Crystal Story: Dawn of Dusk is a combination of words that screams "predatory mobile fantasy RPG" but that's very much not my takeaway from the game's demo. Out tomorrow on Steam for £10.23, $11.99 or €11.83 including the 20% launch discount, this first instalment in the Crystal Story series blends the cuddly feel of a 16-bit Zelda with the dream logic of a Yume Nikki. There's a splash of Undertale's crackpot experimentalism to the writing and certain battles, as well.
Those are big comparisons to invoke, and I don't expect Crystal Story to measure up to them. But it's a lot better than I was expecting from a game whose title had me picturing microtransaction-sodden levelling systems and a pouty elf in a bikini.