Earlier this year, we met with Daedelic Entertainment to preview some of their upcoming games set to release in 2023. During that meeting, we previewed Reveil, Rough Justice: 84, and the now-infamous The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Since then, Daedalic Entertainment has announced that moving forward they’d be focusing more on publishing games rather than developing them. With that in mind, Daedalic Entertainment showcased ten promising games: Capes, Edge of Sanity, Fling to the Finish, Hidden Deep, Magin: The Rat Project Stories, New Cycle, Reveil, Wanderful, Wild Woods, and Woodo. Due to a tight schedule at PAX West 2023, we decided to check out only Capes, Fling to the Finish, Reveil, and Wild Woods. Below are our impressions of Reveil & Capes.
Reveil
Out of all the titles at PAX West 2023, we were most familiar with the Indie Horror game, Reveil; because of this, we decided to see what new changes had been implemented on the Reveil demo. Before diving too deep into the demo, we discovered that it was the same demo from PAX East 2023 just with updated visuals. This time, we got to be truly immersed in the dark and twisted visuals with imaginative and creepy details. Since it was the same demo as before, we decided to watch others play and see how they reacted to the demo.
The first key difference was the updated graphics. As we mentioned, there seemed to be an overhaul to the game’s engine and the graphics within the demo. Despite having more details, the game was smoother and the PC gave off less heat than before. Movement within the game felt more fluid and natural where you didn’t feel like a puppet on a string. If you enjoy suspenseful horror games, it is worth checking out Reveil. At the moment, the game has a 2023 placeholder, but there is a discussion that it will be released in October 2023.
Capes
After checking out the updated visuals and gameplay of Reveil, we moved on to Capes. Capes is a tactical real-time strategy game similar to XCOM. Capes takes place in a world where civilization is ruled by the villains. Superheroes are put down before they become a threat to the corporation. We started the demo by meeting resistance fighters who were determined to take down the evil organization and rescue humanity. In order to do this they must build up their forces and move within the shadows to not have their plot discovered.
After detecting an anomaly, the team is sent to rescue a superhuman from the corporation. Upon arriving at the super’s house, the corporation is already attempting to eliminate the “threat”. The two heroes, decide to risk it all and take out the corporation soldiers. Jumping into action, combat turns into grid-based combat.
In combat, the player can move the heroes to attack the enemy operatives. The male character (Facet) focused more on tankiness utilizing his crystals to protect himself, put up blockades, and entomb enemies. The female hero (Rebound) had the ability to teleport and focus more on stealth and sneak attacks. In combat, the player can disarm enemies. The game shows the combat order so planning ahead is the player’s greatest ally; before we realized the combat order, our Rouge hero (Rebound) almost died. After understanding her abilities a bit further, we could use them to disarm or attack multiple enemies within a certain area.
After eliminating the original infiltration unit, we are introduced to a new super who has psychic abilities similar to Charles Xavier from X-Men. The corporation isn’t done just yet sending reinforcements. With a new ally, taking on the evil organization was a lot easier. After the fights concluded, a mysterious figure is briefly noticed but is dismissed.
As a casual RTS player, it was nice to be able to focus more on the action than having to worry about defensive positioning. The combat took a little bit to get used to but was pretty user-friendly; it will be interesting to see the game’s story when it eventually releases. If you want to check out the full demo, you can refer to ReformistTM Demo Video.
Overall, Daedalic Entertainment had a great assortment of games for PAX West attendees to try out. Based on what we got to preview, it looks like they have done a great job selecting titles to publish. Hopefully, they will stick to publishing titles vs. developing their own titles for the time being. Do any of the games sound interesting to you? Which game looks the most appealing to you?
