Demon's Tilt is a

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

by American developer Adam Ferrando under his handle WIZNWAR, released on

Steam Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

in January 2019, with eventual publication on

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PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

, and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

in December 2019. The game features

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

inspiration pulled from H.P. Lovecraft,

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

and other horror themes. The game has been called a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to the

Crush Pinball ''Alien Crush'' is a pinball video game developed by Compile for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. It was released in 1988. The game is the first installment in the '' Crush Pinball'' series. It was followed by three sequels, ''Devil's Crush'', '' Ja ...

series of pinball video games, namely ''

Devil's Crush ''Devil's Crush'' is a pinball video game developed by Compile for the TurboGrafx-16 and released in 1990. The second installment in the ''Crush Pinball'' series after ''Alien Crush'', the game has an eerie occult theme with skulls, skeletons, and ...

''. A sequel, ''Xenotilt'', is currently in development.

Gameplay

''Demon's Tilt'' occurs primarily on a pinball board that spans across three separate screens, one for each of the sections: Lilith, Hermit and Zodiac. They contain different objectives or items which help add to the player's multiplier score. The player is given three balls per game and moves the ball around the board by four pairs of flippers (two pairs on the first tier, the remaining two divided up among the other two tiers). By shaking the table, the trajectory of the ball can be shifted with the game's Nudge feature, designed to help the player control the ball. The player will face a number of enemy characters and obstacles around the board, along with boss characters that can cause ball loss. Unlike other pinball games, the tilt mechanics add a " hack 'n slash" gameplay element, allowing the player to use the ball to attack enemies and avoid obstacles. Another gameplay element is the incorporation of

bullet hell Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of charact ...

mechanics, where enemy characters will fill the board with bullets that halt ball progress. A game over is triggered by the player losing all of their three balls.

Development

Development of Demon's Tilt was inspired by an email chain between Adam Ferrando ("WIZNWAR") and Ralph Barbagallo of FLARB, LLC, about their shared love of video pinball games from the early 90s. Discussions between the two brought up their main inspirations for developing the a game heavily inspired by the

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...

Crush Pinball series of games, drawing heavy inspiration from ''

Alien Crush ''Alien Crush'' is a pinball video game developed by Compile for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. It was released in 1988. The game is the first installment in the '' Crush Pinball'' series. It was followed by three sequels, ''Devil's Crush'', '' Ja ...

'' on the

Turbografx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC, NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth genera ...

, ''Devil's Crush'' also on the Turbografx-16 and

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, and '' Jaki Crush'' on the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

, along with

KAZe Kaze may refer to: * KAZE, an American radio station located in Texas * KAZe, a Japanese video game developer * Kazé, a French publishing company * Kaze-Forces for the Defense of Democracy, a political party in Burundi Fiction * Kaze (television ...

's pinball games for the

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...

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. Development of the game began some time in 2017, with the prototype of Demon's Tilt being finished in late-2017. Development on the main game began in April 2018 after Barbagallo approached Ferrando about publishing the game. The game was released for Steam Early Access on January 22, 2019, with a full release on December 13, 2019. Music for the game was composed by ec2151, and tries to emulate 16-bit video game

chiptune Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The t ...

soundtracks, with the Yamaha

YM2612 The YM2612, a.k.a. OPN2, is a sound chip developed by Yamaha. It is a member of Yamaha's OPN family of FM synthesis chips, and is derived from the YM2203. The YM2612 is a six-channel FM synthesizer. It was used in several game and computer sys ...

specifically being a reference for style and sound limitations.

Reception

''Demon's Tilt'' has received generally positive reviews. ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' reviewed the Steam Early Access release positively, praising the game mechanics and

game mechanics. ''PC Gamer'' to date has not given a full review of the commercial release, but featured it on their list "The hidden gems of PC gaming in 2019". ''

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

'', also reviewing the Early Access release, praised the game's chaotic gameplay along with the chiptune soundtrack and featured it on a "best new indie games" list. ''

Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

'' gave the released game an 8/10, praising the visuals, the soundtrack, and the gameplay but noted that the Switch release lacked some of the extra visuals of the PC release.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
2019 video games Pinball video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Xbox One games Early access video games Indie games MacOS games Video games developed in the United States Windows games