Forgive Me Father demo half-playthrough (Nextfest Oct 2021)
2(Note: This is only a half-playthrough due to time constraints - if I'd had time I definitely would've played the whole demo!)
This stood out during Realms Deep 2021 so I figured I'd give it a try. I wasn't going into this expecting it to measure up to e.g. the various gzdoom-based games shown off, and in terms of gameplay I'm unsure what to think in terms of how it will ultimately hold up - it feels like it could get somewhat repetitive, given how enemies (especially melee) tend to funnel towards you.
However, I was blown away by some of the environments beyond the first level - I wasn't expecting 3D aspects to e.g. foliage, and that really stands out amidst the otherwise 2D aesthetic. That being said, I think some elements of the 2D aesthetic could use some work in terms of clarity - for instance, it's very easy for button prompts to appear halfway offscreen due to how they're positioned absolutely against their target. Also, a lot of the story text is rather tiny.
There were seemingly a couple of bugs in the demo that I hope get worked out. Most glaringly, it seemed that if I elected to overwrite a save file, it instead just straight-up deleted it without saving a new one. (It also doesn't ask to confirm overwriting, which I hope is only an artifact of early development.) Also related to the save menu, apparently opening it doesn't actually pause the game?