|OT| Steam Next Fest - February 2024 edition soon

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
3,028
6,667
113
Finland

Lil Gator - Pleasant. Hard to gauge how the writing will work in the long term but it seems just about right amount of twee.


The Last Campfire - This one really came and went huh, didn't hear a peep about it, One might say it's the egs effect but it came out on consoles too and it reviewed well enough. Just don't recall seeing anything about it. Anyway, it seems like a neat environmental puzzle game. Easy stuff on the demo, I assume it gets harder later.


Door3:Insignia - This seems like a real basic puzzle game. I don't think it rates.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
A few more impressions:

Someone finally went and made a full fledged war game about a medic. And while I'd prefer something more akin to a Frictional game in terms of handling the controls when is comes to performing the procedures, I'm willing to cut them some slack with the QTEs. It's crazy and tense to run around getting shot at and bombed by fucking WAR PLANES, and all you've got are a tourniquet and some gauze pads in your kit. It's pearl harbour and you've gotta patch up guys bleeding out on a runway and drag their asses off the tarmac so planes can take off. It's not quite as visceral as say, Giovanni Ribisi patching guys up in the openin 20 minutes (or when his character is himself shot) in Saving Private Ryan, but I'm glad someone is trying to make medics more than push F to heal/or running around with healing lasers.


Actions strategy in the third person AND you mess with time. I couldn't quite get a handle on it in the demo, but I can see the potential if, as the demo explains, the full game spreads things more. Trying to coordinate an attack on hordes of evil demons with my previous self often got my ass handed to me instead of victory, but I could taste it and want to see more. And any game that lets you possess a tree to aide in battle is doing something right.


Comic book visual noir FPS. I'm not really interested in a lot of New Blood's stuff by and large, but this checks enough buttons and feels smooth enough to warrant trying out some more. Feels kinda like Duke Nukem: China Town. I just hope the full game doesn't actively promote misogyny/sexism because of the time period and media it's trying to emulate (the demo not great in this regard).


An FPS without graphics. That might sound incredibly dumb to a forum that is going to nitpick Alan Wake's remaster, but this... works, well mostly.
Apotheorasis relies completely on audio, and it can be very difficult to use headphones or speakers to pinpoint what direction a voice or footsteps are coming from with enough accuracy to shoot it, but it's not brutal if youve got patience. I didn't 'play' the way the seemingly evil doctor wanted and I was decommissioned, so there is definitely a story worth checking out here. And hey,. isn't it time you gave your sound card a real work out, and let your GPU relax?


What if you had an isometric Rainbow Six, but instead of putting down tangos you snuffed out fires and rescued people? I will say this, even in demo form it was incredibly satisfying to complete the missions and the 3rd one got so intense I didn't finish it. There are definite path finding issues to work on - firefighters walking into a wall of flames and turning around to put it out/being unable to walk through an open parking lot to the truck because that same truck is parked across the entrance ramp. Also, not sure how I feel about how it handles hoses (or the lack there of).. Still, like the medic game, this is a theme/setting most games dont take up very often and not game-ify when they do, I want to see more like this with a somewhat serious take on things
 
Last edited:

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France

There are foundations for a great deck-building horror game. The setting is deeply disturbing, and I usually hate horror games. However, this one ticks many boxes: it is difficult, the deck-building elements are smoothly integrated, there are mysteries to solve, there is a seamless transition between 3D movement in the room and playing on the table. The game is a bit expensive (16.19€ if you own other games by Daniel Mullins, the dev of Pony Island and The Hex), but it is promising! It is a mix of Pony Island and The Legend of Bum-Bo.


A cinematic adventure where you are the mother fox, gathering food for your cubs, and trying to find the missing one. It is visually enjoyable, and the animations are extremely cute. However, do not expect much gameplay.

A cute puzzle-platformer with a grapple, with many collectibles. It can be an okay game if you are in the right mood. In my opinion, the movements are not very enjoyable, so I stopped after 2 levels (out of 3 in the demo).


Slay the Spire, with anime characters. Technically okay. With a nice budget since there is Chinese voice acting. However, there was no challenge, so I got bored. Maybe it gets better in the later levels.


