Demo Dive #2 - September '25

I am almost done with SILKSONG. Yeah, just the 'regular ending' - I miiight try to grind out the quests to get to the mystical Act 3 and hope to squeeze the game for all it can offer. But at the same time, now that I am doing big quests in the Citadel, I feel like I am on the edge of my skill level, and if Act 3 is more demanding than this, I will surely falter anyway. Gonna call it quits when I'm still ahead! But in the meantime, as usual, I'm trying to squeeze in some hours into other titles, always on the search for the next awesome games to try. And I have 3 titles I dabbled with I would like y'all to check out, as well! Let's roll.

AVANTE! ATLANTIS

I am still slightly confused about the game title. It is a turn-based tactical warfare game, reminiscent of ADVANCE WARS in its presentation, so the title might not be selling the concept well. At least in my opinion! Sure, there's a story reason for it - all the grand nations of this imaginary Earth are scrambling to lay claim to the legendary city of Atlantis, which resurfaced and tantalized with its vast resources. Gotcha. But despite the initial confusion, the game demo instantly drew me in due to its aesthetics. Every combat is played out on a tiny, wooden and metal board game, a miniature, elegant box where pixel-art cutouts of units duke it out. It's both unique and charming, giving the game a subtle charm.

But the meat on these bones lay in combat, which is quite well thought out. I appreciate the devs' commitment to clarity. Systems are explained well, damage calculation is intuitive and well-designed, even with the inclusion of the randomizer in the form of combat dice. It all makes sense and lets you predict the outcomes with some certainty. It has the hallmarks of a good tactics game - that is, it doesn't rely on any obfuscation, but rather arms you with all the crucial information and hopes you can make sound strategic decisions without flukes that will sink your little army. Bah, even the power bar for your dice roll is explained in detail, letting you know what each color on the bar does to a dice roll. Nice.

And there are plenty of things to consider here! Various terrains offer impactful defensive modifiers. A matrix of unit damage to defense ratio should be your constant companion until you memorize it. Units do not differ merely in their base stats, but offer significant, if singular, special traits - ramming units can push enemies into water, instantly destroying them. Ranged units cannot retaliate, but can chip away at enemies from a distance. Capturing scouts can move fast, but are fragile and need to weave through enemy defences with some tactical acumen. And then each nation has its own powerful special ability that can be used once you amass some energy via combat. If I had a single complaint, it is that the units tab explaining them doesn't do a good enough job yet at showcasing their special thingy! I do believe, though, that the final game tutorial and index will ameliorate that issue and make the game crystal clear.

HOOMANZ!

It had been quite some time since I played a game like this. I mean, a game focused on simple, direct fun, a game that makes me nostalgic about the design cues from way earlier generations of consoles. It feels like a PlayStation 2 title, and I mean it as the highest possible praise here. It's just nonsense fun! No pretense to a grand story, no need to invest hugely into depth of characters, no big focus on fidelity or complexity - no, it knows exactly what it is. A playful romp as a cute, fluffy critter that is tired of the frankly dumb humanity invading their peaceful forest. And so, using the power of Scaring the Shit out of Them, we will solve more and more intricate challenges using simple but superbly crafted stealth mechanics to get the job done.

It's like METAL GEAR SOLID met PIZZA POSSUM. Shoo - a mystical guardian of planet Erf, that is, our protagonist, is definitely not a fighter. Smol and furry, we will need to utilize darkness to our advantage. When clad in shadows, we move faster and can traverse the land at ease. The actinic brightness of the hoomanz artificial campfire and flashlights renders us weak - well, weaker anyway! And strip us of our aura of dread, making us to them a fluffy, cuddly thing they wanna hug. Embarassing! And so we need to stick to the shadows, rustle through bushes, toss bottles, lure the dang humans away from the comfort of their light to raise their stress level enough to give them a hearty scare that will send them back to where they came from!

It's a fun formula, and even if it keeps simple, I can easily see a fun progression of more and more challenging puzzles. With new hooman types, new tools, and new skills to broaden your scare-inducing arsenal, this can be a fantastic little romp.

GEMPORIUM

Usually, I try not to chat up about demos for games that are already out. After all, can just grab the game and give it a swirl, but the demo of this particular game caught my attention, and as a savvy customer, I decided to check it out to see if I'll enjoy the full deal. And I can say for sure that you can expect a full review of GEMPORIUM happening sometime soon, because after my time with the demo, I got the game and am rolling through it right now. A very nice way to relax between more intense bouts in the looming finale of SILKSONG demanding gameplay!

GEMPORIUM has a charming style and a simple gameplay formula that is just spiced up enough to make it a fun loop. As a tiny mole, you dig in your basement mine for gemstones and then sell'em to the community. Which, for some reason, has a pretty damn high demand for shiny rocks! But I am not going to be questioning this. The fun part lies in the whole digging part of it. You must be fast, you must be efficient, but you must also be careful - it is way too easy to damage the goods, the delicate gemstones, with your tools, and selling cracked stuff is not going to keep you on top of your massive debt and interest for long. There are upgrades, incremental growth of your capabilities, and - it seems - loan sharks chasing after your money! I am surely going to give the game a proper run now and share my experiences with it, but if you're on the fence, give the demo a go. It's charming, it's intuitive, and it has that special something for anyone who enjoys a bit of a cleverly-developed grindfest!