Decent level design, but you have to redo quite a bit too much after you die. Not great for a paid game, but okay for a free demo. Also, I must confess: I didn't actually beat this demo because the first boss has a desperation attack when it runs out of hp, and when that killed me (after several previous attempts to even make it THAT far), I decided I'd had enough. Once again, not great for a paid game, but for a free demo, that's basically the end anyway. What did I miss besides a message asking me to put the game on my wishlist?

Maybe I'm getting better at bullet hells, or maybe these demos know to stop before things get stereotypically cluttered and chaotic, but both of these Touhou demos were quite enjoyable. Challenging while still being fairly fair. I never got game over, so I don't know if they make you start the whole thing over like other Shmups, though…

A Shmup with surprisingly bite-sized levels, as well as autosave between them. However, it also has RPG mechanics, such as a Vitality meter that goes down for every level you play, forcing you to go heal at an inn so you don't kill yourself. Also, along with the standard currency, equipment also requires you to have the right amount of crafting materials, which I never seemed to have. Thankfully, the demo never gets to the point where this would be an issue. In fact, it wouldn't even let me play the 5th level, even though I had beaten the other four, so I just assumed that's where the demo ended and stopped playing.

Twin-stick shooter + boss rush. Enemies and attack patterns are very well done (except the first boss falling on top of you at the start of the first level, but the dev has promised to change that). However, despite the main difficulty having one-hit-deaths, you have to beat three bosses in a row before you actually beat the level and get your progress saved. As such, I beat the demo on Easy mode, which gives you one extra hit before you die and makes the bosses noticeably a bit easier…but still doing nothing about the fundamental checkpoint issue.

A roguelite shmup where you have to start over from the first level every time you die…but the demo only has two levels, so it's not super annoying, even if your death was at the second boss like mine was. Likewise, you won't be able to afford any permanent upgrades/equipables until after you die. Enemy attack patterns are fine, though.

A strange Shmup where you deal contact damage to enemies instead of vice versa, but their bodies are where their bullets come from, so you're still better off shooting them from afar. Level design and enemy patterns are okay, but at the end of Normal mode, I was told to be "more aggressive," though I'm not really sure how. A casual playthrough is still enjoyable, though.

Solid platformer with decent level design, but both of the bosses are pretty big difficulty spikes, with some attacks being unavoidable if you don't bait the boss's aim correctly. I did notice that boss attacks deal less damage if you're low on health, but I always used healing items before seeing what'd happen if I let myself get killed.

Oh, and every now and then, the path is blocked by this card-suit-matching puzzle that really needs a better indicator of how it works, and as of this writing, there's still no word from the dev on if this'll change.

Although this game has solid controls and okay level design (barring the enemies that appear on a timer rather than in fixed locations), it's brought down by still having a lives system. I made it to the boss of the Ghosts & Goblins level, but lost all my lives to it and really didn't feel like replaying that whole level again. If I ever attempt to beat the full game, it'll be with savestates. I beat the Pepsiman/Terminator level normally, though, and that one was pretty good.

Promising start for a collectathon, though I didn't like how easy it is for the seagull-airplane/drone-things to sneak up on you if you're not pointing the camera at them (and platforms are small enough that getting hit knocks you off of them). Also, I just assumed the demo ends at the bus stop since there's no area-transition in its tunnel, just an invisible wall in the darkness.

Do you like Kirby? Specifically, Superstar Saga? Well, this is pretty much just a basic Kirby clone, but the Shmup segment suggests those mechanics will be built on further than official Kirby games like Kirby's Adventure usually do, and the demo's final boss feels more challenging than the average Kirby boss (though I did die and lose my copy ability, forcing me to wait for it to attack before I could counter).

Controls and level design are fine for free, but the trailer suggests the full game doesn't get developed much further than this.

I have my concerns over that one level in the demo that was just multiple lockdown arenas and enemy waves, but the rest of the demo is pretty good. I did notice that it's easy to tank pretty much all of the bosses' attacks and still win, though; I wonder if the full game will be more challenging?

The food-preparation segments were pretty gimmicky at times, but when the game is focusing on the platformer aspect of this platformer, it's pretty good. That said, I can't help but feel like the gimmicky food-preparation segments are going to be the main part of the full game…

Oh, the game also has a lives system, but I never got game over, so I can't speak for how bad it is.

