Demos to Keep an Eye On #3

Hello Friends! Today I have brought you some more game demos to get a pick at the games that are upcoming this year(and maybe next)! Some of these games are a little mature, but I'll keep my commentary PG-13. Without further ago, let's get to it!

1.Blood for the Blood God(In development)

Source: Screen Capture from Demo

Blood for the Blood God is a visual novel, dating simulator game in development by Crimson-Chains. You are a servant created by the Blood God for the purpose of hunting down and killing 3 of his former servants. If you choose to accept your task, you are sent into the world to find them. However, in order to kill each of them, you may need to take the time to befriend—perhaps romance?—each of them, so that they will drop their guard and give you the opening that you need to stab them in the back, or wherever you can get to.

The 3 servants are Asstaroth, Beelzebabe and Lucifine. They are all so attractive, and the art style is wonderful. Each of them has a very different personality, different story, and I really wanted to play more after the demo ended. I’m looking forward to the full release of the game, which is estimated to be in December of 2017. You can download the demo to try for yourself *here*. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

2. Lethe(In development)

Source: Screen Capture from Game

Lethe is, from what I can tell, a romance mystery visual novel written by Pacermist with the efforts of Red-Baby, Shortycake, Alteredgingerr, and Akka. You play as a character who has retrograde amnesia after an incident that involved falling off a roof with another student. The other student seems to have died. With no idea what has happened these last 3 weeks of your life, you must now try to piece it back together with, hopefully, the help of Jaden and Cameron. You remember Jaden, he is your friend, but Cameron is a stranger to you… or is he?

I enjoyed this demo quite a bit. At times it can seem unrefined(some of the CG images), but I find the story interesting and our MC(main character) is relatable. I think some sound effects (doors, footsteps when a character runs, etc.) may have been nice to have as well. There is a lot of mystery, and I am eager to solve it! Hopefully there will be plans for a full game release soon. If you want to try the demo for yourself, you can download it from Itch.io *here*.

3. Sentimental Trickster(In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

Sentimental Trickster is an 18+ only visual novel style romance game created by Lazuli. It’s BL/yaoi, so be warned. There is nothing 18+ in the demo, but you get to meet the characters and get a bit of story. Haru is moving out of his parent’s home and going to live in a boarding house where he can learn to be independent, and also attend art school.  He’s living with 3 other gentlemen with varying personalities, who we get to refer to as: the mean one, the hot one and the gently old guy.

I thought the demo was well written, had beautiful art, and wonderful music/SFX. The demo is very high quality so I am certainly looking forward to seeing more of the game as it is released. If you want to try the demo for yourself, you can download it from Itch.io *here*.

4. BestLuck (In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

BestLuck is a bit of an enigma. The game is in development by Jae Hyun Yoo, and is a puzzle adventure game. The demo is agonizingly short, and involves only 2 puzzles, but give you a decent idea of the mechanics behind the game. You have to open doors, and what you see when you look through the door frames may be different than what you see outside. I think it’s a creative way to do puzzles.

The demo is yet unrefined. There needs to be camera controls, and the character movement can seem off. Otherwise, this game has a relaxing atmosphere about it, which I love, and puzzles, which I also love. The game is set to be released around March 2017 right now, so hopefully I can do a full review soon. You can download the demo to try for yourself *here*.

As always, be sure to leave your comments of encouragement, or helpful criticism, to help the developers improve their skills and craft. 

Happy Gaming, Friends!

Bell

Demos to Keep an Eye On #2

Hello Friends! Welcome to another group of game demos worth playing, and possibly keeping an eye out for the full versions of them. Let’s get right to the games!

1. I Suddenly Became A Magical Girl To Fight Aliens From Another Dimension DEMO (Shelved)

Source: Itch.io Page

This game is a quirky visual novel game created by Mado, about a girl named Kagami who dreams of being a Magical Girl! If you don’t know what a Magical Girl is, think of Sailor Moon(because almost everyone knows Sailor Moon), and THAT is a Magical Girl. Suddenly, one day, Aliens attack Kagami’s home city! While the Aliens are razing the city, Kagami is visited by a very unenthusiastic magiclander by the name of Nya-Nya. Nya-Nya bestows upon her a magical compact, and Kagami gains the ability to become the Magical Girl she has always dreamed of! Now it’s up to her to stop the Aliens and save the city!

The art in this game is insanely cute. Both Kagami and Yoshiko are downright adorable, and the colors are poppy and bright. The music is also nice, and makes me think of a Magical Girl anime. The dialogue is funny, and almost seems mocking of itself and the Magical Girl genre at times. Overall I enjoyed the demo, but was saddened to hear that the developer has currently shelved the project to work on others. I hope that they are able to return and complete this game as I found the demo quite interesting and would be interesting in playing a full version. You can find the demo on Itch.io to play for free *here*.

2. Paws and Effect (In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

Do you sometimes wish your pets were human? In Paws and Effect we play as a 23 year old woman and find out just what happens when her two dogs(Pomeranians) suddenly turn human. At first, the MC thinks she is just dreaming, but after some special “girl scout” cookies to calm down, Peaches and Pecan are still human. The MC must take it upon herself to now teach her dogs how to be human, but they won’t make it easy for her. Even learning to use a straw is a struggle.

I really enjoyed the demo of this game. The dialogue was funny, and the dogs/humans acted similar to how I think my dogs would act as humans—always worried about food, whether I am mad at them, and frequent “I love you!”s. The fact that Peaches is an attractive human causes quite a dilemma for the MC, and I couldn’t help but find her dire situation hilarious. The music for the game sounds kind of arcade-y and I like that.

Erotome is still developing this game along with some others, and if you would like to download the demo and try it for yourself, you can find it for free on Itch.io *here*. The demo seems very short, but it does what a demo should—it left me wanting to play more. I can’t wait for the full release.

3. Eye Candy (In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

Eye Candy is a game currently in development by Dream Syrup, about a young girl searching for her sister, but gets involved in a rather nefarious… game? She encounters some creatures who want to play games with her… or eat her. Perhaps both. The demo is very short since the developer has some hurdles to work through, but recently updated that the game is about 40% complete as of 1/2/17.

The art style of the game is cute, and the story is mysterious and engaging. I was a bit let down by the shortness of the demo because there were so many unanswered questions—but the goal of a demo is to pique your interest, and it certainly did just that.  There was also a train conductor named Conclucktor, which made me laugh out loud. I love things like that. If you want to take a peek at the demo yourself, you can download and play for free from Itch.io *here*.

4. Konbini Life Demo (In Development)

Source: Itch.io Page

Konbini Life is a visual novel styled game created by 2Birds. You play as Natsu, a girl who, after flunking out of University, is working the night shift at the local convenience store—MegaKonbiniMart. Through the demo you have to survive the night shift, and deal with some interesting characters. I’ve worked the night shift loads of time—I know that’s when the creeps come out!

The art for this game is phenomenal. The art is what initially drew me to the game to begin with. I enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, and the dialogue felt genuine and real. By that I mean it sounded like how real people would likely speak. There isn’t any music, but this is a demo so I didn’t mind so much. I really enjoyed this demo and I look forward to seeing the full release! You can download and try the demo for yourself free from Itch.io *here*.

Thanks for stopping in! As always, be sure to check out the demos, and leave words of encouragement, or constructive criticism to help the developers with their games! Even if the game is no longer in development, it may help them in the future. Many developers really value your comments.

Happy Gaming, Friends!

Bell

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Demos to Keep an Eye On #1

Some games, while still in heavy production, release demos to give potential buyers a taste of what the game will hold in the future. Demos should make you want more of the game, enough to either pledge money to the production, or buy the game at its release. Itch.io and Steam hold many demos available to play, and I’ve gathered some of them together to share with you. Please check them out for yourself, and support them with words of encouragement, or by pledging if you’re able to do that.

