What happens when a demon’s best friend suffers an untimely death? Well, as a result, the demon becomes a babysitter. And so begins Damon and Baby. You, as Damon, wake up sans demon powers and with a small human child. The caveat being that you cannot physically be that far from her. So much so that there is even a movement mechanic called the “baby toss,” but we’ll get into that later.
About Baby Tossing in “Damon and Baby”
The introductory quest in this game is a tutorial dungeon that teaches you how to navigate the world. I would best describe the movement and playstyle as a top-down twin-stick shooter. My biggest gripe is that, due to it being top-down, you can’t change the camera angle. However, this is not uncommon with top-down games. Muscle memory had me continually trying to change the camera angle. Unfortunately, that button is actually the one that draws Damon’s gun. Fun fact: if you draw your gun while jumping, you cancel the jump and die. And die I did. A lot, until I could break that little habit. I even looked to see if I could change the button bindings, but that was not an option.
In this tutorial dungeon and the game itself, there are all sorts of skills that allow you to traverse the world in novel ways. Remember that “baby toss?” Damon can jump, and holding the jump button allows for a slightly higher and longer jump. However, tossing the baby allows Damon to dash midair. He would be automatically sent to her location. This lets the player navigate jumping around corners and across gaps his jump cannot cover. Later in the game, skills such as wall dashing and stomp come into play to explore dungeons and other new spaces throughout the world. In general, these skills make playing more fun. At times, learning new skills and getting the button-timing correctly can be a little frustrating. That comes with learning a new game.
Fighting in this game largely felt good. Damon melees and and wields a handgun to start. This first gun has unlimited ammunition. It does require reloading, so paying attention to the upper left diagram that shows how many rounds are in the chamber is important.
Later, Damon finds a variety of different guns. All of which have their place in fighting, depending on your play style. It could be my sensitivity settings. I played on PC with a PlayStation 5 controller, but I found it hard to get used to aiming and firing in the direction I wanted. I mostly play first or third-person shooters, so the top-down angle also did not help my lack of skill. While I got better over time, I still struggled in rooms with dense enemies or enemies that moved too quickly. I found myself relying on meleeing as it was easier to connect. It also allowed for an “auto-lock-on” feature. So, after meleeing, your next shot instantly tracks to the enemy that you just hit.
Aspirations Of Grandeur
Damon was aspiring to become the leader of the demon realm. But he woke up with a child that is not his, powers gone, and a lack of answers as to how any of this occurred. The comedy in this game’s narrative begins nearly as soon as the game does. Damon is cursed to be near this child. He must take said child to the Heavenly Realm to break it. He also gets a call that his Hell Services are currently unavailable to him and that he’s essentially on his own at the moment.
Damon himself is a fantastic character. His humor is often misunderstood or not shared at all by the cast of characters around him. This fits well with his role in the plot, as he largely feels confused and misplaced in the situation in which he finds himself. Personally, this made Damon instantly endearing and hooked me as a player.
After escaping the dungeon tutorial, Damon and baby find themselves in a small town. The townspeople don’t have much love for demon-kind and let it be known. Fortunately for Damon, an old shopkeeper could care about the seemingly shared biases towards demons and offers up a variety of items for sale as well as an old trailer. The trailer introduces a brand new character, the importance of cooking, as well as two new mechanics. One of which is sleeping. Damon and baby flop down and this allows for players to use their earned skill points to level up health, defense, or varying weapon strengths. A cute little detail is if you stand on the bed Damon jumps up and down. While not groundbreaking, that minor addition made me laugh and gave Damon just a bit more charm.
The second mechanic introduced is that of saving. And while saving is always important to progression, Damon and Baby does not allow you to be reliant on auto-saving. It is a feature in the game, but it doesn’t seem very common, which means a death will send you directly to the start screen and, more than likely, at the loss of your life as well as progression. Another quirky feature is that saving in this trailer means sitting on the toilet. Later, Damon sits on chairs and benches. This also introduces a new way to upgrade skill progressions. But again, just a small detail that made me enjoy this world just a little more.
A World Worth Saving
Of course, Damon’s woes are not just that of caring for a child that is not his. He is also saddled with the fate of the world at large, but no pressure! And despite the dislike of demon-kind by the humans around him, this world is pretty cool. I am speaking to the graphics, level-design, and music of Damon’s adventure. The art is great and calls back to what feels like older stylings of my childhood. Level-design is intricate with tons of hallways, levels, and doorways, with exploration being rewarded with new skills and items galore. The menu music is incredible. The game continues to deliver with fantastic audio design throughout.
Scattered throughout the game are tidbits of lore that come together to piece together Damon’s story as well as the world at large. Also, the cast of characters that are interacted with along the way do a great job of filling Damon in. This solves the issue of Damon’s memory problems in a fun way. He is not the all-knowing narrator. Players learn the world as he does. This also allows character design to shine as they are all unique, as well as very funny. No, this does not mean they find Damon funny. In fact, they tend to call him out on his sometimes awkward and aged jokes.
Pinch Points
Aside from minor grievances listed above, there are a few things that became frustrating at times. One is inventory management. Damon has a backpack, and throughout the game, he comes across chests that allow players to offload items. Both start with limited space that can be upgraded over time. Very early on, I found myself having to trek back to said chest or abandon items. This was due to being completely out of space. While loot is a good thing, I felt it was hard to manage. Cooking and recipes are a big part of the game (and how you heal). It never felt good to have to leave ingredients behind.
This happened with guns dropping from enemies as well. They take up quite a bit of space but sell for a decent price. Selling them allows players to purchase items. Once players can upgrade Damon’s bags, this becomes less of an issue. It can be quite bothersome for the earlier parts of the game.
I mentioned earlier some small issues with combat as well. Something that could be quite frustrating, especially considering the lack of auto-saving, is enemy projectiles. Sometimes they would come through walls or other seemingly solid pieces of cover. Meaning the wall you think you’re behind may provide nothing in terms of protection. The same could happen with enemy attacks, with intended target areas highlighted by a red circle or shaded area. There were a few times when I would be outside the highlighted area and still take damage. Later, as you gain more skills and can move with more agility, this is less of an issue. But starting out, this made combat a little frustrating. I also had an enemy somehow get on top of a wall and sat dumbfounded as to why he could hit me until I figured it out.
“Damon and Baby” Verdict
Overall, Damon and Baby was a fun ride. The story is quirky as is the titular character. The world is intriguing with an art-style that is fun to look at and music that gives the game a cinematic feel. Fighting is largely fun, sometimes overwhelming, but defeating a boss felt incredible. If action adventure games are your thing, I highly suggest this game. The story and gameplay was a nice break from my usual choices and despite minor gripes, overall was a fun experience.
Verdict: 7.5/10
Damon and Baby is available on PlayStation, Steam, and Nintendo Switch.
