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

Welcome to Part 14 of the Let's Play Some Demos! | LPSD series!
For those who are new, I aim to introduce gamers to, usually, Indie games and to provide commentary and feedback on the games for educational purposes!
For this episode, I used some of the demos I had grabbed from the Cooking Fest and Cozy Quest Steam Events! I think. I grabbed a bunch during those events, and outside of them, so I don't know anymore…

Today, I played 4 demos for your enjoyment:

1. Chef's Tail – Available 
   Play as the "Cat Chef" in the spooky but cute underworld. Earn your coin by tending the trees, fishing and creating incredible dishes, or just sleep for 16 hours a day on a comfy pillow. The choice is yours.
2. Espresso Tycoon – Available 
   Espresso Tycoon – a coffee shop simulator. Create your brand, decorate the coffee shop, manage your employees, and take care of your customers. Use the 3D coffee editor to create coffee recipes, order supplies, and collect rating points. Build the whole coffee business and complete all the missions!
3. Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo – Coming Soon 
   Use your wits, kindness, and maybe a good whack to gather clues, items, and evidence that will help the residents of Limbo move on. Untangling an afterlife is no easy feat, especially when you don't have feet!
4. Tavern Talk – Available 
   A cozy visual novel about running a tavern in a D&D-inspired fantasy! Gather rumors, serve magical drinks, and meet adventurers on a life-changing quest.

All links above are to the games' Steam pages.
Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo and Tavern Talk's demos also are available on itch.io!

With all that out the way, here are my opinions, via the "Layered Compliment Sandwich":

Chef's Tail is on my wishlist, but it's a game someone would have to gift me in order for me to play it. The idea of a cat cooking for souls in the Underworld is an EXCELLENT idea, but the execution was a nuisance the demo didn't give me enough time to figure out and adjust to. Did not having WASD annoy me? Yes. Was I shown why WASD wasn't an option later on? Yes. The problem was how much later I was shown. It was a major inconvenience, up until that point. Also, how the cat travelled was inconsistent. I can hop up signs to get onto the tops of and hop onto other buildings, but I can't jump down a pile of large, stable, rocks to get to the docks faster? My biggest issue was with the part that was the most fun; the cooking. What was going on with the interface? Why was everything so zoomed in, preventing me from cooking anything? The demo left me with nothing but questions, and I want them answered which is why I want to keep playing. I missed what should have been my favorite part of the game, fishing, because I was too busy trying to find an NPC who should have been easy to find, but wasn't, because the glitter guide wasn't doing its job and peoples' names are too difficult to see. Why is an important NPC almost completely transparent? I wanna fish, dammit!

Espresso Tycoon was fun until I went back to it after the video to find out the hard way what upgrades weren't available in the demo. The more popular my coffee truck became, the longer the lines got, and I couldn't make my character go any faster. Which was frustrating. And saddening because I watched people walk away irritated. And they left bad reviews because of it. Which only made me want it more, so, good job there developers. But I'm, also, getting the impression the only reason why I was having so much fun was because I had the recipes from Maid Café on Electric Street on hand to diversify the menu. After I bought ice cream, when playing on my own, I was serving Affogato, and it became my most popular item! That and the Lattes. Since I was only able to play the demo, I don't know if they'll teach us other recipes. Which is why this is going to be a game I'll only play if someone gifts it to me. Love the premise. Needs more guidance. Keep the process for branding the coffee truck how it is! It was fun!

Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo was a pleasant surprise! It was adorable, full of fun colors, and the characters, despite the short amount of time spent, were interesting! I was invested! However, it's another game I would need to be gifted to keep playing. I was getting irritated with all the "figure it out" puzzles. I have a tough enough time with obvious puzzles; hitting me with one that takes forever to figure out is only gratifying, at least for me, when it's obvious I've FINALLY found the answer. When I can get the relief the puzzle is finally done. Long, drawn-out puzzles frustrate me and make me feel like an idiot. Go check out my last Little Goody Two Shoes stream to see what happened last time I felt that way. Even though the puzzling was frustrating, I LOVED watching time pass! It was beautiful! And rolling around and slamming into things made a very satisfying "THUD"!

Tavern Talk was my favorite. It's going to be getting its own LPS$ - Let's finish the demo! stream on Sunday, Jan. 19th. It was the biggest and most pleasant surprise! The D&D inspiration was clear and I was all for it! I love visual novels and this one brought incredibly unique mechanics to it: the making of drinks and the quest board. Usually, when something gets messed up, the entire thing needs to be thrown out. With this, however, if you pour too much of something, you can only pour out a little bit instead of starting over. THE CONVENIENCE! THANK YOU! Also, the chalkboard showing a design to represent how much of each ingredient goes into the drink was genius! Now, for the quest board: you take rumors you hear about and compile them into an announcement poster for your quest board. All these rumors are gathered by talking to your customers, which makes sense since you're the Innkeeper. And yet no one has asked for a room. Only a drink. Is it deeper in the demo? Or is that a game thing? Should we be being called "Fuck Ass" instead of Innkeep?

Overall, I want all of them, and they are on my wishlist, but I would only be confident enough to buy one for myself.

As a reminder, Chef's Tail, Espresso Tycoon, and Tavern Talk are all Available, with Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo Coming Soon.

And that's it for Part 14! Thank you for reading!
If this series of videos is something you're interested in, the videos 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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The Monday, January 6th, and 667th, Artist Shout-Out goes to Alexis Cabrera!
Check them out here!

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Welcome Gamers!
1:59 – Artist Shout-Out
5:57 – Demos' Intro
7:44 – Chef's Tail
37:48 – Espresso Tycoon
1:10:25 – Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo
1:50:50 – Tavern Talk
2:23:19 – Demos Line Up
2:23:54 – Artist Shout-Out
2:24:45 – Thank You/Links
2:28:15 – Rendezvous Point Bookshop Plug
2:29:49 – Up Next/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 7: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, Cursebane, Dex, The Lady Puppet
• 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 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 January 7, 2025.