The Demons Told Me To Make This Game is the debut title from self-proclaimed “reckless artist” Haunted Dude is a wild mash of genres. It’s part horror, part mystery, and a bold take on the visual novel format. Can you steer one of gaming’s oddest couples from the jaws of death? Or would you rather let them walk straight into it? In The Demons Told Me To Make This Game, the choice is truly yours. It’s also available in early access now on Steam for just £11.
The Devil Is In The Detail
If games were about first impressions, then The Demons Told Me To Make This Game leaves a weird and confusing one. You progress through the desolately dark town of Red Hives, trying to comprehend why the town’s inhabitants are behaving so strangely.
With possessed individuals at every turn, there is something unexpected behind every scene. So let’s delve a bit deeper, shall we?
Gameplay
Initially, you are greeted with a dark and mildly gothic cartoon art style. Alongside this is a scrolling test box on the right side of the screen. So far, so Disco Elysium. However, not before too long, you are thrown into a twisted time loop mechanic. Make your choices, and if things go sideways, you are sent back to the beginning. This allows for much fun and games with dialogue options and their outcomes. They often lead to your grisly demise in a variety of twisted and comedic ways.
It’s not just played for laughs. With each loop, you will learn something new and pick up clues. In one particular instance, you’ll have to instruct your hero not to take down an assailant with a pink dildo. Last time the outcome of that was…not positive. In short, to win at The Demons Told Me To Make This Game, you will need to listen, understand, fail, and fail again before landing upon the golden path out of a particular situation.
Careless Whisper
And here comes the original aspect of The Demons Told Me To Make This Game. You are not in direct control of your characters. You play as Dark Wisp, an entity who can inhabit minds and allow you to create havoc. It’s like having a little devil on your shoulder, without the angel on the other side.
For the most part, you will be whispering into the ears of Gum and Tape, your likable if slightly dim-witted avatars. Seemingly, they are just as confused as you are. Slowly over the game’s duration, you will learn more about their back stories and motivations. One failed exorcism at a time. Their banter always contains a certain amount of jovial friction, as you steer them through the game world to survive. As Dark Wisp, you will be providing the encouragement required for them to carry out your bidding, and rarely do they put up much resistance. Whether it involves attacking a demonic penguin or chewing your arm off, Gum and Tape are more often than not, happy to oblige.
Overall, this approach to narrative design is a triumph, and the time and effort put into the failed conclusions, quips, and emotional moments deserve much applause.
Where There’s A Will There’s A Way
You will, on occasion, be met with a scenario that requires more than just a dialogue choice. This is where you will enter a “Battle Of Wills”, or in other words, a simple reaction-based mini game. It’s the one weak link in a very polished experience. Hit the space bar on cue or link a sequence of button prompts, and you will be granted your choice. It’s the slight difficulty bump needed for those choices that progress the story, but they feel half-baked and lack the imagination present in the rest of the game.
Outside of the visual novel chapters, there are some isometric sections, which put you in direct control of the Wisp. Here, you listen to and arrange story threads into a chronological order. These sections are simplistic, allowing the story to step outside of the main cast, providing an arc that ties the game together. If the order is not immediately apparent, you can brute-force your way through using trial and error.
Graphics & Audio
The Disco Elysium spirit is here in spades, but The Demons Told Me To Make This Game brings enough of its own style to stand out from the pack.
While the majority of game time is played out with the bare minimum of animation, it’s all beautifully drawn. Each encounter, whether gruesome or comedic, matches the atmosphere perfectly. Even when it switches to a 3D viewpoint, it retains a high level of artistic flair without being jarring.
Unsurprisingly, given the volume of text, there is no voice acting in The Demons Told Me To Make This Game. The musical score is appropriately haunting, ranging from 90s-tinged indie-grunge to more traditional John Carpenter-esque soundscapes. It complements the proceedings without ever upstaging them, and cannot be faulted.
Longevity
Due to the the time loops that require several play throughs, you will see close to all that The Demons Told Me To Make This Game has to offer on your first run. Thankfully, this is a fairly sizeable game with each scenario taking several hours to complete. Add to that the time spent looking out of the window, deciding your next move, you have a sizable epic on your hands. It’s an immaculately designed affair that never leaves you feeling short-changed.
Plus it is still in early access with the developer saying they will be releasing each loop as they make them. Giving an episodic feel to the game.
Final Thoughts
The Demons Told Me To Make This Game is a triumph of writing and creative narrative design. The characters and the world they inhabit are as engrossing as they are fascinating. It would have been easy to fumble the shifts between the comedy, gore, and the occasionally surreal nature of it, but it’s handled with grace and verve. If you can forgive lumpy mini games and the repetition that comes with having to run scenarios ad nauseam, then you are in for an adventure quite like no other.
Even in it’s early access form, The Demons Told Me To Make This Game is a must-buy for fans of the visual novel format and those looking for something with an unexpected twist.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this preview.
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