Solo developer YuWave makes a simple pitch with Demon Lord: Just a Block, an action-strategy roguelike about navigating a blocky world filled with enemies that only move when you do. "One developer. One computer. One game. One year," they say on Steam. Behind the game's cute, pared-down world is a classical fantasy story that makes smart use of hands-off narrative to steer players through seven chapters and three endings, and with nearly 2,000 Steam reviews averaging 96% positive, this approach has been a hit so far.
"If FromSoftware released the full Dark Souls design document, no one would be debating the lore anymore," YuWave tells me. I agree with their assessment that Demon Lord: Just a Block is a "gameplay-first experience," but in my experience that's often where you'll find some of the most interesting video game narratives – stories designed more as scaffolding, something to be prodded by players rather than carefully conveyed.
"It creates story-driven goals," YuWave says of this approach. "Just like Hades, players aren't just pushing through levels in each run, they are also progressing the game to meet more NPCs and discover more advanced storylines."
I'd call Hades an interesting point of comparison, as a heavier narrative throughline was a major point of praise for Supergiant's own critically acclaimed roguelike – that, and the way that narrative weaves the mechanical tropes of the genre into a lush interpretation of mythology. Demon Lord: Just a Block, then, wants to have a similar effect on players, but through markedly lighter exposition.
"It eliminates lengthy, tedious dialogue," YuWave says of "fragmented, anecdotal" writing. "I firmly believe players are here to have fun, not read a boring novel. Short, punchy text is the key to keeping players immersed in the gameplay without constant interruptions." As someone who loves reading and gaming, but will still instantly skip a huge text log in a game if my brain is in exploration mode, I find myself nodding along.
YuWave stuck to a rule with text for this game: no more than 10 exchanges per scene, and no more than 50 characters per line. Their thinking is that, while this limits how much detail or exposition you can fit into each moment, "it actually makes players remember the characters’ personalities much more vividly," perhaps because they're more attentive to storytelling that doesn't stall gameplay.
This approach also aids exploration, YuWave reckons, as story fragments found and collected by players may reveal a hidden path or "a whole new way to beat the game."
"The entrance to the true ending has always been there, you just lacked that narrative knowledge to activate it," they tease.
The success of Demon Lord: Just a Block has given YuWave a platform for sustainable work as a solo indie dev after a few years grinding away in the mobile games sector.
"It's way beyond my wildest expectations," they say of their Steam debut.
"Receiving players’ recognitions and appreciations, I realized the game has turned into a collaborative work between the creator and players. First and foremost, I will definitely keep releasing regular, ongoing updates for this game - both major content drops and minor updates (new biomes, weapons, mechanisms), plus quality-of-life patches. I want to work with the community to make this game the best it can be."
