Demo Impressions Part 30

Featuring: Bento Blocks, Freezia, Margaret’s Sin, Replicat, and Waifu Builder

If any of these still have demos when I post this, they’ll have a (*) as always.

Bento Blocks*

Out Now

Not going to lie, I was interested in this demo cause it reminded me of the game Inbento. Though, it is different. Bento Blocks has you placing rice, which are in the form of blocks, into bento boxes. Of course, it isn’t that easy. The rice you cooked not only are in the form of cubes, but also fused together into shapes (that’s some sticky rice). Shapes that don’t fit into the bento boxes that you have. So, you take your handy knife and cut it into pieces that will. Easy enough, but there’s more. Not only can you not rotate the rice, but you can’t rotate the cutting indicator so you have to figure it out if the easy way is cutting it horizontally but you can only do it vertically. Levels also start testing you to do the level in the least amount of cuts needed, the cutting indicator can be longer depending on the rice block shape, and you start having ingredients in the rice that you have to put them in specific spots. This seems to be a good puzzle game.

Freezia*

Out Now

This one was alright. Freezia takes place in a world where humans have been put to sleep to help the planet in its recovery and you play as the AI who controls the cold sleep pods that they’re in. Every day seems to start with a human coming to talk to you, which you really can’t respond other than saying goodnight, before you’re sent to the temperature control gameplay (though based on the trailer it does seem like there will be choices later down the line that you’ll have to make). Basically, each pod that Freezia is in charge with has a temperature meter, with the low end being too code and the high end being too hot. All you have to do is set it to the perfect temperature, which is in the middle and the game does give you an indicator on where it is using the background, before the timer runs out. However, it soon gets complicated as you’ll need to also manage those outside of the pods. Those meters slowly rise as time passes, and even carry over to the next round of that day. To deal with those, you have to switch the temperature meter with one from a pod. While the demo is only over the first couple days, I can see this getting tricky as even I was swapping temperatures and quickly lowering it moments before the timer went out. Pretty easy and simple gameplay, but after watching the trailer this game does seem like one that can get better as you get further into the story.

Margaret’s Sin*

Out Now

This is an 18+ game, so a warning for those of you who need it, but I surprisingly ended up liking this visual novel. I was a bit hesitant as I myself don’t really read these since my standards are pretty high, but I enjoyed this demo. The writing style was really nice, I liked the art style, and the voice acting was good. The first two chapters were actually pretty good. Margaret’s Sin has you be in the shoes of a man who has had some unrequited love with another woman named Margaret. He’s had a crush on her since high school, but he was too shy to really talk to her so he just admired her from afar and had some sinful thoughts (let’s just put it that way haha). It isn’t until many years later when they finally end up meeting again when they happen to be at the grocery store at the same time. They go to catch up over coffee where they both lowkey flirt with each other (with Margaret totally laying it on thick towards the end) and the demo ends right after she invites you to come over to her house. Don’t worry though, the protagonist was not into having an affair with a married woman and it’s revealed that Margaret is actually a widow. So yeah, looking forward to this one surprisingly.

While I was reordering my demos, I also found out that this ended up being banned from Steam. Which, I honestly don’t see why considering there are other 18+ games on Steam that are worse and this one does seem a bit wholesome. Hopefully, by the time this gets posted, it’ll return to Steam.

Replicat*

Out Now

Short impression: It’s basically Balatro if it was a memory match game.

Long impression: Replicat is basically Balatro, but instead of poker, it’s a memory match game. Each round has you face a 4×5 grid of cards and you have a couple turns with each one only letting you flip over 16 cards. You can also only make a max of five matches. All you have to do is flip over a card you want to, flip over another hoping it’s a match, and then they’re both flipped back over. Hopefully you remembered what was there as you might find its match in a future card flip. Each card pair will grant you certain point values and you need so many points for you to advance to the next round. While there are mainly regular cards, there are cards with effects like ones that will stay flipped over or cards that will automatically find its match and match. Once you flipped over 16 cards or you made 5 matches, your points are added to your points pool and the grid is refilled with cards. A tip that can really help you is knowing that cards will always be added to the board as pairs. Guaranteeing that there’s always a pair, so you won’t get moments where you can’t match a card, and if you say…only got one or two matches your last turn you will know where confirmed matches are if you remember where the empty spots were.

There are boss rounds, of course, with bosses having their own effects. The boss I got denied every 16th card which from what I could tell disables matches for that pair. After each round, you’ll also be able to buy new pairs and curios that can help you out either during a round or outside of a round. Like giving you a discount in the store or increasing the points you scored if you make a specific match.

Oh and did I mention that it’s called replicats cause the card artwork are cat memes? The art style is pretty cute. I got one turn where I got 5 matches and there’s a little surprise.

I didn’t personally like Replicat, but I can see others liking it. If you like roguelikes, like the memory matching game, and maybe wanted a Balatro style game for a different card game; this might be for you.

Waifu Builder*

If you’ve played Mech Builder, this is basically that but with women figurines. You’ll know the game mechanics if you’ve played Mech Builder before, but for those that haven’t the game is basically framed as you opening the various model kits you bought and building the models. Aside from the first model, you’ll get a set of piece trays that includes all of the pieces needed to build your model. You just need to unclip them. Once the individual pieces are freed, they’ll then be able to be clipped together. Of course, they need to be pieces that fit into one another. Depending on the model, you’ll also get decals (this demo had eye decals) for you to place and you’ll be able to recolor the various pieces if you don’t like the default color. You also have the model manual with you to help you out, though it doesn’t come into play during the demo since the models were simple enough to not need it yet. The demo includes four models and each one does get a bit more complex, as well as adding a new tool or feature to gradually tutorialize the player. By complex, it just means more pieces being added that you have to put together.

Just like with Mech Builder, I did like Waifu Builder as well. It’ll be interesting to see how complex it’s going to get later on, but I did like this version a bit more. Partly due to not really being that interested in mechs and partly cause this does seem to be a bit simpler and easier to tell where pieces go. I do wonder if the display shelf will come back for this title, but it does have a gallery where each model has artwork to go with her. It’s a shame this utilized AI. It also seems the developer may be wanting to cut the connection to him as well as the dev/pub has changed since I played this last year.