It's that time of year for the holidays and with that comes Christmas SAGE, an indie games festival centered around "festive" titles. Christmas may be over, but Winter has just begun and gaming doesn't have a time limit. Especially when it comes to revisiting a fine racing game that's still in development.
While the acronym stands for "Sonic Amateur Games Expo," these events have been synonymous with the Blue Blur of the same name at first. Nowadays, it's a celebration of Sega-inspired titles, including one that we've already covered some time ago. Last year, the Victory Heat Rally public demo gave fans a taste of some of the most high-octane satisfying arcade racing I've experienced from a racing game and I've played plenty. It was more than a fast drifty arcade racer, it was a love letter to the same era it was paying homage to. After a warm reception, with sights set on a release later that year, 2022 came and went.
When I found out that there was a special demo released for Christmas SAGE, I knew I had to revisit the game which I called "2022's Most Anticipated Racer." It's shaping to be my most anticipated racer as the game remains just as enjoyable now as it was over a year ago. While the Christmas SAGE demo didn't have as much content as the Shakedown Demo, it was an entirely new experience.
There are four stages that players can race in Tournament mode. The first two stages were from the original Shakedown Demo but set at different times of the year and day. The forest level for example is now set in a festive Winter season while the beach course takes place in a golden sunset.
The city course felt like most other city courses in similar racing games, with enough 90-degree corners and curves to make use of the game's drift system. There wasn't much of a change from the previous demo build, but revisiting Victory Heat Rally, I began to understand how cornering works in this game.
As I've mentioned previously, the game has a drift button that fills a boost meter, much like most kart racing titles. So long as the car is at an angle, the player can maintain a drift, even when it comes to changing directions. It was this course that made great use of the game's core mechanics as there were very few gimmicks involving "instant death" pits and elevational changes.
This consistency moves into the unique rally course, the fourth and final course of the demo. The first point-to-point sprint race featured in Victory Heat Rally, this was a fun track to make use of the game's unique handling mechanics. There's also a co-driver yelling directions as they come about, much like an actual rally event.
It's also the best track to get to know Victory Heat Rally's mechanics as the sense of speed is exhilarating. Eventually, I was able to clear tournament mode on the hardest difficulty, which was a healthy challenge of pushing the game to its limits. At least within the demo's capability.
While a release date has yet to be determined, it's fantastic news to know that an arcade racer that I didn't hear much from was still well in development. Players can check out the SAGE exclusive demo here.