"Let's Play Some Demos!" Video Series YouTube Playlist

With the United States of America projected to become the Fascist States of America, I decided to record Part 7 of the Let's Play Some Demos | LPSD video series to share some games with folks.
For this episode, I, once again, perused through Steam's Demos Category to see what was available.

For those who are new, the purpose of this video series is to provide commentary and feedback on the games for educational purposes. Today, it's to provide a distraction.

Today, I played demos for 4 games:

1. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
   Immerse yourself in an enchanting narrative experience as Fortuna, a fortune-teller Witch condemned to exile on her asteroid home. Craft your own Tarot deck, regain your freedom, and shape the fate of the cosmic Witch society.
2. Cursebane
   Cursebane is a katana-action roguelite where your choices twist your journey. Empower your blade and spells as you seek out those doomed by prophecy and save them from the Curse.
3. Dex
   Dex is a 2D, side-scrolling, open-world cyberpunk RPG with a focus on exploration and non-linear gameplay. Designed as a throwback to earlier 2D platforming and action games combined with modern RPG elements, Dex offers real-time combat, a mature storyline and interactive dialogues.
4. The Lady Puppet
   The Lady Puppet is a Survival Horror Adventure game that puts emphasis on atmosphere and exploration. Help Lailah Reah escape from Clawhill, a bizarre world where everyone has been turned into a living puppet. Solve puzzles, use your wits to avoid the enemies and use dolls to summon companions.

All links above are to the games' Steam pages.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, Dex, and The Lady Puppet are also on itch.io!

The verdict?

The Lady Puppet scared the SHIT out of me! And since horror games aren't really my thing, that and puzzle games, I didn't get very far. I couldn't finish the demo, it scared me too much. Which means I highly recommend it to people who love horror games! It did its job! Uninstalling the demo, now... I'm not ending my commentary there, though. The story is creepy in and of itself; you're trying NOT to become a human puppet. The character design was fantastic as well as the pixel art. The sound design was genius, to me; if it's standard for a horror game to make a sound when you step on grass, I wouldn't know. And since the safest way to get through the game is to make as little noise as possible, I was TERRIFIED! Not being able to save whenever I wanted didn't help, either. There was some voice acting, meant to terrify, which set the scene and let us know how the character was feeling. Terrified. I sent the link to the game to my partner.

My favorite demo/game is a tie between The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood and Cursebane. I don't have a gameplay comparison for Cosmic, but Cursebane is a 2D, pixelated Hades and I LOVED it! Cosmic's art style reminded me of Super Lesbian Animal RPG, but, then again, almost every pixel art game does. Cosmic has a darker color palette than SLARPG, which made sense given the game's sensitive themes; there is a content warning. Cursebane's pixelation reminded me of Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood gameplay was incredibly unique and I appreciated it! You are a witch who summoned a Behemoth to help you out of exile and you are creating your own Tarot deck in the process because yours was taken from you. And you actually get to DESIGN your cards using the in-game graphics provided! I got a bit of insight into my personality while creating the first two cards. I loved it a LOT! I wonder if I like the Behemoth more than I should... and it was implied it was the same about the Behemoth towards you.

Cursebane's story I've already forgotten. I think we've been summoned to break a curse...? The gameplay, however, had me grinning! Since I already compared it to Hades, let me give you some differences: your dash attack recharges, you get your enhancements from elemental crystals, and you only get a sword, but the sword changes depending on how much Fate you have collected. I like speed, so I went with fast attacks. There was one thing I found confusing, though; I was given an item that allowed me to get past a particular enemy type, yet I had to fight groups of them at one point. What did I miss?

Dex is not my usual game, but it's not a point of this series to show my usual. Only. Dex is definitely one I'll revisit, though, due to the engaging storyline. The point is to survive. I don't remember why the character's being hunted, but the fact the goal is to bring down the system had me intrigued! There was some pixelation in the design when it came to the characters, but the background was more realistic. I had to look at the game's description to remember it was a side-scrolling platformer. The combat got on my nerves, because I couldn't figure out how to fire the gun and I got no direction, but the melee combat was entertaining. It felt a bit like the Tekken series. My biggest issue with it is the map; it's not very helpful. The game's description says it's not linear, fine, but that doesn't mean there should be NO guidance! And, while I am open to the possibility I missed something, I shouldn't be missing anything in a demo. I don't think that's too much to ask.

