Image Credits: Copyright Owned by Galaxies Showcase Media Ltd.
Live streamed on Oct. 23, the 2025 Autumn Galaxy Showcase brought a lot to the gaming community this season. For those unaware, the Galaxy showcase is a bi-yearly event, with one in the spring and another in the fall, to show off world premieres for new games or new looks at games we are already excited about.
Featuring more than 50 games, there were many highly anticipated titles shown off at this fall’s showcase. Games such as Skinwalker, Sleep Awake, Silver Pines, Apomo District, Denshattack!, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 or the very popular Mouse: P.I. For Hire, were all shown off at this event. Every one of those games and much more had trailers that blew me away and were wishlisted just moments after the livestream ended.
What excited me the most was the demos that were available for a portion of the games featured at the showcase. While some of these demos had been released for a while, they have finally been put back in the spotlight. After playing numerous demos, here are the ones that intrigued me the most:
Hark the Ghoul
From the get-go, Hark the Ghoul’s art style makes me feel as if I plugged in a Playstation 1 and let the nostalgia take over. As you traverse through this dark Victorian-style setting with strange creatures afoot, surviving is your only option. Though simple, the combat is diverse enough with different weapons that it allows for numerous playstyles that all depend on the player. Enemies each had their own unique way of attacking, forcing the player to defend and strike in exciting showdowns quite often. While I do believe this slower-paced demo does overstay its welcome a little too much, I definitely got a good understanding of the game’s feel and premise by the end. Hark the Ghoul is very well shrouded in mystery, similar to how Hollow Knight or Dark Souls felt, which the game is clearly inspired from.
A.I.L.A
Without a doubt, A.I.L.A is one of the more creepier games on this list. From the looks of the trailer the demo doesn’t seem to fully capture what the game is going to be like. The trailer showed numerous different maps and areas, but the demo here was just a few rooms called the “Impossible House,” which sadly felt a little basic. I was shocked because the trailer makes this game look super creepy and different, but the demo didn’t really showcase that. It is clear there is a lot more than what the demo offers, and I think the main point of this demo was to just give you a feel of the game without actually giving away any main plot points. While I do like how this shrouds the actual game with more mystery, by the end of the demo, I felt like I didn’t actually learn that much about A.I.L.A, which is slightly disappointing. A.I.L.A still played great and is very creepy nonetheless, I just hope that the final product is more unique than the demo we got here.
It Takes A War
The trailer for this game definitely interested me, as I couldn’t tell what kind of game it was at all. It looks like a CS:GO knock-off, but it gives off the vibe like it’s a disguise for a psychological thriller. I had no idea, so I was hoping the demo would give me answers, but it really didn’t. This short demo is surprisingly really funny though, with voice-over from the developer Thomas Mackinnon, as he continuously explains to you how the game works. When the game purposefully starts breaking though and things finally start to get interesting is when the demo sadly ends. The minimal gameplay that is here is pretty fun, but I just hope we get to see more of what the game is actually like before it releases.
Ground Zero
For fans of the original Resident Evil (RE) games, you are going to love Ground Zero. After a meteor hits Busan, South Korea, Seo-Yeon and her Canadian partner must uncover data about the meteor, but unbeknownst to them, an organism has begun to spread from the meteor that reanimates corpses. This premise, mixed with a fixed camera and the choice between old RE-style tank controls or modern controls, filled this game completely with creepy vibes. With an older art direction too, it is impossible not to feel like you are playing an old RE game with a new coat of paint, and it was everything I expected. Though I personally am not the biggest fan of older RE games, I enjoyed how Ground Zero felt like less of a puzzle and more of a story as you traverse different areas. While it was definitely rough around the edges, I certainly found my playthrough to be quite unsettling.
Shroom and Gloom
A hand-drawn, deck-building roguelike sounds like a game made from the gods above, and after playing Shroom and Gloom, it certainly feels that way. Its moody atmosphere dominates the entire playthrough as you use new cards to find new weapons and progress through an unknown land. Having two decks, one for exploring and the other for combat, allows so much room for creativity, and Shroom and Gloom takes full advantage of that. Nearly every card here felt so unique, and once you begin to upgrade these cards it somehow gets even crazier. With how complicated it sounds, Shroom and Gloom never felt overly confusing throughout the entirety of the demo, allowing the player the freedom to collect and attack however they wanted. The art design here too works so in sync with the thick atmosphere, whether that be the card, enemy or background designs; it was all so meticulously crafted. The demo didn’t have much of a story at all, but I hope to see some effort put into fleshing this world out and expanding on this already very unique experience.
Rue Valley
With the immense success of Disco Elysium in 2019, I was surprised many games like it have not come out since, but we see that now with Rue Valley. Stuck in a time loop, you must fight through your own mental warzone to discover why you are stuck in this loop, but also how you got stuck taking psychotherapy sessions in a motel. All the characters here feel so much more than what we see in this demo, itching the player to find out as much as they can through dialogue and observations. Forcing dialogue choices and actions to be synced with your character’s mental state allows for so many different playstyles and creates unique playthroughs. While the plot can feel slow at times, Rue Valley is eerily successful in trapping in an isolated place, where the only thing to stop your mind from spiraling is to keep moving forward, even when it seems impossible.
Samuel J. Beadle is a second-year English major. SB1033446@wcupa.edu