Of Love And Eternity's demo is an unsettling wander with good noises
And its low-poly aesthetic gets me going too
I'm a sucker for games which have undead knights as their main protagonists, and especially those which thrust you into underworlds filled with horrible creatures. Enter Of Love And Eternity's alpha demo, which not only ticked both these boxes, but impressed me with its noises. Trust me, the sounds are great.
Of Love And Eternity is an adventure horror game with a low-poly aesthetic. You play as an undead knight who scours the world of the damned in search of his slain lover. Find her, and only then will you be able to escape purgatory and be merry.
The alpha demo gives you a taste of the opening act, so you bear witness to all the king's nastiness, followed by your rather frightening emergence into this oppressive world filled with skeletons, spiders, and creaking trees.
I think Of Love And Eternity's PS1-era aesthetic looked real nice. But it was the noises that made it stand out. The ping of rain off my armour, and the way it clunked and clanked as I roamed through the woods was oddly peaceful. And then a thick crack of lightning, or the deep thrum of the soundtrack would cut through me with a big, unsettling jolt.
One thing the demo doesn't give you is a sense of how the combat works. I could press space bar to swing my fists, but there was nothing to right hook. Occasionally I'd encounter these collectable firefly type things, which seemed to give the lantern hooked to my waist an extra glow. Otherwise, the demo was more focused on brooding atmosphere as opposed to action.
Of Love And Eternity's demo took me around 15 to 20 minutes to complete and I immediately wanted more, so clearly it did a good job. A total of ten acts are planned, "with much of that content already created".
There's no release date just yet, but you can download Of Love And Eternity's alpha demo and keep up with its development over on its Itch.io page.