As a whole, I loved 3 out of 4 of the games, as I expected. The Lady Puppet did its job as a horror game, which is why the demo was quickly uninstalled. I considered giving it another try, then remembered how quickly I chickened out and changed my mind. They are all beautifully, and skillfully designed and I'm happy I played them all, even if I didn't finish so the video wasn't 4 hours.

And that's it for Part 7! Thank you for reading!
If this series of videos is something you're interested in, they are available on YouTube, The Titans' Discord, Steam, Rumble, Odysee, and Ko-fi!
Don't forget to hit the Subscribe and/or Follow buttons to know when there's more!

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Welcome Gamers!
1:24 - Demos' Intro
1:52 - The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
53:31 - Cursebane
1:41:04 - Dex
2:32:28 - The Lady Puppet
3:00:57 - Demos' List Again
3:01:22 - Mini Critique
3:03:17 - Thank You/Links
3:09:33 - Rendezvous Point Bookshop Plug
3:12:46 - Farewell

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• Pilot: CrossCode, Dumpy & Bumpy, Ynglet, Zero Ranger
• Part 2: A Dance of Fire and Ice, 2064: Read Only Memories, Death and Taxes, Underhero
• Part 3: TEKKEN 8, Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition, Secrets of Grindea, Forspoken
• Part 4: Death's Hangover, Fae Farm, Fate/Samurai Remnant, Mini Settlers
• Part 5: All-Star Fruit Racing, Indivisible, SaGa Emerald Beyond, Visions of Mana
• Part 6: Glorious Companions, Tales of Arise, Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge, Cozy Island
• Part 8: Detroit: Become Human, Little Goody Two Shoes, Luma Island, Tinkerlands
• Part 9: Backpack Battles, Glaciered, Ratopia, Slime Rancher
• Part 10: Captain Contraption's Chocolate Factory, Maid Cafe on Electric Street, Neon Noodles, Tiny Glade
• Part 11: Critter Café, Grimoire Groves, Pixel Cafe, Wizdom Academy
• Part 12: AdventureBarStory, Bone's Cafe, DELTARUNE, Mudborne
• Part 13: Food Truck Simulator, Magical Bakery, Magical Delicacy, Seaside Cafe Rush Hour
• Part 14: Chef's Tail, Espresso Tycoon, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, Tavern Talk
• Part 15: Chicken Journey, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, Terra Memoria, Until Then
• Part 16: Cornucopia®, Hipster Café, Let's Café, Spells & Secrets
• Part 17: Doloc Town, Feed the Cups, Manitas Kitchen, Mushroom Picnic Party, Rift of the NecroDancer
• Part 18: Meadgard: Beer and Plunder, BOKURA: planet, Teeny Tiny Town, Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos
• Part 19: Dungeons of Hinterberg, The Mildew Children, Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island, Yaoling: Mythical Journey
• Part 20: AI LIMIT, Harmony's Odyssey, Last Time I Saw You, Whiskers & Wizardry
  
• Part 21: Constance, Dragoon Ascension, Kara Fantasy, Welcome to Elderfield
• Part 22: Crowncity, Dungeon Alchemist, Parliament of Hell 1796, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
  
• Part 23: Tuesday, March 11th
• Part 24: Tuesday, March 18th
• Part 25: Tuesday, March 25th

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MORE INFO & TO SUPPORT

- About MonriaTitans | WGS
- Rendezvous Point Bookshop
- Artist Shout-Outs Criteria
- The Titans' Discord
- Throne Wishlist
- #SubOffTwitch
- YouTube
- Rumble
- Odysee
- Twitch
- Steam

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Originally published to https://opinionsandtruth.wordpress.com on November 6, 2024.