Steam Next Fest Feb 2025 has ended today, and I learned last time the fest was around that I fully enjoy downloading many many demos to games that peak my interest and spending a free day trying them (and answering any surveys if offered).
In case you wanna hear what future games are worth keeping an eye on, here is my little write up on what I played.
Wanderstop- Wanderstop is a game I've had my eye for even before the fest. I don’t really usually watch trailers, for any media, but after I’ve heard Davey Wreden (The Beginner's Guide, The Stanley Parable) is the writer I was intrigued. In addition we have Karla Zimonja (Gone Home, Tacoma) and C418 (you know, the guy from the minecraft soundtrack) working on it. The trailer made me wanna sob, and if that’s not a ringing recommendation I don’t know what is.
I fully recommend the trailer to get the general vibe, there are two, one where Davey explains the vision of the game and how it connects with his own artistic burnout, and one which is more typical for a video game and makes me emotional. The game is one of those “cozy games” (which I admittedly love) but I feel like it’s gonna play with the tropes as the main character doesn’t wanna be there and is dealing with a familiar sense of burnout.
During the next fest a demo was available, which told me that progress won’t be saved and that the game will be coming out on the 11th of march. After watching the opening cutscene I realized this game will probably affect me quite a lot emotionally and I rather just play it when it’s fully out. which means this game has the very very rare honor of probably being bought by me day one, which isn’t a small feat when talking to a cheapskate like me.
Am I Nima- Am I Nima asks the bold question of what if Neal.fun Infinity Craft was a mechanic in a horror game. I am kidding but I think it’s an apt description. With a unique game mechanic and a captivating visual style combining 2d drawings and 3d environment with a striking use of color I found it worth a try even if I am a self proclaimed coward who has a real bad time trying horror games.
Thankfully I wasn’t disappointed, the atmosphere is wonderfully suspenseful but there are none of the things that usually push me away from scary games (jumpscares mostly), the inklings you get from the story makes me want to know more. (and I love me a story about a complicated relationship with a parent). The only let down is that the demo is really linear, when the mechanic kinda suggests multiple approaches, I chuck it up to being the limited scope of the demo and I will be keeping an eye on what comes of this game in the future.
Wheel world- What if you combined the Sable art style, and the bike races from Rockstar’s Bully? It looks really cool, I like the racing, there is silly bicycle centric world building, and incentives to explore the open world. However my biggest issue is that the game was CHUGGING, like badly, after I turned down the graphical settings the game was more playable but still chugged enough that if it was a full game I would consider it broken. My computer doesn’t have bad specs so honestly it confused me, hopefully it’s either a me specific issue, or something that will be fixed.
Kiddo- Kiddo is a point and click game with lots of style and a limited color palette that really speaks to me. The puzzle felt obtuse at times but I did figure it out at the end. not sure how the full game will be but I hope it’s good.
Reignbreaker- So I made several passes through the fest list and I kept skipping this one over cause to be fully honest, I thought it was just a hades copycat, and with hades 2 on the horizon, I don’t really care for those. At some point I decided to give it a chance, and I was positively surprised, the hades influence is unmistakable to me but I feel like the game has enough of its own to make it worth a try. I liked the artstyle and the graffiti aesthetics, the game play is nice and the player weapons are fun to use. The demo is limited in upgrades and side characters but it makes me intrigued as to what will be possible in the final version. I played quite a lot of hades-likes and this might be one of the best atm.
Kill the music- What if vampire survivors was a rhythm game? Honestly I didn’t know it was a vampire survivors kind of game (a consequence of my aforementioned refusal to watch trailers) otherwise I wouldn’t have tried it, the hype of those kinds of games just never really spoke to me. However, the addition of the rhythm mechanic kept me playing long enough to try a couple of characters and defeat a boss and then some. It’s still not really for me, but I implore anyone who does like these kinds of games to try it out. Also the artstyle is really neat.
Whisper of the house- I played the demo cause it reminded me of unpacking (banger game). When it comes to organizing mechanics I just wish we could open cupboards and drawers. when it comes to the rest of the game, I quite enjoyed it, the focus is on many spaces so I imagine more variety in the future. I do really like the addition of secret spaces in houses, I wish there was some acknowledgement from the game when you do find them but I think it’s real neat and makes me wanna really explore the spaces to their fullest.
