Preview – Moves of the Diamond Hand

There’s a name I’m going to need to type out a few times before I remember it. Here we go: Moves of the Diamond Hand is the next game from Cosmo D. Guy’s the developer of a series of loosely associated games sometimes referred to as the Off-Peak series. However, only two games have carried that name: 2015’s Off-Peak and 2020’s Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1. Beyond those, there’s 2017’s The Norwood Suite and 2022’s Betrayal at Club Low.

The series started off as a walking simulator and mutated from there until it hit Betrayal at Club Low. If I had to name my 2022 Game of the Year, woof, that would be difficult, but Club Low would be up on the highest steps. It’s an RPG in the very strictest of senses, but it’s one that is largely without combat. You pour your experience into a variety of stats, beefing up your dice. You then roll that dice against skill checks to progress past obstacles. It’s a good reminder that TTRPGs aren’t all combat. Good ones, anyway.

So, while Cosmo D’s games have all been mostly distinct, Moves of the Diamond Hand is a clear sequel to Betrayal at Club Low. Am I complaining? Heck no. Why push a perfectly brilliant crux off the bus when you can just take it along for the ride?

ACCEPT THE SITUATION

Moves of the Diamond Hand is, I’m told, going to be split into four parts and released, one at a time, into Early Access. The first part – the part that I’m previewing now – will be available as part of Steam Next Fest.

Even in its preliminary state, it’s about as long as Betrayal at Club Low. It feels smaller because Club Low was designed to be that short, while the first chapter of Moves of the Diamond Hand is only the beginning of a longer narrative. That may be obvious, but what I’m saying is that it doesn’t feel entirely self-contained. It’s a bummer.

Forget that for now. Let’s talk about what’s there rather than what isn’t.

As I mentioned, what we have here is an RPG, but rather than buffing up your INT and STR, you’re pouring experience points into seven extremely specific skills: cooking, deception, music, observation, physique, wisdom, and wit. Each skill has six slots with a numerical value, and these represent a side of that skill’s die. You spend experience to increase the values of the sides so that when you roll, you have a better chance of getting a higher number that can overpower whatever number you’re rolling against.

Any situation could call for any skill. It’s really hard to predict what you’ll come up against, so it’s somewhat important to upgrade all of the skills rather than just focus on a single one. I’m playing off memory here, but I remember Club Low feeling like you could penetrate to the end with one or two really buffed skills and only needed more than that if you wanted to poke every orifice. On the other hand, with Moves of the Diamond Hand, it felt more like I was required to be a jack of all spades.

NOW THAT WE’RE CHOWIN’ DOWN

The plot has you running away to join the Circus. Circus X, to be exact, which isn’t some symbolically named cult or anything, it’s literally a circus. Joining it is a goal a lot of people have, so you’re going to have to be pretty sly to get your foot in the door.

Before you can get there, however, you need to be able to leave the train station, which is easier said than done since you find it locked down upon your arrival. Someone stole the Jade Bass from a mayoral candidate, and the police won’t open the gate until you find it.

It’s easy to lose sight of the overall goal, since the station is packed full of weirdness. Information about the world hits you like a firehose. If you’ve played the previous Off-Peak games, some of it will be familiar, but most of it won’t. Particularly the dynamic between the three mayoral candidates and the impact they’ll have on the populace. The focal candidate is a clone created by a big corporation. More importantly, he’s a clone of a popular mayor from a previous era. So, there are concerns that he’s a puppet for a corporation that is merely interested in pushing their product (clones).

It’s a lot, but what’s in front of you is finding the Jade Bass. Now, you’re probably wondering if we’re talking about an instrument or a fish. This may be a spoiler, but I can tell you that it is, indeed, a bass.

A BIG, TASTY WORLD

From there, I don’t really know how to talk about Moves of the Diamond Hand. Cosmo D has a distinctive style, and the best way to describe it is to just tell you to play one of the games. Visually, they’re a mash of horribly proportioned characters, appreciable small details, and stylish flourishes. Design-wise, it’s frustratingly tight. A big, tasty world is presented to you, but you’re often kept on a tight leash. For this demo, prep yourself; you can’t leave the train station.

The games can feel like stepping into a modern art museum, but their underlying goofiness prevents them from feeling pretentious. Moves of the Diamond Hand feels cerebral, but the world doesn’t subscribe to any tangible sense of logic.

What’s been demonstrated in Moves of the Diamond Hand doesn’t feel as tight as Betrayal at Club Low, but because my memory is slightly hazy when it comes to that game, I might just be remembering it wrong. The dice, for example, only get fired off in one direction, and the force is so unsatisfying that it sometimes doesn’t seem like they’re adequately being rolled. You can re-roll a set number of times, but when you have no control over how they’re thrown, it feels like the outcome isn’t going to be all that different. That’s not necessarily the reality of the situation, but “feel” is an important part of something like this.

AN ABUNDANCE OF BLUE BALLS

The biggest disappointment here is that Moves of the Diamond Hand is in a state right now where the pins have been set up, and we’re left waiting for them to get knocked down, which I’m not sure really counts as a problem when you’re talking about a demo or first chapter. However, I think it might have been a bit more satisfying if finding the Jade Bass felt more important. I think that, in the overall scheme of the game, it will be important, but that importance is a bit understated. Locking down a train station to find it seems totally logical in the game’s world.

So, I guess what you can say is: I’m frustrated that I have to wait to play more, which is a good problem for a demo to have. One might say it’s the goal. While I would have taken anything new from Cosmo D, I’m happy to see the incredible RPG approach from Betrayal at Club Low make a return. I… yeah, “I want more,” sums it up. In fact, I think I’m going to reinstall the previous games by Cosmo D and play through them again in the meantime. I’ve got to do something with all these blue balls.

If you haven’t played any of Cosmo D’s games, the free chapter of Moves of the Diamond Hand isn’t a bad way to test the waters. It’s on point for Off-Peak. It contains all the strange humour, insultingly clever worldbuilding, nauseatingly immaculate world-building, and thoughtful design of his other games. Just don’t be surprised if you, too, find yourself with an abundance of blue balls.

This preview opportunity was provided by the developer’s PR.