From references to profanity to gratuitous violence, Indiecalypse delivers without going too over-the-top.
Ah, high school. Carrying around my own special keyboard to class, bringing fresh two liter bottles of Mountain Dew every day, fighting my way out of the cafeteria in a difficult top-down roguelite shooter... those were the glory days.
Reminiscing aside, the Indiecalypse demo is a great first chapter of what could be a fantastic tribute to both indie game devs and nerds alike. It perfectly balances withing in the realm of the South Park games where this is definitely not a game for kiddos, while not going too overboard. At least, not yet.
The gameplay is traditional point-and-click affair with controller support. At first glance, that is. Each section is a mashup of the greatest games of different generations. In this demo's case, both Guitar Hero (although, I maintain my argument it's more Dance Dance Revolution) and Enter The Gungeon. These tributes don't feel like cheap imitations or carbon-copy knockoffs. While the Coding Hero bit was a bit underwhelming for a first level, the Enter The Gungeon part (which name I forget right now) felt like I was playing the actual game.
Graphically, it passes with flying colors. The cartoon animation is done with great care, accentuated by the studio-quality cutscenes. Each section hits its theme somewhere between okay and perfectly, depending on the minigame.
The soundtrack is equally on par. Nothing really to complain about.
The controls are good enough for what this game needs. Nothing's bad about them, but they really don't stand out in this demo.
In conclusion, despite the short length of the demo, I'm impressed by the high quality and amount of work put into it. This is highly recommended for everyone to give this a try. I'm keeping Indiecalypse on my radar, can't wait to see what the future holds!