“Do Not Buy This Game” is, on paper, about as subtle as a brick through a window.
This upcoming Steam release from solo developer Kingblade Games pitches itself as a narrated comedy walk-sim where the game is being built while you play it, with the creator in your ear for roughly two hours, questioning your judgment the whole time.
That alone is a strong hook.
But after seeing the booth at ENDIX, then jumping into the demo, it became pretty clear that this is not just a one-note joke stretched out for a laugh and a wishlist click. It is funny, yes. Very funny, at points. But it also has something a bit more human simmering underneath all the self-aware nonsense.
And that is what makes it interesting.
Do Not Buy This Game announcement trailer
It starts with a simple idea and immediately turns it into a fight
The Do Not Buy This Game booth had already done a lot of the heavy lifting for me. It was one of my favourite things at ENDIX because it understood exactly how to grab attention without needing some massive flashy spectacle. You are told not to do something, so naturally you want to do it even more. Lovely. Perfect. Human stupidity wins again.
The demo leans into that same instinct straight away.
You begin by walking down a long corridor while the creator, or the narrator, or the creator who is pretending not to be the narrator, starts asking why you are even here. He tells you to turn back. There is nothing to see. Go away. Leave him alone. The usual sort of protest you hear right before you ignore somebody completely.
Then you hit another corridor lined with tape screaming Do Not Buy This Game, and way off in the distance, there is a button.
And come on now. A button?
You cannot put a button at the end of a corridor and expect people not to press it. That is just irresponsible design.
The whole thing works because it understands how people think
That is the clever bit. The demo is funny because it is built around one very simple truth: tell people not to do something, and a decent number of them will immediately want to do exactly that thing.
So Do Not Buy This Game turns your stubbornness into the joke.
The narrator tries to teleport you away from the button. You keep going. He runs out of teleports. You keep going. He shrinks you down and makes you climb a maze of stairs instead. You keep going. He tries distractions, tries bargaining, tries nonsense, and still you keep trudging forward because by that point, it is not even about the button anymore. It is about the principle of the thing.
No one tells me what not to do.
That makes the whole Do Not Buy This Game demo feel oddly collaborative in a really entertaining way. It is not just telling jokes at you. It is baiting you into helping make them land.
The voice work absolutely sells it
A concept like this lives or dies on delivery, and thankfully, the voice acting does a lot of the heavy lifting.
The narrator’s tone in Do Not Buy This Game is spot on. Petty, dramatic, panicked, increasingly desperate, but never so overplayed that it tips into being annoying. That balance matters because a game built around one person constantly talking in your ear could become unbearable in record time if the performance was off.
Instead, it works.
It feels playful. There is a rhythm to it. The demo keeps finding little new ways to twist the joke, whether that is with the money distraction, the increasingly tired attempts to stop you, or the wonderfully daft reveal of the button that supposedly unlocks the secrets of the universe.
Which, naturally, starts by exposing the creator for wetting the bed at six.
Strong start, that.
Under all the messing about, there is something a bit more honest going on
That was the thing that stuck with me most, really.
Because yes, the Do Not Buy This Game demo is funny. It absolutely understands how to be funny. But underneath all the chaos, there is a more serious idea quietly doing its thing. The official press kit says the game explores how deep a connection can be created between player and creator using minimalist mechanics, humour, and honesty. That sounds a bit airy if you read it cold, but after playing the demo, I actually get it.
The joke of Do Not Buy This Game is that it does not want to be bought.
But the emotional undercurrent feels more like a fear of putting something out into the world at all.
Not making the game is safe. Keeping it unfinished is safe. Holding it back means nobody can reject it, laugh at it, dismiss it, or decide it was not worth the effort. The second you actually release something, though, all that protection disappears. Suddenly, it is out there. Suddenly, people get to have opinions. Suddenly, it can fail.
That is a very relatable fear, and the demo gets that across without turning into a lecture or losing its sense of humour.
It is still daft. It is still playful. It still wants to make you laugh. But there is enough sincerity under the surface to stop it from feeling disposable.
It is not trying to wow you visually, and that feels fine
Do Not Buy This Game is not the sort of game you play because you are desperate to see the prettiest corridors in the business.
It is scrappier than that, more deliberately rough around the edges, and honestly, I think that works in its favour. A cleaner, glossier version might actually lose some of the charm. The whole point is that it feels like a creator scrambling, improvising, panicking, and throwing things together while trying to stop you from reaching the next idea before he is ready for it.
That messiness suits the concept.
The official pitch even leans into that, describing it as the game creator trying to make “something resembling a game” while narrating your poor life choices. That sense of half-built chaos is not a flaw here. It is part of the joke.
First thoughts on Do Not Buy This Game
Do Not Buy This Game was already one of the most memorable booths we came across at ENDIX, but the demo confirmed there is more to it than a good gimmick and a funny title.
It is clever. It is properly funny. The narration lands. The button-based stubbornness of it all works beautifully. And beneath the silliness, there is a genuinely relatable idea about fear, self-doubt, and the safety of never quite taking the leap.
That gives it a bit more weight than you might expect.
It is by no means the prettiest thing I played at the expo, and it is not trying to be. What it is trying to be is memorable, playful, and a little uncomfortably honest about the nerves that come with making something and letting people judge it.
On that front, it is doing a very good job.
So no, I probably will not do what the title says.
This is one I will be keeping an eye on. And if you also want to, go wishlist it on Steam now.
For more thoughts on demos like the one for Do Not Buy This Game and other upcoming games, you can find previews in our opinions section.
One Response
Such a great concept and event!