Demo round-up from gamescom 2020
Gamescom 2020 is underway, and everything is different this year. Well, maybe not everything. What's true once again is that there are many incredible adventure games on display, only this time it's happening entirely online. With the world facing quarantines, social distancing and negative travel advisories, there was no way a physical event attracting hundreds of thousands of gamers from across the world was going to happen. But in the online space, the Indie Arena Booth has managed to get enough people together to not just fill its own distinct section but the whole show floor. In an isometric multi-user online environment not unlike the old Ultima, some 200-ish indie games have set up virtual booths anyone can visit from now through Sunday. Besides offering trailers and screenshots, a good number of these have demos hosted via Steam, GOG, and itch.io, and if you're lucky you may even be able to spot the developers and have a quick chat.
While anyone is welcome to register and stroll around for themselves (registration required), we've done some advanced scouting, so here are the adventure game demos we found if you want to skip the lines and get straight to playing. Most if not all will only be available until August 30th, so it's now or never, though we'll be providing additional round-up coverage after the event.
(We'll be adding more demos to the list as they become available, so stay tuned!)
Aethernaut
Aethernaut is a first-person puzzle game set in a claustrophobic steampunk world. You must solve puzzle rooms using light, sensors, portals and time travel to gather the aether vials and access the core of the Construct. You are guided by Doctor Louis Cornell who explains how the Construct came to be abandoned and why you were chosen to help save it. Soon, however, unsettling voices start creeping into your mind, warning you against the doctor and pleading for your help.
Chicken Police
Sonny Featherland and Marty MacChicken were once legendary detective partners, but time had passed them by. Sonny is a burnt-out, alcoholic ex-cop, who spends his days in an abandoned hotel, while Marty hides behind the facade of a star detective, but slowly he’s losing himself. Now they’re back together again on a case bigger and much more dangerous than anything they’ve ever encountered before.
Cyanide & Happiness: Freakpocalypse
Cooper “Coop” McCarthy is on a quest just to keep his head down and make it to graduation without having to deal with an apocalypse. Sorry Coop, you’re about to have a real rough year. He’s joined by Sawyer Allen, an aspiring investigative journalist with a know-it-all streak that just might save the day, and Hugo “Chowder” Malone, a consummate “gentleman” with a love for novelty swords and leaving comments on YouTube videos.
Gamedec
Gamedec is a single-player non-combat cyberpunk isometric RPG. You are a game detective who solves crimes inside virtual worlds. Use your wits to gather info from your witnesses and suspects, get to the bottom of deceptive schemes, save lives, and investigate the extraordinary relationships between virtual worlds and their inhabitants. The game continually adapts to your choices and never judges – you are the sum of your choices.
Genesis Noir
A noir adventure spanning time and space. When a love triangle between cosmic beings becomes a bitter confrontation, you'll witness a gunshot fired by a jealous god—otherwise known as The Big Bang. Jump into the expanding universe and search for a way to destroy creation and save your love.
Ghost on the Shore
Ghost on the Shore is a story exploration game where you play as Riley. Craving adventure, she escapes her abusive father to sail a rickety boat across the high seas. When one night a storm forces her to drop anchor at the deserted Rogue Islands, she encounters the ghost of Josh, dead for as long as he can remember. He gets trapped inside Riley’s head and is unable to let go until she helps him remember his life. And death. To make it out without losing her mind, Riley will have to uncover the darkest secrets of the islands.
Growbot
Nara is a student growbot on her first day of captaincy training on board a space station. Before she can learn more about her new home's ecosystem of alien flowers and strange creatures, an attack by an unknown force infests the station with large and quickly growing crystals. Communication is cut off, and so she ventures out of her room in search of her captain. Along the way, she must make new friends, fix the station's strange machinery, and discover the origins of the crystalline force spreading throughout the station.
Hazel Sky
Hazel Sky is a heartfelt adventure about a young engineer facing his destiny and his desires. Sent to an island far from home in the flying city of Gideon, Shane must pass the trials and return as an engineer or face banishment. Connected via radio, Shane and fellow trainee engineer, Erin strike up an illicit friendship. A friendship that will change the way Shane sees the world. The Trials are the ultimate test that every engineer must take before taking the honored role. For Shane, the trials are his destiny, but destiny and desire rarely align and, in a world divided between honored engineers and reviled artists, Shane finds himself torn. The trials, events in Gideon, and an unlikely romance tell the bittersweet story of love, ambition, and a society on the brink of something new.
Jessika
As a private detective who specializes in analyzing digital footprints, you’ve been hired to investigate the apparent suicide of the titular character. Her father is convinced that foul play was involved in her untimely death. Now it’s up to you to piece together the series of unfortunate events that led to her demise. Access her database and browse her files by typing different search terms. These will give you access to video clips, audio files, notes, and news articles. Share these with the client and your colleagues to dig even deeper.
A Juggler's Tale
An atmospheric 3D side-scroller set in a puppet theater play. The string puppet Abby flees from her captors into freedom and adventure: a world of beauty and wonder but also danger! She finds herself in a war-torn, medieval fairy tale, surrounded by ravaged, starving citizens and hunted by the relentless cut-throat, Tonda. Who can she trust? Can she avoid the traps and betrayal? Despite dangling from her threads, Abby learns that she can still influence her destiny, if only by winning over the audience.
Lamentum
Lamentum is a pixel art survival-horror game set in New England in the mid-nineteenth century. To solve the dark secret at the heart of Grau Hill Mansion, you will have to immerse yourself in a nightmare world full of terrible creatures. Choose well in whom to trust, every decision you make may alter the course of the story. Will you survive?
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