|OT| Steam Next Fest - returning October 2024
- Thread starter prudis
- Start date
I'll post some impressions once I start playing them! I just need to finish all those chores.
basically A Short Hike with basic management game elements. very cute and charming
Isometric narrative adventure game, not a ton to go on here but very atmospheric and dug the vibe
Souls-inspired Metroidvania where you play a muscly dude with a black hole for a head. a bit janky but fun
physics-based puzzle-platformer where you control a fish stuck in a rolling bowl. poorly optimized but gameplay is fun and checkpoints are reasonably forgiving (you'll probably die a lot)
story-driven 2D puzzle platformer, not quite a cinematic platformer, with nice art. seems pretty polished and promising
far from the first puzzle-platformer to revolve around manipulating light and shadows, but this one has a nifty gimmick I haven't seen before, where you control one character from a top-down perspective and the other from a side-scrolling one.
Isometric narrative adventure game, not a ton to go on here but very atmospheric and dug the vibe
Souls-inspired Metroidvania where you play a muscly dude with a black hole for a head. a bit janky but fun
physics-based puzzle-platformer where you control a fish stuck in a rolling bowl. poorly optimized but gameplay is fun and checkpoints are reasonably forgiving (you'll probably die a lot)
story-driven 2D puzzle platformer, not quite a cinematic platformer, with nice art. seems pretty polished and promising
far from the first puzzle-platformer to revolve around manipulating light and shadows, but this one has a nifty gimmick I haven't seen before, where you control one character from a top-down perspective and the other from a side-scrolling one.
Played two so far.
A combination of strategy and third-party shooter. Very similar to the combat mechanics of strategy games like Valkyria Chronicles. I played the tutorial only. The game is very polished and dialogues are pretty funny. Characters do not talk so far so I assume it is not a story-focused game. Launching in October so I would recommend keeping an eye on it.
Dog shelter management game. The game is still very early and not much to do in the demo. But it is salient that they have quite a lot of mechanics yet to be uncovered. So far it is wholesome with good music. I like it.
A combination of strategy and third-party shooter. Very similar to the combat mechanics of strategy games like Valkyria Chronicles. I played the tutorial only. The game is very polished and dialogues are pretty funny. Characters do not talk so far so I assume it is not a story-focused game. Launching in October so I would recommend keeping an eye on it.
Dog shelter management game. The game is still very early and not much to do in the demo. But it is salient that they have quite a lot of mechanics yet to be uncovered. So far it is wholesome with good music. I like it.
This is a game that resonates profoundly with me and how I feel nowadays
It kind of remember the old Metal Gears but the semblance stops there. The story is just absurd and I'm seriously thinking about how he got the damn noose so I might buy the full game when it's out.
It's a 2D platform that is harder than it's looks! I'm curious to see how it's going to develop but the demo seems very solid.
It kind of remember the old Metal Gears but the semblance stops there. The story is just absurd and I'm seriously thinking about how he got the damn noose so I might buy the full game when it's out.
It's a 2D platform that is harder than it's looks! I'm curious to see how it's going to develop but the demo seems very solid.
Succubus
Madmind seemed to have learned to be slightly less anti-female, in so far as, you are a female in this, and not everything stands out as 'vagina=evil' from what the demo shows, which is good because your character seems overly male-gaze sexualized and the voice acting only plays into it more. Sadly the gameplay is kinda crap on top of this. It doesn't feel like there's much weight to anything. Your basic and strong attack both seem to do as little damage as possible. Like Agony, it's like a cheesy metal album cover brought to life, with maybe slightly more polish, but about as much depth.
Drifting
Male gaze + iffy parkour (at least with m+kb). Give her some pants and for real, don't have thigh and boob jiggle sliders in your menu and you might be able to make something of it.
Madmind seemed to have learned to be slightly less anti-female, in so far as, you are a female in this, and not everything stands out as 'vagina=evil' from what the demo shows, which is good because your character seems overly male-gaze sexualized and the voice acting only plays into it more. Sadly the gameplay is kinda crap on top of this. It doesn't feel like there's much weight to anything. Your basic and strong attack both seem to do as little damage as possible. Like Agony, it's like a cheesy metal album cover brought to life, with maybe slightly more polish, but about as much depth.
Drifting
Male gaze + iffy parkour (at least with m+kb). Give her some pants and for real, don't have thigh and boob jiggle sliders in your menu and you might be able to make something of it.
Installing some games that I'm interested in, including Lost Eidolons, Ys IX, Death Trash, Sable, Lake, Wartales, and Stolen Realms.
Lost Eidolons and Ys IX are a nice surprise.
Lost Eidolons and Ys IX are a nice surprise.
Played the Ys IX demo yesterday, and it's pretty damn good. Not a big surprise really, Falcom knows how to mix things up and keep Ys interesting. The port by PH3 is also really great.
Then I checked out this game:
It's a pretty classic 2D scroller, but the twist of having Mjolnir is really good. A weapon you can throw that keeps zip zapping across the level, until you call it back or come into contact with it again. Surprisingly fun. The demo didn't wear out its welcome, hard to say if the final game will continue to be interesting and fun from beginning to end.
Then I checked out this game:
It's a pretty classic 2D scroller, but the twist of having Mjolnir is really good. A weapon you can throw that keeps zip zapping across the level, until you call it back or come into contact with it again. Surprisingly fun. The demo didn't wear out its welcome, hard to say if the final game will continue to be interesting and fun from beginning to end.
