The Indie Informer

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It’s a moment, perhaps, most keenly felt in the world of indie games. A title you didn’t even know about one minute becomes the new thing wedged in your brain the next. Because when I sat down to play Nocternum, I had no idea I was striking gold. The moment that glittering spark hit my brain and I realized I’d found another indie gem to watch out for was a moment of pure joy. It’s a moment I always strive to share with you.

Situated at the end of a long row and sharing a table with some high-profile projects, Nocternum would have been easy to miss on PAX East’s show floor. Its streamlined pixel look, though fantastically realized in a black, white, and red color scheme, might suggest a simple game. It’s anything but.

I am summoned. By what means? It’s perhaps better not to dwell. The ends, if we succeed, will justify everything because the alternative is to allow demons to ravage the world. Stopping the coming catastrophe requires me to head down to hell to battle looming nightmares.

The setup is dramatic, but what happens when I take my fateful elevator through the Earth’s crust captures my imagination. I arrive at my “home in hell,” as it were, and y’all, I love a base I can build up. So far, it doesn’t have much to boast of. A couple of vendors and workbenches in need of construction materials weave around a flowing river of blood-red lava. At least, I hope it’s lava. And then I discover maybe the greatest single thing about the demo: my dog.

Any game with a dedicated button for petting animals is one I can’t take lightly. This particular bestest boy is a demon-hunting dream. With him at my side, I descend once more in my hellevator (not my pun, that’s its actual name in the game) to reestablish radio contact with a town not far into the depths. My dog is the first to lunge after a threatening horde.

Combat is simple but not easy. I hold a gun, a bow, and limited bear traps to see me through my mission. These feel intuitive, but one wrong move and my life is slashed dramatically. I realized I’m not getting out without a real struggle, and my vague, curiosity-led wandering is going to get me killed. So I changed up tactics.

A helpful trail of fireflies led more directly to my ultimate objective. It stopped in a ramshackle town of crumbling structures, which the demons have not left unguarded. Waves of grunt zombies, menacing bats, and crafty vampire-like creatures come after me. This is where I throw down my traps and prayers, hoping to catch enemies and keep them out of melee range. It’s the coward’s way, but, hey, I stayed alive.

Inside the radar tower I’ve been sent to fix, I’m not so lucky. A mammoth boss corners me in a room while I’m already inches from death. My dog is one heck of an MVP here, pulling attention away from me and ensuring success for my long-distance strategy. Now that I’m loaded with loot, I just have to get back to the elevator and spend it all to grow my budding village.

But, of course, that’s not how Nocternum‘s demo ends. No, that’s too easy. It concluded with a towering horror rising out of a chasm, snapping the only rope bridge, thus severing my only link to safety, and looming over me before everything went black.