near the edge of the round creates one giant scoring monster that gets me a win. It works like a charm, feels intuitive, and the presentation is top-notch. Can't wait.

BLACK JACKET

A card game! Who knew they were still making those, amirite? Joking aside, I was positively surprised by the production quality on this bad boy. When I read that this is Yet Another Blackjack roguelite, I didn't expect anything revolutionary. And, well, can't lie - it isn't. But, and it's a big but, BLACK JACKET packs plenty of charm in its presentation. Voice acting, cards, art, they are all top-notch. Who knew you can inject so much personality with the animation of hands! Bosses are devilishly clever, their decks - brutally efficient. Your cards? Plentiful in effects. Each suit is clearly described as having a specialization, each effect and ability is delightfully explained in detail. Crafting a workable deck that can outsmart and overcome the ploys of the bosses is, well... I was about to write "half the battle" but nah, it's All The Battle in this case.

BLACK JACKET doesn't reinvent anything. It has the trappings of other blackjack-related games I've seen in the wild. Bah, some of the mechanics and bits I've seen, for example in DEGENERATE GAMBLERS, do not search far for it. And yet, somehow, it feels very well polished. The abilities, the player agency when it comes to crafting your deck, all feel extremely well thought out. I always feel in power to make a deck to my liking, and the plethora of options to play around make it feel less like classic Black Jack and more like its own unique game. Exploiting enemies when you are sure of your win, sleeving cards for later, meddling with both decks - yours and your opponent - to secure wins... It's all there and crafted with meticulous precision. I know I am not making a good job of explaining why it works so well, but trust me - just give it a go, and you will hopefully see what I mean here. As Todd once said - It Just Works.

OROBOROS

This, this I like. We need more arcade games in this world, games that aren't afraid to harken back to the earliest ages of gaming. Games that happily eschew the lofty notions of stories, emotional impact, or thinky conundrums. Games that simply have one core concept and aim to squeeze the maximum amount of high-energy fun out of it! OROBOROS is almost unga-bunga levels of simplicity. You can pretty much play the game with one hand. You are a masked, colourful head. And you must make a full circle with your body. That's it, that's the game. Tap your mouse button to change direction. Hold it for a boost. Do your best to eat the pellets to grow your tail of light to bite it and win a round.

Of course, the bare simplicity of the concept is offset by the arcade, twitchy fun of avoiding all the colourful bullshit the game will happily toss your way! Enemies will try to bonk your noggin. Shoot projectiles. Curve at you from weird angles. Constantly putting your focus to the test. Check how quickly you can juggle your directions and use your boost to avoid getting into collisions which can quickly end your run. And like any good roguelike framework, there are upgrades! So many of them, oh yes. Speed, shields, hit points, the ability to fight back with your own mini-weapon, and different 'masks' to play as. Each coming with their own stats and abilities.

It's a very simple game, and it is why I enjoyed playing it. There's no nonsense here, no desire to waste your time. And despite the basic concept, it's fun as heck. Fast, twitchy, energetic, colourful. It made me nostalgic for games on PS one back in the day when I was a little lad. Good stuff.