When you think of a demon, you probably think of some scary winged beast with a long forked tongue. Maybe one of those big uggos you blast to bits in Doom: The Dark Ages. In Arc Systems Works’ new twin-stick shooter Damon and Baby, the titular demon isn’t frightening, nor grotesque; if anything, he’s mostly a regular dude (with horns) saddled with being a babysitter for a toddler he doesn’t want anything to do with. Their journey together makes for an enjoyable, guns-blazing romp, though some of the game’s design choices tend to get in the way of the fun.
Damon’s tasked with watching over the child at the behest of her caregiver, a priest who died before the events of the game and asked Damon to protect her. He’s now stuck with her — quite literally as he’ll teleport to wherever he chucks her. (Throwing the baby for traversing levels and dodging attacks in combat is an important part of Damon and Baby’s gameplay.) Watching over her side-tracks Damon from moving on up from a Demon King to a Super Demon King. Don’t be impressed by those titles, though — in an early display of the game’s humor, a pyramid pops up showing that that vaunted Demon King Damon is actually at the lowest level of demon hierarchy.
The pair travel through a variety of locales, like a desert town, a mansion, and a fog-covered Phoenix, AZ, as Damon tries to keep the kid safe from demons (including some real uggos!) who want her for their own nefarious reasons. Part of the fun of Damon and Baby is learning just why this kid is so important, and watching Damon grow into embracing his father-like role. He even decorates their trailer with a robot toy for her, and at one point she calls him dad. Too cute!
With the baby bouncing in a seat on Damon’s back, they find themselves in endless firefights. Damon has a trusty handgun with infinite ammo (and low damage, to keep things balanced). The best weapons are his machine gun, shotgun, and RPG. You need to pick up ammo for them, but often will find more clips than you can carry.
