Cosmo D’s unwavering passion for pizza is infectious. It’s also possible that the pizza I’ve just made in the demo for Moves Of The Diamond Hand is infectious, though I have invested all my points into the cooking skill, so hopefully not. You should be able to play the demo yourself by the time you read this. It’s one for Betrayal At Club Low fans, taking the failure-is-fun dice rolling RPG systems from that, spicing them up, and letting you properly explore freely in first person this time. I first-personed my way straight to the nearest pizza shop. It almost literally killed my character, but I have baked a pie, and now I feel like a god.
It’s been a while since I played Club Low – which I usually describe as a full fat version of that bit from Disco Elysium where you can die switching on a light – so some of what I’m about to tout as new features might be old news. You should read Alice O’s (RPS in pizza) Bestest Best review though. Now, the RPG dough from Low has had its crust thoroughly stuffed. You can pickpocket people now, and you might find even more useful items you can use to buff skill rolls. The dicing, too, has been tweaked in various ways I still haven’t entirely grasped. There’s also just far more of it, at least if the first chapter in the demo is any indication.
Also, unreasonably massive pigeons:
Here are some fun things I did in the first few minutes: spoke to an old mate on the train, who had placed a shockingly beautiful cappuccino carelessly on the seat beside him, and got some experience points for enduring a story I’d apparently heard before. Tried to drink a puddle of bubble tea with insects all over it. Went bin diving and made myself so sick I almost failed to open a lock even though I had the key for it. Confronted a “raw, undefinable sound” emanating from a very large speaker in the corridor to a pizza kitchen, demystifying the sound with sheer mental acuity. Had a long conversation about the finer points of pizza making, and finally made a pie, but only after drinking an energy drink I’d gotten from a subway dweller who was so impressed with my own knowledge of energy drinks he gave me a free one. It was a hectic, disorientating, wonderful time that saw my character taking frequent damage to mind, body and probably soul performing simple tasks.
You can find the demo here, and the full thing is supposed to be out this year. Save me a slice.