Staking Your Claim in Demon Turf (Review)

Nov 5, 2021

Cover Art Demon Turf Review including Beebz and the gang

Demon Turf’ is a cute 3D platformer with good gameplay and graphics. The main character, Beebz, is full of personality and expression. From the design of the eye on her shirt to her grumpy attitude. Her angry attitude is a result of the Demon King invading Beebz’s dream. This sets her off on the goal to overthrow the Demon King through a series of puzzles and turf takeovers.

Beebz’s Story

Forktown is the main hub where you pick levels, take pictures, and other cool things. There are two more characters introduced after the tutorial level, Luci and Midgi. Midgi helps point out your objectives, he also gives you tips as to what to do. Luci is doubting Beebz’s ability to overthrow the Demon King, she is the frenemy of Beebz.

Gameplay

As a demon, Beebz can shapeshift into a bat and a fish. This ability gives Beebz a wide moveset. She can spin like a top, double jump with her wings, and swim underwater without having to come up for oxygen. The bat creates longer jumps that combine with Beebz’s normal jump for extra distance. As the fish, you can do a rocket swim. This move allows you to swim fast and is not a time-sensitive move, unlike the jumps. You can use it for as long as you need. She also has the ability to jab or super punch with water. This move comes in handy when fighting bad guys or pushing items for puzzles. However, since Beebz cannot directly damage bad guys, she has to push them into and off of things.

In most levels, you solve puzzles and get enough batteries so that you can fight the level’s boss. Winning the fight steals their turf and makes your way up to the Demon King. One of the features that I enjoyed is the ability to place a checkpoint almost anywhere. However, having only four checkpoints means you have to choose carefully. You can place them in one area and move on to the next, place another one and you can move back and forth between the three checkpoints (you always start off with one already placed). Cakes and candy sweets are the game’s currency. With them you can do things like dye your hair and clothes, adding to Beebz’s personality and character. You can also buy pets from the pet shop on the outskirts of Forktown.

Graphics & Sound

Demon Turf’s art style is incredible and smooth. The eye on Beebz’s shirt moves, which is a really nice feature. The hub music is funky and upbeat, but it is also nice in the background. Characters are two-dimensional but all of the objects are three-dimensional, which is a creative and unique approach. Enemies and animals so far seem to make a whining cat noise when they see you. The first few levels have red backgrounds and a red tint to everything. With each new level the colors change. For instance, in the Apocadesert, the area is a rusty red. However, Forktown has a beautiful violet purple sky and pink ground where you collect cans or coffee mugs for some of the buildings.

Claiming Demon Turf

Demon Turf is an overall cute game. I enjoyed taking on this challenge as I do with most three-dimensional platformers. This puzzle adventure is exciting and fun. If you want an alternative to Zelda, then this may be the game for you.