Eclectic Demo Meanderings
Tuesday, 16 June 2026 14:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lea_hazelFlamecraft: it sounded like it would be a cute town-builder game with adorable cartoonish dragons, and it is, but it's also a PvP deck-building game, and that's just not the style of gameplay I'm looking for. Played the tutorial, then one more round, which I lost. And uninstalled.
Cabernet: this story-driven vampire RPG looks like a visual novel at first blush, and it *does* take some fun elements from VNs, but it's much more gamey. The PC is a young medical student named Liza who wakes up after her own funeral to find herself turned into a vampire. The demo introduces some interesting NPCs and fun game mechanics. You can transform into a bat and hypnotize humans! The thrust of the game's story is all about either preserving Liza's essential humanity or spiraling into nihilism.
Chop Chop Inc.: a game about cutting down trees and building furniture. Starts with the PC being made redundant at his white collar job, and then unceremoniously punted out of the building. Some silly, goofy humor, especially in the tutorial phase, and the sapient chest who provides tutorial quests is by far the best character. Gives strong vibes of being a classic cozy game that's been "masc'ed up", for players who are not into the softer-and-lighter aesthetic, but doesn't take itself to seriously. Good game loop. Played it for 5-6 hours, and I probably could've played more.
Cozy Keep: run a pseudo-medieval shop to pay off your father's debt and save him from a terrible fate. The demo gives you three days, which is enough to run around the map and see all the unlockable activities you can't access. Running the shop is the main activity, but you can get products to sell through gardening, animal husbandry, foraging, etc. Eventually. Many of these need cash to unlock, so you can't really try them in the demo. Long-term, keeping a consistent inventory becomes increasingly important.
Teddy's Haven: same basic concept, but leaning into the fantasy side of things. The customers are RPG-style adventurers. Ordinary farm animals have goofy fantasy names. Also, there are dino-dragon-ish critters. Managing to both gather products and sell them takes a little doing, but it's still pretty casual. It's fine.
Songs of Glimmerwick: a magic school where magic is performed through music. I liked the beginning of the demo okay, but ended up quitting when I became flustered by the music mechanic. I might like it better if I try it again and get used to how it's done. Cute, harmless, but I'm not that invested in school stories, frankly.
Mothkeep: a pretty little game where you observe and record the life phases of different moths in your notebook. I had fun at first, but struggled with the last life phase, which is a little harder to see.
Handmancers: a goofy, unselfconscious turn-based combat game where the badass combat character cards and power-ups are all themed around rock-paper-scissors. Doesn't take itself too seriously, but also, deck builders aren't usually my thing.
The Granny Detective Society: I saw a trailer for this on YouTube and thought it looked like a fun point-and-click mystery puzzle with a light-hearted tone and an entertaining conceit. I played the demo and liked it, even though it took me longer than it should've to solve the intro mystery. Due in 2027 Q1, for what it's worth. I think the full game could end up pretty fun.
Tiny Bookshop: everybody raved about this game and they were right. It's definitely on my wishlist, now.
Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker: a dialogue-heavy game with a drink-mixing mechanic. Play as an innkeeper in a fantasy world with pretty deep lore, but somehow, I just couldn't get into it.
Cabernet: this story-driven vampire RPG looks like a visual novel at first blush, and it *does* take some fun elements from VNs, but it's much more gamey. The PC is a young medical student named Liza who wakes up after her own funeral to find herself turned into a vampire. The demo introduces some interesting NPCs and fun game mechanics. You can transform into a bat and hypnotize humans! The thrust of the game's story is all about either preserving Liza's essential humanity or spiraling into nihilism.
Chop Chop Inc.: a game about cutting down trees and building furniture. Starts with the PC being made redundant at his white collar job, and then unceremoniously punted out of the building. Some silly, goofy humor, especially in the tutorial phase, and the sapient chest who provides tutorial quests is by far the best character. Gives strong vibes of being a classic cozy game that's been "masc'ed up", for players who are not into the softer-and-lighter aesthetic, but doesn't take itself to seriously. Good game loop. Played it for 5-6 hours, and I probably could've played more.
Cozy Keep: run a pseudo-medieval shop to pay off your father's debt and save him from a terrible fate. The demo gives you three days, which is enough to run around the map and see all the unlockable activities you can't access. Running the shop is the main activity, but you can get products to sell through gardening, animal husbandry, foraging, etc. Eventually. Many of these need cash to unlock, so you can't really try them in the demo. Long-term, keeping a consistent inventory becomes increasingly important.
Teddy's Haven: same basic concept, but leaning into the fantasy side of things. The customers are RPG-style adventurers. Ordinary farm animals have goofy fantasy names. Also, there are dino-dragon-ish critters. Managing to both gather products and sell them takes a little doing, but it's still pretty casual. It's fine.
Songs of Glimmerwick: a magic school where magic is performed through music. I liked the beginning of the demo okay, but ended up quitting when I became flustered by the music mechanic. I might like it better if I try it again and get used to how it's done. Cute, harmless, but I'm not that invested in school stories, frankly.
Mothkeep: a pretty little game where you observe and record the life phases of different moths in your notebook. I had fun at first, but struggled with the last life phase, which is a little harder to see.
Handmancers: a goofy, unselfconscious turn-based combat game where the badass combat character cards and power-ups are all themed around rock-paper-scissors. Doesn't take itself too seriously, but also, deck builders aren't usually my thing.
The Granny Detective Society: I saw a trailer for this on YouTube and thought it looked like a fun point-and-click mystery puzzle with a light-hearted tone and an entertaining conceit. I played the demo and liked it, even though it took me longer than it should've to solve the intro mystery. Due in 2027 Q1, for what it's worth. I think the full game could end up pretty fun.
Tiny Bookshop: everybody raved about this game and they were right. It's definitely on my wishlist, now.
Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker: a dialogue-heavy game with a drink-mixing mechanic. Play as an innkeeper in a fantasy world with pretty deep lore, but somehow, I just couldn't get into it.
