Demon Tides review – the best 3D platformer of the year

The makers of Demon Turf return with a full sequel that has some of the best 3D platforming action outside of a Super Mario game.

It’s 2026 and it doesn’t look like 3D platformers are ever going to be a big deal again. Genres go in and out of fashion all the time but except for a brief spell in the late 90s and early 2000s 3D platformers have had very little time in the sun. Even Nintendo won’t announce a new 3D Mario at the moment, and there’s still no new Astro Bot, and so it is that, as usual, indie developers have to pick up the slack.

Fabraz has already emerged as a champion of the genre, with 2021’s Demon Turf and its pint-sized follow-up Neon Splash. They’re currently working on a revival of Bubsy, which seems something of a poisoned chalice, but in the meantime they have this, a larger scale sequel to Demon Turf.

In Demon Turf, protagonist Beebz – a demon girl who wanted to unite all the turfs in Demon World to dethrone the Demon King – was just a 2D sprite but this time round everyone is a proper 3D character, in a game with considerably larger scope and ambitions.

The setting for Demon Tides is an implausibly diverse archipelago called Ragnar’s Rock, with Beebz on a visit to see her estranged father, before she and her friends get mixed up in a what is essentially a civil war between the ruling class, led by her dad, and the downtrodden proletariat. Beebz decides to side against her father, which leads to… a lot of platforming across an impressively large area.

Ragnar’s Rock is made up of dozens of different locations, divided up into three different sections of ocean, which you’re able to visit in any order you like. The game’s whole ethos is based on player choice and customisation, as while Beebz has a wide range of typical platforming moves she also has a number of demonic transformations, from a drill to the more obviously useful bat and sea snake.

You can only transform once, before hitting the ground again (unless you have special crystals to negate that) which means you’re constantly trying to plan out your movements ahead of time, sizing up the obstacles ahead of you in terms of which transformation will be most useful and when.

Almost all paths through a level have multiple ways you can tackle them, when it comes to both the route you take and the moves you use, which lends the game a great air of experimentation. It also creates a sort of organic difficulty system, since most platform layouts allow you to take them piecemeal or all in one combo style leap.

Your skillset is expanded further by collecting special talismans, which allow you to modify existing abilities, like adding a double jump for the snake form or tweaking how the drill works. There’re also special areas where you’re given specific abilities and power boosts just for that section.

Other talismans imbue Beebz with entirely new abilities, such as a Zelda style hand-glider or a pair of roller-skates. The range of options, and the fact that few of them are mandatory at any point, is hugely freeing and it’s very impressive that the game’s level design can accommodate everything.

This is all building on elements from the earlier games but while Demon Turf could be pretty tough for those unfamiliar with the genre, Demon Tides is a notably more forgiving experience – not least because you’re able to set-up your own checkpoints wherever you want. There are still plenty of difficult sections, especially off the beaten path, but the majority of the game is navigable by anyone.

That said, if you prefer a structured experience, and find more open-ended games too unfocused, Demon Tides’ charms may be less appealing. There are still some linear levels, and the game will always tell you where the nearest collectible is, but while it’s clearly taking a lot of notes from Super Mario Odyssey, it’s so loosely tied together it can feel rather random and empty, even if you do appreciate the freedom.

Some unremarkable boss battles and a lack of set pieces mean there’s less palette cleansing available, beyond just platforming. Combat is simplified from the original, to the point where most normal enemies succumb after just one hit, which makes that side of things feel very perfunctory. It’s so incidental that melee attacks end up using the same button as the dash move, but that only means you end up triggering the wrong one by mistake.

Demon Tides has some issues, but the core platforming is excellent and the freedom it allows is invigorating. What’s especially encouraging is that Fabraz is getting better with every game. Although that creates the seemingly impossible scenario where the next Bubsy game could end up being the best non-Nintendo 3D platformer of the generation. That would be quite the evolution but if Fabraz can pull it off then more power to them.

Formats: PC (reviewed) and Nintendo Switch
Price: £20.99
Publisher: Fabraz
Developer: Fabraz
Release Date: 19th February 2026 (Switch TBA)
Age Rating: N/A

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