Demon Truck

Demon Truck is a 2D retro pixel arcade shoot 'em up with a difference. It's massively dumbed down to the point it's just a two button clicker that might as well be a mobile app, except if it was, it would be overshadowed by far superior mobile apps. And yet somehow this is on Steam. Oh yeah, Steam Direct, $100 and Valve will take any garbage.

So this looks like a shmup but it's not really, you can't move. Right click boosts your truck so you can smash obstacles (and acts a shield), and left clicking shoots. There's some upgrades but that's kind of meaningless bling considering how incredibly shallow the game is.

From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.

A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel "art" as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics. It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget or talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result.

While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality. Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lacklustre 2D visuals.

The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

Demon Truck didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the game, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is for defeating 666 enemies, not that difficult to get considering there's dozens of things to kill on screen all the time, and your "truck" auto-aims, but less than 26 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the game.

The poor quality of this game is also reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 8 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from (over 9,000 completely free titles), the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.

Demon Truck is massively overpriced at $5 USD, and it's not worth it. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend. If you're looking for a decent shmup on Steam, try Sine Mora.

I don't seem to be able to steer my vehicle... Uh.. I push the buttons, one shoots, and one boosts. I can parry things with boost and nothing really seems to be hurting me, at all. I'm not sure why but I made it to wave 52 on one life. Enemies have a lot of health now, but still do nothing to me. This is really boring. Escape lets me stop the game. Good.

The music is awesome at least.

I got this for a steep discount and I played for maybe 15 minutes. Gets kind of boring quickly. Just tap one input to dash, another input to shoot. Basically managing your two power meters: one for dash and one for ammo. You have to figure out how to dash through obstacles and shoot foes without letting them drain and find yourself defenseless. You can restore the different power meters by waiting or by doing different moves depending on what power ups you get. It's cool and nice to play, but I don't think I'll be giving the game any more time. Nice time waster though and competently made.

Great game. Explores a rarely used premise. You are unable to directly control the Demon Truck. Instead, it drives around on its own. What you do is manage the 'boost' and 'shoot' buttons to control the vehicle indirectly. This game is a pulsepounding fast-paced arcade action type deal, so if you're not into shmups, or aren't a fan of arcade games, this might not be for you.
I really think this is an underrated title, and should deserve more recognition, as the game is very tightly constructed gameplay wise. A must have for shmup and arcade gamers.

Best 60 cents I ever spent. Surprisingly fun and the two-button approach is really unique.

Cheap.
But too zoomed-in for effective boosting. Some basic things like deflecting shots aren't clearly explained. The tutorial text disappears before I can read and comprehend it.
There's a kind of instruction manual on the main menu, but I couldn't find any way to go past page one (tried keys, arrows, mouse buttons etc).
It brings up a silly leaderboard after every game (I don't care about others, I only play single player games) which requires another click to get rid of.

Shame, because it is colourful. I loved Spy Hunter on my C64, but this is nothing like it, because there is so little you can control.

Bite-size delivery of fire and metal right to you! Test your reflexes, listen to the rockin' soundtrack, and take to the highway one more time.

For best results:

1) Listen to slayer while playing, make sure it's loud, ignore complaints from roommate and/or neighbors.
2) One hand should be raised up, making metal horns at all times.
3) Headbang, consider growing hair out to maximize effect.

You want big booms? You want DEMON TRUCK.

You want a demon? YOU WANT DEMON TRUCK.

How about trucks, you want those? Yeah baby- YOU WANT DEMONTRUCKRIGHTNOW.

Look, I am just sayin' man, trucks are cool, demons are cool, its like $5 and supports a great dev. What have you got to lose?

In all seriousness, what you are getting here is a short arcadey bit of fun. You may play it a lot, you may play it a little. Each run is generally not very long but if you just feel like crashing and bashing for a bit there are many worse ways you could use your time. It takes a little roguelike with a little bullet hell and makes it into a 3 min activity.