Little Witch takes its cue from Atelier to a charming effect. There's no combat, but rather environmental puzzles we can solve by crafting. There's a bit of text/localisation bug since the Hangul text will sometimes overlap with the English one.
Ys IX:
Good demo, gives you two dungeons to show off the combat and characters. Would love to see what the city feels like though. The new movement system has potential for secrets as there were many places that were hidden and I can imagine chests etc... being there. All in all I would say if you loved the previous games this will be great, if you didn't then this won't change your mind.
Sable:
This was a good demo, shows off exploration (didn't know this had zelda climbing). game has you chatting with villagers, zipping about on a star wars feeling bike. The game looks unique, although I'm not a fan of the stop motion feeling animations as it makes it feel choppy. This has big potential if they nail the story and exploration in the full release.
Good demo, gives you two dungeons to show off the combat and characters. Would love to see what the city feels like though. The new movement system has potential for secrets as there were many places that were hidden and I can imagine chests etc... being there. All in all I would say if you loved the previous games this will be great, if you didn't then this won't change your mind.
Sable:
This was a good demo, shows off exploration (didn't know this had zelda climbing). game has you chatting with villagers, zipping about on a star wars feeling bike. The game looks unique, although I'm not a fan of the stop motion feeling animations as it makes it feel choppy. This has big potential if they nail the story and exploration in the full release.
Ys IX feels pretty good, Flash Guarding muscle memory takes a little bit to return, though. Traversing is great, and playing as "Doll" was pretty fun with her rollerskates! Performance is good for the most part but picked up a few stutters here and there, might need some tinkering with the graphics options.
Very stylish monochrome turn-based mecha combat. I don't know if there's any story behind it, but it's fun. There's a bit of micro-management, you can upgrade your mech's equipment, buy skills for your pilot and earn cash on the side to buy better stuff for your mecha.
Very stylish monochrome turn-based mecha combat. I don't know if there's any story behind it, but it's fun. There's a bit of micro-management, you can upgrade your mech's equipment, buy skills for your pilot and earn cash on the side to buy better stuff for your mecha.
Last edited:
Quick demo recommendation mentions: Ogopogo, Radio Viscera, The Plane Effect, Protocorgi, Little Witch in the Woods, I Am Fish, The Murder Mystery Machine, The Inheritance of Crimson Manor, Grime, Cats in Time, Agent 64, Atrio The Dark Wild, Side Effect, Spire of Sorcery, Starstruck: Hands of Time, Terra Nil, They Always Run, Tiny Thor, Toem, Trigon: Space Story, Unpacking.
Just played Wartales for an hour. So it's a party-based CRPG but open world and sandbox. Some people call it like an upgraded version of Battle Brothers. There's no story whatsoever introduced in this demo, you basically make your own adventure. Taking jobs from the tavern, managing your party (including paying them), exploring the vast lands, and fighting bandits and animals. It's a bit unforgiving though, as resource is very limited and you're kinda time limited due to the exhaustion and wages. It would be much more relaxing if there's no wage to pay, because there's already so much you need to manage, from hunger, armor breakdowns, injuries, stamina, etc. Combat is quite deep but straightforward, there's armor on top of health before someone is killed.
It's super promising and I'm looking forward to the finished product.
It's super promising and I'm looking forward to the finished product.
Shaping up to be a really nice sequel to My Time at Portia. Graphics, menus and general systems feel more polished. The universe is still a joy to immerse in.
This one really took me by surprise. Part strategy, RPG, 4X, tycoon/empire management w/ a board game kinda feel. There's a LOT going on here. The menu density almost feels like a Paradox grand-strat title given the amount of data points you can access & track.
Game is set in 1920's Prohibition era with several sandbox map locations you can start with (Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit). On a high level it's a territory control game as you raise the ranks expanding your influence from one city block to the next. Each turn you have an allotment of movement & action points to spend traversing the map and interacting with NPCs. Then you click Next Turn and it fast-forwards 5 days.
There's sooo many moving parts. Building out your HQ, typically a humble small business that serves as a front for your operations. Supplying your contraband trade by developing relationships with neighborhood businesses (i.e. ingredients to make & distribute alcohol, etc.). Paying off the cops. Smuggling. Building gangs to increase territory influence. Production chains & logistics. And I haven't even gotten to the rival gangs part of the gameplay loop yet. The game feels deep as hell for tycoon management nerds.
Presentation is super-impressive considering the genre & indie vibe. I thought the map was "2D-static" looking at screens but you can fully zoom/rotate/pan all around the city. Has a great look and the music is era appropriate too.
This looks like something to keep a close eye on, and it shot up on my Most Wanted list.
Wowzers!
solid 3D platformer with good movement mechanics, feels a bit basic though
2D action-platformer where you play as a teddy bear trapped in twisted versions of classic fairy tales. the horror element is a bit too edgy and tryhard, and the characters just won't shut up, but it's quite pretty and the gameplay is surprisingly fun
2D action-platformer where you play as a teddy bear trapped in twisted versions of classic fairy tales. the horror element is a bit too edgy and tryhard, and the characters just won't shut up, but it's quite pretty and the gameplay is surprisingly fun
Last game of the day
As expected from the sick trailer, this game is great. I stopped playing after a few battles because I will certainly get it in the future.
