Full Steam Ahead #1 | Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge
Over the past decade and a few, I somehow accumulated a long list of games in my Steam library. Some were gifts, some were review codes, and some I really don’t recall how I got them. The one thing many have in common is that I have never been able to play them. Often, this was due to my laptop not having the power to run them, and other times, it was because my cheap third-party controller wasn’t recognized by the program. Sometimes, things just never worked out.
But all things are different now, for I have a Steam Deck and a will to delve into my backlog to see what I’ve been missing. Some of it may even be good; much will not. Thus begins our new limited edition segment: Full Steam Ahead.
Today, we are looking at Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge, originally released for Early Access on November 20, 2015. It was also the very first review code I ever received for Steam, and I always felt bad for not being able to play it properly.
Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge
What I recall from playing this game, just over a decade ago, is that it developed massive slowdown issues and sound errors quickly. At the time, I assumed that it was my old laptop at fault, but looking more recently at the game’s forum, this appears to have been a common issue. Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge runs much better on Steam Deck, so that problem seems resolved. Every other problem with the game remains, however.
It’s a long litany of minor issues in the user interface, environmental lighting, and pathfinding, but the gist is that this game is not complete. Of the four characters in the story select screen, only two have playable material connected to them, and even then, there is no sign that any of the various side quests are completable. There are glitches with certain secondary systems, including at least one status effect and the limited air mechanic of underwater exploration in one area. Only one of the two playable narratives has an inset map, for that matter.
The available plot segments follow deuteragonists Jagen and Sen, him an advocate for demons’ rights turned hunter after the death of his wife, and her a demon on the run from just about everyone for tragedies beyond her control. The game itself shows enough intrigue to be interesting, while the notes function provides copious background detail for anyone so inclined to read through it.
From what is available to me, Celestial Tear: Demon’s Revenge has the makings of a decent game experience. It may be an RPGMaker title in this incarnation, but there is much care evident in the graphical presentation, with bespoke character and enemy sprites animated in combat, and stylistically striking character portraits in the menu. The combat is reminiscent of Xenogears, as the player chooses a combination of low, middle, and high power attacks on each ally’s turn, and the main plot characters can trigger special moves with certain combinations, if their willpower is sufficiently built up.
This game has Early Access written all over it and, about six years ago, White Guardian Studios announced it was pulling the game off the Steam shop and revamping it entirely into Unity. We are still waiting.
Disclosure: This article is based on a free build of the game provided by the publisher.
Thanks for your review. Very greatful to be the first game key you recieved for a review. We have other things we have been working on but we have continued to chip at Demon’s Revenge. That game means the world to us. We have learned a lot since this release and we are looking forward to people getting the improvments we have made.
OK, I will admit I was not expecting to get a reaction to this one, much less from the creator, but it’s good to hear that things are still coming along, one way or another.
Since this game we have worked on a few other things to keep the studio going most notably Omori. In June we have some cool news to announce for another project perhaps we can keep you posted.