Tearscape aims to blend Metroidvania and Souls-like gameplay with top-down 8-bit visuals reminiscent of the Game Boy Colour, offering precise, challenging combat and a non-linear world to explore. A demo for the game offers a focused slice of that experience, giving an early look at how those ideas come together.
With a distinctly gothic tone, Tearscape’s graveyards and mausoleums, its emphasis on hunting grotesque beasts, and the player character’s attire all echo the aesthetic language of Bloodborne. It’s an influence that shapes the game’s mood and, to a lesser extent, mechanics, grounding the demo in a familiar, melancholic atmosphere. While the NERDS TAKE OVER team’s inspiration is unmistakable, Tearscape’s top-down perspective and 8-bit presentation give that gothic framework a very different texture.
I start the demo in a rocky chasm, a short tutorial area with signposts that explain some of Tearscape’s fundamental controls. A dodge roll allows me to avoid enemy attacks and clear small gaps, while my sword is used both for combat and smashing open chests. After moving through a handful of connected rooms and retrieving a key, I remove a barrier blocking the path forward.
Past this blockade, I encounter my first enemy, a grey ghoul wandering aimlessly. I move closer and swing at it with my sword, only to miss, and watch as the ghoul walks into the last frames of my attack animation, unharmed. It’s a small moment, but a revealing one, and I shift gears to match Tearscape’s lack of generous hitboxes. Combat stops feeling like a traditional top-down action game and starts demanding the same precision and intent associated with Souls-likes.
After defeating the ghoul and collecting my first Tear, the game’s primary currency, I take stock of a familiar trio: a red health bar, a green stamina bar, and a healing flask with three uses. Stamina management proves essential, with rolls, attacks, and sprinting all depleting the bar, which replenishes slowly.
More signs introduce mechanics like picking up and throwing pots, some of which hold hearts that heal me a little, and how to open my Metroidvania-style map, complete with different coloured regions and a selection of pins players can use to mark things. Leaving the tutorial area, I emerge into the Graveyard, a region filled with gnarled trees, wrought-iron fences, and rows of crumbling tombstones. A figure dressed like a plague doctor waits nearby. Aldric, as they introduce themselves, appears to act as my handler, explaining that my next hunt is unconfirmed and directing me north into the graveyard proper.
I press on, rolling and slicing my way through more ghouls before I find my first checkpoint, a large stone statue which unfurls angelic wings and starts to bleed from its eyes when activated. Checkpoints are where you can rest to restore your health and healing flask uses (as well as respawn all enemies), spend Tears to level up your stats, and equip up to three Tokens that bestow different effects.
Exploring the graveyard reveals secrets and side interactions alongside its combat. One strange NPC asks me to locate the grave of a man named Bram for research. After inspecting tombstones that sparkle, I find the grave and return with the information, earning the choice of two Tokens.
Here is where Tearscape adds a welcome wrinkle to its world and tone. I had expected the other item they had offered to disappear, but it hadn’t, so I picked that one up as well. With no immediate repercussions, I spoke to the NPC again, who explained that they were testing me, and now that they had seen my unchecked greed would have to think about how they dealt with me going forward. I was stunned, thrilled, and even a little bit ashamed!
Before leaving the area, I uncover hidden passages, environmental puzzles, and a locked gate that opens after activating gravestones in the correct order. With a newly acquired map and a shield that can partially block and parry attacks, I unlock a shortcut back to the graveyard’s entrance and onward to the next region. Despite appearing in trailers, I never find Tearscape’s gun during the demo.
A short forest region follows, centred around an abandoned village slowly being reclaimed by nature. Most of its inhabitants are long gone, save for a lone old man who asks me to retrieve a book simply to pass the time; a small, quietly sad interaction that reinforces Tearscape’s grim tone. The area introduces another enemy type and a few more secrets to uncover, but its primary role is atmospheric, bridging the open graveyard with what comes next: The Mausoleum.
The demo’s final area is a maze-like dungeon filled with monsters and traps. After a brief conversation with Aldric outside its entrance, I rest at a checkpoint, spend my Tears, and press on. Inside, I pick my fights carefully until I acquire the Boss Key and unlock the final door, coming face to face with Seraph the Impure, a hulking mass of twisted flesh and machinery. With a limited moveset and arrow volleys introduced halfway through the fight, I defeat the boss on my third attempt, ending the demo on a high note and an invitation to keep exploring.
While I had a really good time with the Tearscape demo, a couple of concerns remain. Some enemy attacks lack clear telegraphing, particularly during the boss fight, where the creature’s dark design can make its movements difficult to read. I’m also curious to see how the game’s narrative develops, which is only briefly hinted at here, and whether it can ultimately distinguish itself from its influences.
Even so, Tearscape’s demo makes a strong case for the full release. Its precise, demanding combat, moody world, and willingness to surprise the player through small but meaningful interactions set it apart from other top-down adventure games. If those ideas are expanded on and refined, Tearscape feels like a game with real potential, and I look forward to returning to the hunt.
Tearscape releases on February 2nd, 2026, for PC.
Are you interested in checking out Tearscape? Let us know in the comments below, or come and join the Gamer Social Club Discord to chat about your favourite games, play in community game nights, take part in giveaways, and more!
