Adventuring Through: Freja and the False Prophecy Kickstarter Demo

I got to play the demo of Freja and the False Prophecy, which is currently under development at Unsigned Double Collective, and can be backed at its Kickstarter campaign page until about 2 PM on 1 January 2019. I downloaded the demo from the link on the Kickstarter campaign page.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have backed the game, so take that as you will. I am not being paid to promote or preview this game, but I am friends with Lasse Manson, the game's developer, and am slightly acquainted with Romy Latter, its creative director. However, I will try to make this preview as unbiased as possible, in the interests of helping you to decide whether or not to back the game on Kickstarter or perhaps purchase it at a later date. This preview may be based on an outdated version of the demo, so please bear that in mind before you make up your mind.

The demo started off with Freja injured for some unknown reason. This meant her movement and attack abilities were locked until a few non-intrusive tutorials had been displayed. Once I had full control over, she proved to be a nimble yet powerful fighter, with a powerful axe and a rather handy "Spirit Sight" ability, which allowed her to see invisible platforms in an eerie glowing whitish purple colour, accompanied by some equally eerie vocals and music.

Looks like poor Freja drank some bone-hurting juice.

I progressed through the demo until I came to a boss fight, which creamed me. I will refrain from spoiling the names of the two bosses involved in this fight, but suffice to say, it served as a difficulty spike that felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown onto me. I trust that it will be balanced so as to not be so punishing for Story Mode players, at least.

In terms of the difficulty of the rest of the demo, I only died a few times, mostly due to my own carelessness, i.e. rushing in to facetank enemies or failing to notice a pit of nasty-looking thorns and falling into it. Knowledge and experience in game design and development are evident even in this rudimentary demo: unobtrusive interface, responsive yet satisfying controls, and difficulty that never feels cheap or a waste of time. The artwork is relatively simple yet pleasing to behold, and Freja's character design is simply perfect. I personally would prefer for Freja's sprite to be a tad bigger, mainly so I could see the details on her clothing and face, but this is a minor niggle. Voice-acting would nice, although not a dealbreaker for me.

This kind of thing is why I dislike spiders. Better her than me.

Overall, I closed the demo feeling some contentment, albeit mixed with frustration at not being able to beat the boss fight. It's a good enough taste of the game to justify pledging money towards it. I want to see this game succeed and fulfil the Kickstarter campaign's promises, especially as there are hardly any South African game developers, and the industry needs to grow and provide some much needed diversity of characters, stories and gameplay.

HYPE LEVEL: MILDLY AROUSED

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