DEMO DIVE #3 - October 2025

While STEAM NEXT FEST is behind us, my backlog of fun demos is still long and demanding. Slowly, week by week, I will be tackling it as usual in our little DEMO DIVES! But starting Monday we are back to our regularly scheduled texts, with three reviews of great games already in the pipeline. Managed to 100% BALL x PIT, so that one is first on the chopping block! But for now, let us take a look at yet another three fun games that I enjoyed tackling over the last week. Let's roll!

BLOODLETTER

Remarkably, I can still be pleasantly surprised by this industry. I know I am pretty much the number one "roguelikes are everywhere" guy, but I promise - a separate text about this is in the making. I now choose to be happy about the "genre" boom. I reserve my right to no longer feel jaded, especially since we’re seeing so many high-quality productions.

BLOODLETTER is another fine example of fresh ideas still being sown into this garden.

First of all, it is an extremely stylish game. With attention to every corner of its presentation, it takes on the medieval book art and adds a bit of juicy vibrancy to it. As well as elements of cosmic horror, a sprinkle of the uncanny and the eerie. From the interface to the cards and the terrific villagers, the game oozes style and substance. A project crafted with love. But as much as I enjoy the visual artistry of the game, what really makes it shine is the gameplay itself. It is very likely the very first deck-building game in which I do feel a very strong connection between my cards and the encounters I have to tackle.

Because, see, in BLOODLETTER you don't bash your head against some random enemies. No, instead, you're a barber-surgeon of dubious skills and knowledge, dedicated to healing your little town and its folks. They become a key part of your deck, just like the cards you collect. Your goal is to heal them and protect them from dark entities that want to corrupt their bodies and souls. You are in constant tug of war with the spread of corruption, healing your townsfolk, treating their diseases, earning their trust. It's a peculiar approach to encounters, because it is a very planned affair. Managing your deck is as much about curating a sensible set of cards as it is about the order of their draw and managing your queue of clientele. Add some extra systems like blessings, curses, and modifiers to your cards, and you get a very compelling mix. It's unique, nigh-impossible to compare to anything else - and that is its selling power. A nouvelle experience with intimate focus on the steady, ongoing grand plan.

TURNBOUND

It is my very first time with a Backpack Battler. What is it? Well, it's an auto-battler game where instead of summoning units, you manage your inventory. By placing tiles on a limited grid, you plan their proper use - adjacency bonuses, re-triggers, chains of abilities, and combos. It's one of those systems that seems very simple on the surface, but you very quickly catch on to the intricacies of its interactions. Proper placement is key, but equally important is the decision-making in acquiring new pieces by buying out fresh space to fit them all in. After all, having a strong tile that cannot be placed anywhere sensible to benefit from it is a bit of a waste, isn't it?

The other aspect that feels a bit strange is the asynchronous PvP. What it means is that you are not directly competing with living players, but rather with the builds they made on distinctive waves in the past? Or something like that. It is an interesting compromise. I am not a fan of PvP to any degree, but being able to control the game flow at my own pace - pausing, controlling game speed - while still facing a challenge made by another human being... Yeah, that actually works just fine. And it is a pretty canny way of offloading the crafting of challenging combat scenarios to the players themselves! After all, players will usually be way better at using various pieces and interactions than your average hard-coded AI. I know, I've played CIVILIZATION before - even the hardest AI can be tricked and outdone by sticking to familiar ways of thinking. But a living person? You never know what cracked game plan they can craft if you give them some freedom to achieve it.

In short, TURNBOUND is interesting. It looks fantastic; the tiles have that tactile feel to them. The art style is sharp. And each character seems to have a customised set of tools, weapons and bits to make them have their unique strategies to combat. Unfortunately, the demo only offers two options for now. In a game like this, variety is key. More options are needed to keep runs from feeling repetitive and tedious. We'll see how it goes!

REINCARNATION INSURANCE PROGRAM

When it comes to Survivor-likes, sometimes all you need is a good execution. It is one of those genres that are suffering a bit under the Curse of Plenty. Everyone and their dog are cooking up a survivor-like to put on STEAM and hope for the best! To stand out from the crowd, you need one of two things - either a spanking new idea to shake the gameplay. Or executing on the baseline premise with really tight design and high fidelity. R.I.P is a project that goes for the latter.

I will admit that I was not impressed from the get-go. Brutally simplistic UI, what seems to be AI generated art for splashes and background... The scent of cheaply made shoddiness was wafting thick in the air. But then I got into the gameplay and I absolve the devs of all since because heck, I had a ton of fun here. It's very active gameplay, with your input being necessary at all times. Activating abilities, aiming your gun, triggering dashes between the hordes. The enemy variety also was surprising - sure, they are all just variants of zombies, but very quickly got hit with powerful elites, telegraphed attacks, explosive fellas... The roster kept expanding with new threats and the boss fight was a doozy!

There is also a sense of high player agency when it comes to crafting your character, as there is a giant plethora of items, skills, and passives to cook your build with. I am not going to taut this title as a next big thing, because it surely won't be a giant breakthrough hit - it is too safe, too conservative in its approach... But if you're a fan of Survivor-like bullet heavens and are looking for your next score, this one might fit the bill just right.