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Demons of Asteborg - gorgeous retro side-scroller out now on Steam, Switch, and... Sega Genesis/Megadrive (yes, really)

Morrigan

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,721
Didn't see a thread, but I just heard about this today:



village_and_beginning-600x425.png
village_and_houses-600x425.png

swamp_and_people-600x425.png
cemetery_and_combat-600x425.png


The launch trailer was on Twitter a few days ago:


For fans of physical media, the Megadrive box looks very lovely:

BoxedVersion.png


There's a demo on the homepage too:
www.demonsofasteborg.com

Demons of Asteborg

Buy it on newer-gen consoles About The game https://youtu.be/PKNenGI7yN8Demons Of Asteborg is a new original title for the SEGA MegaDrive/Genesis which is now released both as a physical cartridge for this console and as a downloadable ROM for emulators and flash cards. It is a platform-based...
www.demonsofasteborg.com www.demonsofasteborg.com

I don't know what is it with this trend of retro cart games like this (see also Pier Solar and Xeno Crisis), but this one seems up my alley at least. Gonna be trying the demo later today. Anyone getting this?
 
DevilPuncher

DevilPuncher

"This guy are sick" and Aggressively Mediocre
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,966
Wow. Those are some pretty pixels. I'll check out the demo for sure.
 
Laserbeam

Laserbeam

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,537
Canada
Saw this on the eshop without knowing anything about it and really liked the look of it.

Meant to do some research on it, so this thread is a good start. Shit looks pretty cool.
 
Philippo

Philippo

Developer
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,034
A dear friend of mine did the soundtrack for this one, happy to see it pop up here!
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
11,569
I played some of demo. It doesn't seem fantastic or anything but I like it enough that I will probably buy it.
 
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Morrigan

Morrigan

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Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,721
Just tried the demo. To use a controller, I ran it through Steam and binded the DS4 buttons to the keyboard mapping and it works pretty well.

I died at the boss though lol... I'm a scrub. I was trying to get the axe to drop on the boss's head but I couldn't get the timing down. Is it possible to just beat the boss with melee only?

Philippo said:
A dear friend of mine did the soundtrack for this one, happy to see it pop up here!
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The music is pretty cool from what I heard in the demo so far, so props to your friend!
 
CeVee

CeVee

Member
Nov 8, 2019
2,476
Anywhere and everywhere, all at once.
So far from what I've played, I really enjoy it.

Game is gorgeous pixel wise, I'm really digging the music, it actually has that 'genesis game' feel, and controls great. I haven't noticed any stuttering, screen tearing or anything like that (I'm playing on the Switch) and for anyone wondering about difficulty, there are the three standard modes to choose from (Easy, Normal, Hard). I have no idea how long the game is/how many areas/stages there are, but from the couple I played, they're pretty meaty.
 
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Morrigan

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,721
CeVee said:
So far from what I've played, I really enjoy it.

Game is gorgeous pixel wise, I'm really digging the music, it actually has that 'genesis game' feel, and controls great. I haven't noticed any stuttering, screen tearing or anything like that (I'm playing on the Switch) and for anyone wondering about difficulty, there are the three standard modes to choose from (Easy, Normal, Hard). I have no idea how long the game is/how many areas/stages there are, but from the couple I played, they're pretty meaty.
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What happens when you run out of lives in the main game? Are you taken back just to the level, or is it a final game over (ouch), etc..., how does saving work basically?
 
CeVee

CeVee

Member
Nov 8, 2019
2,476
Anywhere and everywhere, all at once.
Morrigan said:
What happens when you run out of lives in the main game? Are you taken back just to the level, or is it a final game over (ouch), etc..., how does saving work basically?
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You have a health bar and hearts/men, so if you die in the stage by loosing all your health, you go back to whatever the last checkpoint area is in that stage
so like in the first stage, if you say die because of the rolling rock part, you go back to the entrance of that area where the grim reaper guy that asks you to grab his memory is, not at the very beginning of the stage. Also, if you made progress in that area, like you had to flip a switch to raise water to get to a new section of the stage, then that saves too, so you won't have to do that part all over again just because you died.
.

You start at the very beginning of whatever stage/area you left off on on the map if you turn the game off and on. I haven't lost all my hearts/men in one stage/area yet, but I'll purposely die when I fire the game up again to see what happens.
 
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Morrigan

Morrigan

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Oct 24, 2017
34,721
CeVee said:
You start at the very beginning of whatever stage/area you left off on on the map if you turn the game off and on. I haven't lost all my hearts/men in one stage/area yet, but I'll purposely die when I fire the game up again to see what happens.
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Gotcha, thanks. I ran out of lives/hearts trying to beat the executioner boss in the demo (I'm a scrub, I know... I tried to get the axe to drop on its head but no luck, I asked earlier, is it possible to just melee him to death?) and I was taken to a game over screen/title screen, which I assume in the regular game would make you reload at the start of the map level.
 
