demagog studio’s third game lands on steam

Photo taken from demagogstudio.com

This article was developed within the program Venture an Idea funded by the USAID.

Serbia's very own Demagog studio is firing on all cylinders at the moment, with the developer's third game hitting Steam earlier this year. After the debut success of Golf Club: Nostalgia and the triumph of Highwater, they gave us The Cub, a spiritual and narrative successor to both.

In the Backdrop

Some background first, in case you somehow missed the first two games.

Golf Club: Nostalgia introduces the post-apocalyptic concept of planet Earth as a glorified golf course for the superrich who had long fled to the more inhabitable Mars. Highwater goes back in time and into the thick of the said apocalypse; the world's 1% have just decided to flee Mother Earth to find better living conditions on the neighboring Red Planet.

The Setting

In The Cub, you play as a titulary leftover child who has adapted to the post-apocalyptic conditions on Earth in the wake of the Great Ecological Catastrophe. Far from the only survivor, you'll meet other freakish characters along the way, as well as avoid the virulent interest that Martian survivors seem to have developed in the Earthlings that they left behind.

Gameplay & Graphics

The game is essentially a platformer that will have you parkour, run, jump, hide, rope, and slide through the setting's unforgiving topography. It harks back to the SEGA classics of the genre (The Jungle Book, anyone?), only clad in some of the most visually stunning hand-painted, neon-lit graphics your PC screen has ever seen.

The architecture is decidedly cut from the Eastern and Central European cloth, with jagged angles and a sci-fi brutalist vibe dominating the scenery. It's easy to get lost in, for sure.

Music

When the sound deserves its own heading, you know it’s good.

As is the case with the first two games, The Cub features musical scores are bound to get stuck in your head for a while. Think of it as a blend of mock-futuristic and sublunar lows trebled with nostalgic tunes of simulated homesickness, thing.

Speaking of nostalgic, your Earthly journey will be punctuated with mesmerizing live sound bites from Radio Nostalgia, listened to and mused over on Mars. The speaker's soothing voice perfectly complements the narrative in a way that adds a symphonic depth to the world at large.

If The Cub sounds like you jam, the game is available on Steam at the time of writing. If you've never heard of Demagog studio's previous titles and want to try them, Golf Club: Nostalgia is readily available, while Highwater, originally a Netflix Games exclusive, comes to PC and consoles this March.

 

This article is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this program are the responsibility of Nova Iskra and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government