I played 25 demos over Steam Next Fest and wrote about approximately half of them here at TheGamer. It’s a little routine of mine, to play as many small slices of games and share them with you, my dear indie-loving, demo-playing reader. Hopefully you’ll find something that tickles your pickle, too.
In the last Next Fest, which is now a triannual affair apparently, my standout games were Kill The Shadow, The Axis Unseen, and Symphonia. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector would be up there too, if I hadn’t already played that demo before the festival kicked off. But I’ve recently played a short demo for Inkression that blows them all out of the water.
I found out about Inkression from a developer called Veselekov, who was the sole dev behind Umurangi Generation, one of the best photography games ever made. They worked as an executive producer on Inkression, and shared the demo when it was released. If there’s one endorsement that will sell me on any game that leaves their lips, it’s the creator of Umurangi Generation.
The demo is short. At 30 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, but gives you just enough gameplay to tease what the full game will be like. There’s a hint of narrative, some ingenious mechanics, and a sense of unease – that something unsettling is lying beneath the surface – that feels very reminiscent of Veselekov’s work.
The demo opens with you giving a tattoo. It’s a thick, janky-looking design consisting of the two words, “piece full”. Even with the PS2-era graphics, my first attempt at digital tattooing was frankly awful, and I don’t know how protagonist Milly has any clients.
The tattooing will steal the headlines – and developer BROKENCIGS promises much more in the full game – but there’s one mechanic that will go under the radar. Smoking.
I love video games when they do things that only video games can do. I was taken aback when Before Your Eyes used your eyes and blinks as a controller in its emotional story. My mind was blown when I had to hold my hand over my mouth in Half-Life: Alyx. Portal’s mind-bending puzzles. Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis System reinventing organic NPC storytelling and creating engaging villains from randomly-generated orcs.
Inkression’s smoking is on par with all of these. The simple act of tying your inhales and exhales to the scroll wheel on the mouse makes it feel like you’re really smoking a cigarette during a conversation. It’s incredibly simple, but so effective at immersing you in this world. You almost can’t help but time your real breaths to your scrolls.
In the full game, I’d love the developer to take it further. Make it so that Milly’s dialogue doesn’t play until she exhales. If you hold the inhale too long, she should cough and splutter. But even without it, this simple mechanic makes it feel like you’re actually embodying Milly, you’re in her world, rather than just watching a scripted cutscene with scripted tokes.
Then there’s the colour mechanics. While the opening flashback is in full technicolour, as soon as we zip forward to the present day, the world has been reduced to black and white. We colour it in by interacting with people, animals, and items, learning more about Nortown as we do so. There are obvious thematic parallels to this, similar to those explored in 2021’s Chicory, but it also ties into Milly’s job as a tattoo artist.
The world is a bleak place. Your little corner of it, your beloved tattoo studio and the workplaces underneath, are due to be demolished as a part of a ‘regeneration plan’ for the Nortown. As you speak to Felix, whose grocery shop has already gone under in these difficult times, you help him work through his demons and go home to his family. In doing so, you bring colour to his corner of the world, but also finalise a flash tattoo design in your head. Inkression’s use of colour is thematically important, but also ties into the narrative and the mechanics. It’s all very clever, and makes exploring this rundown town feel bittersweet.
I imagine there’ll be some catharsis when we get to tattoo these designs on paying customers, too, which is just one of the ways Inkression hints at a bigger game beneath the demo’s surface. It’s not showing its hand just yet – especially from a narrative standpoint where one big twist and that underlying sense of dread are all that’s on offer in the opening half hour – but it knows it’s got enough going on to leave you wanting more. Lots more. As soon as possible.
Keep your eyes on this one, it’s going to be great.
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