Return after a break: what I played from demos on Steam
Everyone goes through quiet periods in gaming, but it's always nice to return to something new. My return to gaming and current gaming coincided with a wave of announcements for 2026, as well as the Steam demo festival. So while some are debating the future of the industry, I decided to taste its prototypes and downloaded five demos that seemed most interesting to me. Now I am eager to share my impressions.
GRIME II
The first demo that caught my eye. I’m not familiar with the first part and the developers at Clover Bite, so this is a clean look from the outside without regard to the successes of the original.
So, what do we have? This is a metroidvania set in a world of "art gone mad". The world literally consists of stone, paint, and some giant sculptures. We play as a "formless entity", a kind of Form Eater.
The main feature is the gameplay based on transformations. Our character can transform their arms into monstrous tentacles to parry attacks and, most interestingly, absorb their forms.
Eat a monster and get its "phantom form". This phantom can be summoned in battle: it will attack alongside you, distract enemies, or help explore levels by revealing hidden paths. Essentially, the hero collects a collection of abilities from defeated bosses and mobs.
I’ll also note that the demo is translated into Russian.
In the trial, you get to try the very beginning: a couple of locations, an introduction to the basic combat, upgrades, and, of course, a serious skirmish with the first bosses. Visually, the game is very stylish and unusual. The world resembles living surrealistic images made up of strange materials presented in the form of gigantic hands, tentacles, and acidic marshy backgrounds.
The game feels quite unhurried — it’s a kind of 2D souls-like where every hit requires thought. I must say, this feature is not new in the industry, and as a lover of more dynamic 2D platforms, I usually relate to such a pace with caution. But here it’s at least not annoying: no discomfort or feeling of "laziness" was caused in the first minutes.
However, the main "feature" of absorbing forms in the demo does not work at full strength. In fact, the main weapon at the start is a simple axe; later, I found a club and a knife. There’s a basic attack, a strong one (which consumes a special point from the weapon itself, accumulated from hits), but absorption so far only gives the opportunity to call a weak monster attack once. Ate an enemy — hit once and lost the form. Ate another before using, and the form was replaced. And so on.
To get a permanent form, you need to complete side quests. Then it can be locked in one of three slots. But here’s the nuance: each "remembered" form will consume one point of form (these are the white ovals under the health bar) when summoned. So the resource is finite, and mindlessly spamming abilities won't work.
Let’s take a look at the menu. The inventory here is made quite classically: there are slots where armor, weapons, and consumables stack properly. Four slots are reserved for protection. However, the word "protection" should be taken in quotes here. Armor in GRIME II does not work as we are used to; it doesn’t directly increase survivability but simply provides a boost to one of five attributes. Put on armor — get +1 strength. Put on gloves — +1 health. So this is not even armor in the classical sense, but rather additional slots for passive buffs.
As for weapons, there are two slots, classic for souls games, between which you can switch directly in battle. So far, in the current build, there is not much variety (in my playthrough, besides the starting axe, I found only two weapons), but the system hints that in the future, players can tailor builds for specific bosses or play styles. If you like to absorb damage — pick armor with health bonuses and take a two-handed club. Prefer to dodge — look for agility gear and arm yourself with a fast dagger.
And this is not just an option: one weapon cannot really fend off enemies. In my case, the main was a dagger, but its attack range made fighting those "hedgehogs", which deal damage if touched even slightly, risky. Thus, the axe and club were always at hand.
Now about character development. Experience here is gained for killing local inhabitants. And you know, it works in such a way that you can just walk in circles in one location and farm until you get bored. The system does not place any barriers: if you want, go ahead, if you want, level up by grinding the same monsters.
However, there is an obvious nuance: the more levels you gain on the same type of monster, the "poorer" the return becomes. The experience for defeating the next monster is less and less enough for a level, and at some point, you have to accumulate for a long while until the next level-up. A classic move: it gently nudges the player to move forward instead of stagnating. But it doesn’t add bright impressions from the improvement process itself — everything is too straightforward. For a souls-like, it’s normal, but in metroidvania, it’s boring.
When a level is finally gained, the upgrade screen opens with five attributes. Four of them correspond to damage for different types of weapons and forms. And the fifth is the classic health. There are no unexpected development branches or complicated talent trees here. However, judging by the fact that I have unlocked only two out of three forms for unlock, this might be temporary.
What you expect to find engaging in such a game are the bosses. The ones showcased in the demo appear quite monotonous for now, but you wouldn't call them primitive. Their difficulty lies in unpredictability: at first, it is impossible to guess what move the opponent will make. However, as soon as you memorize their behavior, the battle turns into a fine-tuned technique. You stop making mistakes, and victory comes easily.
Probably, in the trial version, the bosses seem relatively easy also due to the hero's meager arsenal. When there are few attack buttons, remembering them is as easy as the boss's attacks honed for them. I believe that in the final version of the game, when upgrades unlock dozens of new forms and moves, fights will require much higher concentration and reaction speed. For now, unfortunately, everything is too predictable.
RESULT
The game is interesting and visually very stylish, but personally, I’ve had enough of the demo.
I won’t await the release and rush to buy it on launch day. Rather, I will do this: leave it in my wishlist. Maybe in a couple of years, I’ll want to switch from my usual genres or finally immerse myself in 2D metroidvanias with a souls-like lean. Then I'll come back. But for now, I’m moving on as I still have demos ahead.
