If you’re a game developer or publisher and you can, you should definitely consider making a demo of your game available. I don’t know the criteria is necessary to have a downloadable demo for a game be added to the eShop, but I’ll tell you one thing. Demos definitely translate to sales. Let’s take New Super Lucky’s Tale for example. The 3D platformer was released for the Nintendo Switch late in 2019 and will arrive very soon for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. I missed the original release for the Switch but after coming across a promotional video for the game with the mention of an available demo I hit download and booted it up.
The demo for New Super Lucky’s Tale is the full first level for the game. After playing through the demo I was sold and immediately bought the game. New Super Lucky’s Tale was developed and released by Playful in North America, and released by PQube in the UK.
The game is at first a 3D platformer which looks inspired by Spyro the Dragon or the Skylanders series. New Super Lucky’s Tale has a very cartoony and charming look and feel. The developers call the game a ‘love letter to classic 3D platformers and that is fully the case here.
In the game you play as Lucky as he goes on a journey through the Book of Ages, a magical artifact that opens doors to other amazing worlds. He meets new friends, explores exciting lands, and is on a quest to recover the missing pages from the evil sorcerer Jinx and his villainous family, the dreaded Kitty Litter.
The game features a good variety of gameplay. Each of the worlds that you will play through have expansive 3D hubs with portals to the playable levels. You’ll need to collect pages in order to unlock the boss battle of each world and advance to the next. The levels themselves aren’t only just 3D platformers as the game throws in 2D side-scrolling platforming levels as well, including the occasional runner. In each of the levels you can collect four pages to help you progress in your quest. Completing the level itself will reward you a page, however you will also get a page for completing a secret challenge, collecting 300 coins, and collecting the letters L-U-C-K-Y in the levels. Think of it like when you collect the letters K-O-N-G in Donkey Kong Country.
Finding all of those letters and secret page might require a second or third run through a level to locate.
Each of the different worlds are inhabited by different creature characters such as worms, ghosts, yeti, robots, and fish. All of them are having issues brought on by the invasion of the Kitty Litter which you resolve by completing the levels. These characters speak in hilarious gibberish of sounds. Think of the blabber that you hear from Sims or the animals in Animal Crossing – but funnier.
Lucky has a nice moveset variety. Not only can the little fox run circles around the enemies, he can do a tail spin to attack, perform a double jump followed by a diving attack, but can also burrow under soft ground, popping up to attack. The latter move also comes into play in some of the more puzzley levels.
There are also bonus puzzle levels scattered throughout the hub worlds in New Super Lucky’s Tale. They aren’t too tough, but do reward you with an extra page. You won’t need to find and complete them to collect enough pages to move on in the story, but for a completionist they give the game some extra stuff to do. You can also unlock different costumes for Lucky to wear beyond his trusty blue cape.
Over all the game isn’t that hard to plow through. That being said, if you’re looking to nab every coin in a level it might require some precision platforming and well timed double jumps. Boss battles also require you to put in a bit more work though as there is a lot more to avoid as they volley everything but the kitchen sink at you.
New Super Lucky’s Tale pulls at the nostalgia strings for those of us who grew up playing games like Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, or Skylanders. The game looks and feels great and stands up next to these other great 3D platforming games.
