I received an email from Steam about a game demo that’s now available to play. I don’t pay much attention to these emails, but this game caught my eye. Best Served Cold is a visual novel game where players interact with patrons to solve a murder at a speakeasy. When I researched the game, I realized that Best Served Cold is being developed by the same developer that made Hidden Through Time which is another favorite game of mine. Once I knew that, I was intrigued and downloaded the demo of Best Served Cold. Best Served Cold is an entertaining game and the demo expertly gives players a first-hand look at what the game will be like.

Best Served Cold opens with the player being greeted by a detective. The detective offers the player a forced choice of helping to gather information to solve a murder. In turn, the detective won’t bust the speakeasy the player is working at. By mixing drinks, the player can gather more information from suspects. Some suspects open up more when the drink sucks or isn’t made right, so messing up drinks isn’t always a bad thing. At the end of the day, there’s an evidence board where evidence can be linked together. This reveals if the player caught a suspect in a lie or built a motive against a suspect as to why they would want that person dead. The demo ends after a few rounds with evidence collected leaving the player wanting more.

I was surprised at how long the demo was. According to Steam, I played the game for 86 minutes or an hour and twenty-six minutes. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I thought the demo would be a fifteen-minute experience and I was pleasantly surprised by how much gameplay was included. I felt the demo did a great job of showcasing what the game would look like. There is no doubt that I will be purchasing this game when it’s released.

In the demo, it shows how cocktails are made. There’s a cocktail list and once a cocktail is chosen, the player has to move their mouse along a series of lines. There’s a timer, so if the player doesn’t make the cocktail fast enough, the drink is ruined. This was a little clunky because you only have one shot to make the cocktail correctly. However, once I had a few tries, I found myself getting better at making the drinks. From talking to patrons, you can gather clues on what cocktail might be their favorite. Serving a patron their favorite cocktail allows the player to record clues and ask more personal questions. I liked how this came together especially when you could put the clues together on the evidence board.

I mentioned how Best Served Cold was made by the same developer as Hidden Through Time. Rogueside is based out of Belgium and has a ton of interesting games. Hidden Through Time is one of them along with Warhammer 40,000 Shootas, Blood & Teef and Guns, Gore & Cannoli. I have never heard of those two games, but I’m more willing to check them out. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a release date for Best Served Cold yet.

Best Served Cold was a fun game. I can’t wait to play it once it’s released. If you’re interested, the demo for Best Served Cold is available and I’d highly recommend downloading it and checking it out for yourself.