Steam Next Fest happened again and I had the free time to give it my attention to a bunch of demos, wrote it all in a small notebook and then redesigned my whole website so I have somewhere to put it.
Don’t Stop, Girlypop- Honestly it’s been on my radar for almost a year, I just didn’t play the demo till now. A movement shooter with so much style I wish to see more in this kind of genre. This is ultrakill if instead of breakcore they had pop/hyperpop. It’s fun, it’s fast, it has original (technically diegetic at times) music that I really enjoy. the normal difficulty might be too easy but its only the first few levels of the game. I should replay it on hard mode at some point.
Skate Story- I was on the fence when I saw the game’s page, the look of it threading the line for me between amazing and incomprehensible. thankfully when playing the demo I could comprehend everything going on and I was having lots of fun, skating in general feels really nice and I liked the skating boss battle. I haven’t played much skating games in the past but this might be on the my list. I adore this style, both visually and narratively. And I am an easy fella, if the main character tells me he wants to EAT THE MOON, you know I have their back.
Goodnight Universe- Do y’all remember that game that used blinking as a game mechanic. well this one also uses that, as well as head position, and whether you’re smiling or frowning. You play as a baby developing psychic. Honestly I really enjoyed it. the inner monolog of the baby discovering the idea that people have thoughts in their head, nice. I felt like the controls weren’t really consistent, whether it’s an issue with the tracking or my camera (or the fact I wear glasses that make it hard to track my face?), however in the context of a baby learning to use power that felt fitting, it was a real struggle at time, while other times everything went smoothy. my opinion will surely change if this persists over a full game but whose to say.
Jackal- Obviously inspired by hotline miami. Unforgiving Top down combat in which I died A LOT, but I couldn’t stop till I finished the whole demo (in addition to an extra stage added following the demo’s great reception). The rooms are apparently randomly generated (which I personally haven’t noticed since I played it all in one sitting). I haven’t used the (drug fueled) superpower that much but I imagine that they will get crazier in the full game. The art style and cutscenes are fun. the voice acting is real nice by I’m also extremely biased as it features Matthew Curtis who was also in “I Am Your Beast” which I insanely liked.
Finch and Archie- This is a two player detective game which forces you to not communicate, at least not normally, one of you plays as a dog and the other as a person, and you gotta communicate clues to each other using one word vowels. This was a bit of an adjustment when I played with a friend, a mix of it being unnatural to not just say what we found and her skipping some of the tutorial text on her side made the tutorial a bit of a pain. But we got used to it, and I think the mechanics are worth messing with more. I do think the game needs a bit of tweaking, we figured it all out in the end but occasionally it’s not that we couldn’t figure out the puzzle, it’s that we couldn’t figure out how to interact with it.
MOTORSLICE- The atmosphere of this game really speaks to me. you navigate through the ruins of a megastucture, parkour-ing and using a chainsaw to both battle enemies and climbing. This game really have potential, but with lots of death that felt unfair to me, level design that occasionally made me feel a bit lost, I don’t know if I would want to play a full game in this state, but I guess this is why its a demo. The boss battle was real short but does make me excited to see what more is planned. (Also, this is such a sidenote, I know art is hard but something about the main character’s face fells so unemotive and lifeless to me, and for a game that hints at a plot focusing on her, it makes it hard for me to connect.)
Steel Century Groove- Got hooked by the idea of a dance battling mech rhythm game, but the pokemon styled rpg structure of the world and story never really spoken to me, the road encounters become tedious, and I found myself skipping the text after a while. I think the rhythm section has where to go, and it promises to get more complicated with the introduction of enemy powers and team building. I played through all of normal mode, and for a demo I did enjoy it, if I’ll ever come back to it I would probably switch to hard mode, since (other then the mandatory one) I never even came close to losing a battle.
The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time- If you couldn’t guess from the title this isn’t really a normal rpg. pretending to be a remake of a lost jrpg, this tries to mix the Daniel Mullin’s (pony island, the hex, Inscryption) meta mystery approach, with the manual from tunic. On paper this sounds amazing, a weird game with layers of narrative and mixed media. however without the full the game I can’t judge if it’s gonna land the mark. So far there were some cool puzzles and a lot of seemingly dead ends. we’ll see where this goes.
Reanimal- From the creators of little nightmares (A game I didn’t really care for but my friend really loves). A short co-op experience that was nice, set in the same world maybe according to my friend. I thought it was nice, and it being co-op elevates the game for me. I probably still wouldn’t care for the “story” but the game is fun enough and the atmosphere is banging, the inclusion of voice acting was a nice surprise as well. Hopefully I won’t ruin it for my friend by making bad jokes at inopportune times.
Crashout Crew- Same company to the one that made peak (I really like peak), This game remind me of overcooked but with cars, now I love overcooked style games… It’s hard to find people who want to play that style of game for the long run, I don’t think it will be easier with the addition of car mechanics.
Under The Red Sky- Nice parkour, cool steam page.
Powerwash Simulator 2- It’s powerwash simulator too.
Mik- Cool atmosphere, too much text + I got lost as where to go.
Woofy Run- Extremely nonsense and junky racing game where you’re a dog, I had fun.
Lumines Arise- Same team and treatment as Tetris:Effect however Lumines is just a worse game then Tetris to me.
Yapyap- I refuse the term “friendslop” but the lack of direction made it a bit unwelcoming to return to.
Repeater- Infinity deathmatchs, should be expended. had fun talking to randos.
Love Eternal- Strong vibes, not sure how much depth were gonna get from the platforming.
All Hands on Deck- Disappointing? just kinda wishing it was better. we need more fun co-op games.
Yunyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis- I enjoyed the rhythm section a lot until the game started playing itself??? Don’t even know what that’s about.
An Unplayable game?!- Making a point which I respect, the full game (30 minute experience) came out immediately after the fest for free. I can’t call it fun but that part of the point.
Dead pets Unleashed- surprisingly engaging, I enjoy the mini games. not sure the narrative is for me.
Switchboard- Had a game breaking bug, they pushed an update but I didn’t try it. Should I even put this on the list?
Play games they are fun <3