Frozen Synapse with realistic visuals... and a lot less gameplay possibilities. Average.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Panda Pedinte
OP
prudis

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,229
26,760
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
so tried some too


basically sudoku rogulike ... was quite fun so far with bunch of twists on top of it , but not sure how it will be in later game



fun little retro racer, really fun , but the demo had too little content



imsim-y brawlery NewBlood project , lots of fun in comicbook\ noir style . I love how interactable the environment is. Defiitely one to look for



super fun , fast-paced cyberpunk run-and-gun platformer. quite hard at times and unlike ton of others quite long demo. Forklift level was great



DMC like game where you fight against mutated crystalized beasts and robots , fluid and fun gamepaly , but demo felt super short



comicbooky boomer shooter .... didnt felt as tight as i would expect (character feels like sliding and little to no weapon feedback) .... but they got still whole EA period befre so that should improve a lot
 
Last edited:

Nabs

Hyper˗Toxic Pro˗Consumer
Oct 23, 2018
3,681
12,256
113

I was only able to play a few minutes, but this game is pretty solid already. It's a robo-Metroidvania, where you can repair yourself with the currency you collect (nuts and bolts). I think the stamina system is based on overheating as well. I think instead of collecting maps, you destroy the EMP that's blocking you from viewing it. It's pretty neat. The movement/platforming feels right. I wasn't able to reach any bosses yet, so I can't talk too much about the combat.


I also tried out Lone Fungus. It's a little on the rougher end, but not necessarily in a bad way. It's just got a simple style. I'm not mad at it, though. Well, I am mad at the platforming challenge rooms (jk).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: prudis
OP
prudis

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,229
26,760
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
more :-D (still got about 20 downloaded , bu i ont think i will be able to go through them in time )

twinstick snail with big guns , great aestetics and atmosphere with cheeky dialogue , seems bit slow but i guess thats being a snail , needs some more accessibility options (UI , button remap and such) , also it feels a bit too zoomed




metrodivania with good sound and clean viszals , nice atmophere , but not sure if i am sold on the gameplay .. feels bit too rigit and slow ...maybe needs a bit more combat feetback ... quite rough at the moment (no sure if release in december is a good idea)



supersolid commandos-like,looks good , plays well , much better than last years Partizan , definitely surprise of the fest




RTS by Slitherine , surprisingly easy to get into compared to rest of their production From the demo its mostly about survival and defending the base , but that quitr fits with the theme... gameplay is Dawn of War-esque ..... definitely promising one



rogulike boomer shooter , needs a bit more feedback on spells and movement too floty + lots of sutff in it is quite confusing or not really that greatly presented ... rough atm , might be interesting to check when closer to v1.0
 
  • Like
Reactions: Parsnip
OP
prudis

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,229
26,760
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
today demos :-D (still got bunch more for after weekend)


"Fireman was killed n action" Simulator ... reminded me a lot of old german Emergency series
Quite hard and very promising



new disciples ... hm that is a weird one .... the moment i saw the battmepa when they annoucned it i felt quite a bit worried of the too much of a "homamization" ..
but ultimately was pelasantly surprised by it ... i would say its more of a spinoff , so bunch of the stuff what made disciples disciples is gone , but what there is sint entirely bad .
Sucks the unit evolution is gone but its not map to map anymore with seamless one big campaign when you make expeditions from you big legendary city and befriend the 4 factions. I guess its more of a RPG outside of combat .... combat is also more of xcomy on hexa grid.
Overall bug surpprise for me , only thing they need to add is autoresolve and battle speedup option



colony maagement sim by the devs of SPAZ, fine sound design , art design is srciseable.. got better pacing than i expected, but early game is a bit annoying atm (not much ways to make people happy) , but its solidly paced so it gets better , I like how the game is about making progress in the tech tree, but it's a bit too fast, and even overwhelming at times. Overal ots of rough edges but quite promising



Peggle rogulike ... you got little goblin fighting monster with power of peggle ... must play for peggle-afficionados



Like the artwork and music and the general tone. Seems reminiscent of BB. Definitely like the mechanic of melle reffiling the gun ammo , spear is kinda shit , but sword fit me the most... although feels like there is bit too much puzzly things to this kind of game . Quite buggy , but overall promising.



