It’s usually not a good sign when you’re dying repeatedly in a game’s tutorial, but the 2.5D twin-stick shooter Damon and Baby is a notable exception. In the vein of Nex Machina, Enter the Gungeon, and even all the way back to Smash TV, Damon and Baby merges fast-paced gunplay with rewarding exploration and exhilarating traversal. Arc System Works’s latest sees you step into the role of the exiled demon king, Damon, who must find his way home and regain his powers — all while protecting the wee human girl perched upon his shoulder. I spent about an hour with the game ahead of The 2025 Game Awards last week, and came away eager to spend more time with this oddball duo.
The game’s tutorial section takes place in a cavern, and takes you through basic mechanics like clearing a room of enemies, taking advantage of cover, unlocking impassable doors, and — best of all — leaping over vast chasms by “launching the child” to perform a double-jump or move at right angles. (It’s cool, guys. She’s a very resilient toddler!) Damon begins the adventure in a pretty weak state — if you leave yourself open to a group of enemies, you’ll be seeing a game over screen fast. As you progress through the game, however, you’ll gain levels and skill points to increase Damon’s health, defense, attack power, and skill with specific types of guns.
During the tutorial section, I initially struggled a little with the twin-stick gunplay, leaving myself open to getting pelted by enemy projectiles while trying to line up the perfect shot. But once I realized Damon and Baby doesn’t require sniper-like precision, I got into the groove. At least in the early sections of the game, moving fast and hitting hard is a perfectly viable strategy. Better still, once you whack an enemy with a melee attack, your guns will automatically lock-on to that target, eliminating the need to fiddle with aim and encouraging you to get up close to enemies. Tutorial sections can often feel surplus to requirements, but that wasn’t the case here. I definitely needed a few flubbed attempts to get the hang of things before I was ready for tougher challenges.
The second portion of my demo upped the challenge, while also allowing me to soak in the detailed environments a bit more. After loading up a mid-game save file, I discovered to my delight that my beefier level 20-ish Damon had a lot more heart containers to work with and an expanded arsenal of weaponry — including a machine gun, sniper rifle, and rocket launcher. In any room with a bed — and there were several in this mansion — you can restore your health and tinker with your stats. While Damon’s demo build was evenly balanced, it seems like you can essentially dump all your skill points into abilities you favor and ignore the rest, which I appreciated.
Instead of a humdrum cave, this later section took place in a modern, suburban mansion, with cars parked outside and patio furniture in the garden. While there were tougher baddies to fight than in the tutorial section, there was also quite a bit more to do on the exploration side. Much to my relief, the cramped hallways and corners also meant there was no pretense to attempt the precision aiming I’d bungled in the tutorial — guns blazing was the best way forward.
From the living room to the bedrooms and kitchen, there were plenty of nooks and crannies to examine in this expansive house. And I needed to look in cabinets and shelves to find keys to proceed deeper into the mansion. It was also in this section that I came to appreciate Damon and Baby’s charming enemy and environmental design. After I snooped through yet another cupboard, it sprouted bulging eyes and fangs, chasing me down the hall until I pumped it full of lead.
My time with Damon and Baby flew by, and I’m eager to dive back in at some point. It’s got modern comforts in the form of skill trees and fast travel, but also takes me back to playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors with my brothers on the Super Nintendo. On that note, Damon and Baby also has a two-player co-op mode, which I’m quite excited to check out closer to launch.
Damon and Baby is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC via Steam. Arc System Works has not yet announced a release date.
