Astro Bot was great and all, but indie developers have been confidently carrying the platforming genre on their backs for years now and they're not slowing down anytime soon.
Look no further than Demon Tides to see why, a bold sequel to the excellent Demon Turf, which was already one of the best run-and-jumpers from our modern crop. The follow-up was just announced at yesterday's Day of the Devs showcase, and developer Fabraz is expanding its horizons to a kinda wild degree.
This time around, Demon Tides is taking the original's 'expressive platforming' to a "seamless" and "massive" open world set across what looks like a series of islands and floating structures. Our colorful crew can link back up on the main ship, but it's barely needed as our main gal chains together jumps, dashes, bat transformations, spins, wall-runs, and every other parkour verb you can think of at lightning speeds.
With a world as seemingly big and varied as this - seriously, we jump from the ocean to crop fields to underground hellscapes within seconds - there'll definitely be tons of secrets to collect, but you might also need some extra help along the way. Demon Tides introduces an online component that can only be described as Dark Soulsian since you can race against other players' ghosts and leave graffiti on walls to "hint towards a secret nearby or troll the players with lies, you little rascal."
"Acquire a ton of unique head gear, outfits and hair dyes to change up your appearance! With over 50,000 possible combinations there's no shortage of drip," the Steam description reads. "Collect over 50 unique talismans that uniquely modify or add to your move-set! Get a paraglider to soar the skies, spawn a bubble to float in place indefinitely, change your spin form into a hookshot and so much more!"
Demon Turf eventually made its way onto all platforms, but Demon Tides is currently set for a PC release sometime in 2025.
Check out some other upcoming indie games to not miss a single release, as well as our roundup of the best PC games you can play now.