1. Dr. Frank’s Build-A-Boyfriend (In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

I’ll be upfront, this is a yaoi visual novel, meaning that is boy on boy love isn’t your thing, you may want to pass. I found the demo to be downright hilarious, my sides actually hurt from laughing! The general premise is this—your boyfriend has stolen your research on resurrection, and is going to present them at the prestigious Hindenberg University Conference! So, you decide the best way to deal with it, is to make your own boyfriend who is even better than that jerk! We could even gather the prime specimens… That way you can make him jealous and prove your research principles at the same time!

You get to actually pick the look of the boyfriend (however you don’t get to SEE the boyfriend because the demo ends after that) but I love the ideas presented. The music is good, the dialogue is laugh out loud funny, and the art is nice as well. It’s a win all around for me! You can try to demo for yourself for free on Itch.io *here*.

2. Fox in the Hollyhocks (In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

First thing is first here, Fox in the Hollyhocks is another yaoi game, so if you got problems with boy on boy love you can just skip over this game too. The demo is short, but we get to meet our main character, Hunter, and the guy who seems familiar, but Hunter isn’t sure why—Renard. Your choices do make a difference here, so be mindful of how you answer. Not much comes about from the demo, but I like that it leaves a lot of mystery. I did fill out a survey and offer to help test the game release, so I’m kind of hoping for it. If not, I’ll still be excited to play the full release!

The music is beautiful piano music, and the art style is just lovely. I think Hunter and Renard both are drawn very well. Anyway, you can try the demo for yourself by downloading it from Itch.io *here*.

3. Inspirited (In Development)

Source: Itch.io Page

Inspirited is an adventure RPG, reminiscent of Dragon Quest, or the older Final Fantasy games. I also want to mention that this game was made for Yuri Jam 2016(the demo anyhow) so if girl on girl isn’t your thing, then pass. Created by picoburger, this delightful RPG follows Mica, a wanderer who has found herself in the Kingdom of Crusia—a kingdom with no spirits. Spirits were believed to just be fairy tales until a mysterious young lady by the name of Cyrille comes to show them how wrong they are. Cyrille wants to bring man and spirit back together again to restore balance to the good and evil or the world. Mica decided to help on this quest and together they get to work, opening the spirit gates.

I did really enjoy this demo. The art is attractive, the music and delightful, and the dialog, while nothing special, works. There were some issues with this demo, including text and character names overlapping in dialogue boxes, and white lines would sometime appear next to sprites(like a break in the image). However the reason I was unable to finish this demo, despite really wanting to, is because the item that is supposed to be used to revive your character if they die doesn’t work. I did comment to let the developers know, so hopefully the full release will run smooth and without issues. Despite the issues, I still enjoyed the demo and I plan to get the full release when it is finished, which it may be by the time this is scheduled to be posted to my blog. If that is the case there will probably be a full blog entry about it sometime. Anyhow, you can try the demo for yourself by downloading it for free from Itch.io *here*. Just take care not to die!

EDIT: I did let the developer know about the issue so hopefully it will be remedied soon! :)

4. Heartthrob Café: A Close Up (In development)

Source: Itch.io Page

Heartthrob Café is an adorable looking tech demo involving a diverse array of humanoid animals. Since this isn’t a play demo, I don’t want to comment on plot or anything, since this may be a completely unrelated thing—like a filler episode in an anime, it can be nice but completely unrelated to the actual plot.

So instead I’ll comment that the art is adorable. I mean really. I’m not into furries, but these humanoid animals are cute. There isn’t any music either. I like the dialogue though. Conversation has a good flow and it mimics how people really talk, so it doesn’t seem stiff or out of place. I even got a few chuckles.

