This game sort of caught me by surprise. I've seen it before, but it wasn't until Release Something that it really seemed to stand out for some reason. I took a good look at the screenshots, the presentation, and the concept, and it made such a mark on me that I downloaded the demo immediately. I stopped what I was doing, closed out the music I was listening to, and downloaded the demo. I would like to state that this speaks a LOT for the game, as it is rare for me, personally to do that with anything. The first impression of this game is powerful. Like the title states, the demo is very short, but very sweet, like a Pixie Stick, but it's a video game and not diabetes inducing candy.

STORY-

I'm not expecting a whole lot from a demo that is literally about 20 minutes long (as stated by Lennon, the demo is only the prologue), but the first impressions are solid. Introducing Sir Cambert LeDramme and his troops, Sgt. Craig and Cpl. Luke, we're put right in the action as they track down what is only known to us as 'Necros', some antagonistic force which doesn't seem to be a new problem in the setting. Speaking of which, the setting seems to be very well built. A futuristic neo medieval world? Interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Lennon takes us with it.

MUSIC-

The music fits! Granted, I've only heard about 10 minutes worth of it, but it fits! It does its job of establishing the mood and situation. Given that music placement is more difficult than people give it credit for, kudos to Lennon for this.

GRAPHICS-

Now this is where the game shines. The graphical presentation in this game kicks ass. It's uh, really good. Really good. I like it a lot! Lennon mixes and matches styles and pieces of different puzzles to make his own mosaic of cool. Even the little touches such as slime coming out of the sewers in the (very well designed slums) and the steam coming from the (also very well designed) reactor segment is really what makes the bigger stuff stand out. Even really small nuances like the difference in the patterns of the two soldiers' (who are differently ranked) stripes in their sprite and facesets impress me.

I really want to SEE more of this game, because every screen I'm in awe of how it looks. Bravo, Lennon.

GAMEPLAY-

Sadly, the shortness of the demo is really apparent when you take into account of how little you get to play. I'm not holding this against the overall work, but I'll try to work with what I got. Everything seems well built for the actual game, the interface is easy to read, weapons and armor in place, all that, but one gripe I have with the gameplay is the emphasis of puzzles instead of exploration or combat. Maybe its my bias talking, because I've never been much of a puzzle person, but I believe that a demo, especially a shorter one, should emphasize on these two very important parts of the whole, exploration, and combat.

In an RPG, you're going to spend a fair amount of time fighting, and according to Lennon, you're going to be spending even MORE time exploring. So let us do that! I was sort of let down by the gameplay, the beginning of the game at that, thrusting us into two puzzles instead of a single fight or too much exploration. A puzzle shouldn't be the appetizer! The very beginning of any game, unless it is a puzzle game, should not have puzzles. I implore you to consider changing this up a bit.

Overall, this game is really setting out to be something. Be forewarned, the demo is short, but it was short enough for me to be especially hungry for more Neo Lescia.