Foolish Polly Beast is a classy, spooky survival horror sport the place you are packing some severe firepower

Whereas Steam Subsequent Fest is over (for now), there are an entire heap of demos staying out after curfew, together with the bizarre Foolish Polly Beast. This story-driven shooter is an intriguing mixture of psychological and supernatural horror, teenage angst, fashionable neon horror-punk aesthetics and aggressive twin-stick shooter fight.

Polly is not having day. She’s a nervous, non-verbal child on the run from the cops after torching her orphanage for causes unknown. She’s looking for her sister, who deliberate the arson along with her, however appears to have fallen into the netherworld alongside the way in which. Polly’s additionally agreed to a contract with some form of tormented spirit (and its bizarre boggle-eyed canine), and been tasked with looking monsters within the shadows. Issues someway solely worsen from right here.

Regardless of a setup that leans extra in the direction of survival horror (together with some tense sneaking previous cops by pulling Polly’s hood up and making an attempt to be inconspicuous), the demo rapidly settles into some snappy fight towards shadowy demons. Polly has a number of defensive choices, beginning with smacking issues with a skateboard. Her major weapon is a magical revolver that reloads when close to burning barrels or shortly after killing an enemy, however it’s not lengthy earlier than she finally ends up with a pump-action shotgun that is highly effective however has extra restricted ammo, plus a bag stuffed with explosive shadow-larvae to make use of as grenades.

Regardless of all that firepower, the fight nonetheless has a little bit of survival horror stress to it, with enemies shifting aggressively (particularly the surprisingly skittery large shadow-people), and therapeutic typically taking a number of valuable gadgets to get you again into the combat. Whereas this will likely change within the full sport, I am hopeful it’s going to proceed to take care of this stability: not fairly Silent Hill or Signalis, however not a full arcade shooter both.

The demo mixes the system up in some fascinating methods too, together with some side-scrolling sections that management fairly in another way to the common overhead fight, and a pair segments the place it’s essential use a ritual spell to fly throughout gaps, however with out the power to regulate your wings—Polly has to spend bullets rigorously to navigate utilizing her revolver’s recoil. A sensible little mechanic, and one I hope to see constructed on.

If there’s one factor that I am just a little cautious of after taking part in the demo, it is the script. Whereas nice for essentially the most half (and the story undoubtedly has its hooks into me), there’s a number of oddly-phrased sentences, or strains which might be just a bit too prosaic to be coming from a scared teenager. Nothing dealbreaking, however a conspicuous flaw in an in any other case glorious demo.

For those who’re after one thing with Halloweeny vibes that hit just a little completely different, I like to recommend you give it a shot. The Foolish Polly Beast demo is stay now on Steam, with the total sport coming quickly.