Yet another Celeste copycat, though this one has fixed warp points within its long level, so it's more convenient if you want to get collectibles you missed the first time around. However, some collectibles require you to be airborne long enough before you can get them (and these are always significantly more difficult to get than the rest of the level's collectibles), while others are straight-up invisible until after you touch them! So yeah, just beat the level normally.

Just a decent platformer with solid controls and good level design. The only real thing I can say as a negative is that the "boss" (who you can't attack) goes on for a bit too long before you're allowed to progress. There was also one path in the lower-right of the level that I wasn't sure if it could be reached or if it was a come-from, so I ignored it and just finished the main level.

Despite the firefighting theme, there's no timer until you actually pick up the hostage, at which point you have to carry the person back to the entrance in time. This works for the most part, but can be annoying for levels with large, slow moving hazards (that'll be in different locations when you reach the hostage, potentially forcing you to wait after starting the timer) and for levels where you need to set up an escape route before starting the timer. Each level also has an optional cat you can rescue, but they get too well hidden starting with level 5.

Another Celeste clone. It's pretty fun until around the halfway point when it introduces blocks that fall when you touch them--which itself wouldn't be that bad if they didn't look exactly like normal solid tiles. Also, the spider enemies could use a less cheap introduction.

A precision platformer with some pretty good moments, but the falling eye blocks don't stand out that well and the shooting masks will disappear into the background between shots. Also, the disappearing blocks aren't synced with the spinning blades, so moving forward at a different time will result in the obstacles being in different (potentially unwinnable) locations, on top of that whole section being a difficulty spike and going a bit overboard.

This Celeste clone gives you an attack! It's a fireball that moves in the opposite direction you're pointing the left stick at, and you use its recoil as a dash/double-jump. That said, there are a few times you have to use it as an actual attack…not to fight enemies (there are none; it's a Celeste clone), but to break blocks, and it's really unintuitive to remember you have to point away from the block you want to break. Still, level design is pretty solid.

The gimmick that sets this game apart from other Celeste clones is that, once you get the water, your movement speed slows down and you have to get back to the start point. That said, levels loop around, so most of what you play through after getting the water is its own unique segment; you're only really going backwards through around three screens you originally went forward in, and there's never anything you can do on the first pass to change (for good or ill) what you have to do going back. It's also pretty easy until the raptor segment at the end of the demo, where you suddenly have to rush things because of all the fragile platforms.

This game actually lets you swim in any direction until you pick up the chest; then it becomes a platformer as you carry it back to the submarine, but you can always drop it to go back to swim mode. It's an interesting mechanic I don't think I've seen done before, and it's executed pretty well with some decent controls and level design. Only things I didn't like are the fake walls and one of the post-boss levels having switch blocks off-screen, making you have to guess at how to reach the optional switch if you want the level's star.

Although this game has very flat levels with next to no platforming, it makes up for it with Shmup-influenced enemy bullet patterns. It's a rare example of a game that looks bland actually being kinda fun, when usually the opposite is the case. Some enemies and bosses have too much health, though.

A bit slow to start because of all the things that need tutorials, but it does have some tricky puzzles at the beach (though the only reason the last level stumped me is because I didn't know the crabs could turn around).

Part of what'll stump you is when a new mechanic is introduced, because they're almost never introduced intuitively. If you can get past those, though, you'll see that the ones that only use previously-established mechanics are pretty fun.

It's mostly tutorials, including the last room which introduces that electrified blocks kill you if you get adjacent to them, but there are a couple moments of trickery with how you need to bend your grapple arm to get the blocks onto the switches.

This one also has some tricky levels, though I did notice the difficulty drop for a bit at the start of world 2 when the game introduces a new obstacle type.

Although most levels in this demo are pretty easy, the second side-path level (the levels with a circular entrance) was pretty tough, and the final main level in the demo (before the credits roll) wasn't too bad, either. IF the main game continues with this trend, this could be a real hidden gem.

Clicking an alien pushes whatever's in front of it by one tile, unless it's blocked by something else. Most of the 16 levels are rather easy and kinda boring, but like the other demos here, there's a few tricky ones.