I’m pretty spoiled when it comes to platformers. I grew up on a healthy diet of Mario, Sonic, Sly Cooper, and pretty much every other mascot run-and-jump game you can name, so I’m real particular about whether a platformer’s movement feels good enough to hold my attention. Demon Tides, Fabraz’s sequel to 2021’s Demon Turf, feels like a mash-up of so many good platformers that, thanks to all those years I spent running and jumping, make it fit like a glove. The game’s impeccable movement design seems to draw on the best of what multiple games have done, fusing them all at once to make something that feels weighty, yet still fast and fluid enough that movement feels like a joy, not just a means to an end.
I’m only a couple of hours into Demon Tides on Steam (it showed up around the same time as Resident Evil Requiem, I’m sorry!), but the early segments do a great job of introducing you to all the tools the game gives you to get around. Our spunky hero Beebz can transform into different animals at will, allowing her to seamlessly and effortlessly change how she moves through the environment. She can fly, float, grind, swim, and climb, among other things, and the transition between each of these modes of movement is quick, intuitive, and keeps the momentum going as long as your finger’s on the analog stick.
Over the past decade and a half or so, as some games have started to prioritize map size over many other things, traversal has become a common point of friction for me. If moving through a world isn’t quick and painless, I grow to resent giant worlds for wasting my time, thinking about how I would have once been able to accomplish much more in a smaller area rather than having to spend several minutes walking to the good stuff because someone decided that time spent getting somewhere is the pinnacle of game design. If I’m just walking along or riding a horse to get somewhere, my attention drifts pretty quickly, so if you’re going to have a big world, it had better be engaging to move through, and I’d better get where I need to go fast. Demon Tides’ open ocean would be daunting and annoying in most games, but transforming into Beebz’s snake form and slithering at incredible speeds makes getting to my next mission and obstacle course a breeze.
Ironically enough, platformers are probably one of the genres best-suited for open-world game design because movement and flow is paramount to these games, even though we typically associate open worlds with grand RPGs or a Grand Theft Auto metropolis. The promise of a large space is only delivered upon if it’s actually fun to explore, and Demon Tides‘ collage of platforming staples accomplish that by hitting the sweet spot, making sure that your character feels like they have some weight and substance as you push the stick to move but never holding you down. Demon Tides manages to capture the vibe of something retro while giving the modern explorer a big map to sink their teeth into.
Though I’m still early and have many hours to go, Demon Tides scratches an itch I used to satisfy several times a year, but don’t get to as often nowadays. Though 3D platformers aren’t as en vogue as they once were, I still yearn for hopping and skipping through an obstacle course every now and then. Demon Tides has all the makings of a game that would have become an early PlayStation classic, and I’m eager to see how much gas it has in the tank as I play on.
