Somewhere, in the outer space...

I've seen a lot of complaints about Demo 5... and I've gotta say that I disagree with most of them.

On Demo 5's plot:

I enjoyed myself a lot! It felt almost like a return to form from Demo 1; Cassie's story, to me, rhymes with what we now know about Cruel King's lore. Where he failed, due to his self-isolation, she succeeds because she's able to lean on the people around her. It's hard for me to empathize with critiques of her character, because a lot of the time I feel like they're not in good faith. I actually think a lot of the overall negative sentiment about this demo stems from Cassie being a girl and not another potential sexyman. I'm just saying---if Cassie was a guy, the fandom would be cooing over how sweet and nervous 'he' is. I've also seen a lot of people unhappy that the story isn't centered around the Player. And honestly atp I'm starting to suspect we didn't play the same game?? THIS DEMO MAKES SO MANY IMPLICATIONS ABOUT THE PLAYER AND WHERE THEIR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS GOING. But we don't have time to unpack all of that!

On the mechanics changes:

I get why changes to the action commands for dynamite and slingshot , for example, are annoying. Hell, I'm annoyed---as a launcher enthusiast, if not an outright main, I'm punished a lot harder now if I miss the attack timing. However, these alterations are a lot more fair once you factor in the new cards + items that got introduced (Bombardment, Firecrackers, etc). Greater risk, greater reward. And of course the skill cap has to increase with every demo. That's how video games like this progress.

On the re-write: