After two weeks, this year's Summer Games Fest is coming to a close, and alongside some amazing announcements we also got some demos released for a few notable titles. I've played through five of these demos, and honestly I'm kind of surprised by how much I enjoyed all of them. Here's a few short thoughts on everything I played.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword

Capcom's newest entry in the dormant Onimusha series has had my attention since it was first announced. Every piece of gameplay I've seen from the game has interested me, and now that Capcom has released a demo I finally had the chance to try out the game for myself and see what they've done with the series. The demo doesn't offer too much in the way of story content, so the main focus here is the combat mechanics and the enemies you'll be facing.

Performance-wise the game looks and runs very well, with a variety of display modes available on PS5 for players that wish to play at different framerates. I chose the high performance option, but I have to say that I don't think the game looks much worse than it does in quality mode. Everything looks and sounds great, and the performance was silky-smooth the whole time. I will say that I do think that the overall color palette for this game is a little too grey for my liking though, especially when compared to the older Onimusha games. It's not really a bad thing, but I do wish there was a little more color.

In terms of gameplay, the one thing that surprised me the most was how much Onimusha reminded me of the hack and slash games from the ps2/ps3 generation, and that is a compliment. There is no open world, or open level design, as you're basically going from one area to another slaying oni and saving civilians whenever possible. You can explore the level to find hidden items and consumables, but overall the level I played was pretty linear: which meant that the focus was almost entirely on combat. This isn't a bad thing to me though; personally I'm down with a more linear hack and slash game, and it makes for a nice change of pace from the typical AAA game that comes out these days. As for the combat, the main thing that seems to separate Onimusha from much of it's contemporaries is how many defensive options you have at your disposal. Both the parry and dodge can be used for many of the same situations, they both have their own unique counters and special perks that can power you up in battle. Parrying enough times lights your sword on fire, while dodging fills up a meter that when filled can allow you to unleash a powerful attack on a singe opponent. You can also clash swords with enemies, and if you do you can play a short minigame that requires you to chose the correct counter attack and potentially deal some massive damage (especially if you're fighting a boss). There are also two forms of parrying: one that allows you to perform a counterattack and another that pushes the enemy back, giving you more options for defense when dealing with different enemy groups. Speaking of the enemies, they are fun to fight, but I do have a problem with their behavior. Although it is common practice for enemies to wait for you before attacking, I think that the enemies in this game take way too long to attack you, giving you way too much time to attack before any of them seem to have time to react. With how many defensive options you have, I think that the Oni should be more aggressive; not only because it would increase the difficulty but also because I feel that it would give you more of a reason to use the defensive abilities more often instead of just rushing every enemy with basic attacks. The boss fight at the end was great though, and it was one of the only parts of the demo that felt particularly challenging.

Overall, I'm liking what they've done to Onimusha so far, but I do hope that the combat encounters are a little more challenging when the full game drops.

Valor Mortis

As someone who enjoyed Ghostrunner, I was very interested to see that the developers of that game have decided to pivot to making what appears to be a first-person soulslike taking place during the Napoleonic era of France. It's a big departure from their previous titles, but thankfully Valor Mortis is shaping up to be a fantastic game, if the demo is anything to go off of.

There's a lot going on here, but the two things that caught my attention were the setting and gameplay. The setting of the game just feels so unique; all of the French uniforms and architecture really set it apart from any other soulslike I've ever seen. The enemies, characters, and bosses all look so interesting, and the little bits of story and lore we get from the demo have really intrigued me. As for the gameplay, it's is essentially a first-person souls game. You are doing all of the same things you would be doing in a souls game, but with a few key features that the first-person perspective allows for. For starters, the main character can hold two weapons at anytime: a sword in the right hand, and a magic spell or pistol in the left hand. Having two weapons available at anytime without needing to switch gives you a lot of options for combos in combat: set enemies on fire before cutting them down, or use a pistol and a rapier to target weak points on certain enemies. You also get different defensive options depending on the sword you have equipped, both of which having their strengths and weaknesses. There's a good amount of enemy variety present in these two levels, so you get a chance to mix and match these different weapons and see which ones work best for each situations.