be a gojira and destroy thing , super fun little thng... praise the church of holy lizard



biggest surprise in what i demoed so far , cyberpunk japan and blind protagonist .
You got 4 hightened sences which slowly allow you build a "picture" of world around you (you get 5000 years old data of the word to begin with , but the changes needs to be explored through the sences) ... the fighting mechanic uses all that too .... for example in highened hearing ... you see echo of your enemy moovements and if you shoot/slash in that direction and hit the enemy ... it slowly makes him visible...
Super original and perfectly playable .... probably gonna be day 1 purchase
 
OP
prudis

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,229
26,760
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
second to last batch :face-savouring-delicious-food:


- this is a weid one .... you sail trhough the world and pickup trash to buil shit on your raft , while playing you get robot companion , he didnt seem to do anything in the demo for me .... coud be cool in the actual coop but currently its a bit messy




medieval survival rts combo with waves of atacking enemies , superquick to get into the funs stuff like raining arrows or meteiriets on hordes of enemies ... pretty fun, its like a mix of tower defence , with fast paced rts action like CnC and heavy resource managemenr but always fun .. demo was bit rough , but will go trhough EA so they might make it in the end



weird 1v1 arcade thing by chinese dev , so you need to guess into options menu to turn it into english
fun with friend , but i found the actuall mechanics bit messy




sidescroller furry rogulike , love the art and is quite fun to play if bit hard a the start.
bit too zoomed in to my liking




cardy cartoon rogulike ... The gamble mechanic, orb mechanic, and artifacts are all pretty fun ,but its a bit buffy . UI seems to be a bit messy and artstyle is holding it back a lot , but the overall gameplay was fun. Will need lots of work for release.



This was super strange on .... wild psychadellic but definitely unique world with bit of a oldschool RPG (reminded me mix of Kings field and morrowind) gameplay and PS1 aestetic.

Definitely promising one , bt will need lots of work (demo was quite unpolished and rough)



It’s like Into the Breach crossed with Crypt of the NecroDancer/Crown Trick. Plays a lot like something like crown trick but its much more focused on actual battles in small grid, very cute, quite difficult with interesting story. Only downside for me was that the movement is a bit odd and hard to nail.




pS1 looking isometric horror game set in WW1 as a soldier. The gameplay is tense and difficult enough that it encouraged me to really plan around inventory and routes through the trenches. AI was a bit buggy in the demo . Definitely enjoyable



creepy as f card game by creator of Pony Island ... demo was pretty amazing , wont say more not to spoil things, just greatt



Cute little isometric potic adventure game about a boy and a doggo in dark wordl . Demo felt too short , had quite peaceaful atmossphere which is not what i expected given the description ... i guess it escalates later than what demo has shown



Adorable pixelart adventure with nice art of a bizzare world, beatiful soundrack , enjoyable soundtrack and heavily narrative based with what in the demo seemed like start to quite bittersweet story .
 
OP
prudis

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,229
26,760
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
and my last batch (might do some hghlights summary later)


ultimatly just more of the same , had a blast as i did with the original, the quircky the creative the fun musical game :face-savouring-delicious-food:



great premise, love the management mechanics and effects , its also quite hard while also need bunch of improvements on contol side
overall fun little hacknslash with a gitl battling fires and slowly improving her fire dept,



isometric immersive crpg in cyberpunk dystopina world with with lovely artstyle ... aesetic and mechanics are super solid . Very unique art design and music cchannel terminator themes, but controls/UI is soupre pain the butt...( for example for squad mangement) so lets hope they improve on it



micromanagementy game about selling human meatpies ... weird as hell , kindaTWOM ish gameplay ... one thing they need to add is maybe queeing next actions so the gameplay s more fluid



rogulikey minixcom with animal crew ,while exploring the ruins , quite surprise hit of this batch for me



metroidvania with robotic character and intresting mechanic of turning enemise into paltforms. Gammeplay is fine enough but nthing amazing




isometric action rpg about reconstructing shattered multiverse. gameplay is similar to crosscode but ot as good felt to heavy to control




Isometric cRPG but more focused on the zombies. Combat feelts good , but AI needs impr
Looting is bit too tedious in demo) . Overall reminded me a lot of old fallouts , or maybe snappiier Dead State, very promising project
 

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France
I have tried a few more demos:

Recommended:

The Mondrian concept is smartly executed. Try it if you like puzzle games!


