This had the potential to be a kitchy little marketing ploy, but developer Doinksoft really took this seriously, cramming in way more good ideas than you’d expect from a game this seemingly tiny. That’s a balance that’s critical to these sorts of games, and far too few developers are able to handle it as well as Doinksoft did with Demon Throttle (or Berzerk Studio did with Infernax earlier this year). I think it balances these two concepts really well - it’s simple enough to pick up and play, but there’s enough depth to it that it continues to feel compelling even after dozens of runs. The first stage, for example, is called “Never Belong to Evil,” which may not be as meme-worthy as “All your base are belong to us,” but it certainly falls into that same camp.ĭemon Throttle is a simple game on the surface, but it’s also really deep.

Additionally, there’s a weird use of language that reminds me of the era in which games were just expected to be badly translated. However, the thing that really makes this pop is the low-fi, distorted voice lines that happen occasionally throughout the game.

The sound design here is excellent, with its (as-to-be-expected) chiptune soundtrack. Once you unlock a stage variant, there’s a random chance it will appear each time you play that stage. These variations do make each level a little bit harder - the first adds more water to the stage layout, while the second comes with wind that pushes your character to the left or right. For example, you can unlock a version of the first level where it’s storming, and a version of the second level where there’s a blizzard. Sometimes, these just change the border (the game is presented in a square format, with detailed borders on the left and right sides of the screen), but other times, you’ll unlock variants of the stages. On top of that, there are a bunch of unlocks, which you’ll earn by killing a certain number of enemies, replay a level a certain amount of times, collect a certain amount of coins, etc. The thing is, the location of this stairway changes every time you play the game (more accurately, the game randomly cycles through a handful of predetermined locations for the stairway each time it loads a stage). In order to find one, you have to locate the hidden stairway in that stage, which takes you to a secret bonus section of that stage where you’ll fight a miniboss. For example, there is a chalice hidden in every stage.

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