Minimalistic arcade awesomess; as simple as it gets - two buttons: boost and run over or shoot to kill. Nevertheless it has suprising depth in those quite simple mechanics. Bought it in sale and it's still worth every cent. Quick game for short burst of demonic joy.

Great music, great gameplay, two button design is awesome. Ruined entirely by one fatal flaw.

Roadblocks are the only real threat you face. They pop out of the top of the screen with only a split second given to react. You're supposed to push the boost button to break through them, but if you're too slow you will take damage. The truck is supposed to help you by auto-steering around them, but you quickly discover that this gimmick is something you simply cannot rely on. The view is very zoomed in, so you cannot see these hazards coming in advance.

The meat of the game, fighting enemies, is really easy. You will effortlessly parry enemy fire, chew through bosses, but every run will end because of road hazards chipping away at your health one by one.

Yes, I have the reflexes to deal with the roadblocks. No, I don't think it's fun, because that is the only challenge this game offers. You're just trying to be vigilant about one small part of the gameplay while you utterly decimate all other threats. It's very unbalanced game design, and I cannot recommend it.

Demon Truck is one of those hidden gem arcade games that really showcases a novel mechanic. I should have picked this up long ago. If you are into arcade games with mechanics that are simple-to-learn, yet impossible-to-master like Downwell or One Finger Death Punch, you'll likely really enjoy Demon Truck.

Essentially, you only need two buttons; the right mouse button accelerates/shields you, and the left mouse button attacks in random directions. The truck is possessed, and steers itself. It generally avoids obstacles, but if you are going to hit one, you just accelerate/shield through it. By using the attack, you refill the accelerate/shield meter, and vice-versa. Sounds complicated, but it is brilliantly simple. There are neat upgrade choices at the end of each round. Do you want another turret, or would you like to refill your health - that kind of thing.

Definately has that one-more-run appeal that will have you chasing your friend's scores on the leaderboards.

Pros:
+Really neat and novel mechanic
+Controls are as simple as it gets - literally two buttons
+Each level ends with a choice of upgrades that add a cool high-risk-high-reward component
+Super cheap

Cons:
-I'd be hard pressed to find any 'cons' with this little gem - if you know of any, please comment below

Well worth it for any lover of indie games.

This game is really fun and addicting. Its had an amazing soundtrack. Its an endless 2D shooter style game and I can't stop playing. You should definitely give it a try, especially considering the price.

The subject matter,art style and music are amazing. I was under the impression this was a shmup/bullet hell style game. I do like the game but if you included a mode where you could move to dodge enemy attacks, you would have one hell of a shooter on your hands.

Cool crazy little game with very great soundtrack! Absolutely worth the few bucks for it.
Played it for hours everytime I started. The game and it's soundtrack are highly addictive.

Interesting shmup! Pretty much applying one finger death punch into a shmup, but it feels... Less responsive.

One button shoots. The other accelerates/parries.
You avoid bullets by ramming into them while accelerating. It is quite satisfying.

Definitely a fun title and the music is fantastic.

Very simple design yet fun to play. Great concept and the music fits the game very well.

Awesome two-button schmup! Simple but tight controls with a deep skill curve. The over the top explosions and rad soundtrack make it a joy to kick ass for Satan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfeFUdF0hwQ

Not being able to move is odd. Other than that, it's sort-of like Downwell and a Shmup had a demonic baby, that baby built a car, and then sold the car to Doomguy.

Also, in that video, I get rank #15 in THE WORLD. So y'know. I know what I'm doing.

Lots of explosions, a cool button masher feeling, and a sick heavy metal midi soundtrack make this the kind of game that will always make you smile... and then swear violently when you explode.

Fun bullet-dodger/bullet-hell with a slightly unique twist to it. The inability to actually steer, and the controls consiting of entire left side of keyboard and entire right side of keyboard, its truly a good time to see how far you can get.