Not recommended:


I don't think that fighting monsters brings something fresh to the Peggle formula, and it does not make the game more enticing to me, to the contrary.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Parsnip and Pommes

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France
Recommended:

I have finished the demo of Transiruby. The game is reminiscent of Cave Story, but controls better imo. Lots of potential!




Neutral:

I think I got the demo during Steam Next Fest. However, I have not played the demo for some time, and the full game has been released for free since then. A lof of quality-of-life fixes are missing, and some of them can be partially fixed with AutoHotkey. The game is short and relaxing, though the story is sad and grim (it is about a break-up).


Not recommended:

Clunky and without any challenge.

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Cacher and Parsnip

manchego obfuscator

MetaMember
Jan 23, 2020
894
2,154
93
Neon White gameplay is great, but based on how Chapter 2 starts in the demo, it seems like it'll have one of my least favorite game design tropes, namely forcing the player to replay already completed stages in order to advance the story. significantly lowered my anticipation, unfortunately
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Panda Pedinte

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93

One of these abstract not-quite-platformers-and-not-quite-puzzle-games with great visuals and sound that pre-2020s Sony would have immediately snatched up to publish as a prestige platform exclusive.

Very relaxing to play, but it's not pure chill-out either, there are fail-states! Liked this one a lot, wishlisted.
 

Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
1,543
2,608
113
Tried some stuff I didn't enjoy at all, and a bunch of demos were half broken... if your game isn't the best, it might be good to have at least a working demo available, really soured me on some games that went off my wishlist.

But I have some stand outs for today:

Pretty classic metroidvania stuff with amazing pixel art, it looks just stunning.
But it has a lot more "souls-like" elements than I expected, the combat with light and heavy attacks that you can mix, dodges, blocks and parries and a stamina system that is now fairly common, but the annoyingly rare bonfires that you rest at in exchange for respawning most ennemies is a strange callback.
And that's just the warrior class, you can also play an archer and a mage that play completely differently! All of them with their own little talent system, though it's a bit simplistic it seems.

I was worried when I saw how much exploration I did without a checkpoint, but it seems dying to a boss lets you retry right there and now at least.
And that's good, because the combat is actually pretty hard! Even very basic enemies do a decent amount of damage and have multiple types of attacks, and you don't have an estus flask... but you can find HP droplets kinda everywhere (getting +1HP when you have 50 ain't that generous, so don't take stupid damage it seems).

All around, it does nothing really new, from combat to little puzzle with block pushing or secret walls, but it might be one of the best playing metroidvania I've ever played - it's incredibly smooth, with super detailed animations that never end up in surprise collisions, and juuust the right amount of weight to your character so it combines with the visuals and the excellent sound feedback to make it feel good and impactful to fight or even just move around, but still fast and responsive (though I'm less convinced by the parry system on a 2D plane, it feels a bit finicky about what the game considers in front of you or not).



A cute 3D platformer with tons of color!
And where you play a demon that enslaved a morbidly obese cherub to slingshot yourself around with him on his chain.
And honestly, it plays... okay. pretty floaty in general, and surfaces feel kinda... slippery?
But there might be a reason why, as the demo throws you in the sewers, so everything is covered in shit.
And you fight ennemies. The turd reich. Literal nazi turds. With guns and toilet brush missiles that they use to blow up humanoids that can only do two things: shit, and eat their own shit. And explode too, but it doesn't seem that lethal, and I've rarely felt bad for an NPC crying over their lost limbs and their lack of fecal matter in a 3D platformer before, so I guess there's that!

But if you felt like it was gross, don't worry, because it's only a part of the game, as you can collect many things, like used tampons covered in shit, and use them to unlock new skills to explore new levels, like the genital fruit friends club or going back to paradise so God can give you the middle finger. Literally.

I love poetry.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93

A very unconventional and yet incredibly pure platformer. It's about swinging and running and sliding through and across trees as quickly as possible in great looking levels with a lot of vertical range. The control scheme is pretty unique and takes a while to click, but once it does and you're flying through the trees it's incredibly satisfying.