I can only recommend it to genre fans. If you enjoy thoughtful exploration, pattern memorization, and don’t rush for reaction speed — download it boldly. For others, like me, take a look, but don’t expect a miracle.
Darkhaven
The second demo in my selection, and here I declare from the start: this is that very game where the creators do not hesitate to shout about their heritage. The developers, coming from the team of the original Diablo and Diablo II, have matching ambitions. They promise "next-gen isometric ARPG" with a procedurally generated yet lively and changing world.
Straight away, I’ll note the main downside, in the demo there is no support for the Russian language. Whether it will be present at release, I do not know.
What we see in reality. As I understood, we have a mixture of a building simulator with a destructible landscape and a diabloid. After launching, the first thing that caught my eye was the hybrid control scheme. Mouse as in classic Diablo and WASD with space for jumping and Ctrl for dashing. The heroine can perform a double jump. This is unusual for Diablo but standard for isometric roamers.
After playing through the demo, I can say: the hybrid control scheme didn’t turn out too well. The developers should have chosen one. Either completely abandon character movement control via the mouse, or split the schemes into two - with the possibility of switching between them. For example, on a gamepad, controlling the heroine feels noticeably better: the game is perceived as isometric action, which is much more familiar and comfortable. But controlling all other elements (menu, inventory, and interface) with a gamepad is extremely inconvenient.
Gameplay is typical for a standard diabloid. Overall, the approach is quite interesting but simple. We destroy enemies in packs, but now, thanks to the landscape and jump, there is slightly more maneuvering possibilities. You can maintain "dominant heights".
The inventory is familiar to everyone: nothing new, we collect items and place them into the classic "puzzle". The upgrades are simple. There are three branches of one class. Overall, the upgrade system is not overloaded compared to Path of Exile, which I personally like. But for me, as a "casual in the world of diabloids", the class of the heroine remained incomprehensible: is she a mage, thief, warrior, or a bit of everything? I will assume this is a genre feature. Besides the very Diablo, in no diabloid did I fully understand how the classes work.
Of interesting features, I will highlight a separate equipment window for "tattoos". They can be worn and removed like regular items. The same tattoo provides different bonuses depending on the place of "application" (head, arm, leg, torso). The concept is interesting, but in the demo version, it feels like a temporary placeholder. The ability to remove a tattoo and place it into another slot looks far too much like a "gaming condition".
The enemies are generally diverse, but we have seen them somewhere before. Goblins with daggers, torches, and large bomb packs, shamans summoning a rain of fire. Undead of various breeds: from huge skeleton-knights to mages of different elements. Flying one-eyed “kaokdemons”, lizardmen, swarms of beetles. For a demo, it’s excellent; for a game, it’s not unique yet.
As is usual in diabloids, there are health and magic spheres. Health can be replenished with "flasks," which recharge over time. A flask can be found and placed into an equipment slot, and throughout the game, more effective options with additional effects can be encountered. Crystals are scattered across the map. Hit one, and the heroine will recover magic.
Destructibility and building. This is undoubtedly an interesting feature, but it’s currently implemented rather crudely, mostly as an idea. The landscape does indeed destruct, but limitedly: the "edges of the map" cannot be changed. You can try digging down, but it’s a pointless activity, finding nothing interesting. Logically, since we play a diabloid from a top-down perspective, and not a third-person survival game.
As a feature for a diabloid, it works excellently. You can break through a wall with a club or magic instead of wandering through the labyrinth. I have always dreamed of this in games of this genre! However, there are repercussions. Behind a stone wall may be a layer of lava that floods the room. Or you might dig up skeletons with zombies that attack immediately. But there are also rewards. For example, those very mana crystals.
So far, things are modest with building. There is a mode where you can erect stone masonry. And that’s all. However, if you apply your imagination, you can build yourself a sniper position or a platform to reach a high mound. As for the "dig" mechanic, besides fireballs, I found none.
Thanks to the dynamic landscape, the developers amusingly play with global changes. In the current version, the Necropolis gradually expands until we complete the quest. It spares nothing: neither water bodies, nor lava, nor even the starting "town" (or rather, the ruins). Oh, and portals (transportation points) as well. In cursed territory, undead enemies constantly appear. Eventually, it can come to the point where you have to walk on foot and fend off hordes of zombies and skeletons. The tension builds, and it’s great.
RESULT
In the demo version, you can see an ambitious project with the legacy of Diablo and fresh ideas. The destructible environment and the advance of the Necropolis add freshness, but the implementation currently leaves questions. Control requires polishing, and building lacks depth. Nevertheless, it leaves a pleasant aftertaste and a desire to follow the game’s development. Which I will probably do. I recommend downloading and trying it to all genre lovers.
SpaceCraft
The third demo in my selection and again a genre shift. This time it’s a space sandbox about survival, building, and automation from Shiro Games. In short: they promise Factorio on a galactic scale with elements of No Man's Sky and economic strategy.
In this demo there is no support for the Russian language.
The storyline is more for atmosphere: humanity lost a war to robots and fled through a portal to an unexplored galaxy. Now we need to settle in the new place.
![Character Editor