Hey everyone! I thought this would be a great place to start a dialogue about Spirit of Midnight, especially if you were lucky enough to play the demo in the PAX Rising area at West this year. I was there for all four days, so had a lot of time to demo most of the games on offer (both in the main expo hall and upstairs) and this was easily my favorite indie title by far.

The game's description on the store page does give a fairly good overview of the game: you play as a cat (you don't get to learn his name during the demo but I’m told we find out what it is later and one of his companions is chagrined about not asking sooner – AS HE SHOULD BE) who, entranced and enchanted by mysterious lights, is able to leave his house for the first time and venture outside to the great wide world beyond.

It’s genuinely difficult for me to find fault with any aspect of the demo version I played. The dialogue is excellent with genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Humor can be very difficult to get right and I think Spirit of Midnight does it well, when that’s the aspect it’s aiming for. My favorite parts: the discussion the cat and his new badger friend have about clothing and its usefulness to animals, the signposts directing you to different areas of the map, the sassy chipmunk who thinks everything is clear sailing until going over the waterfall and the hungry spider’s reaction to the unexpected bounty that shows up in its web. The music and sound effects help build ambience without detracting from the game experience. The art style is pleasing to the eye and the expressions capture and reflect the emotions being conveyed by the dialogue. I also think this has a very broad age range appeal, given the cross section of folks I saw playing it at the various times I was at the booth.

One of the tedious things that can hamper a point-and-click adventure is the excessive need to backtrack to obtain items you need to progress through the puzzles. This wasn’t a problem although I would have liked to have seen some interactivity with our cat’s companion in obtaining the umbrella he needs to use to fish an acorn out of a pool. However, based on the intro video on the store page, cooperation is used later on in the game, so this is a minor quibble. Items can be picked up as you go, and even if their uses aren’t initially obvious, you don’t need to spend hours trying different combinations in order to put the required pieces together. I especially like how there appears to be underlying logic to the puzzles; like using dish soap to change the surface tension of the water, to get rid of a marauding waterbug it shows a nice attention to detail. And don’t worry about the crane and its frog friends, there is no sinister purpose to their relationship, and yes, I did ask because they’re such happy frogs and I was afraid for a moment for them!

Overall a very positive first impression and I’m excited for the game’s release. Heck, I’m even excited over the idea of a downloadable demo at some point, since I wouldn’t mind replaying it at home. I’m not sure what the overall game runtime is expected to be – I should have asked but forgot – but the demo was about 15-20 minutes long and I consider it time well spent at PAX when time can be at a premium given how long some lines can be.