I'm gonna go Back to Monkeh with this for sure (wishlisted).
 
Last edited:

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
Seconded, a spiritual successor to (at least the general vibe of) Conker's Bad Fur Day that is actually a competently made 3D platformer. Controls could be a little less floaty for sure, but the general experience makes more than up for the fact that you're pretty much only dying to 3D platforming mishaps and never to enemies. Wishlisted.



Yup, another nice looking metroidvania-sidescrolling platformer that takes most of its gameplay and level-design inspirations from the Ori games, but obviously the style and scale is quite different. Plays very nicely, too, wishlisted.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto

Remember god games? Remember Black and White?
This is very much that, even the same kinda art style (chunky-blocky people, pastel colours), just without the giant animal. And part of me thinks its better for it, since there is no AI creature to screw things up because the game misreads mouse-based gestures.
 

Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
4,623
13,014
113

Neon White - controls pretty well, aesthetically it remembers a bit of Paradise Killer though I found the dialogue here to be a bit cringey, but the gameplay was top notch. Even though you're incetived to play each level at least two times to get a collectable they were short (I only played the introductory mission) and finding the fastest way through a level felt good.


Kao the Kangaroo - A 3D platform, don't expect something polished as Psychonauts 2. Even though the camera felt a bit wonky in some cases I was enjoying it, though the demo game crashed.


I played just a bit of as I wasn't feeling the combat, maybe I'll give it another chance later the festival.


Little Orpheus - I played the first level, it's a cinematic platformer where your character is narrating the events that unfolded in his mission to explore the insides of earth. Plot wise you can expect something inspired by Voyage au Centre de la Terre except the characters are soviets. The levels are beautiful but the heavy use of cromatic aberration was a strain to my eyes, I checked the graphical options and there wasn't any way to tur n it off.

Another annoyance was the fact that you need to use de analog even though it's a 2D game, let me use the D-PAD to move my character. Just a minor pet peeve but if your character is already from another nationality stop with the fake accent while they speak English, just make them speak whatever language they should speak as I will play it with subtitles anyway. Speaking about subtitles, they put them on top instead in the bottom of screen and it's a strange decision. Besides all of my criticism I liked it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Angelo

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto

Slavic myths told through a bit of an open world/immersive sim with archery and lite RPG aspects. If Hellblade was a slavic Alice in Wonderland, built out of Deus Ex, it might be this (with a bow). Haven't put a ton of time into it, but I can see myself really enjoying playing as a young girl accused of being a witch in a non-New England setting and trying to figure out what is going on.

Can we stop wit the arm rot though. Seriously, grosses me out, even if it's part of the myths.

oh and as a PSA: trypophobia warning. Some of the environment textures really set that off in me. Had to stare at the ground a lot
 
Last edited:

Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
1,561
5,440
113

It's like besiege but with buildings instead of murdering people


I'm horrible at like solitaire and betting card games but this one is fun because you get to cheat in it (It's a devolver game as well so I mean)


Played this one last time & played it again, still fun. Looking forward to it when it releases.


Alright I tried this one because I like Conan the Barbarian stuff. This game plays (To me) like binding of isaac did when it first came out when it was super basic with stuff in the sense of having the room structure and what not. I thought it would be open world cartoony etc, but it's literally kill mobs of guys doors open etc like binding of isaac type of stuff and that immediately turned me off. I'm only mentioning it because Its been hovering around that curiousity of will be any good or not and to me it's kind of horrible.

I liked this one a lot, only problem is the demo is kind of short and a little ruff. I think the concept is solid but maybe needs balanced a bit.


This one is really cool to me because of well it just reminds me of the original fallout but slapped right in space. I mean the description literally says that but aesthetically I think they nailed that one. Gameplay wise It's neat as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Angelo

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
3,028
6,667
113
Finland
Yoooo, Souldiers is legit. It's a pretty hefty demo too, gives a you real good impression of the Scout gameplay.
Really the only thing that actually bothered me was that the sound effects were mixed extremely wide for me at least. Like, when you are running left and the character is center left on the screen, but the footsteps sound like he's all the way on the edge of the screen. Strange.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,119
11,978
113
Neon White is great fun, but the dialog is a bit cringey.

