Preview: Life Below & Ritual of Raven

The most recent edition of Steam Next Fest might be over for some time now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get to play any more good demos. There are still so many great games that will be released later this year and beyond, and it’s only fair that we put them on your radar too. So here are two more games to wishlist right now, if you haven’t already.

Life Below

City builders have become incredibly intricate and can feel slightly overwhelming to those new to the genre. A lot of them also seem to cover the same aspects of city or town life, so it can be quite hard to find something new or refreshing. But what about underwater life? I’m not talking about building bases on the ocean floor; I mean actual aquatic life. That’s where Life Below comes in.

You awaken as a guardian of the ocean, forced to learn on the job, as your qualities are urgently needed. The ocean is dying due to the massive pollution we humans are dumping into it. Life is set to find a way to combat this though, and in this case, you are the solution. As Thalassa, you are to resurrect entire ecosystems through building coral reefs and attracting species into your designated area.

The game’s narrative is designed by Rhianna Pratchett, and its cutscenes really manage to grip you into feeling for everything that’s trying to live in this aquatic world. Through using advice from real marine biologists and using underwater audio, the world of Life Below really comes to life and presents the ocean in a way seldomly seen in any medium.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this demo, especially with how the game takes its time to introduce you to all of its mechanics. At times, I was just staring at my screen, waiting for resources to come in, but when the world you’re looking at is this beautiful, you easily forget that you’re waiting for a video game to do its thing. Could the game have been a little clearer with what you’re supposed to do? Maybe, although I suspect this is mostly on me. I see a patch of land; I want to fill that up as quickly as possible.

But that’s not what Life Below is about. It’s about giving the ocean the time, space and resources to recover by itself. You and your companions have a role to play for sure, but you can’t force things. Recovery takes time, and this game really manages to show you that with a gentle hand.

This is a really beautiful take on a genre that’s usually mostly focused on buildings and people. It reminded me of another game, Terra Nil, which was dubbed a reverse city builder, as you had to restore natural life to lands left behind by human settlement. It’s games like these that remind us to keep our connection with nature, as we wouldn’t be here without it, and losing that bond will only cause us to feel more lost within this world.

The demo for Life Below is still available right now on Steam, so whether you’re a fan of the genre or you just want to discover the beautiful, heartbreaking story by Pratchett, give yourself the gift of playing this game. Sadly, there’s no release date yet, but wish list the game now to remain up to date.

Rituals of Raven

My second demo takes place above sea level, but in a world just as – if not more – magical. Ritual of Raven is the next game by Spellgarden Games, the people that brought us the delightful Sticky Business. This game is pretty different from their first, being a story-based farming sim where you don’t even do the farming yourself.

At the start of the game, you get transported into a world where magic is real, arriving there through a portal. You are found by a local witch called Sage, who has just lost her familiar Flufferstoop through a similar portal. She decides to help you fulfil your own magical potential while going on a quest for Flufferstoop herself.

First off, you need to recreate the portals that transported both of you. For that, you’ll first need your own familiar. So you gather ingredients for the summoning ritual through foraging and through farming. However, in these lands, Arcana Constructs do the farming for you. You just instruct them on what they have to do by playing cards. This mechanic works beautifully and is a very fun variation on the traditional farming sim systems.

During the ritual, the portals reappear, and Sage takes off to find Flufferstoop and bring them back. It’s then up to you to fill your Book of Shadows to strengthen your power and find the Portal Keepers to stabilise the portals which are now causing chaos all over the land.

Despite being a very different game to Sticky Business, Ritual of Raven plays wonderfully. There’s a clear love for the genre present here, combined with the charm that made that first game so special. You’ll often find graphics in the game that remind you of the stickers you could create, which is delightful, but this game also has enough of an identity to be its own thing.

I unfortunately ran into a bug within the demo that made it impossible to discover more of the game, but what I did get to play has already convinced me of the full game. After Sticky Business, I had proclaimed that I would play anything Spellgarden Games makes, and I’m glad I can stick to that decision.

Ritual of Raven will be releasing on August 7 so the wait isn’t too long, but if you just can’t wait to try it out, the demo is still available on the game’s Steam page. Be sure to wish list the game as well so you’ll be notified when the game is out. And go play Sticky Business while you wait; it’s such an underrated gem and deserving of your time.