Recent reviews by Devilmoon

it's just boring to be honest, engaging with this while you know you won't be able to "complete" it (for whatever definition of complete) unless you go in debt for virtual currencies is just a waste of time. Go play any other Persona or SMT game, they are cheaper and better.

It saddens me to leave a negative review because I always like supporting small indie teams, but I can't in all honesty recommend this game to other people in the state that it's in for 20 euros.
The premise is interesting, the setting and gameplay loop work well, but the whole game is terribly unoptimized and even on the lowest settings it is constantly very noticeably stuttering when performing any action. Going in and out of menu causes multi-second stutters as well. It is really difficult to enjoy your time with the game when you're constantly stopping and starting.
I really hope the devs can spend time optimizing this before it comes out of EA. The graphics are very barebones even at the highest settings, and this should not struggle to run on a 3080+i5 13600k.

Really charming and fun little puzzle-platform with hints of an immersive sim mixed in.
If you're an adult you can probably finish the main objective in less than a couple hours and 100% the achievements in ~4/5 while taking your time, but I'd say that if you have kids and want to introduce them to an easy and approachable 3d puzzle-platformer this is a great choice.
The only "complaint", so to speak, is that the movement/jumping is very slightly janky - you can easily work with it, but I can see how a kid might get frustrated with it.

Alright, finished the main quest, chewed through side content, and my verdict is in: This game is fantastic! Seriously, if you're on the fence, just jump in. The core here is brilliant.

Why You'll Love It:

• That Gameplay Loop! It masterfully blends turn-based strategy with satisfying real-time actions. Nailing counters feels earned and super rewarding. Didn't think I'd dig the mix, but I absolutely do.
  
• Art Style Over Graphics: Don't expect photorealism, expect beauty. The world, creatures, and overall aesthetic are incredibly imaginative and gorgeous. A true feast for the eyes (even if humans look a bit basic by comparison).
  
• Soundtrack = GOAT Tier: No exaggeration, the music is phenomenal. Easily one of the best scores this year.
  
• Exploring is Fun! Plus, you get Esquie, who is objectively the greatest companion.

Now, The Heavy Caveat: The Tech Issues

This is where the praise gets tempered. Built on UE5 with forced upscaling, the game suffers from significant performance problems:

• Unstable Performance: Stuttering and inconsistent frame pacing are common.
  
• Visual Annoyances: Ghosting and shimmering from the upscaler are noticeable.
  
• Underwhelming FPS: Doesn't run as smoothly as it feels like it should on decent hardware.
  
• Cutscene Chugging: Those 30fps-locked cinematics often skip and stutter, yanking you right out of the moment. (shader compilation happening in the background?)

Devs, PLEASE prioritize fixing these! They're the main thing holding this back from perfection. It's one thing when a cutscene skips, which is still tolerable, but missing a parry or not executing an attack properly because of a stutter is frankly unacceptable.

Small Nitpick:

Character variety is good, but team strategy feels underdeveloped. (minor spoiler) You get 5 cool characters with different playstiles but are stuck using only 3. I found my best trio and rarely felt the need to switch, which seems a shame.

Final Thoughts:

If you can look past (or power through) the technical blemishes, you'll find an absolutely captivating RPG with addictive combat, a beautiful world, and an unforgettable soundtrack. Strongly recommend grabbing it, but go in knowing performance might be rough until patches arrive.

While I can commend a small Italian team for attempting to make something worth playing, I can't help but feel like this demo misses the mark.
Performance is very lackluster, I can barely get 60FPS with drops down to 30 in more active moments with DLSS enabled, and this is for a game that visually looks like a late PS3/early PS4 era one in tight and controlled environments. I can't imagine the underlying tech is that taxing for a 3080+i5 13600k.
The design, both visually and gameplay wise, feels "dated" for lack of a better word. small loading corridors, forced slides/ledge hopping, a very basic stealth mechanic with predictable and simple NPC AI.
The control scheme on keyboard+mouse is also very weird (left alt to doge, left click for light attack and F for heavy attack? how am I supposed to place my hand in combat while also being able to reach WASD?) and the fact that every interaction is bound to a long F press kills the pace.
Sound design also did not feel right, especially in the last sequence with the giant robot bringing down the bridge; it felt like there were missing sounds and the character's voice was not affected by what was going on there - Not sure if it has to do with the voice over quality or the mixing process, but it stood out to me regardless.
The story concept itself is intriguing, even though it feels like I've already seen similar stories, but I'm a sucker for small anthropomorphic helpers. To be frank, though, the fact that the main character can understand what the robot says while all we hear is a beep was getting annoying. Hearing only the MC's full response leaves you guessing at what was the intended exchange between the two; I'd hope that in the full game the robot is given its own voiceover at some point.

All in all, would I recommend the demo? sure, it's free, go ahead and try it for yourself. But based on this showing and premise, I will not be buying the full game at its asking price (40 euros) or its discounted launch price (~32 euros). I might pick it up down the line if there's a bigger discount, but for now it's a pass for me.

Tentatively recommended for now, the game is honestly gorgeous but quite heavy to run (for reference, 3080 + i5 13600k @ 1440p, averaging ~60 FPS in the open world with Lumen Software RT set to low and DLSS Balanced, High for the rest of the settings).

For the time being I got out of the sewers, explored the imperial city for a bit and went to the Weynon Priory - have not encountered any issues apart from the general performance sluggishness while I dialed in the appropriate settings.
I had to turn off SSR though, because the lake around the imperial city was just too distracting for me.

Does not appear to support HDR, so dark areas (like the sewers) appear to be grey instead of black.

I bought the game circa 2019 and played on and off over the years.
I think it's a nice time sink, but I honestly can't understand why they decided to bring it out of EA when there's still so much stuff left to fix and implement. I guess they are hoping for new player influx due to the release store boost, or maybe they want to start pivoting to other endeavors, but it still feels weird.

All of the above being said, for its cost I believe it is great value; obviously this is a game where you have to make your own fun by interacting with other people and/or playing with your friends, but even hopping on solo as I usually do I can easily waste an evening running around and doing stuff in the main plaza - if you were to start exploring condos and customizing your own, there would be another universe of things to do and experience.

IMHO it's worth giving it a try, but it is most definitely not for everyone. This feels like a grown-up version of Habbo Hotel, which was my first exposure to online chat rooms/worlds/games back when I was still a kid and where I've spent countless hours, so the nostalgia for me definitely plays a factor in the enjoyment of it. If I had to hazard a guess, younger and older people alike might not connect with this game at all, but that's just a hunch based on my own experiences - to be fair, the game itself came out of "lead developer Mac’s highschool daydream in 2006", so the timelines do match up :).

AS A MEMBER OF THE FORMER NATION-STATE KNOWN AS "ITALIA" BEFORE THE REBIRTH OF EUROPA INTO PAN-EUROPA (GLORY BE TO WILHELM REICH), IT WAS MY DESTINY AND BIRTHRIGHT TO JOIN THE HISTORIC ARMED FORCE "CARABINIERI". MY "NONNA" WAS VERY HAPPY WHEN I BECAME A "CARABINIERE". SHE ALWAYS COOKS "LASAGNA" FOR ME WHEN I GO VISIT HER.
MUCH TO HER DISMAY, WHEN I JOINED THE PSYCHO PATROL (PRAISE BE TO LORENZO VISCONTI, I LOVE HIM MORE THAN MY FIRSTBORN SON "GENNARO") I HAD TO STOP SENDING HER THE YEARLY "CARABINIERI" CALENDAR.
MR. CONSUMER SOFTPRODUCTS, PLEASE FIX POSTHASTE THIS GRAVE PROBLEM OF MISSING "CARABINIERI" CALENDARS IN PSYCHO PATROL. ALTERNATIVELY, START PRITING PSYCHO PATROL CALENDARS THAT I CAN SEND TO MY "NONNA". SHE TOLD ME SHE WILL NOT BE COOKING "LASAGNA" FOR ME ANYMORE UNLESS I SEND HER THE CALENDARS. THANK YOU.

"i want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and i'm not kidding"
I'm doing my part, are you?

Super short game (~10-15 mins) but very well done, for the price of 0$ I cannot recommend it enough.