Steam Next Fest 21 !
I played some demos:
Retro-styled action RPG with an interesting scenario and somewhat off-beat writing (to give you an idea: The player character's own puke is a usable resource).
The demo now also features the single-player mode that was missing from previous versions of the demo and it looks like this game really works best as a co-op game (unless you really enjoy challenges like using platforming to type out words really slowly). Too bad, I had that game on my radar for well over a year because it's really cute and well designed, but everyone looking for some fresh casual coop game, make sure to take a look!
Let's see here: Fictional (but plausible) rural Oregon town? Setting in the recent-ish past? Focus on story-telling through dialog? When I saw the trailer for this during the PC Gaming Show, I thought I received DONTNOD and Firewatch vibes, but after playing the demo, it turns out this game is really dedicated to being
comfy first and foremost. Now I might be wrong here, but it really seems that this game is purely escapist fiction that lets the player experience a fantasy of slowing down, reconnecting with old friends and possibly even rural romance, all accompanied by a soundtrack of licensed country music songs (I could not help notice that the selection does not bother to be historically accurate to the game's being set in 1986 however, and will happily play you some 2019 Malena Stark on the in-game radio station). I might let all of this slide and enjoy it as purely therapeutic (god knows I'm indulging in escapist fantasies wrt my RL job often enough) if the presentation were on the level of a Tell Me Why, but it's not, not even close. This story might have been better off as a visual novel.
Speaking of visual novels: Here's one, and it also is meant to be comfy. It literally says so in the game's extended store description. It's about a Kitsune that travels to Wellington, NZL as a stowaway on a plane and given the developer's track record (for instance, Highway Blossoms, reviewed on Metacouncil's Rate-the-game-you-finished/retired thread
here), you can be reasonably sure she will make some new (girl-)friends - and possibly find the elusive woman that started her enchanted life. Presentation and writing are certainly towards the top-end of the VN spectrum, but do not expect huge literary ambitions.
A gorgeous side-scrolling action-platformer. This game goes all out at throwing hugely ambitious art direction at a classic genre - you won't find any pixelated retro-aesthetics here, instead you will feel like you are somehow playing a full-color non-serial sci-fi graphic novel. Highly recommend to check this out if you are even a little bit into the genre.
And while we are at games that look like graphic novels: Ever wished you could play a
Moebius graphic novel? Your wish has come true. How similar am I talking here?
Now, with looks like these, I am quite inclined to let certain flaws slide when it comes to mechanics and gameplay
, but the demo (which is basically the game's whole extended tutorial area and missions) really could give you the impression that the game fully intends to skate by on looks alone. Only towards the very end of the demo does the game feel like something of an action-rpg rather than a, dare-I-say-it,
supercomfy RPG-lite like Eastshade
.
Summary:
KeyWe is off my wishlist now, the rest of these games will remain on there, but I think Lake and Please Be Happy will only convert into a purchase some time down the road once a really good deal comes along. Death Trash plays nicely and seems interesting, but I am going to wait and see what times show up on Howlongtobeat - this kind of game I can really only have fun with if they can be completed in less than 10 hours. Sable and They Always Run are pretty much guaranteed to end up in my library sooner or later.
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