Demon Tides

Introduction

Demon Tides, released 19 February 2026 by Fabraz, is a moveset-driven 3D platformer: race across open oceans, uncover a kingdom's dark secrets, and expressively platform through dozens of locales while continually upgrading gear and customizing your moveset through collectible talismans. It sits Overwhelmingly Positive with a strong sample of 824 reviews, and reading widely through it reveals genuine, detailed enthusiasm from a large majority, sitting alongside a smaller but detailed and credible minority raising real, specific concerns.

Genuinely excellent, deeply customizable movement

The clearest strength across this sample is movement itself. Reviewers repeatedly and specifically praise the moveset and talisman customization system as some of the best 3D platforming they've experienced, with multiple reviewers independently comparing it favourably to acclaimed genre touchstones like A Hat in Time and Pseudoregalia. Open-water traversal connecting levels draws its own specific, repeated praise for abandoning rigid, railed progression in favour of Wind Waker-style freedom, letting players approach the world's content in whatever order and style suits them. The soundtrack draws near-universal, enthusiastic praise as a genuine standout, and specific quality-of-life features, including flexible checkpoint placement and a netplay spectating feature, draw appreciation from reviewers who say other platformers now feel lacking by comparison.

A detailed dissent: fans of the predecessor report a step down

Set against that widespread praise, this review found a genuinely detailed, credible minority raising specific concerns — notably including self-described fans of the developer's earlier, well-regarded Demon Turf. Multiple such reviewers report this sequel represents a specific step down in level design tightness and polish, describing longer stretches of empty traversal between meaningful platforming challenges and citing individual level design as weaker than what the predecessor delivered. Camera and wall-run mechanics draw repeated, specific criticism as janky and inconsistent, with reviewers reporting genuine frustration getting precise inputs to register during exactly the kind of movement-heavy sequences the game's core design most depends on.

Writing that divides even the game's own fans

A distinctive pattern in this sample is how sharply writing and humor divide opinion even within otherwise positive reviews. Multiple reviewers who clearly love the underlying platforming still independently describe the dialogue as cringe-inducing, with more than one stating they actively want to skip cutscenes despite recommending the game overall. This isn't simply critics disliking the writing while fans embrace it — the exact same complaint recurs inside five-star reviews as often as inside more critical ones, suggesting the tone genuinely doesn't land for a large share of the audience regardless of how they feel about the gameplay wrapped around it.

Performance concerns and a specific progression-loss bug

Beyond design and tone, this review found concrete technical complaints. Multiple reviewers report inconsistent performance, particularly on Steam Deck, including frame drops and stuttering despite the game sharing a visual style with a predecessor that reportedly ran more smoothly on the same hardware. Separately, at least one detailed reviewer reports a specific, reproducible bug in a challenge room that wipes previously collected golden gear parts and resets checkpoints across the current level or island — a serious progression-loss issue significant enough to warrant direct mention despite that reviewer's otherwise positive overall assessment.

An unverified claim about sponsored reviews

One reviewer specifically alleges the presence of sponsored reviews inflating the game's aggregate score, framing their own review as a corrective "real" account by contrast. This review has not investigated or verified that claim and reports it only as one reviewer's stated, unconfirmed suspicion — but it's worth naming directly given how it may shape how cautious readers weigh the otherwise Overwhelmingly Positive aggregate label against this review's own more mixed synthesis of detailed accounts.

Weighing movement quality against a game's overall polish

It's worth directly addressing why this review lands at a meaningfully more measured score than the Overwhelmingly Positive aggregate label might initially suggest to a casual browser. Movement-focused platformers live or die specifically on how their core traversal feels, and by that narrow measure this review's research finds Demon Tides succeeding about as well as any recent entry in the genre — the enthusiasm for its moveset and talisman system is detailed, specific, and repeated by reviewers with deep platformer expertise, including some who've 100%'d classics like Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario Odyssey. But a platformer isn't only its movement system; camera reliability, level design pacing, writing tone and technical stability all meaningfully shape whether that movement actually gets to shine in practice, and this review's research found real, specific, independently corroborated problems across several of those surrounding categories. Scoring purely on the strength of the standout mechanic while ignoring genuinely well-documented weaknesses elsewhere would understate how much those weaknesses visibly frustrated a meaningful share of this game's own enthusiastic reviewers, several of whom explicitly frame their five-star reviews as a case of loving the game despite, not because of, its rough edges.

A sequel caught between ambition and its own predecessor's shadow

Reading this sample as a whole, this review finds Demon Tides most usefully understood as a game that took real creative risks relative to its predecessor — trading tighter, more contained level design for open-world ocean traversal, and a more grounded tone for broader, more comedic writing — risks that clearly paid off for a large share of its audience and clearly didn't for a detailed, credible minority who came in specifically wanting more of what Demon Turf offered. That's a different, more nuanced story than either "great sequel" or "disappointing follow-up" alone captures, and it's worth stating plainly for any reader deciding whether to buy: your enjoyment here will likely track closely with whether you're drawn to this game's specific new direction, or specifically hoping for an expanded, more polished version of what came before it.

Final Verdict

Demon Tides delivers genuinely excellent, deeply customizable movement that a large majority of reviewers describe with real enthusiasm, backed by a standout soundtrack and welcome quality-of-life features. What holds this score down is a detailed, credible minority — including fans of the developer's own earlier work — reporting real regressions in level design tightness and camera precision, compounded by dialogue that draws consistent "cringe" complaints even from reviewers who otherwise love the game, alongside reported performance issues and at least one serious progression-loss bug. Worth it for platformer fans prioritising movement and customization above all else; go in with tempered expectations about writing, camera precision and overall polish.