Demon Tides Review: Waves of fun | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: Steam

Price: $24.99

I’ll be the first to admit I was late to the platforming party, it took 2024’s Astrobot to show me that 3D platformers can be very enjoyable. Between the music and the chill positive vibes, I was obsessed. I needed to find every secret the game had to offer spending more time than I thought I would ever put into a game to beat the more challenging levels. Since then, I’ve been chasing the metaphorical “dragon” trying game after game hoping for that feeling of childlike wonder. Demon Tides is the game I’ve been looking for.

Demon Tides is an open world 3D platformer where I take on the role of the Demon Queen Beebz who was invited to another kingdom by its ruler who reveals in the invitation to be her dad. On the way, the ship runs aground which reveals the map and narrative.. I’m not locked to a level or in this case an island, there is very little direction as to where to go and to me that felt by design. When I talked to another character that gave  me an objective they would mark it on my map but the mark was so big that it still encouraged discovery. I would fall down several rabbit holes on my way to a destination, mostly because the movement in this game feels amazing.

I could see the potential of how good it would feel to master the movement system

The first question anyone should ask when it comes to a platformer is “How’s the movement?” For Demon Tides the movement is amazing! Even before unlocking new abilities just playing the tutorial I knew I was going to have a lot of fun, it’s hard to explain but I could see the potential of how good it would feel to master the movement system, from spinning to somersaulting through the air. The movement was smooth, fast, and responsive. My Dualsense controller responded to the movement perfectly. Moving past the tutorial, the use of talismans allowed me to customize my abilities letting me pick and choose my style of gameplay.

The relaxed vibes aren’t limited to just the narrative either

Much like the title suggests, Demon Tides is all about the beach vibes from the relaxed exploration to the music that sounds like the background music at a bar or shop on the coast. Beebz friends join her for the adventure and their personalities enhance the beachy vibes.I constantly looked forward to swimming back to my boat to catch up with my friends seeing what they’ve been up to during my adventures. The relaxed vibes aren’t limited to just the narrative either, the gameplay helps, taking a mechanic from the last game Demon Turf letting me place a checkpoint wherever I felt necessary letting me quickly get back to challenging parkour areas without the frustration of climbing back up. My favorite mechanic was the graffiti mechanic, letting me tag any surface and share it much like leaving messages in Elden Ring. I saw so much creativity from players before the game had even come out. There was even some art that had me cracking up.

Final Grade: A

Demon Tides is a very fun platformer with charismatic characters and smooth movement. It’s the perfect spring or summer game to play just to get into the season and remind everyone to sit back and enjoy the waves sometime.

Review code provided by Future Friends Games