Although I can’t say much, I’m looking forward to the full release of this game(if they haven’t already released by the time this blog is scheduled to post.) I’ll be sure to keep updated so I can let everyone know when it happens for any of the demos listed so that you’ll have the opportunity to try them for yourself as well, *here*.

As always, be sure that if you play the game, you leave some encouragement, or even some helpful criticism if needed, to help the creators further develop the game.

Happy Gaming, Friends!

Bell

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XOXO Droplets Demo by GB Patch

Hello Friends! Today I want to share with you a demo that I recently played called XOXO Droplets. It’s a visual novel style, dating simulator/otome game created by GB Patch. The MC(main character) is a girl who is, quite frankly, a real jerk. She is being transferred to a new school, but her parents will only allow her to stay if she doesn’t make everyone at the school hate her, like she has apparently done previously. 

***This entry IS a part of an initiative run by the developers. You can find the information on the initiative *here!* ***

Since she has such trouble making friends, she is put into a special group of kids at the school. Lucky for her, this group is nothing but boys! Cute boys, even. However, she has her work cut out for her, because these guys are just as big of jerks as she is, perhaps even more so. The cold shoulder, insults and general air of unpleasantness doesn’t dissuade your MC, no sir. In fact, it may just make her try even harder.

Source: Itch.io

I was drawn to this game at first by the art work. I’m a sucker for cute otome boys, and most of these boys are super cute! I don’t really care much for Pran or Nate in terms of appearance, but that’s fine. Someone else may find them cute. To me, that just means there is something for everyone! There are several other characters to build relationships with, like the guys and gals that belong to the different cliques, but to be honest I didn’t mess around with that so much. I wasn’t quite sure how the clique system worked. I kind of just… randomly did whatever. There didn’t seem to be any consequence for when I had the clique bars drop to zero.

The music fitting in most cases. I am a big fan of piano music so I found it relaxing and pleasing to listen to. I can’t help but feel that some places, such as “Fuchsia” which is supposed to be like a hip trendy place where teens hang out, the piano music doesn’t quite fit. Maybe more of a musical variety would be beneficial. 

I played through the game 3 times, getting all of the boys I liked except for Shiloh. My first play through was with Bae. My second was for Everett and my 3^rd was with Jeremy. Each of the boys brings something different to the table, and I liked learning a bit about them. I would have liked more back story, but this is just a demo after all.

Bae is definitely my favorite of the guys. I couldn’t resist his snarky grin and his cute little pet names for everyone(Starfish, Cookie, Dear, etc.). I also love that he works at a daycare, and that kids love him. Big, tall, mean Bae may just have a soft spot, eh? On top of that snarky charm--LOOK AT HIM:

Source: Screen Captures from Game

One things that I wanted more of, was more choices. You have choices during school days that alter your status with the cliques, but I wanted more choices with the boys. The dialogue feels almost static otherwise. Most of the conversations were I felt, "Oh I'll have to make a choice. I better think carefully about this..." the MC simply answered herself. Other than the boys’ individual dates and events, everything is the same. It makes replaying the game for the other guys seem sort of monotonous. The skip bottom is great as it allows you to skip through those monotonous part, but I’m wishing that I didn’t feel like I wanted to skip them.

A little thing I didn't get was that the swear words were censored with asterisks in the game. This seemed pointless since I (and most players, I'm sure) can already tell what the words are. It may have to do with ratings, maybe? Or an act of courtesy, but it seemed pointless to me. 

I hope in the full version to see more choices for us to make with our character, perhaps so more diverse music selections, and perhaps more visual representation of the cliques. 

All in all, I really enjoyed the demo and I'm looking forward to the full version of the game when it releases. I would recommend that if you are a fan of otome games, or want to try one, to give the demo a play. You can go to Itch.io to download the demo *here*. The characters are diverse, and you can be as much of a jerk as you want(or maybe could be, if there were some more choices). I want to see where the story goes from here. 

Happy Gaming, Friends!

Bell

See the Gaming in Pajamas Compendium *Here!*

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