Demon Turf is the best kind of 3D platformer, one that is simple to pick up and play, but once you start to delve into its intricacies you see just how deep the movement system really is. If you like deep, tight platforming experiences with a huge amount of content to dig into, Demon Turf is exactly what you’re looking for.
You play as Beebz, a bratty demon girl with ambitions of becoming the Demon Queen. In order to usurp the current Demon King, you must travel to the strongholds of his various lieutenants and best them in combat, although to even get an audience with them, you’ll need to complete various platforming levels, each with a unique mechanical theme to keep things varied throughout your playtime. The story is simple, mostly acting as a bridge between platforming levels, but I found the main cast to be charming all the same. Each level has a battery at the end, which you need to unlock the boss fight, but there’s also additional collectibles in each level, which you use as currency to unlock cosmetic rewards or modifiers to your abilities.
The real joy of the game is the platforming itself. You have so many options available to you, it's a bit crazy. I can’t go into much detail here, or else the review would be three times the length, but between the wall jumps, backflips, hover techniques, long jumps, and the combinations of all of the above, you have plenty to sink your teeth into. But this isn’t just a high skill ceiling game, the skill floor is quite low as well, making it easy to get into. It honestly reminds me of the 3D Mario games, the basic moves allow anyone to play, but with a huge amount of depth for those who wish to push themselves further.
And once you’ve beaten the boss of each region, you unlock remixed versions of each level in the zone showing Beebz in charge, absolutely none of which are merely the same level but tougher, but new challenges that often explore the new move you would have acquired. And then you have all the bonus content to make your way through, such as combat arena’s, platforming challenges, a ball pushing minigame, and a photography challenge. And THEN you have the two free expansions to the game; Demon Turf: Neon Splash is a pure platforming experience through a surreal, vaporwave world unique to it, and Demon Turf: Tower, where you are trapped in an imposing tower and must push your platforming skills to the limit. You are certainly not going to be short on stuff to do.
Visually, it has an interesting mix of 2D character sprites and 3D environments. It might look a bit strange at first, with the mix of art styles, but I can assure you that the game feels great to play. The art style is charming, with each zone having its own theme and distinct colour palette, and the soundtrack is equally unique. I can’t think of any other game which, for example, mixes cybernetic synth with Tibetan mountain chanting.
Demon Turf is a unique looking, highly accessible, and deeply engaging platforming game with a huge amount of content behind it. Whether you are a platforming pro or a new arrival to the genre, I cannot recommend Demon Turf enough.
