Sometimes at events like the PS5 showcase it's the little games that really stay with you, of you'll forgive the slight pun, as some of the bigger titles have the weight to stand on their own, so the smaller titles gain this mystique to them. This makes it doubly so when the game in question makes the bold move of revealing itself with a quirky, highly-stylised trailer with, as far as I can tell, no gameplay amidst an event that celebrated it's abundance of gameplay. In truth it's actually rather ballsy, one hell of a way to stand out from the crowd by turning your set-back into a defining trait of marketing. But then that just underlines on of the many ways in which I've become sold on how smart this 'Little Devil Inside' game will turn out to be.
This little game here started out life as a kickstarter project that had been tossing around for quite a bit before getting picked up by Sony to walk the big stage alongside the heavy hitters. It was proposed and successfully pitched by Neostream Interactive, (a studio which, as far as I can tell, have worked on just this for their life span) and thus had amassed quite the fanbase of backers before ever coming before the wider gaming world like this. As an idea of how far back this game's history reaches, one of the higher stretch goals rewarded the masses with a promised Wii U launch which, according to Google, is still happening. (Not sure if they're married to that idea but I'd say it's a slight waste of development money at this point.) Unfortunately, they did make the devil's bargain and agree to an exclusivity deal (Which inherently earns my ire) but they're a sell indie studio so I won't grumble too loudly. (Also there's going to be a concurrent release on PC, apparently, so that's cool.)
But enough of behind the curtains, what is this game anyway? Well, 'Little Devil Inside' was, and as far as I know still is, a game that bills itself as 'about surviving a surreal world'. And whilst that may sound like quite possibly the most generic flavour text ever devised by man, it has a ring of truth to it. (That probably comes from the generic-ism, actually.) The game appears to be an action-adventure survival fair with an emphasis on puzzle-like enemy encounters rather than standard hacking and slashing. Or at least that's the impression I pick up from everything I've seen thusfar, because as I said these first-time developers have been somewhat light on gameplay up until now. What grabs me, however, is the mix between the fantastical and the contemporary in the concept that could prove fruitful ground for a curious, steampunky, world. (Think Final Fantasy XV, but cuter.)
Or perhaps; The Witcher, might be a better parallel because that was the prevailing thought that most came away with from during that trailer. We see some monster hunting antics from our heavily geared and prepared protagonists, and have even see them go toe-to-toe with classic European myths like a Dragon and a Cockatrice; just like The White Wolf. Not visually though, oh no; 'Little Devil Inside' goes a completely different route to Witcher in that regard. The game has this pleasingly simple mega-block looking aesthetic to it all that in the best scenarios look endearing and adorable and at the worst can make textures look a bit bland and flat. (Though thus is the sacrifice one must make for a stylised world.) Comparatively the world looks quite alive in it's more barren locales and I think that contrast from the obviously stylised to the mildly realistic has benefited the style immensely, at least so far.
I think if there's one word that I just keep coming back to after every screen of this trailer it's 'potential', because I see so much of it from the game. There's this pleasing sense of adventure that is derived from the variety of locations we see that run the absolute gambit from the sun-bleached sands of a desert to the frozen ice-sheets of a tundra; yet it all maintains that unifying desaturated palette to benefit the 'antiquated' vibe I think the devs were aiming for. What's more than that, the game looks epic in it's set-pieces and creative in it's designs; it looks as though the creativity of an unshackled indie team had met with an actual budget, and with the 300,000 Canadian dollars they got from their kickstarter alone, (The Playstation exclusivity likely landed them a pretty penny too) that's pretty much what happened, isn't it?
The most exciting expectations don't really come from the trailer for 'Little Devil Inside', however, but from their, now succeeded, kickstarter page. It is here that we have a list of mostly promises, but if Sony are confident enough in them to give them a stage (And knowing that they don't want a repeat of the 'No Man's Sky' disaster) then perhaps they know enough to assume the team's capable. If everything in on the up-and-up, then it appears we have ourselves a little cutesy remake of the Monster Hunter games. (Strange, as I didn't see them listed among the inspirations-) The meat of the game seems to revolve around preparing and mounting these vast hunts against these monsters in the pursuit of improving the breadth of research whilst returning to the everyday hubub in the days inbetween. A real clash of tones and playstyles that uses the town life as a anchor from which to launch several grand adventures, just like the hub areas from the Monster Hunter games. You'll also be on the verge of new tech for hunting these monsters, just like MH, and I'd imagine there's probably some armour sets to craft too.(I'm already imagining grinding for that Jagras Alpha set)
However, as a single player game which I don't think is billing itself as a grind-fest (Not to insult, Monster Hunter fans, but you must acknowledge that your game does have that reputation) this title has a lot more engaging pursuits for the player to pursue backhome to make them feel part of the world. There's the unique behavioural patterns and attitudes of each monster that'll need to be acknowledged and learned, bringing in that slight puzzle-combat theme I mentioned earlier. Management of 'the Faculty' (who I believe to be the organisation hiring you for slaying) wherein you have the ability to interview and hire more interns to keep themselves busy while you're away. And apparently even a grounding system wherein the main character will be susceptible to the elements and can even become diseased if you don't prepare each mission carefully. I encourage you all to take a look at the Kickstarter yourself for the full details, but it basically purposes a whole bevy of high concept promises that sound like they'd be hell to get working in tandem, but if the team pull it off I can imagine 'Little Devil Inside' becoming a unabashed Indie gem. Maybe even a craze. (Needless to say, I have high hopes for this title.)
In conclusion, this turned out to be quite the dark horse of a title for the Playstation reveal event, although I fear that for folk who didn't look into things quite as much as me they may have just seen a quirky indie adventure title and not the bevy of exciting promises behind the scenes. (I mean, the implications of the exciting elements were there, but the trailer could have been more explicit.) If Neostream can pull of what they say, then I'll be one of the first to make up for their marketing and sing this game's praises from the rooftop as it all sounds so up my alley it ain't even funny. I just hope that the surprise exclusivity deal (which, again, apparently hasn't hurt the PC release but I still can't find a Steam or Epic page so who knows) doesn't work against a smaller title like this which deserves all the attention it can get. Good luck, 'Little Devil Inside', and here's hoping you are all you say you are.
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