Curious to get the community’s thoughts on the demos they loved in the latest Next Fest!
To start things off, here’s a few that I absolutely loved and played through as much as I could (or stopped myself if I knew I’d like it).
Viewfinder - A first person puzzle game a la Portal, The Witness, Antichamber, Entropy Center, etc…I played enough to see the hook of using images to solve puzzles and backed away quickly. This was a game I didn’t want to spoil too much for myself when I saw how cool it was.
Beyond Sunset - This was a “boomer shooter” recommendation I saw on Lemmy and checked it out because it seemed neat. I got really into the storyline and art style of the game and saw it through to the end of the demo. I almost gave up on the final boss but when I said no and wanted to push through, I knew I was hooked!
Galacticare - In the last few years, “simulation games” seem to have become my preferred genre and managing an outer space hospital was really engaging. I enjoyed designing each room and trying to optimize the flow of patients. The style and humor of the game worked well since sometimes the humor can feel a little “try hard” but it came together nicely. I don’t purchase a lot of games Day One any more but this might be one of them.
One Lonely Outpost - I’ve had this on my wishlist since it was announced during a stretch of time I was playing Stardew Valley, but this was the first time it’s been playable. I enjoyed the interactions with the world but I’m not sure what exactly it would build to (since the planet you land on is desolate). It may be about creating the town/outpost yourself. The demo seemed to overstay its welcome a bit BUT Stardew Valley-likes are super slow in the beginning, so I’m in a “wait and see” mode since I did enjoy parts of it and the unique setting.
Anything that ended up on your radar after this Next Fest?
Neverlooted Dungeon: Comedy dungeon crawler inspired by games like Ultima Underworld and Arx Fatalis. The demo consists of a tutorial and a small open-ended area to explore, with a focus on avoiding traps and interacting with physics objects to navigate and find loot. The demo doesn’t really show off Arx-levels of complexity, but it’s fun to explore and genuinely funny at times.
Stop Dead: Fast paced first person shooter where you attack enemies by using telekinetic powers to hurl objects and bodies to deal damage. The weapons work kinda like Mirror’s Edge, in that instead of getting your own loadout you pick dropped guns up off the floor and get rid of them once they’re out of ammo. Also, if you stop moving for more than a moment, you die. Demo is quite varied, and ends with a challenging mid-game level to show off the mechanics a bit more.
Mr. Run and Jump: Challenging 2D platformer with a lot of different moves that can be chained together in slick ways. There’s not much of a narrative and the neon visuals kinda look dated in a not-even-retro way, but the movement really carries the whole game.
Echo Point Nova: New shooter by the developers of Severed Steel. Has a lot of the same mechanics (slow motion, destructible terrain, etc), but makes the levels a lot more open and adds a grappling hook and hoverboard for a different style of mobility. There’s a bit of jank, but it’s very satisfying to play.
El Paso, Elsewhere: Indie Max Payne. I’m not exaggerating, it plays like Max Payne 2 and looks and feels like Max Payne 1. Swap out the main character and it could pass as a phenomenally faithful fangame.
Phoenix Springs: Stylised neo-noir narrative-driven point and click adventure. I usually don’t have the patience for these sorts of games, but I found the writing and visuals very compelling.
Fortune’s Run: Sprite based RPG FPS with level design that feels a bit like the classic Deus Ex, but with the fast paced combat of a boomer shooter. Has a Star Warsy rough and gritty sci-fi setting, if you’re into that.
The Next Fests are my favourite Steam event by far, already looking forward to the next one!
The Invincible - A walking sim I guess, not my cup of tea, it looks pretty good though
Little Kitty, Big City - you play as a cat, which is nice, it has some fun parts, but didn’t like this one, I found the controls a bit clunky
Station to Station - a puzzle game where you connect different buildings through a train network. It could be alright, but the two levels I played were a bit boring. The puzzle part comes from limited money I guess, and you get different cards, like cheaper rails or bridges, that you can use
Gunbrella - 2D Metroidvania, you have a gun umbrella, that can shoot different types of ammo, and also for movement abilities, like a sort of double jump or glide. Plays pretty smooth, so I’ll keep an eye out for this.
Three Kindoms Zhao Yun - looks like some sort of ARPG in a Three Kingdoms setting, but it didn’t run very well, I gave up after a few minutes, most of which was cutscenes. You have different skills, but I just didn’t play that much to really say anything about it
I still wanna give Eternights and Lies of P a try, but dunno when I’ll get to them.
I’ve played several, mostly games I’ve been following so no huge surprises. My highlights were:
Lies of P
Great soulslike built on a grim take on Pinocchio. Borrows a lot from Bloodborne, oppressive and interesting world, satisfying combat.
Sea of Stars
Super charming JRPG I’ve been looking forward to for a while, great pixel art, fun combat system with timed hits, great music.
LunarLux
Very similar to a Mega Man Battle Network game, but combat leans more towards the turn based side of the spectrum. Has some Undertale influences as well. The art being as cute as it is might turn some off, but it’s a plus for myself.
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
Strategy game from the folks behind Shadow Tactics and Desperados. You control undead pirates with unique and fun abilities, and the game encourages you to rewind time as needed to experiment and play around.
Honorable mentions go to Eternights and Viewfinder. Fantastic games all around, the following months are looking great!
I really enjoyed Shadow Gambit’s integration of save scumming into the gameplay loop. Took me a minute to realise that the bell ringing wasn’t auto saving but letting you know you could make another save but after that I really enjoyed it. Super curious to see how the different characters interact with eachother!
Ohh so that’s what it was lol, I’d assumed it was auto saving at first as well but got confused when it didn’t seem to generate an actual new save slot. At any rate, I reckon it’s a good thing it was generous enough that I didn’t even register it had limits in place to begin with.
Looking forward to the crew interactions too, seems ripe for a fun time since the game doesn’t take itselt too seriously and they all look interesting and seem to have fun abilities.
Little Kitty, Big City - Cute game, nice art, not-so-great camera. Got a little motion sick.
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical - More or less what I expected after the gameplay reveals on Fig back when it was Chorus, but the dialogue mixing needs work. Levels were all over the place.
Station to Station - Voxel train-based puzzler. The art is quite nice, but the game play loop didn’t draw me in. It’s basically a puzzler of matching inputs to outputs via train tracks.
Paleo Pines - I’d say this is Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing but with dinosaurs! Cute, but couldn’t really get a sense of how it’ll develop; life sims take a bit to get going. Liked what I saw so far. Dinos are really cute too.
Jumplight Odyssey - Star Trek meets FTL meets late 70s/early 80s cartoon aesthetic. Ship management sim, liked what I saw so far. FTL-mechanic of having the big bad chase you might be off-putting to some. A difficulty level slider to tweak the speed of the chase might be welcome.
Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought the audio mixing was a little sub-par on Stray Gods. I’m left wondering if the full release is going to be like that, or if it’s just that the demo was released before they’d done a polish pass on the audio. Hopefully that’s something reviews talk about!
Eternights - A game which takes inspiration from the Persona series, but doesn’t take itself too seriously which really gives a great unique separation from Persona. It is filled with SOVL. Voice actors are absolutely top-tier (Hu Tao’s and Riuji’s / Itto’s VA-s are present as I feel it).
Little Kitty Big City - As a cat, you need to get back to your home which is atop of a tall building. It’s game where you combine Untitle Goose Game and Stray into eachother. It’s a really wholesome and funny game, with some 4th wall breaking lines in the demo. It sold the game for me.
I skimmed over that Little Kitty Big City page thinking the game wasn’t for me, but based on your description I’m very curious now!
