I love when a developer mainly known for a specific genre decides to delve into something completely different from their usual output. Sometimes, this results in unexpectedly good results. Remember when Rockstar came up with the shockingly fun Table Tennis? Or when Ubisoft teamed up with Nintendo to make a gun-based, Mario-themed turn-based strategy game? Today’s experimental anomaly comes from Arc System Works, the folks mainly known for their FANTASTIC fighting games such as Guilty Gear and Dragon Ball FighterZ, with them now tackling the Zelda-esque market with Damon and Baby.

A lovely duo.

We start off with a literal “Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation” moment, which immediately sets the tone for the rest of the game. Damon and Baby is a self-referential, fourth wall breaking tale about a Hellboy-esque demon tasked with guiding a small kid to the heavenly gates, as per a request from a dying friend of his… ironically enough, a priest. Demons are not particularly loved in this world, but Damon is able to find just enough allies to help him in his journey, from an old man with no prejudices to an insurance company that isn’t exactly the most helpful of allies, but does enough to, at the very least, help you out in a situation or two.

As for the gameplay itself, Damon and Baby goes for a mixture of many genres. Structure-wise, it feels like a Zelda-inspired clone in terms of its exploration mechanics (it’s very heavy on dungeon exploring), but it goes for a twin-stick shooter combat system, an isometric camera perspective, instances of platforming, a metroidvania-esque upgrade system, and a save system that feels like it was taken straight out of Dark Souls: you can only save and recover health in specific benches, but once you do, all dungeon enemies respawn. Finally, the item management system feels like it was taken straight out of Resident Evil, as your inventory size is limited, and items can take up more than a single slot, depending on their size.

Twin-stick shooting with sluggish melee combat and fast-paced enemies. Lovely.

Does it sound like, well, a mess? I’ll be honest, it kinda is. It’s a lot of elements being thrown into a blender, and whilst the result is certainly unique, it is kinda confusing. Adding respawn elements to a Zelda-esque dungeon explorer is a bit tricky because this results in a lack of autosaves and continues. Die in the middle of a dungeon, revert back to your previous checkpoint, redo all puzzles, feel angry at yourself for sucking at the game. Damon and Baby is not hard per se, but the combat is a bit tricky. The aiming and shooting is fun and fine enough, but you slow down when aiming, and can’t properly dodge attacks. Enemies, on the other hand, are VERY quick. You somewhat feel like you’re in a disadvantage as a result, at least during the first few hours, when your stats are low. You can improve them upon leveling up.

You’ll meet up with some familiar faces from Arc System Works’ catalogue along your journey.

Damon and Baby makes up for its roadblocks with humor, charm, decent visuals, and a lot of Arc System Works references. I don’t want to spoil things too much, but let’s just say that, if you’re a fan of the studio’s output, you might end up bumping into some familiar faces. The combat is also fun, don’t get me wrong. When you start becoming a bit bulkier (please make sure to invest in your health at first), you won’t worry too much about enemy roadblocks. The game will then become a power fantasy shooter with the occasionally tough boss to test your skills, and not an overly punitive cartoonish experience.

There might be something in the fine print.

It’s an admittedly messy game, with way more gameplay elements and influences than it should have had, but Damon and Baby is still a fun time. It’s just too damn charming, with a fun roster of characters, pretty good dialogue, and a ton of fan service for Arc System Works aficcionados. Just learn to be a bit patient at first, as the game feels a bit too unfair and bloated before you level up a few times. Once the first few hurdles are past you, you’re in for a surprisingly fun ride, one I wouldn’t mind seeing more of in the future. With the appropriate quality of life fixes, of course…

Damon and Baby is available now on PS4, PS5, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Damon and Baby was provided by the publisher.