As expected from the sick trailer, this game is great. I stopped playing after a few battles because I will certainly get it in the future.
This is being a masterclass in usability and how to do PR. I'm able to just find so many games I was interested in and install demos in one mouseover and two clicks.
Played a few more demos
Echoblade
Interesting premise, play as a blind person escaping a medievil dungeon, you see with a sort of echo vision, sound creates waves that allow you to see.
Reminds me a bit of the game scanner sobre, but much lower budget.
Unfortunately it has very repetitive looking dungeons, that give a boxy flat look. The game needs to add in things like caves or more interesting traps etc...
The Lightbringer
This was a fun top view puzzle platformer in the vein of zelda, you get a boomerang weapon. felt good to control the character and was charming.Their was no graphics setting that I could see, seemed like the sort of game that would be on apple arcade. If this came out for a good price it could do alright.
Selfloss
This is a one person developed game in the style of inside. Seems very well made and had some good moments with spectacle. Looks like it will have an emotional story. I like the mechanic of controlling an older man with a walking stick that shines a light for puzzles and hoping into a boat to go on a journey. Huge potential with this one.
Song of Iron
Side scrolling action game where you control a viking. Controls took a bit to get used too, as you can do a lot in terms of action. The demo was very atmospheric, in the end this should be received well if they polish it up and give some good variety with locations and enemies.
Severed Steel
This was just pure fun. Feels like Super Hot (even has the intro) in terms of enemy placement battle arenas, where you have to kill enemies to get their weapons because of the low amount of ammo. Controls like Fear (including bullet time) mixed with Titanfall 2 movement in destructible environments. Even a noobie will feel cool in this game, but I imagine videos of pro's doing things will be crazy.
Echoblade
Interesting premise, play as a blind person escaping a medievil dungeon, you see with a sort of echo vision, sound creates waves that allow you to see.
Reminds me a bit of the game scanner sobre, but much lower budget.
Unfortunately it has very repetitive looking dungeons, that give a boxy flat look. The game needs to add in things like caves or more interesting traps etc...
The Lightbringer
This was a fun top view puzzle platformer in the vein of zelda, you get a boomerang weapon. felt good to control the character and was charming.Their was no graphics setting that I could see, seemed like the sort of game that would be on apple arcade. If this came out for a good price it could do alright.
Selfloss
This is a one person developed game in the style of inside. Seems very well made and had some good moments with spectacle. Looks like it will have an emotional story. I like the mechanic of controlling an older man with a walking stick that shines a light for puzzles and hoping into a boat to go on a journey. Huge potential with this one.
Song of Iron
Side scrolling action game where you control a viking. Controls took a bit to get used too, as you can do a lot in terms of action. The demo was very atmospheric, in the end this should be received well if they polish it up and give some good variety with locations and enemies.
Severed Steel
This was just pure fun. Feels like Super Hot (even has the intro) in terms of enemy placement battle arenas, where you have to kill enemies to get their weapons because of the low amount of ammo. Controls like Fear (including bullet time) mixed with Titanfall 2 movement in destructible environments. Even a noobie will feel cool in this game, but I imagine videos of pro's doing things will be crazy.
Ys IX looks and runs great on my 3090. I am glad that I skipped the PS4 version. It would have been nice with more options to disable UI elements to comfortably run the game on my OLED tv, but on the other hand the ultrawide support makes it tempting to play the game on my PC screen.
Goblin Stone, Road 96, Rog and Roll, Wartales, Void Tyrant and Wolfstride are recommended.
Road 96 is the highlight for me - awesome game. I also reckon Lake is a super chill game. I recommend both.
I tried Sable and I'm not feeling it.
Artstyle is amazing and it felt good to control, but it's just an arrand after errand, in a simple open world fashion.
Artstyle is amazing and it felt good to control, but it's just an arrand after errand, in a simple open world fashion.
A bit janky but it's so heartwarming. You need befriend the inhabitants that were cursed by talking to them instead of engaging in combat.
It's an exploration game where you take photos, help the community and get a pass to go to the next region. It's a wholesome game.
Road 96 has a lot of potential. This is one that I'm looking forward to play when it's released.
It's an exploration game where you take photos, help the community and get a pass to go to the next region. It's a wholesome game.
Road 96 has a lot of potential. This is one that I'm looking forward to play when it's released.
Last edited:
This is wild! i love it! the art is amazing the music is superb! everyone should try it!
What if Black and White, but third person action? Short demo but I can see this being a lot of fun if it gets fleshed out. Definitely going to wishlist this one.
The destruction physics chef's kiss - Red Faction who?
Remember Goldeneye for the Nintendo64? That was fun times wasn't it? How would you like to play something that wears Bond's suit and tie, but it's from the Unity summer line? Fun, but we'll see if it trades too much on nostalgia for its own good. For the Goldeneye: Source fan that really wants the single player
Not really a fan of the 30 fps lock and overall jerkiness of some of the animations on Sable. I know it an artistic choice, but I feel like the art style (which is very interesting) would really shine in at least 60 fps.
As for the game itself, the demo did leave me wanting for more, but that's assuming the intro area and "busy work" you do is more characteristic of the tutorial than the full game. Still, it has a lot of potential and I hope they nail it because I would really like to dive into this world.
