Darksteel

Battle System- 3/5
Pretty standard system here, and it's all reasonably balanced. I didn't feel like my heroes had a lot to do other than spam damage skills, but since the demo is pretty short to begin with there's not really a wealth of abilities to choose from just yet. There is one feature I appreciated, which is the addition of a Sheathe command. This lets you swap weapons during battle to exploit enemy weaknesses, but since battles tend to be over so quickly to begin with, and bosses didn't seem to be weak against anything at all, there's not much reason to waste a turn doing it. Overall it's a decent concept that needs a bit of tweaking.

Storyline- 3/5
Thus far it appears to be a typical plot about a demonic overlord and the magic swords that once destroyed him. The script is very well written, and there may be twists and turns along the way, but at this stage it's just too early to tell. One thing that bothered me is the game begins by sending you against an enemy with a full party of heroes, and even lets you select their skills in combat. Unfortunately before so much as a single attack goes off control is wrested from the player and we get to watch another cutscene right away. This scene also kind of ruined one of the mysteries you'll be working towards in the beginning of the game, as you pretty much know exactly what has happened.

Characters- 3/5
We begin the game with a fighter and his smarmy mage buddy, and there's a decent bit of banter between the two as the game progresses. Their personalities are well defined and the dialogue flows quite naturally. Still a bit too early for me to tell much about this category, but it's definitely showing some promise.

Level Design- 4.5/5
Definitely the game's strongest point, every map is detailed and interesting. The highlight comes from exploring dungeons, and you'll be spending most of your time here. Everything is far more innovative than your average puzzle, and many areas make use of a perfectly functional jump command. There's a nice visual effect to every puzzle that is immediately apparent, such as draining the water out of one room to get past an obstacle in the next. Several of the areas revolve around jumping, and there's a real sense of elevation you don't see in a lot of games. You'll probably know exactly when you can clear an obstacle and when you can't about 10 minutes into the first dungeon. There's plenty of hidden items to be found, and all of them have a nice visual cue so you know when to start looking. The only thing dragging this score down is one puzzle where you may find yourself trapped if you come across a very specific situation, though I imagine that will be fixed with the next release.

Graphics- 3/5
As far as I could tell this game stuck strictly the VX RTP. Maps are well organized, and everything looks good enough, but the author hasn't really gone that extra mile to impress you with anything.

Music/Sound- 3/5
Mostly rips and default sound effects here, though there are a few extra screams and evil laughs thrown in. You'll mostly be listening to somber dungeon music, but with all the exploration you'll be doing you probably wont' be focusing on this aspect of the game much.

Random stuff I liked-
The jump command. I wish the game let you use it in every single area.

Random stuff I hated-
I was unable to talk to certain NPCs in several areas. It was clear these people were busy and really had no business speaking to me at the time, but nevertheless it still annoyed me.

Final Thoughts-
Thanks to the solid level design this game is shaping up to be one of the better titles out there. I can recommend downloading it to see how far along it has come, and more than that I recommend keeping an eye out for future versions.