Vagabond

Vagabond

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Oct 26, 2017
3,437
United States
Wishlisted.

But I absolutely do not believe they are getting those graphics out of a Genesis! No 32X? I need to see this to believe it.
 
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Morrigan

Morrigan

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Oct 24, 2017
34,721
Yeah, the graphics are Sega CD/Saturn/PS1 quality IMO. I'm really curious to see that game run on an actual Genesis cart!
 
Metal Gear?!

Metal Gear?!

Member
Jun 26, 2020
1,827
XenoCrisis looks and sounds better on PC than Genesis/Megadrive, even though they are the same game, so it could be the same situation here

Think of it like an arcade to home conversion
 
Trifle

Trifle

Member
Oct 28, 2017
36
I'm playing on Megadrive via MiSTer using the ROM from my Steam version and enjoying it so far. Loving the music!
Quite challenging - perhaps I should have started on easy as I lost 3 hearts on the first boss before I got the hang of it and it was back to the start of the entire level… Still, it was a lot of fun to get there so it wasn't too much of a slog!
 
Armouredpriest

Armouredpriest

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,040
Trifle said:
I'm playing on Megadrive via MiSTer using the ROM from my Steam version and enjoying it so far. Loving the music!
Quite challenging - perhaps I should have started on easy as I lost 3 hearts on the first boss before I got the hang of it and it was back to the start of the entire level… Still, it was a lot of fun to get there so it wasn't too much of a slog!
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That's interesting, I received a ROM meant for flash carts, but it wouldn't run on my Mega SG. I also have a steam version (thanks to kickstarter), which I have tried. To their credit the makers tried to help me get it running, but I think the update for the Mega SG needs to come from Analogue's side. Also, I haven't been able to try it if it works on the Megs SD (terraonion's flashcart)


That said, what I've played I've been enjoying.
 
Shaneus

Shaneus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,945
Trifle said:
I'm playing on Megadrive via MiSTer using the ROM from my Steam version and enjoying it so far. Loving the music!
Quite challenging - perhaps I should have started on easy as I lost 3 hearts on the first boss before I got the hang of it and it was back to the start of the entire level… Still, it was a lot of fun to get there so it wasn't too much of a slog!
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I was looking how to buy the ROM for it (also to play on MiSTer), but good to know the full Steam version has the ROM as well. Will buy!
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
On their website why do they mention the game being inspired by Megadrive/Genesis games like "panzer dragoon"? Made me raise an eyebrow.
 
The Spoony Hou

The Spoony Hou

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,987
Brazil
Metal Gear?! said:
XenoCrisis looks and sounds better on PC than Genesis/Megadrive, even though they are the same game, so it could be the same situation here

Think of it like an arcade to home conversion
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Well, it seems that the Steam version is just the rom running on an emulator. Too bad, I'd be all over a native pc version.
brokeastronaut said:
On their website why do they mention the game being inspired by Megadrive/Genesis games like "panzer dragoon"? Made me raise an eyebrow.
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Maybe they meant Alisia Dragoon? Panzer Dragoon isn't even a platformer :p
 
The Spoony Hou

The Spoony Hou

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,987
Brazil
Metal Gear?! said:
I was saying that in relation to the Op talking about how it looks perhaps too good to be a genesis/megadrive game.

Could just be a really good use of the color pallette and hold-and-modify.
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Well, basically you said Xenocrisis had a pc version that looked better than the genesis, and I said in this case this is the genesis version, so it looks the same.
Awakened said:
To be fair, they did license BlastEm, the most accurate Genesis emulator. Really great sound emulation and even emulates CRAM dots.
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At least that. Hope it runs fine on Switch.
 
Tailzo

Tailzo

Fallen Guardian
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,143
Morrigan said:
Didn't see a thread, but I just heard about this today:



village_and_beginning-600x425.png
village_and_houses-600x425.png

swamp_and_people-600x425.png
cemetery_and_combat-600x425.png


The launch trailer was on Twitter a few days ago:


For fans of physical media, the Megadrive box looks very lovely:

BoxedVersion.png


There's a demo on the homepage too:
www.demonsofasteborg.com

Demons of Asteborg

Buy it on newer-gen consoles About The game https://youtu.be/PKNenGI7yN8Demons Of Asteborg is a new original title for the SEGA MegaDrive/Genesis which is now released both as a physical cartridge for this console and as a downloadable ROM for emulators and flash cards. It is a platform-based...
www.demonsofasteborg.com www.demonsofasteborg.com

I don't know what is it with this trend of retro cart games like this (see also Pier Solar and Xeno Crisis), but this one seems up my alley at least. Gonna be trying the demo later today. Anyone getting this?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Very nice sega mega drive box :)
 
Red Liquorice

Red Liquorice

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,146
UK
Wow, I love seeing new Neo Geo carts, I don't own one but this is a real treat!

(I do own this game for Evercade though!)
 
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