As for the game itself, the demo did leave me wanting for more, but that's assuming the intro area and "busy work" you do is more characteristic of the tutorial than the full game. Still, it has a lot of potential and I hope they nail it because I would really like to dive into this world.
Oh, they have Adult Only category as well? Seems like it's hidden from the Next Fest page.
Well, I'm just assuming those are AO titles since you mosaicised some of the grid icons.
These are games, not demos, that is why they are pixelated.Well, I'm just assuming those are AO titles since you mosaicised some of the grid icons.
Last edited:
I did. I like the writing and the character creator is neat for a pixel art game, but I'm not in the right place to play a grimy post-apocalyptic survival game right now so I dropped it quickly.
But the mechanics are solid and it controls very nicely. Feels like a perfect blend of classic and modern Fallout games, and I think Bethesda could make serious bank out of a lower-budget throwback Fallout game in this style.
Unpacking is made by the Assault Android Cactus developers. It's another wholesome game where you need to unpack boxes and put things in place, it's relaxing and as you unpack all the things you may end creating a background of who that person might be.
I posted some impressions of various Steam Fest demos in another thread before I saw this one existed 
.
.
it's ok - you can repost them in here as wellI posted some impressions of various Steam Fest demos in another thread before I saw this one existed
don't think anyone will mind
It's a puzzle platformer where you throw lightning spears. The stages are beautiful painted and based on the demo you character is not powerful.
It's Alex Kidd. You can change almost instantly between the original and the new graphics.
It's Alex Kidd. You can change almost instantly between the original and the new graphics.
Fun parkour shooter, but is it possible that there is too much being flashed on screen but not enough information being put up at the same time? I kinda feel that way here. I just don't like first person parkour and shooting i guess, (thanks Mirror's Edge 1 and 2), so maybe with some more time this could be even more fun -I might just need to tweak my keyboard bindings. to better suit the gameplay?
Russian attempt at Silent Hill/Resident Evil style action game, and as janky as that mental image leads you to believe. Would definitely hold off on this one until it's more refined - that zombie AI is either walk calmly and aimlessly or locked onto you like a heat seeking missile, and you're basically useless. Have knife, can only attack from behind for example (unless I missed something, I couldn't bring out the knife to simply swing it at the ghouls)
Last edited:
Hey I played some demo ! Incredible... yeah, I feared that at this rate I would try nothing.
Terra Nil filled me with peace, and Haven Park was a good follow up. I'm really in the mood for non violent game mechanics and vibes.
That being said...
Terra Nil is very promising, but it remains to be seen if the dev can make a game out of this concept, and if the challenge is just right and not frustrating. The
demo felt like a great prototype, excited to see where it goes from there.
Haven Park is sort of an Animal Crossing like, it starts strong and it's very peaceful. I'm unfortunately not totally sold on it if the game is limited to what is presented. It gets boring. No mouse support is dumb (placing furnitures is ehhh) and while the very simplistic graphics were rendered well in the 140fps, each fucking time the game displayed the same help tip, there was a noticeable slow down.
I'm full of peace, though. Thanks dev !
Terra Nil filled me with peace, and Haven Park was a good follow up. I'm really in the mood for non violent game mechanics and vibes.
That being said...
Terra Nil is very promising, but it remains to be seen if the dev can make a game out of this concept, and if the challenge is just right and not frustrating. The
demo felt like a great prototype, excited to see where it goes from there.
Haven Park is sort of an Animal Crossing like, it starts strong and it's very peaceful. I'm unfortunately not totally sold on it if the game is limited to what is presented. It gets boring. No mouse support is dumb (placing furnitures is ehhh) and while the very simplistic graphics were rendered well in the 140fps, each fucking time the game displayed the same help tip, there was a noticeable slow down.
I'm full of peace, though. Thanks dev !
Is not bad, but you really have to be into it. Otherwise it's boring and pointless. I think it's Panda Pedinte who said it's a little like looking into another person's life and yeah, when the game clicks, it's charming.
Basically looks like a modern Metal Gear game (I have not played the SNES ones). I've enjoyed this one mainly because of the humour so I'll probably pick this up when it comes out.
I played a bit of this but couldn't finish the demo case since there is a bug in the English version which prevents progression. It feels similar to Ace Attorney. It does have something like the Logic mechanic from AA:I.
Side-scroller action game that I looked at because parts of the story is told through comic format. The game looks promising but I do have one issue with the controls with the 'spiderwhip' being a pain to use. Will wishlist this and probably buy on sale.
Conga because conga-line. You can link up (hold hands) with NPCs and solve platforming puzzles that way. Game is still in a seriously rough state, highly doubt this will be released in 2021. If it does, it'll most likely be bad.
Cute open-world marble game with multiple paths to the goal? I'm in! Very early build however, controls and performance are still dodgy.
Player controls a cube moving over tiled surfaces. Some tiles will stamp a side of your cube with a sticker, which acts as a key for door/bridge tiles and, when facing up, enables stamp-specific movement variations on the cube. Quite clever and quite polished already, this game's a keeper for sure.
(3)Ds-style Zelda with a boomerang. Zoomerang? Zeldarang? Levels are still a bit generic and the controls still need refinement. One to watch.
