If you've been around our content for the last few weeks then you'll know we've been following the development of the upcoming title, Chasing the Unseen.
Now, this game has no release date yet and is still deep in its developmental stages, but we get pretty excited about Game Demos as we'll always jump at the chance to experience a game and provide feedback when and where we can. A large part of how developers know what does and doesn't work is through playtests and Demo feedback and anything we can do to aid in making their lives easier, we'll do.
When we first saw that Chasing the Unseen was putting up a Demo, we were obviously fairly excited. We're huge fans of Platformer, Hardcore Parkour games here at The Pillow Fort, and the idea of scaling massive creatures? Well... you can probably see why it piqued our interest and it obviously piqued yours if you're reading this. I will state that the Demo was exceptionally short, but it gave us a decent look at what we can expect from this title, so let's give it a quick review.
A Colossal Scale...
We only got a few minutes of in-game time, which could be extended if you choose to do a few laps around the map on the Octopus, but as I tend to go where I'm told, I wound up at the end fairly quickly. That being said, I want to state that Chasing the Unseen does an incredible job of making you feel tiny.
You'll be exploring a map that is seemingly suspended in mid-air and honestly, you feel insignificant compared to everything around you. One glance around and you'll see parts of the map that twist and warp and appear to be accessible (and they are) if you learn how to navigate and scale the world properly. Of course, part of that "learning how to navigate" involves having the courage to leap onto a giant Octopus and cleverly manage your stamina gauge to jump off at the right time, then glide to one of the other parts of the map. If you manage to succeed, you might be rewarded with an extra stone, which will grant you an extra life, and should you fail, one of your stones will end up at the bottom of a river because you just threw it away. I definitely misjudged a few jumps and platforms but I never ran out of lives (though I came close once). Should you be extra lucky... there might even be a fluffy Capybara to chase...
Chasing... Capybaras?
Right from the start of the Demo, you'll get a glimpse of the Giant Octopus floating gracefully through the skies around you, but you can't help but notice the cute fluffy creatures that are darting around the area too. I was extremely confused at first, but as I'll attempt to pet anything fluffy (or scaley) and cute, I happily walked up to it and rather than petting it, was allowed to capture it. I'm not sure where the adorable fluff ball went, considering we don't appear to be carrying any backpacks, but we got a little message that stated we should seek to find more of them out of curiosity of what we might get in return for doing so.
It's not really a spoiler, so I'll go ahead and state, if you find all the required Capybaras, you'll receive a buff to how much climbing or gliding stamina you have. This made it absolutely worth it to go hunt them down as if you've ever played Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (or ... now Tears of the Kingdom), you'll know how essential a bit of extra stamina can be when attempting to reach hard to get places.
A Tiny Glimpse...
I want to say that regardless of how short the Demo is, it truly feels like just a tiny taste of what the game has to offer. The developer states right from the main menu that this is just to give us a glimpse of what to expect, so we know there's a lot more to come.
Despite that though, I truly feel that Chasing the Unseen has a ton of potential. The Platformer genre is an iconic one and this one is daring to push the boundaries by making us feel tiny amongst a world of massive creatures. I also want to comment that just from a few of the in-game messages and themes we're presented with, it almost appears as though there will be some interesting mental aspects to this title. I'm excited to see what the story behind all of this will be. If I had to make an uneducated guess, I feel as though it might be a unique take on the human mind, or perhaps it's attempting to represent how tiny we as humans truly are in the vast world around us, but maybe I'm in left-field with this.
Regardless of any theories, I am excited to see the future of Chasing The Unseen and would recommend going and experiencing the Demo. Please note that the Demo is obviously still an early representation of the game and you should form your opinions accordingly. It's by no means a finished product. I want to throw in one last compliment as sometimes games just throw you in with no instruction (especially in demos) and leave you to figure it out, but I appreciate that Chasing the Unseen did a decent job of teaching us the game and its mechanics one step at a time. It doesn't overload you with a list of things to learn and lets you practice a few of your skills (such as jumping, climbing, etc.) before tossing you to the wolves and letting you go befriend an Octopus. Great job to the Dev for this because I can't tell you how many games, and this includes a few finished titles, have me rolling my face on the keyboard in an attempt to find a menu they forgot to tell you about.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that this is a Demo of the game and therefore considered a free product, but we have not been paid or promoted for this review, and are not affiliated with Chasing The Unseen or its developers officially in any way. All thoughts are based on our own genuine experience of the game. All footage is based on the Game in its current state as of 05/19/2023 and is subject to change or be completely omitted in future patches at the developer's discretion.
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