The pixel-art Journey to the West-themed RPG "I Became a Demon in Journey to the West" is participating in the Steam Next Fest and offers a free demo.
Developed by Chixin Studio and published by Samar Studio, this title features an unnamed minor demon from the Journey to the West as its protagonist, combining open-world exploration, Roguelike card mechanics, and cultivation progression. Players are not tasked with escorting the pilgrims; instead, they must survive in a world where gods, Buddhists, and wild spirits coexist. Through cultivation and reincarnation, players retain their accumulated progress and embark on different paths under new demonic identities.
The current demo offers 21 playable demons, each with unique attributes, skills, and card decks. For example, Flower Demons can charm and restrain enemies, while Scorpion Demons excel at applying poison over time. Cultivation progress is unlocked up to the Foundation Establishment stage. The story includes one main questline and 30 side quests, allowing players to experience reincarnation, combat, exploration, and character interactions. Beyond cards, level, attributes, weapons, clones, and transformation mechanics also influence growth. Players can steal resources from NPCs, gather materials, craft items, build relationships, unlock marriage and camp interactions, and recruit followers after defeating bosses and capturing strongholds.
The demo includes over 80 ingredients and dishes, 70 medicinal herbs and drugs, 37 pieces of equipment, 33 magical artifacts, 42 types of materials, 150 miscellaneous items, and 939 fusion recipes. The developers state that the full game will feature a randomly generated world of 20,000 tiles, over 1.5 million words of text, thousands of random events, and hundreds of endings. Early Access is planned for 2027, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