2D puzzle platformer with hand-drawn graphics. The gimmick is the player character's spear, which serves as offensive weapon, portable platform, lever and tool. This one is scheduled to come out next week, so supposedly it's pretty much finished. While there is nothing much wrong with this game at all, quite beautiful looks, solid concept, okay controls (although they could be tighter), there is so much competition out there which is a lot prettier, has much more intriguing mechanics, and controls better. I feel reminded of Seasons after Fall, which I played a couple of years ago and felt very much the same okay-but-needs-something-more I feel with this. And now it's five years later ...
Super polished, super stylish, super memorable, this game has got it going on. Not sure yet however if I can really buy into its pretty eclectic scenario and the speed with which it shifts gears between flippant comedy and more serious topics. For anybody who played the game Night Call, think of this as its total inverse as far as style and presentation is concerned, but with the same underlying concept.
I really hate moving, particularly the packing/unpacking part. Too many memories and emotions attached to the junk you end up lugging around through your life. Too much stress with fixing up the place you're leaving and getting started in the new one. I remember the last time I moved, having a crying fit in the middle of the almost empty living room and being angry at myself for being such a baby. So, this game is supposed to be relaxing and comfy, but me, I get feels over this. What I'm saying is, I'll probably buy it.
Good old Syberia. Why is poor Kate Walker a prisoner in a salt-mine now, shaved head and everything? Why is there a prologue set in Not-Nazi-Germany-plus-Steampunk? Who can say. Benoit Sokal's brand of eclectic is something you can't really describe, you'll either have to accept it or back away slowly. Looks and sounds pretty good and the controls are amazingly straightforward - by the standards of previous Syberia games.
Last edited:
some more impressions
Retro shooter that could use a little bit more clear sign-posting at times but is otherwise fun for what it is.. Collect cards, open new areas, kill everything. Getting quake1 in the quake2 engine vibes from this. The sword actually feels a little under powered unless youre throwing it, but the guns seem to pack some punch. Retro shooter has to get the shotgun right, and it seemed to in what I played.
I felt incredibly powerful, being in charge of the bridge of a command ship with an arsenal of mass death at my finger tips, but also an absolute moron because the game while generous with hints doesn't lay out it on screen enough for someone like me who has no idea what I'm doing. If they really hand-held with how-tos aka don't just say 'conquer island with seal+bots' - explain how to do each step either in VO or in text on screen. Really kid-glove it for me, I was 5 minutes in, not 125 hours into ruling the high seas; it would go a long way. On the wishlist it goes!
Wanted to like this: a deep space pirate arpg in first person? And I get to actually play around (mildly) with piloting/controlling my ship? Heck yes! But around 10 minutes in, the game wanted me to check the airlock, then proceeded to bug out and glitched me in place so I couldn't move. It's onscreem UI also felt a bit unintuitive at times, requiring way more precision than I'd thinknecessaryfor onscreen prompts and menus - Maybe the non-VR version suffers from some polish by comparison? Until then though, I'll follow the game, but wishlist is iffy
Retro shooter that could use a little bit more clear sign-posting at times but is otherwise fun for what it is.. Collect cards, open new areas, kill everything. Getting quake1 in the quake2 engine vibes from this. The sword actually feels a little under powered unless youre throwing it, but the guns seem to pack some punch. Retro shooter has to get the shotgun right, and it seemed to in what I played.
I felt incredibly powerful, being in charge of the bridge of a command ship with an arsenal of mass death at my finger tips, but also an absolute moron because the game while generous with hints doesn't lay out it on screen enough for someone like me who has no idea what I'm doing. If they really hand-held with how-tos aka don't just say 'conquer island with seal+bots' - explain how to do each step either in VO or in text on screen. Really kid-glove it for me, I was 5 minutes in, not 125 hours into ruling the high seas; it would go a long way. On the wishlist it goes!
Wanted to like this: a deep space pirate arpg in first person? And I get to actually play around (mildly) with piloting/controlling my ship? Heck yes! But around 10 minutes in, the game wanted me to check the airlock, then proceeded to bug out and glitched me in place so I couldn't move. It's onscreem UI also felt a bit unintuitive at times, requiring way more precision than I'd thinknecessaryfor onscreen prompts and menus - Maybe the non-VR version suffers from some polish by comparison? Until then though, I'll follow the game, but wishlist is iffy
It's a very, very cute 2D platformer. I really dig how rounded everything is, from the little plants to just backgrounds rocks, it just looks smooth and not too angular like some other artstyles. Oddly reminds me of some HD Gameboy game than a 16 bits game.
But that's about it really, it's a very simple platformer with a bouncing projectile mechanic... it works, but it really lacks something to grab your attention. It's pretty bland.
Honestly, playing it before the patch, it was outright unplayable for me. 30FPS lock+15FPS animations+extreme aliasing+pop-in from HELL on almost every element+pastel colors mixing together in that joyous technical mess? Got my stomach churning in seconds.
Plus the options not working properly... but that they fixed quickly, on top of unlocking the FPS to 60, so it's not quite as bad.
I am still interested in that world and how pretty it could be, but it still has massive technical problems... and with the constant reminder that the game is almost free of combat, I dunno. Feels like a slighty stiff exploration game where the gameplay could get real dull real fast, the demo was already a bit boring beside dialogue...
Wait&see.
