Steam NextFest Rapid-Fire Demo Thoughts (October 2024)
Every time Steam NextFest comes around (and if I remember to do it), I scroll the big list and click "Install" on anything that catches my eye. Honestly, it's a lot of fun and I've found some cool games this way, I probably won't be as serious about doing this as I was on Cohost, but oh well. I ain't being paid.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2089600/Urban_Myth_Dissolution_Center/
Cute aesthetic and some really fun pixel art, but everything takes way too many steps to do. I can't believe you have to go into your journal to confirm every single clue.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2591230/MEATGRINDER/
Barely comprehensible plot with a 4chan / mid-00s Adult Swim sense of edge that's just totally uninteresting to me. Pity, because I actually think the aesthetic is neat.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161270/Tlatoani_Aztec_Cities/
Feels like a citybuilder from the 90s, themed around a specific culture and all that. Needs a bit of UI polish (it was unclear what I was missing towards the end of the first mission until I really sat down and scrutinized every building), but it's neat.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2538880/Spirit_X_Strike/
Terrible first impression with rough performance and no controller support, and then I was having a great time for about ten minutes with its gonzo God Hand / Fist of the North Star vibe. Unfortunately the boss kills you in about three hits with his ridiculous homing charge attack that does 40% of your life if you miss the perfect parry.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2442460/Citizen_Sleeper_2_Starward_Vector/
We are so back. I've got a big soft spot for the first Citizen Sleeper, so I'm willing to take the shot on this sight unseen; a demo is just a bonus. The big shakeups here are removal of the stabilizer countdown in favor of a building stress meter and the addition of a crew, both things that make sense with the mechanics and themes of Citizen Sleeper. I'm looking forward to it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3084280/Threefold_Recital/
Cute enough. I wish there were more Futuristic China aesthetics and less puzzle platforming. I stopped playing once I got to a puzzle that had three circular slots and three orbs laying around the room, and the game decided it had to stop me for a few minutes to explain that I would need to find the keys in this room to open the door.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2368300/Warside/
What if Advance Wars had a worse capture mechanic and absolutely zero personality? Let me be more specific: it's an important part of Advance Wars' balance that only infantry can capture properties. Sure, here only infantry can do the capturing, but any unit can attack and de-capture properties, which feels like it would needlessly drag things out.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3149850/Fated_Land/
AI generated art. Avoid.
I just want a new Final Fantasy Tactics, man...
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2124120/SULFUR/
A Roguelite FPS game. It's got a fun look to it and feels pretty good in the moment to moment, but it's just not really my scene. I hate finding randomly generated loot that's just like, +17% to run speed or whatever.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/887490/Burden_of_Command/
I've had this on my wishlist for ages, so I was disappointed to be immediately confronted with unskippable videos of the devs talking up how supposedly transgressive and pointed the game is and verbally explaining the mechanics. Just let me into the game! Let me read!!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3125820/SISYPHE/
Artsy platformer. Basically hold right and mash space while you look at cool backgrounds and listen to cool music. Probably great while high.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1865960/Symphonia/
Really cute. I thought it was another Offbrand Hollow Knight at first, but I'd say this has a cohesive enough aesthetic on its own and also is not a Metroidvania / Search Action game, it's just an old fashioned platformer. Maybe there's a bit too much happening in the foreground, but I had a good time.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2958790/Cyclopean/
An old school RPG in the pre-console style, in just about every way. It's unforgiving and cruel in mechanics (you cannot make a character, you must simply re-roll your character until you're pleased with it) with a striking monochrome aesthetic. Not quite my scene, but damn I respect the gumption.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2756920/Keep_Driving/
Really damn cool. If you're gonna trick me into playing a roguelite deckbuilder, then at least have the decency to give it a cool, cohesive aesthetic like this. Probably the best thing I've played so far (I write these lists in play order).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3202230/VIOLENT_RUSH/
Feels like Jet Set Radio fanfic, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's a bit slight and obviously translated from a different language.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2407270/AI_LIMIT/
Nobody has done Souls as well as FromSoft and I really wish someone else moved in on that territory. This is like, fine, but there's nothing really intriguing about it to me.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2768420/The_Last_Winter_Knight/
Immaculate vibes, but kind of boring. I got excited by the chart/glossary about the pieces of plate armor, and then it's ten minutes of slowly establishing that the knight has amnesia and is possibly a ghost.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2458310/New_Arc_Line/
They're... doing their best? I do not have so much affection for Arcanum that I need some kind of spiritual follow up to it, as much as I like CRPGs. Steampunk just doesn't really do it for me as an aesthetic.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2530490/Lost_Eidolons_Veil_of_the_Witch/
I wish I liked this more seeing as it's a Fake Fire Emblem, but I'm not really into the aesthetic or the whole roguelite setup. I hear the regular Lost Eidolons isn't a roguelike, which makes me a smidge more interested. But man, that sure is just like, Grim But Glossy Western Fantasy Art Style. Not really my scene.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3174830/Throne_Requiem/
Fascinating in its bizarre indie King's Field x Wizardry vibe. Seems to be a one man project by one Michael Richard Lannon who has put out something like 15 similarly weird dungeon crawlers in the past few years. I am baffled and intrigued.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3128730/ColorSweeper/
Picross x Minesweeper. Seems great. No notes.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2263360/HYPERBEAT/
A Rez-like, which is pretty rare and I think it's really neat, but wow it is so incredibly hard. I do not have the dexterity to pull the analog stick shenanigans this game wants me to.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2977310/Arkhe/
Gives me Korean webtoon vibes, which I guess isn't inherently bad, but it also opens with introducing a bunch of terms and concepts with no context, expecting you to read multiple paragraphs in the in-game journal. There's not really an immediate hook here to get me interested.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2342780/Neo_Harbor_Rescue_Squad/
Trauma Team x Warioware by way of a Saturday morning cartoon. The aesthetic feels like it'd be on the side of a Burger King cup. It wasn't bad or anything, but the game did not read my controller so every prompt was a big "?" symbol and as a result I failed about 40% of the minigames. S'fine.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1412150/Silent_Sadie/
Cute aesthetic and little else. The box pushing is incredibly slow and I stopped playing once I got to the mandatory stealth segment.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2396200/Letalis/
Fake Pokemon with slaves. I mean look, the gladiator setting isn't terrible, but when you're commanding goofy monster friends to fight it doesn't feel quite as fucked up as literally buying human beings and making them fight for your pleasure.
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