The Devil Within: Satgat Preview

The Devil Within: Satgat is a 2D platformer full of sword-fighting action developed by Newcore Games, located in South Korea, and published along with Astrolabe Games. The first thing I have to mention is that The Devil Within looks absolutely breathtaking; I haven't seen a title that looks this beautiful in a while! The opening cinematic is epic and quickly draws you into the action.

You play as a Royal Guard named Kim Rip. You are fighting along with the other members of your unit when you see soldiers being taken over by a dark shadow and become possessed; they are becoming Devils. These former humans quickly turn on you, attacking everyone that they find. While trying to fight off the group of demons that threaten to take you over, the ground crumbles beneath you, causing you to fall into the earth. You have to find a way out, and this is used as a tutorial to show you how to control your warrior. As you progress, you will hear your heartbeat suddenly becoming louder, causing you to drop to your knees. It seems that the energy of this place is taking you over; you have to hurry before you become a Devil yourself.

Once you get back to the surface, you, along with the last surviving fighter on your team, attack the core controlling this place. Your character is still affected by these debilitating headaches, and he suddenly starts to have visions of lying on the floor, and we see someone giving you some kind of liquid. What was this? Did it actually happen, or is it a hallucination?

When you wake up, you find yourself in the Ruined City. There are monsters here; they aren't regular human beings because when you destroy them, you get glowing crystals. While exploring the subway, you have another headache and are suddenly transported to a different place. Is this a nightmare? As you progress in the game, you learn that this city you find yourself in is called Miraboel and was created by altering space and time, but it is not affected by Devils or humans. This place cannot be your home.

While exploring, you run into Lee Choong. He is a large and intimidating character who swears he has killed you before but is now confused because you are back. You enter your first boss battle, but you can't compete and get destroyed quickly. Suddenly, we wake up at the entrance of Ruined City again. Kim is confused. Is he alive? What is happening here? A shadowy, floating entity appears behind you, saying that you are finally awake and that he will explain everything once you move to a safer location.

The spirit informs you that the monsters you are fighting are corrupted humans. While searching the city, you will find memory shards that help you figure out what is going on here; these snippets of memories can be viewed in the pause menu under archive. In a letter from a man named Dongbaek, we learn that he was the mysterious figure in the vision giving you the liquid. This substance was red oil; it saved you, but it will eventually try to consume and swallow you. Kim has to find the Devil’s Essentia and find Dongbaek on the underground railway.

You meet a human in the subway who is the only non-corrupted being around. His name is Gyuseo, and he is with the Black Crows. Like you, he is also in search of an artefact called the Devil's Essentia. His leader had gone further down into the subway system, but they got separated, and he was scared, so he is hiding. He runs off but drops a Warm Pebble. This artefact is incredibly important for your journey, as it can detect when you are close to a Sanctuary, which are the “Campfire of Netherworld”, where you can rest without worrying about Devils attacking. Your Purity Pellets can be refined here, essentially levelled up to increase their effect and the number of times you can use them. The most important thing is that you can save your game here. When you die, this is where you restart. Be warned that dying takes away any crystals that you were carrying before falling. These spots also allow you to level up by spending Engram Crystals that defeated enemies drop. As you move up levels, they cost more to unlock.

When you level up, Factors are created to be used in the Tech Tree. This skill tree is divided into types: Physical Ability, where you can enhance your body; Acrobatics, which can unlock new movement skills; Toughness, unlock new parry skills; Agility, unlock dodge and charge skills; and Swordsmanship, where you learn new attacks.

There is a map that shows all the areas that you have already explored. It also shows you the current mission, marks the locations of NPCs, and Save Points. This menu also allows you to access your equipment and items as well as read through the archive, which is a collection of all the memories that you have picked up on your journey thus far. I love it when stories in videogames create a sense of mystery by not revealing everything right away. Having the narrative filled in as I explore and find memories makes it a compelling experience that keeps me coming back to learn more.

The controls for The Devil Within: Satgat are on par with other 2D action platformers I have played. I’ve been playing on both the PC with an Xbox controller and on my Steam Deck, but both control the same. The left and top face buttons are used for your light and heavy sword attacks. The right face button is used to dodge incoming attacks from the enemy, and the bottom face button is your jump. As you progress, you will unlock new abilities, expanding your repertoire of attacks to use against corrupted humans, so it’s exciting to pick and choose what you want to learn.

When attacking, if you are constantly swinging your sword, you will get exhausted and will be unable to attack for a few seconds if you keep spamming the same button. If you are surrounded by enemies, it may be worthwhile to alternate between your light and heavy sword attacks and try to dodge the enemy attacks. It’s not fun to get attacked when you are immobilised and can’t react.

As I stated before, this game looks amazing. The cutscenes feel like they are right out of an epic samurai movie and are beautiful. The action is clean and full of energy, and it feels incredibly suspenseful when you are facing a strong enemy. This fits in so well with the tense and foreboding soundtrack, especially if you are wearing headphones. There were a lot of times when I jumped, entering an area I thought was empty when suddenly a horrible growling attack sound came from a corrupted human that was going to attack; this is definitely a game where you want to have your headphones on.

I am so excited to play The Devil Within: Satgat when it releases. I need to know the full story of what exactly went on in this crazy place and if our hero can defeat this infected enemy or if he will also be overtaken and turned into a Devil himself. If you enjoy 2D platformers packed with action and a great story, you have to check this game out. Along with great visuals and a brilliant music score, this is a must-play game that releases on the 9th of April, 2024.