It fills like a long lost isometric Fallout game (with less dialogue options, let's not kid ourselves) but with action combat and some souls-like affinities.
First things first, the dirty-ass, super dark and muddy pixel art is certainly uncommon. A post apocalyptic world where meat just... "grows" everywhere, with odd meat monsters, bandits and a dedicated skill to puke infinitely, with some real horror vibes in the soundtrack? Yeah ok, it's a 2D pixel game, but that game I'm not going to confuse with others.
It's just... very engaging, but also very fast - the very first dialogue in the game tells you that you can skip the tutorial and go on your own, equipping gear, levelling up, getting power ups in the usual stats and skills like pikpocketing and bladed weapons and so on. An oddball of an RPG that wants you to start immediately, and it's cool.
There's already quite a bit to explore in the demo, with multiple weird quests and a good chunk of NPCs and text to read.
Really, really enjoyed that, though the demo only shows very early content. I could see it become seriously challenging, it certainly rewards skills over stats... huge surprise from E3, and confirmed to be as advertised here.
Thanks to you, I've tried Carrier Command 2 and it blew my mind. I absolutely love it. This is the sort of Microprose game I'd love to play.
Well, that and Falcon 5.
I played quite a few:
UNSIGHTED. Top down action game, I quite enjoyed this after a brief bit of getting used to the mechanics. I was hesitant because I generally hate any stamina-centric combat but it ended up feeling very controllable, and more interactive than some others. Honestly it feels like a good version of what Resolutiion was trying to be. I will definitely grab it.
Mohism. Detective VN style game, set in a Wuxia (I think) story. As others said, it bugs out in the accusation (?) segment in English. Up to that point, it didn't really do anything new or especially interesting IMO, aside from being a different setting and the decent art. Maybe if it's shortish and cheapish I will grab it.
Bear and Breakfast. This is clearly pretty early beta or late alpha, bit rough around all the edges, but it is very cute and seems promising. You are a bear that gets talked into helping restore a B&B at a park. You collect stuff from the ground and ruins and build out rooms of various kinds and buy furniture, recipes, etc. The cooking bit seemed kind of like a tedium too far but I guess it depends on the time management of the full game. Almost for sure going to pick this up.
Severed Steel. Bad first impression but after I cleared through the demo the first time I replayed it because stuff started to click. It's basically SUPERHOT, but instead of the time mechanic, you use tricks to be invulnerable. The tricks unfortunately are kinda janky around some parts of the levels (wall running seemed really inconsistent, diving was hit or miss as well) but overall it was fun once you understand it.
Sable. I played it after the patch, and enjoyed it but stopped before the demo would have ended because I got the idea for sure. It's got a neat art style, the world sounds interesting, but it did feel really slow to get around. This was on my wishlist before and still is but I don't think it's a day 1 for me.
Terra Nil. I'm kind of torn on this. The game doesn't do a great job of explaining the end goal and what you want to plan for, so it almost seems like it's stressful at first. I think I actually only succeeded on the level by accident. However, I could see it being enjoyable. I really wish it used something other than kinda industrial looking buildings to restore stuff though as that kind of clashes with the feel of the game. I think I'll get it at some point for sure, maybe whenever I complete my puzzle game back log (much smaller than my other backlog of "everything else")
Greak. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This feels like a puzzle platformer that added combat for some reason. The combat is incredibly basic and mostly just annoying. The controls to switch characters and interact with them are pretty easy. But I think I won't get it because of the combat. If the combat was maybe like - combat rooms have more interesting combat, puzzle rooms have no combat, then maybe. But it's just a constant annoyance of a bat here, blob there, whatever.
Haven Park. Someone described this as "A Short Hike" with camp management and it's hard to argue with that. The dialogue is cute, the characters are cute, the management is pretty streamlined and even if you don't have enough beds guests will just... sleep on the ground, I guess, so you can't claim it's pressuring you much. I don't really understand how the resource gathering works since as far as I can tell it was just static resources in certain places but maybe they respawn randomly if you play enough. I will certainly get this after it releases.
Murder Mystery Machine. If you can get past the pretty bad UI this is a way more interesting mystery game than Mohism was, despite the more mundane setting. However, a lot of the deductions boil down to trial-and-error of connecting evidence to other evidence to see what dialogue unlocks, and trying to figure out what the game thinks is the right way to disprove or prove something. I think maybe with a bit more time you could get a better feel for how things connect, or maybe they could do a pass to name things better. The evidence UI absolutely needs an adjustment though.
Sweet Surrender. VR arcade shooter. Didn't really seem to do anything new, or interesting. It's OK? It doesn't have thumbstick deadzone yet so the 30% or whatever of controllers that don't have a perfect center will just make you wander around a bunch. It's also the only VR game in a long time to give me motion sickness. Even aside from that, I just don't see what this offers.
Spirit Bounce. Extremely indie, almost to the point of being endearing, but I didn't find it fun as far as brick breaker games go.
Endlight. Pretty much intentionally impossible to parse, but there's just no gameplay to be had here. You have to fight against not being able to see, combined with sluggish controls, to steer through literal hoops, or start the level over. There are so, so many better versions of this already out.
They Always Run. One of the ones I probably wouldn't have put on my wishlist based on the store page alone but the demo won me over. It's a bit more melee-metroidy than the description implies and ended up enjoying it. A lot of the "platforming" seems entirely superfluous and I'm unsure why it's there other than to make the levels bigger, as it's not challenging and incredibly linear, but it's a small part of the demo so hopefully a small part of the game.
