Topic: Europa (Demo)

Anyone else tried this out yet? Unsurprisingly, it's a little janky. Lag in the jump and camera controls. And one crazy tortoise.

Looks alright when docked though. Undocked gets a little fuzzier.

I think the 'lag' in the jump is very much on purpose. It took me a bit to get used to, but it feels 100% predictable when you do. Fundamentally, jump seems to be based on the power-up process of the device and takes some time rather than the character jumping normally. The controls feel unusual, but also interesting.

The camera was definitely a bit jank, but it's the type of jank I'm used to on open-ish 3D games so I didn't think much of it. However, there are some hilarious out-of-bounds scenarios where you can float/stand on nothing and jank-propel yourself up walls.

That turtle is seriously hilarious. They make it weirdly hard to jump onto or interact with certain rocks and animals... I didn't see anything like the crazy turtle but I spent most of my exploration time trying to climb unclimbable things 😝

I quite liked the art in docked.

Also, I know it's a zelda throwback... but the way all pots shatter/disintegrate when you get near them is jank city.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to the full game after playing the demo although I admit to wondering if it runs slightly better on PC (or Switch 2??)

@FishyS I think it's a promising effort so far, but I do question the wisdom of releasing the demo without a bit more polish.

I understand your point about the jumping, but it never felt good to me, just 'good enough for a pass'. Even after getting familiar with it and learning the jump>glide mechanic, I was always unsure about running towards a drop - was I going to take off in time? One time towards the end of my short session, the kid did just fall splat, which was amusing enough, but what with the camera jank I found having to re-ascend to where I'd just been was a bit of an unwelcome grind.

The gliding and sliding were enjoyable, and the environment was picturesque enough to be inviting and somewhere I'd be happy to explore. But it still felt like an amateur effort overall, so I'd be wanting quite a bit more polish before considering a purchase.

I liked it so far the feel is like Ghibli style but portable looks little fuzzy? I hope it's more clear when they final the game and it comes on Cart factor not juts eShop only. It looks like as you progress the story line the puzzle gets more tricky. I found my first crystal behind the first house when I was trying to jump to get to the roof. And looks like there is a set barrier of how far you can explore which to me dampens the feeling of exploration. That's my biggest nitpick on this Demo so far as long as this isn't in the final game but exploration is permitted then it might end up being a fun puzzling game.

Yeah, for anyone that hasn't played it, the demo is a journey across a dreamy, eutopian 3d world, but that journey is a linear one. So, the game doesn't let you stray from the intended path much.

@WoomyNNYes Do you know if the full game will be like that? I don't really mind a linear game but it feels like it should be a more open exploratory game so I wasn't sure. The description says exploration a lot... and apparently your jet pack gets far more powerful later on.

@FishyS No, I don't know that the rest of the game will be linear like the demo. When I completed the demo, & hit Continue, the demo showed glimpses of later levels, and they might be less linear, but I think it's tough to tell.

Wow, that demo was just awful, wasn't it? The lag on the controls just absolutely kills it dead. I couldn't even finish the demo. Not just lag on the jumping, but on movement and the camera too. It was like trying to control and bus moving through custard. Truly appalling, unfortunately. Afterwards, I tried out the Penny's Big Breakaway demo, and the difference is night and day. That's how responsive controls should feel.

@RainbowGazelle Nintendo's indie direct communicated that Europa was made by one guy, or a very small number of people. This isn't the first indie game I've seen where the control is a bit wonky. I don't think it's easy to make a game that has very polished controls. Whereas Penny's Big Breakaway is literally made by a dev team that had worked on Sonic Mania. NL mentions it at the opening of the review for Penny's Big Breakaway.

Has anyone on NintendoLife played Journey? It's one of my favorite games of all time, beat it many many times, and I can tell you Europa is directly, heavily inspired by it. All the way down to the Press-Y-to-Interact blue digital bubbles are exactly like Journey's charge-up chirping bubbles, functionally identical mechanics.

Personally I love that; I've been waiting a long time for a game on a Nintendo platform to be a spiritual successor to Journey's framework.

One big way that Europa distinguishes itself from Journey is the emphasis on flying. Functionally, again, the flying is identical to Journey: the blue bubbles recharge your floating time exactly the same as Journey's shiny silk. But based on the demo and the trailer, Europa focuses on flying much more than Journey ever did. Which is also nice, since I always wished I could fly a lot more while playing Journey.

Maybe most importantly, Europa is a gorgeous game. Conceptually it leans, thankfully, in BOTW's direction, in the sense that the setting is post-apocalyptic yet nature-dominant, with beautiful vistas and lush foliage. Also really love how the technology and architecture echoes Ghibli's Castle in the Sky.

For me personally, one of the biggest highlights is the game's stunning music! Absolutely love the soundtrack featured so far in the game, at once both bittersweet and melodic.

Bit of a personal gripe for me, mostly minor, but the game risks feeling too isolated, like it's in a vacuum, without any other characters to interact with directly. I'm hoping we get at least a little bit of direct interaction with a couple characters in the actual game.

However, there are some major drawbacks with this demo build.

• Blurriness. I mean seriously, in handheld mode, the player character is SO blurry he's practically transient. The rest of the environment is so low resolution that it makes Scarlet/Violet seem like 4K in comparison. I will definitely have to give the demo a replay in docked mode after reading someone else's post, but when the game puts almost all of its emphasis on the beauty of the environment, it's nearly a dealbreaker.
• Controls. Journey was indeed very floaty in its controls, but it still maintained better responsiveness and precision than Europa's. Again, it could just be the demo build, but its controls were much more clunky than Journey's ever was. Also a problem when the whole game is (understandably) one-dimensionally a platformer.

Despite those major gripes, I still am very excited for Europa because it hits all the right beats that I've always wanted to be put together in a game on the Switch. Breathtaking music, gorgeous art design, soft art style, relaxing gameplay, surprisingly immersive voiceover... it's all there.

What this really needs is a Switch 2 bump in performance next year, but as we all know, the show must go on...

IDK I've not got very far into the demo, but both the controls and graphics seem that way by design to me. The "blurriness" of the graphics is quite reminiscent of oil paintings, as is used to great effect IMO. And sure, this game isn't as responsive as Mario...but this isn't a platformer, I think it's fine for what the game is going for.