Heart Machine's secret sauce for Possessor(s) is banter, play the demo now as part of Steam Next Fest

A common hallmark of many side-scrolling action games is a sense of loneliness. There may be a hub or headquarters that the protagonist returns to, but when you are out exploring, you are often on your own. There’s no one to talk to or interact with, and the narrative is explored either through the environment or those awkward moments where the protagonist talks to themselves.

Heart Machine’s Possessor(s) uses demon possession to give the protagonist someone to talk to

During my hands-on demo with Day of the Devs showcase, and narrative director Tyler Hutchison, from Heart Machine, who shared some great insights into how this stylish indie game came to be.

In Possessor(s), you play as Luca, a teenager trying to survive a demonic apocalypse. As her life is slipping away, she begrudgingly makes a deal with Rehm, a demon who also looks to be near death. At least from what I’ve seen from the game so far, these two do not get along. Rehm is blunt and careless, honest to a fault, but brushes Luca off as a human every time. Luca, even as a teenage human, still finds ways to get under Rehm’s skin, proving in some moments that the demon may not be as all-powerful as he claims to be.

This less-than-willing partnership pops up here and there, with both characters arguing and bantering with each other. They both need each other, but that doesn’t mean they have to get along. The dialogue is not overbearing, though. There are moments where, if the player tries talking to Rehm, he says something to the effect of “I don’t feel like talking right now.” Dialogue does not overstay its welcome in Possessor(s), sometimes quite literally.

When I spoke to Tyler Hutchison, the game’s narrative director, he said that he and another writer would often find themselves bantering back and forth during the writing process, and thought, why not include that in the game? This begrudging partnership provides the player with much-needed moments of brevity in a world that is very violent and brutal. The beginning of the game depicts the horrors of the demonic invasion, and the first moments of gameplay are of Luca slowly crawling along the floor because she has lost her legs. It's great to have moments of conversation to decompress from time to time.

Many side-scrolling action games focus on the plot. Go from point A to point B. Unlock this ability to reach point C. Fight monsters, escape, defeat evil, etc. Rarely do they give us such complex characters and relationships. Without this dynamic, we wouldn’t know that Luca is a strong-willed young woman who can call a demon on its bluff.

If narrative isn’t your thing, don’t let these impressions fool you. Possessor(s) has a clever Super Smash Bros.-inspired action system. Power up everyday items like kitchen knives and a computer mouse with demonic power to send enemies flying, knock them up into the air, and juggle them mid-air for multi-hit combos. There are souls-like elements as well. When you die, you’ll need to return to your point of death to reclaim lost resources. Even in the free demo available now as part of Steam Next Fest, there is an array of challenging enemies to face off with.

Producer Myriame Lachapelle shared a detail with me during my demo. If you examine the background of the game and some trailers, you will notice a strange text that doesn’t match any known language. Possessor(s) takes place in the fictional Sanzu City, which is a combination of elements from Tokyo and Los Angeles. This text is an actual code created by the team at Heart Machine, and it is similar to one found in the studio’s previous game, Hyper Light Drifter. Lachapelle shared with me that before the demo was even publicly available, fans had begun to decode the language just from the trailers.

Between its cleverly written characters and its creative approach to combat, Possessor(s) was easily one of my top highlights of Summer Game Fest. I also can’t get enough of the contrasting art styles. The apocalyptic ruined city in the background is all gray and black, but Luca stands out with shades of neon green and purple, with stark white hair. There is no release date yet for Possessor(s), but there is a free demo you can try right now on Steam. The team at Heart Machine is planning for a release date sometime later this year, and I’ll be there on day one to explore the rest of this excellent indie game.

Possessor(s)

November 2025

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