Song of Iron. Big ol' meh. The combat seems simple, and that's basically the whole game other than style, so definitely not sold on this one. Not sure if it's just early graphics but the textures looked kind of... untextured for me. Seems like there's some stealth aspect to it but it only really seemed to work 1 time.
Industria. I don't really understand what kind of FPS this game wants to be. The enemies are super accurate and even shoot around some cover, but bullets are too scarce to make it a full on cover shooter. Guns don't feel good in general. It's a super short demo. The intro sets up an interesting world but the second part comes off as a generic kinda bad Half-life 2 clone.
Len's Island. I think there's almost a really good game here. The controls are utterly atrocious, and the fact that platforming looks to be important in exploring but is also incredibly bad is not a good sign. The ratio of different materials you find to what you want/can use isn't great. The combat is even simpler than Song of Iron but they tout it as some in depth thing to master (you can attack, dodge, or use the weapons' special ability. That's it). Also healing is essentially impossible UNTIL you start growing blueberries and then it's basically infinite free healing, with nowhere in between. With a bunch of tweaks I think it could be fun but I don't know why I would play it as is right now.
So tl;dr: UNSIGHTED, Severed Steel, Haven Park are definite buys for me. Bear and Breakfast, They Always Run, Terra Nil are probably buys. Murder Mystery Machine and Sable are maybe. Everything else I tried is a skip.
UNSIGHTED. Top down action game, I quite enjoyed this after a brief bit of getting used to the mechanics. I was hesitant because I generally hate any stamina-centric combat but it ended up feeling very controllable, and more interactive than some others. Honestly it feels like a good version of what Resolutiion was trying to be. I will definitely grab it.
Mohism. Detective VN style game, set in a Wuxia (I think) story. As others said, it bugs out in the accusation (?) segment in English. Up to that point, it didn't really do anything new or especially interesting IMO, aside from being a different setting and the decent art. Maybe if it's shortish and cheapish I will grab it.
Bear and Breakfast. This is clearly pretty early beta or late alpha, bit rough around all the edges, but it is very cute and seems promising. You are a bear that gets talked into helping restore a B&B at a park. You collect stuff from the ground and ruins and build out rooms of various kinds and buy furniture, recipes, etc. The cooking bit seemed kind of like a tedium too far but I guess it depends on the time management of the full game. Almost for sure going to pick this up.
Severed Steel. Bad first impression but after I cleared through the demo the first time I replayed it because stuff started to click. It's basically SUPERHOT, but instead of the time mechanic, you use tricks to be invulnerable. The tricks unfortunately are kinda janky around some parts of the levels (wall running seemed really inconsistent, diving was hit or miss as well) but overall it was fun once you understand it.
Sable. I played it after the patch, and enjoyed it but stopped before the demo would have ended because I got the idea for sure. It's got a neat art style, the world sounds interesting, but it did feel really slow to get around. This was on my wishlist before and still is but I don't think it's a day 1 for me.
Terra Nil. I'm kind of torn on this. The game doesn't do a great job of explaining the end goal and what you want to plan for, so it almost seems like it's stressful at first. I think I actually only succeeded on the level by accident. However, I could see it being enjoyable. I really wish it used something other than kinda industrial looking buildings to restore stuff though as that kind of clashes with the feel of the game. I think I'll get it at some point for sure, maybe whenever I complete my puzzle game back log (much smaller than my other backlog of "everything else")
Greak. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This feels like a puzzle platformer that added combat for some reason. The combat is incredibly basic and mostly just annoying. The controls to switch characters and interact with them are pretty easy. But I think I won't get it because of the combat. If the combat was maybe like - combat rooms have more interesting combat, puzzle rooms have no combat, then maybe. But it's just a constant annoyance of a bat here, blob there, whatever.
Haven Park. Someone described this as "A Short Hike" with camp management and it's hard to argue with that. The dialogue is cute, the characters are cute, the management is pretty streamlined and even if you don't have enough beds guests will just... sleep on the ground, I guess, so you can't claim it's pressuring you much. I don't really understand how the resource gathering works since as far as I can tell it was just static resources in certain places but maybe they respawn randomly if you play enough. I will certainly get this after it releases.
Murder Mystery Machine. If you can get past the pretty bad UI this is a way more interesting mystery game than Mohism was, despite the more mundane setting. However, a lot of the deductions boil down to trial-and-error of connecting evidence to other evidence to see what dialogue unlocks, and trying to figure out what the game thinks is the right way to disprove or prove something. I think maybe with a bit more time you could get a better feel for how things connect, or maybe they could do a pass to name things better. The evidence UI absolutely needs an adjustment though.
Sweet Surrender. VR arcade shooter. Didn't really seem to do anything new, or interesting. It's OK? It doesn't have thumbstick deadzone yet so the 30% or whatever of controllers that don't have a perfect center will just make you wander around a bunch. It's also the only VR game in a long time to give me motion sickness. Even aside from that, I just don't see what this offers.
Spirit Bounce. Extremely indie, almost to the point of being endearing, but I didn't find it fun as far as brick breaker games go.
