Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure Demo

Despite the fact that point-and-click adventure games struggled for a while in the past, they are certainly back in full force, thanks to studios like Telltale and the incredible games they keep developing. Indie developers now have a lot more options at their disposal if they intend to create something, such as crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo.

Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure tries to stay as true to the genre as possible, by borrowing ideas and concepts from the classics and mashing them together with a healthy dose of humor. While the game doesn’t really try to revolutionize anything about the genre, the combination of elements taken from all sorts of interesting sources makes the final product stand out from the crowd.

To begin with, the story revolves around an antiques merchant by the name of Bjorn Thonen, who happens to get robbed one day. It doesn’t help that he got home very drunk the previous night, so he has a hard time remembering anything about when or how he got robbed. However, the plot takes a few sharp turns along the way, and it touches on a variety of mysteries and curious characters along the way.

Gameplay-wise, every fan of point-and-click games should feel right at home from the first few minutes. Your main job is to investigate the environments and collect various items, only to combine them together or use them to unlock the way further. The algorithm is quite obvious and repetitive at times, but the actual puzzles are rather fun and engaging. To keep your mind occupied, the main character is always spewing funny lines, not to mention his odd reactions in certain circumstances.

Just like in every other adventure game out there, the visual quality is important, because you have a lot of time on your hands to admire the scenery. Thankfully, the artists did a good job on the game at hand, especially when it comes to level design and the characters. There are plenty of objects decorating the environments, and most of the characters are nicely animated as well.

In the end, Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure appears to have its ducks in order and just enough good ideas to be worth your attention. The puzzles are engaging, the story is intriguing, and everything looks sharp enough not to feel cheap. Hence, if you are a fan of the point-and-click adventure genre, this might be one of the games you cannot miss.

Note: If you enjoyed the Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure demo and would like to play more, you can help the development process by donating money on the official Kickstarter project page.