Howl Review (f$l>k0arl)
I immediately liked the game's storybook visuals and was intrigued by the promise of challenging tactical gameplay. As far as promises and trailers go, they can be hit and miss, so I appreciate there being a relatively comprehensive demo. It lets you play about 70% of the first chapter and made a good case for the game.
The early levels seem a bit more restricted and puzzle-y, especially considering that enemies are acting deterministically, i.e. they follow a known set of rules, no randomness involved.
However, after unlocking the first couple of skills, the player's options really open up and levels generally feature a number of enemies that will make it feel properly tactical and less puzzle-like.
I have yet to complete the full game, but the number of side-paths on chapter maps and the challenge of 100%-ing each level seems pretty substantial to me. Speaking of acing levels: I found myself flush in "Confidence & Skulls" (the currency for unlocking and levelling skills) pretty early on - Whatever skill I want, I can usually get right away, without having to actually work towards it. I'm guessing this is hard to balance without frustrating more casual players, but I thought I'd mention it.
Super-minor, but I enjoyed the game properly recognizing the Switch Pro Gamepad I use on PC and showing me the correct button-prompts, even adopting a sort of Switch-style assignment of confirm/cancel buttons. It's not mentioned on the store page and might not matter to most, but I thought it was a neat touch worth mentioning.
Presentation-wise, it's best not to expect anything crazy. Story presentation is pretty simplistic, but I think it fits the style of the game and all the ingredients (visuals, writing, audio, voice work) blend nicely. Reminds me of SNES-era games, before everything had to be a twenty minute animated cut scene. If you dig that, definitely check this out! The game is pretty to look at, offers a solid challenge without feeling tedious or stressful.