Endlight. Pretty much intentionally impossible to parse, but there's just no gameplay to be had here. You have to fight against not being able to see, combined with sluggish controls, to steer through literal hoops, or start the level over. There are so, so many better versions of this already out.
They Always Run. One of the ones I probably wouldn't have put on my wishlist based on the store page alone but the demo won me over. It's a bit more melee-metroidy than the description implies and ended up enjoying it. A lot of the "platforming" seems entirely superfluous and I'm unsure why it's there other than to make the levels bigger, as it's not challenging and incredibly linear, but it's a small part of the demo so hopefully a small part of the game.
Song of Iron. Big ol' meh. The combat seems simple, and that's basically the whole game other than style, so definitely not sold on this one. Not sure if it's just early graphics but the textures looked kind of... untextured for me. Seems like there's some stealth aspect to it but it only really seemed to work 1 time.
Industria. I don't really understand what kind of FPS this game wants to be. The enemies are super accurate and even shoot around some cover, but bullets are too scarce to make it a full on cover shooter. Guns don't feel good in general. It's a super short demo. The intro sets up an interesting world but the second part comes off as a generic kinda bad Half-life 2 clone.
Len's Island. I think there's almost a really good game here. The controls are utterly atrocious, and the fact that platforming looks to be important in exploring but is also incredibly bad is not a good sign. The ratio of different materials you find to what you want/can use isn't great. The combat is even simpler than Song of Iron but they tout it as some in depth thing to master (you can attack, dodge, or use the weapons' special ability. That's it). Also healing is essentially impossible UNTIL you start growing blueberries and then it's basically infinite free healing, with nowhere in between. With a bunch of tweaks I think it could be fun but I don't know why I would play it as is right now.
So tl;dr: UNSIGHTED, Severed Steel, Haven Park are definite buys for me. Bear and Breakfast, They Always Run, Terra Nil are probably buys. Murder Mystery Machine and Sable are maybe. Everything else I tried is a skip.
Glad I could bring it to your attention. I always think of Microprose as an adventure company [now], so to see the name pop up on completely different genres is a welcome, if odd surprise
The star of the festival for me. Feels fantastic to play, can't wait for the full thing.
This for some reason reminds me of that dreadful USA Mana game, Secret of Evermore was it? Either way, plays pretty tight and I love the gross aesthetic
Basically Mother 3, but in a self aware videogame world. Has some interesting personality systems going on, but I need to see the full game to see how they pan out
Deus Ex, but eurojank and really fucking weird. Kind of a bad demo since you just get thrown into a random location and you have zero indication of where to go but I'll be looking into the full release.
Superhot + Hotline Miami, really fun to zoom everywhere.
Final few for today
Have you seen Alien? Have you played Isolation? How would you like to do that, with no idea what youre suppose to be doing? All while being chased by the Halo Gorilla meme on slimfast? Maybe this requires multiple people to really click, because on my own, as the demo played out, this was really just run around a ship until I die with no idea what I was doing. I think it might be a very small team, so I can't shit on it for quality. I just don't think it works well solo
So close to perfecting what it's going for, it just needs a little tweaking to better explain the fail-state. Otherwise, it's the best twist on an RTS I've tried since DOTA was a mod
Charming platformer that had me from the get go. The post-people world and your little robot village, the animations are great, your robot's walk and little head-lightbulb are endearing - seriously the walk - give that animator a raise. I was reminded a lot of Pikmin in they way you approach the world - your little and have to take on big tasks/collect 'human' items. Controls extremely well and looks good. About the only thing I found wrong was the soundtrack loop was too saccharine to hear over and over for the amount of time youre in the demo.
I'm usually down for simplified arcade dogfight games (taken to literal extremes here) - see my love of Snoopy vs the Red Baron, and Flying Aces as well as the recent WarHammer 40K Dakka Squadron - Flyboyz Edition. This however, as much as I wanted to enjoy it - controls felt off and it just didn't see like single player was the way it was meant to be played. I'd dead so fast so often with little idea why or how to correct it while fighting the controls.
Have you seen Alien? Have you played Isolation? How would you like to do that, with no idea what youre suppose to be doing? All while being chased by the Halo Gorilla meme on slimfast? Maybe this requires multiple people to really click, because on my own, as the demo played out, this was really just run around a ship until I die with no idea what I was doing. I think it might be a very small team, so I can't shit on it for quality. I just don't think it works well solo
So close to perfecting what it's going for, it just needs a little tweaking to better explain the fail-state. Otherwise, it's the best twist on an RTS I've tried since DOTA was a mod
Charming platformer that had me from the get go. The post-people world and your little robot village, the animations are great, your robot's walk and little head-lightbulb are endearing - seriously the walk - give that animator a raise. I was reminded a lot of Pikmin in they way you approach the world - your little and have to take on big tasks/collect 'human' items. Controls extremely well and looks good. About the only thing I found wrong was the soundtrack loop was too saccharine to hear over and over for the amount of time youre in the demo.
I'm usually down for simplified arcade dogfight games (taken to literal extremes here) - see my love of Snoopy vs the Red Baron, and Flying Aces as well as the recent WarHammer 40K Dakka Squadron - Flyboyz Edition. This however, as much as I wanted to enjoy it - controls felt off and it just didn't see like single player was the way it was meant to be played. I'd dead so fast so often with little idea why or how to correct it while fighting the controls.