The boss fights were a real highlight for me: they brought a good deal of spectacle, while also being fun to fight and engage with. My only problem is that I think that there are a few janky animations that can be hard to read, especially during the second boss fight, but I think that is something that the devs are aware of and are working to fix. I also had a few performance issues on my PC, specifically during the second level. Like any souls game, reaction timing is important, so a consistent frame rate matters here. The devs are aware of these problems, and it looks like they'll be ironed out before release.

Valor Mortis is shaping up to be a fantastic game, and after playing the demo I'm very excited for the full release in October.

1666 Amsterdam: Prologue

"Prologue" is definitely the right way to describe this. The story seems very weird and trippy, which I'm down for, and the overall style of the game looks cool. However, this is literally just a bunch of walking and interacting with objects, none of the gameplay showcased in the trailers is accessible here. As such, I'm honestly left with more questions than answers surrounding what this game actually is, since this prologue is really just a bunch of walking and talking. Not a great way to introduce your game to people, the first actual story mission should have been playable instead of the introduction. I hope they tweak some of the dialogue, and the pacing of this intro because this doesn't feel like the best way to introduce your game.

I'm still very interested in this project, but I can't really recommend this prologue. I don't know why the description says it explores the "core gameplay loop" when there's barely any gameplay here. I'd wait until an actual demo releases.

Kingdom Hearts III on Nintendo Switch 2

This was really just an excuse for me to play KH III again, and thankfully the segments I played through reminded me of how much fun KH III is. You actually get a lot of content in this demo; you get to play through the first part of the Hercules world on Earth (which is a pretty long section), and the entire Toy Story section. These were two of my favorite parts of the original game, so it was great getting to play through them again here.

The main thing I was interested in seeing was how these games would perform on Switch 2, and usurpingly the game looks and runs very well. Game looks just as good as the ps4 version in both docked and handheld mode, and it seems to run at an uncapped frame rate so it actually runs about as well as the ps4 pro version. The entire experience felt very smooth, and it was really cool to see some of the game's set piece moments (like the battle with the rock titan) on handheld hardware. This looks like it'll be a great way for Nintendo fans to finally experience the series in a way that DOESN'T suck and isn't restricted to their internet. Seriously, who thought that CLOUD versions were a good idea? They've aged even worse now that they're being delisted, and the servers are offline, so I hope you didn't pay full price for them because they are gone!

I'm not planning to buy this collection anytime soon, but this seems like a great way to play the series on the go, so maybe in the future I'll pick it up on sale.

Starfox 2026

The first of TWO Nintendo 64 remakes due this year, Starfox 2026 is a game that I've had mixed feelings on since it's announcement. Although I think the game looks good, I wasn't really sure that Starfox 64 needed yet another remake after having been remastered and reimagined on the 3DS and Wii U already. However, after playing through the demo, I think I am feeling more positive about the whole idea, in large part due to the new content they've added.

Visually, the game looks great, and seems like one of the best showcases for the Nintendo Switch 2's power that we've seen yet. I also have to make note of the soundtrack, since it sounds AMAZING; the level you play through in the demo has a fantastic arrangement of the original N64 track, and I'm hoping that will be the case for all of the levels in the game. In terms of presentation, the new cutscenes add a lot of personality to the Starfox crew, which is impressive considering how lively they were even in the original. I'm glad that they chose to expand upon the story in this way, since the characters and their interactions have always been one of the best parts of Starfox.

As for the gameplay, everything is basically how you remember it being with the notable addition of mouse controls. If you activate mouse mode on a Joycon, you get to switch to the first person view, and control the movement of the ship with the mouse Joycon. This makes the game control more like a PC space-flight game (think Wing Commander) and I have to say: I really enjoyed it! I think the mouse controls feel good to use, and all of the features of the Arwing like barrel rolls, tilting, u-turns, and somersaults are translated very well to the new layout. You have an option to disable the screen-tilting when in first person mode, which should make these controls feel better to those who may have trouble with them at first. Playing with these controls really felt like a whole new way to experience Starfox 64, especially in free-range mode, and I had a lot of fun switching back and forth between the mouse mode and classic controls.

Although I'm still not sure about remaking Starfox 64 for the third time, I think that Starfox 2026 will end up being a great entry point in the series for new fans and hopefully there's even more new content for older fans to enjoy as well. Fingers crossed that this leads to a brand new Starfox game by these same developers, they seem like they understand how to make a good Starfox game.

All of these demos just drive home the point that 2026 is looking STACKED with great games, and I can't wait to try them all out when they release.