Steampunk is a genre that's relatively untapped for a backdrop to video games to play out in. In Catharsis, it serves as not only a stylistic choice for design, but works itself into the little bit of story we're given from the demo.

Story



We're introduced to Ryalis and Mishbah, two powers at odds with one another, and while not much is said directly by the characters themselves, one could gleam an inkling of the greater conflict by examining NPC's and surroundings. This helps make the world feel more involved with the plot rather than just being the vehicle it's told through. Without giving away too much for an already short demo (which runs about one hour or an hour and a half), I hope that the narrative only improves and further draws in the player.

Graphics

For an RPG Maker VX Ace produced game, one of the problems I've seen is that the environments tend to either be too expansive with not enough detail, or too much detail making any given environment seem cluttered. In the few areas of the playable demo, it's neither.

What we're treated to are nicely designed areas such as:



And



The mapping is well-laid out and contains what feels like the right amount of space to convey the idea of an area but without making it feel TOO large for it's own good. An example of this is the first area of the 'dungeon' for the demo:



Just enough space to move and outmaneuver enemies, but not enough so that it's a completely mundane task.

And, while on the topic of graphics, let's take a look at the combat field:



Clear, identifiable stats for the cast down below, as well as the prompt to view enemies statistics. Combat text boxes don't overlap and every vital piece of information is conveyed simply. Which brings me to my next point.

Game-play

The bread and butter of any RPG is how the sum of it's parts equals to the overall experience, and the way progression works in Catharsis is simple.

We're given the traditional format of EXP=Level Up, but for mage and cleric characters, we're given 'books' that they can equip to learn spells from through the gain of SP from battles and (I'm assuming) the leveling up process. Simply equipping the book is enough to bestow the spells to the caster, however.

Other characters, like Leiko, can find their abilities hidden out in dungeons and come in the way of skills, (or in Leiko's case: bullets for her gun) and attachments for their weapons to give them a passive effect (in the demo you get the ability to poison your opponents with an attachment for her gun). This encouraged exploration - always a positive.

In combat, as you can see from the above photo of an early story fight, we have a 'Chain' bar as well as 'TP' - the chain bar builds at a rate based on how many hits you score on an enemy, and likewise in reverse for your foe. TP builds as you're attacked or you attack, which enables the use of skills like Moshi's, which restores her HP, or Leiko, which ups her attack and agility.

Reaching one hundred percent in a chain gives your characters a stat boost - though the demo was easy (I played on Hard the entire way through) I only reached this state twice; once for an optional fight to get the Venomiser, and the end demo boss fight. I hope that as the game goes on, these elements are built upon to make combat more interesting where it's a constant back-and-forth between friend and foe - because the game wasn't overly challenging early on but has, I think, much more room to grow.

Sound

Now, in this area I'm not going to have too much to go off of due to how little there is in the demo, but we're treated to some pleasant tunes and the battle music is strong enough to really pull the listener into the conflict at hand. Sound effects are good - nothing felt out of place, but there was one part I noticed after the music died down and that was in the pub - if you listen, there's a faint sound of people chattering and other noises. That was a nice little touch to add in there.

Overall

The demo is fun, albeit short, and it lays down the ground work for what could be an incredible title. We're given snippets of information to stir up our interests but we'll have to wait for the full game to see where the adventure while wind up taking our heroin. Mechanics are solid, but as I stated, could use some polish in the battle-field to make combat more interesting but it's not a complete snooze-fest, and on Hard might serve as a good challenge later in the full game.

Do keep the optional tough fights for equipment and rare items, too - that keeps players on their toes. I know it did me as I nearly lost the fight (but won the end demo fight easily enough) because of Fire Bite.

There are, too, materials you collect that I hope get implemented into a system not seen in the demo, as I treated them like secondary loot to peddle for healing items.

On the demo alone I give it a 4.0 out of 5, because while we've the makings of a solid game, and has some fantastic mapping and sound design, there's a want for more.