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Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC
Publisher: Arc System Works
Developer: Arc System Works
Release: 2026 (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC), TBA (Switch)

Damon and Baby became a pleasant surprise when I visited Arc System Works while in Los Angeles for The Game Awards. While the studio is known for fighting games like Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and the upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, Damon and Baby is an isometric twin-stick shooter starring the comedic pairing of a demon and his barely functional infant partner. Like chocolate and peanut butter, this unlikely partnership appears silly enough to work.

As you’d expect, Damon does all of the heavy lifting on the gameplay side. Wielding firearms like handguns, assault rifles, shotguns, and more, blasting through hordes of demonic foes is good fun. You can swap between several weapon types instantly, and each gun has several stat variations to add an element of strategic thought to your loadouts. Enemies respond by unleashing bullet hell-style projectile waves Damon can roll away from or leap over; combined with the decent environmental destructability, battles are good, chaotic fun.

I spent the bulk of my demo fighting through a multi-story mansion searching for a way to free its captured lord, who was locked away in a room. This became an unexpected but enjoyable exercise of locating keys to access different floors and rooms of the house. I even collected memos I later used to solve a combination lock barring access to a new section. I like this element of puzzle-solving, as I expected a purely action-focused experience. Although Damon can use a double-jump to leap across platforms, traversing larger gaps requires a funny solution; carelessly hurling the baby to the other side, which instantly warps Damon right to her due to their demonic bond.

The supernatural threats infesting this mansion largely took the form of possessed objects, such as furniture, so every visit to a new room devolved into a chaotic poltergeist ambush. In all the ruckus, I mainly tried to avoid shattering glass display cases housing little dolls. Breaking these containers brings the toy to life, causing it to sprout daddy long-legs-like limbs in a delightfully creepy touch. I got roughed up pretty good in all the mayhem, but cooking dishes using food and ingredients I gather while exploring heals Damon and can provide other beneficial effects.

 

Awaiting me at the end of this romp was a big boss fight in the form of a giant, horned, masked demon. It summoned floating flytrap-like maws I needed to climb atop to reach the necessary height to unleash hell, and shooting these platforms kept their jaws open long enough for me to do so. The battle offered solid fun and rewarded me with the key I needed to free the trapped lord.

Damon and Baby’s colorful presentation and charming humor won me over almost as quickly as the gameplay. The cel-shaded presentation’s light-hearted vibes, combined with the writing, reminded me of how the Disgaea series makes light of demonic lore.

It’s been a good while since I sank into a good twin-stick shooter, and Damon and Baby scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. Its entertaining gameplay and satisfying mayhem gel well with its humorous tone and presentation. I also played Damon and Baby on a Steam Deck, which solidified it as an enjoyable and fitting handheld experience. I wasn’t sure what to make of this unlikely pairing of demon and child, but I’m now looking forward to seeing how their full adventure unfolds sometime next year.

Every time I boot up Steam, my eye catches Metal Eden in my library, and I'm reminded of just how slick of an FPS it is. This cyberpunk adventure is Doom Eternal meets Ghostrunner, and I'm still thinking about it five months after I rolled credits. I fear not enough people have played it, and if you haven't, you should change that.

As the year comes to a close, we're highlighting some personal favorite games from our team that we feel you shouldn't miss. If you're still looking for the right game to carry you into 2026, and you've already hit up our Top 10 Best, we're hoping one of these recommendations will hit the mark.

Moebius is a cyberpunk city on the verge of imminent destruction, courtesy of a time bomb, and only Aska, a special disposable Hyper Unit android, can save it. Fortunately, her computer brain can be implanted over and over again into cybernetic android bodies, which are equipped with grapples, jetpacks, and limbs that allow Aska to dash and wall-run through any environment. Oh, and it lets Aska carry seven guns, ranging from sniper rifles to shotguns and more, that she deftly uses to mow down anything and anyone in her way. Her journey to defeat Moebius's massive Engineers, which hold the Cores she desperately needs to save the city, will take you through derelict factories, deserts, mining facilities, and into myriad arenas for some of the best first-person gunplay of 2025. 

Metal Eden wears its Doom Eternal inspiration on its sleeve, turning wave-based arenas into coliseums of destruction, lest you stop moving. Using her jetpack, turbo boosts, ammo, armor, and health pickups scattered around the arena, you'll need to hold your breath and shoot everything in the room – it all wants to kill you, after all. Pause for a second, and it could spell certain doom. The resulting combat experience is a fast-paced, kinetic, on-the-go shooting gallery that I promise will send adrenaline surging through your veins. 

That high-speed gunplay elasticity carries over into the Ghostrunner-like runs in between arenas, which task you with keeping momentum as you sprint on walls, grapple up to platforms, and jetpack double jump to safety, all while shooting down enemies that threaten your existence. The reward at the end of a linear run through Moebius' various locales is one of the aforementioned arenas, the perfect zones to try out your latest weapon upgrades. 

There's more to Metal Eden, like some Metroid Prime-inspired sections and a voice-in-your-comms that's a bit too present, but ultimately, everything that happens when you aren't pulling the trigger gets in the way. Fortunately, these sections aren't as frequent as the parts of Metal Eden that shine, so rest assured, there's an excellent shootout just minutes away when things feel slow. 

For more of my thoughts, read my Metal Eden review here. 

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