With demos coming back around across PC and consoles, we’re going to produce a new series where we will highlight a number of upcoming games with demos available and understand what they are trying to do to get you that wishlist.
Car Mechanic Flipper
Car Mechanic Flipper takes the tried and true genre of virtual pinball and adds an automatic twist by swapping out the chrome sphere for an ever-drifting car. The colourful voxel art adds to the silly nature of the title in a harmless way.
As with all games of its ilk, the goal is to rack up a high score, however, there are a number of vehicle variables to make this stand out. In the initial area, you can gather fuel to increase your boost as well as pick up other objects including screwdrivers, wrenches and more. These largely act as the “quest” system. Money can also be acquired to buy better vehicles with slightly altered stats.
The larger areas allow you to control the car in some manner to add that car spin (pun intended) to the overall proceedings.
Testament: Order of the High Human
While playing the demo for Testament: The Order of the High Human, I couldn’t help but feel a strong connection to the early to mid-2000s Western RPGs, games like Of Might and Magic and The Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
As Aran, a High Human and King of High Humans, you’ve been betrayed by your brother Avra and are now a mere mortal. Your quest for revenge begins here. Gameplay is a mix between first-person combat and puzzle-solving. While nothing is ground-breaking, it gradually introduces you to the sword and bow play before starting to give you an understanding of the magic you will eventually wield.
One thing I couldn’t help but notice is the consumable wheel, featuring more than a dozen consumables. I feel like this mixed with the magic combat is what will make Testament: The Order of the High Human stands out.
The puzzles feel like they will take up a substantial portion of the game and what was introduced during the demo was an enjoyable blend of problem-solving, logic, and movement.
Beyond Sunset
A boomer shooter very much inspired by the espionage action movies of the 80s. In this, you awake from what seems like a simulation to the glass crashing of you escaping a pod which houses humans or human-like beings. From here, you must work your way through the overlord-bearing corporation which sends waves of androids and armed guards your way to stop you from escaping by any means necessary.
You play as a street samurai who is searching for lost memories, and in typical fashion, you must do it against waves of all kinds of enemies. It takes all the tropes fans of the genre will love in a pixelated synth-wave nostalgia trip.
Vampire Hunters
In the ever-increasing popularity of the autoshooter genre, Vampire Hunters gets your boots on the ground in a first-person perspective. This roguelite shooter tasks you with engaging in shooting your weaponry while gathering orbs to increase your level.
If you’ve played games in this genre, you know exactly what to expect for the most part. What makes this one stand out though is the fact that you are tasked with always moving forward while a crushing machine is always chasing behind you, albeit at a relatively slow pace.
As you level up, you can choose between new weapons or adding new stats and buffs to currently equipped weapons. There is also some auto-attacking arsenal available to pick up along the way as well as secondary weapons. An interesting take for sure!
House Flipper 2
House Flipper 2 takes a lot of what people loved about the original and simply adds more depth. While the original game provided many tasks, it mostly came down to simply holding down the button while an animation played. That cathartic feeling of seeing a house go from a dump to a dream remains but the sense of satisfaction has been notched up due to how much more it’s involved this time.
Don’t expect to understand anything about rebuilding a house or anything, instead, it has taken one of the most involved mechanics and introduced it to a number of aspects within the game. In the first game, cleaning a window required the player to move the cursor around to clean whatever is still dirty. This has now been introduced to elements like painting and fixing surfaces. It’s minor but it adds enough. If you loved the first, you’re likely going to love this one too.
5 new demos to consider playing