White Knuckle- I actually played this demo before the fest at a small exploration of mine into climbing games. And I enjoyed it! I think the style and the mechanics are interesting. Unfortunately I personally found the tutorial more fun than the actual gameplay, but that’s probably cause speed isn’t my strongest suit. The steam page showcases more variety than I have seen which kinda calls me to give it another try at some point.
Pastel Parade- I tried it out cause it reminded me of rhythm haven. The art and vibes aren’t my cup of tea but it was still a neat experience of a lovely little rhythm game. Only thing is that I played it while having a migraine, don’t do that, bad idea.
Little problems: A Cozy Detective Game- What it says on the tin, it is a real cozy detective game, it’s sweet and I liked it. kinda like the case of the golden idol but cute. you explore environments, and then fill a little assignment based on the clues you found. I am sure there are people out there that this is the exact game they are looking for.
Paper Trails: A Scrapbooking Story- This is also like unpacking in the way that you follow the life of someone through some cozy game mechanic, in this case - scrapbooking. It’s cute, not sure if scrapbooking is for me tho. my only gripe is that I wish more of the game was us understanding information about the main character through context clues, instead of getting a clear text box with exactly what we’re looking at and what it means for the mc.
Haste: Broken Worlds- The first thing I did in the game was run straight into a tree and lose some health. took me a quick minute to get what the game is about. It is kinda how I Imagine the new open world sonic games feel like (I never played those). I don’t fully think it’s for me, but I do think unlocking upgrades will make the game more interesting then the little I played. I can see why it caught so many people's attentions.
Is this seat taken?- A real neat puzzle game! I really enjoyed fully completing the demo. It does kinda remind me of mobile logic games. I would love to play this while waiting for a bus but I am not sure I will ever get it.
Mars Vice- First of all, while I don’t proclaim myself to be a furry, my furry friends do occasionally claim I am, either way I am under the impression that’s the audience for this game. It combines 3d environments with 2d characters which while not novel, is very cool in my opinion. you get introduced to the main character and some worldbuilding but I find it a real bummer there is no real hook to the story. you play as investigators so I assumed they are at least gonna hint as to what you’re investigating, no such case (pun not intended). kinda hard to judge a story focused story where you can’t see much of the story.
Purrrifiers: Cleaning Chaos- Listen, I spent hours on powerwash simulator. Was that a good waste of my time and good for my mental health? probably not but who’s to say. We booted up the demo, it is incredibly junky and I assume some of it is on purpose, what isn’t on purpose is the fact it crushes when we were more than halfway through the stage (and the demo doesn’t have any save system). I think it’s a game that is intentionally somewhat bad for comedic purposes, I am not really against that. me and my buddy will keep an eye on it.
Jumping jazz cats- So like, it’s probably a neat party game, but we only played it with two and one of us didn’t have a controller (feel bad to handle man). I think some youtubers will play it with their friends for like a week and then it will be forgotten. and I don’t mean that as any judgment about the quality of the game that’s just what usually happens with games like these.
Let’s Patiti! Chinese mario party clone, and I mention it’s chinese just cause some of the text, including the winning message of the game, have not been translated to english. It was kinda amusing but didn’t really interrupt gameplay. it’s cute, it takes some figuring out, it is just mario party in some areas. but it has some unique real time mechanics when you’re on the board that I think could be real fun. but I won the single round we played while my friend kept getting debuffed so I have a slightly biased look on the game lmao.
The sequels- Biped 2 and beholder: conductor are both sequels to their respective games and I have nothing to add to that other then yeah, they sure feel like sequels. (beholder I actually played a few months ago since I signed in to an earlier playtest, I do like the change in artstyle into pixel art, gives it something fresh as the fourth game in the series).
Run Tavern Quest- This is the only demo I didn’t like at all. which is actually really disappointing cause the premise is interesting to me, but the actual execution is lacking in my opinion. The reception seems very positive for now so maybe the writing just isn’t for me but I felt like every choice outcome is very obvious and leads to the same place at the end. bummer.
Steam Next Fest is a wonderful time to try a bunch of future games and I whole heartedly recommend exploring it if you have time whenever it is around. also I for sure missed some gems, avoiding anything horror or open world survival does cut a lot of the demos (and a lot of the shlock).