It has been getting harder and harder to find demos that are not porn/A.I. games. It took me almost a whole hour to find 10 games. There are games that didn’t work, games that were kinda fun, and a few gems I will be buying when they release.
10. Slayblade
The resurgence of Beyblades as an actual hobby is awesome. I remember having one when I was younger, and so I figured that Henry’s House was going to bring it all the way home. Come to find out there was no real tutorial, onboarding, or anything really. You can customize your Slayblade with elements that help it deal more damage, get a special ability when the power cube shows up during a match, and other stuff. I was having a hard time understanding how to gain speed when I am giving my mouse whiplash and I still lose. It was fun for just about 5 minutes. The demo was pretty bare bones, and I wish there were more. #10 for nostaligia.
9. Restory: Chill Electronics Repair.
From Mandragora and tinyBuild, Restory is a cozy, relatively in-depth repair game that reminds me a lot of Assemble with Care. It was fun unscrewing screws, dusting off backplates, ordering replacement parts, and reassembling items that closely resembled the electronics I had when I was younger. I was stopped short when I placed an item on top of another, and it fell into the void. Then the internet guy never showed up. Regardless, I had fun with it, and it takes the 9 slot.
8. Cozy Cleaner
Cats do make a lot of the messes that I have to clean up in my life, and Payoff Games and Rogue Duck Interactive encapsulated it in game form and turned it up to 100. Pretty standard cozy game where you pick up garbage off the floor, mop up messes, dust pan stuff, get money, and upgrade everything until you are a cleaning machine. I like the cat’s personalities, the levels are quick and vary in terms of mess and location, upgrades feel worth it, and still give off that joy of cleaning a space in its entirety.
7. Snap Jaw
The world has apparently ended, and you have to appease the machines by fishing in Snapjaw from Midey, Carbon F16, and tNP studios. A game based solely on keeping up with the cost of fish quota at the top of the screen, the player needs to go out to an apocalyptic world and search for fishing holes to stay alive, or the enormous mechanical monster in the water will kill them. Driving the fishing boat is seamless, the fishing is relatively fun, but the real fun comes from the roguelite elements that will make or break the run. Things like increasing the chance of certain fish, increasing weight to make more money, and adding talents to your reels to make it easier to hit that quota. My boat was destroyed because I did not know that I needed to hide from bad guys!
6. Deer & Boy
Much like Planet of Lana, Deer & Boy from Lifeline Games, and Dear Villagers take the 6 slot. Another game that wanted me to learn the game without telling me exactly how I should be playing it. I like exploring, but when I am losing/dying at a constant rate, I need a hand here. These 2D/3D games always really take my breath away when it comes to the stuff going on in the background, and this game does just that. The demo has you in a few locations that let you experiment with how to command the deer to do your bidding, like pressing buttons and pushing things over to make your life a little easier. The puzzles in the demo were exactly where I wanted them to be; just enough thought to where I didn’t have to get out a piece of scrap paper. Beautiful game, fun demo, for sure.
5. Book Nook
I always wanted to get into building dioramas, but it looks like Malapata Studios has me covered in Book Nook. Pop little wooden objects from their homes in the diorama casing and start slotting in. Book Nook’s demo has you building a diorama in multiple steps; some directions are easier to read than others, and the end result is phenomenal, just like the overall design of the game. I love the way this game looks. There looks like to be a heartfelt story mayered in and I am here for. Big thanks to Wholesome Games for showing me this demo!
Coming in at #4 is the game About Fishing from The Water Museum and Playstack, and how it is linked to a double murder some time ago. You play as a young girl learning how to fish as she brings up the dead body of a missing girl. Your father takes the blame, and some time has passed, and you need to get back out there and find the other girl before it’s too late! The thing about this game is how well the onboarding does in teaching you the complicated mechanisms of fishing. The game starts and shows off its goofy reel mechanics, and when you are thrust into the game, you are given more information about the fishing. It is probably the most fun fishing game that I have ever played, and it is a demo. The game looks like a PS2 horror game with exceptional faces. I just want to play this game.
3. Froggy Brews
I like these odd job cozy games, especially this Froggy Brews from Komodo Range Studio. A cozy game with a heartfelt narrative in the background. Take the role of a frog looking for their friend and end up reopening a tea shop to serve tea, “that tells a story.” Going out, foraging for ingredients, talking with the townsfolk, and listening to them while making a specialty tea just for them is fun. The tea-making mini-game is especially fun, with the ability to make tea that heals, wakes up, energizes, and changes their overall mood. This game is also just so darn cute. The colors really pop, and the characters are so adorable, especially that little tadpole that teaches you how to make tea. I love this game.
2. Cat Mail Co.
I think that Maracas Studio knew what they were doing when they proposed a cozy game about cats and managing a post office. I downloaded this demo at the last moment, and here it is at the #2 slot. This game is so fun. Clean up a derelict post office, manage it however that you please, sort, stamp, scan, and deliver packages to cats with adorable names. I was overwhelmed at first, but I got into a groove I couldn’t stop. I like that once I got the hang of things, the game decided I should learn what fragile items are like and how they function. Now I had to find another spot near the boat that only had fragile items, so I stacked them on the bottom so I wouldn’t break any other packages. Super fun game, well worth the playtime.
Everything that Doot makes, I will play, and Milki Delivery is no different. A cozy game about a young woman who is looking for a friend for her cow, Milki. The game is an adventure to find out where all the cows have gone by collecting resources to upgrade your bike and barn, meeting strange, fun characters, and delivering milk to them in exchange for help. The game is absolutely beautiful, and it did not stumble at any point during my playthrough. I loved riding around, delivering milk and talking with the countryfolk, learning about them and the countryside. This is a purchase for sure!
Grinds and Games 