Souldiers seems legit, but gets a petty minus point for not letting me quit with Alt+F4.

Tinykin is cute and seems good, I think the jump-cycle feels off though.





Some demos leave an unfortunate first impression though. Illusion Lands sounds interesting but I gave up trying the demo. It looks like ass by default and the settings don't work. Welp.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Angelo

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria

Slavic myths told through a bit of an open world/immersive sim with archery and lite RPG aspects. If Hellblade was a slavic Alice in Wonderland, built out of Deus Ex, it might be this (with a bow). Haven't put a ton of time into it, but I can see myself really enjoying playing as a young girl accused of being a witch in a non-New England setting and trying to figure out what is going on.

Can we stop wit the arm rot though. Seriously, grosses me out, even if it's part of the myths.

oh and as a PSA: trypophobia warning. Some of the environment textures really set that off in me. Had to stare at the ground a lot
I had this on my wishlist for a while; and its fun! I wish you hadnt mentioned trypophobia tho, since without even encountering anything of the sort it got the itching effect just from anticipation. yikes.
oh and the game unfortunately stopped responding after I died and wanted to reload, but it IS a work in progress.

Works fine on Linux btw apart from that – and the videos not loading correctly, but that wasnt a problem
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto

Command a skeleton/demonic army while also performing menial crafting tasks - then stomp some raiders/knights. Also, the jankiest english dialogue that goes around from ridicuolous and becomes endearing because the voice actor goes all in with his lines.
Kind of like if the first person mode in Dungeon Keeper was built out into its own eurojank action rpg. Needs work, but definitely the... ahem... skeleton of good game here.


I had this on my wishlist for a while; and its fun! I wish you hadnt mentioned trypophobia tho, since without even encountering anything of the sort it got the itching effect just from anticipation. yikes.
oh and the game unfortunately stopped responding after I died and wanted to reload, but it IS a work in progress.

Works fine on Linux btw apart from that – and the videos not loading correctly, but that wasnt a problem
Well, hopefully my warning isn't enough to stop you from going back in. It was only one section (or as far as I saw, only one), and I don't react as viscerally, but I figured I'd let people know just in case
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
Well, hopefully my warning isn't enough to stop you from going back in. It was only one section (or as far as I saw, only one), and I don't react as viscerally, but I figured I'd let people know just in case
no, i kept playing. i think i know which part you mean, it wasnt as bad as i expected
really cool game otherwise, so far. i'll probably finish the demo even.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
Two more for the night, with a bit of an environmentalist bent, and all the better for it;
First up

Youre a bear with an axe, and you're destroying the Evil Corporation and as it encroaches on your forest.
Simple art style and controls, but it's a fun action adventure game and there a damn good golf game in here that is a bonus to recommend.

Second

Youre a village, ever expanding and evolving, except youre riding the back of a giant monster/dinosaur thing. You have to ensure you take care of the land/monster as well as your village or your toast (I was toast). Simple interface, and despite an onslaught of menus and text on screen, it never felt as overwhelming as something like Total War (a very different type of game). RTS game more in the mold of an old school resource collection with a twist
 
  • Gib
Reactions: Panda Pedinte

Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
4,623
13,014
113

A pleasant surprise from this festival. I was expecting only a simple metroidvania, but the game was a lot deeper than what I thought it could be. The visuals are incredible and the combat isn't just some simple "mash attack to win".


So that was another pleasant surprise, a turn base Rodent Playing Game. The art style was the first thing that grabbed my attention though the story was also intresting.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto

Ever wanted to play Pilot Wings, in space?




A 3-on-3 hockey game with an emphasis on fighting/hits? The trailer sold me, but not using the left stick for movement and the limited aspect of the demo leaves something to be desired. The hits don't feel crunchy, and since I was aiming to hit first, score goals later, that's not a good sign.
Felt like it needed to get the hockey/skating controls smoothed out because there might be a cool fighting game/hockey game in there. Also, not even having working menus without a controller is non-plus on pc.
 

Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
1,543
2,608
113
A few more games:


Very, very cute little metroidvania, the pixel art isn't the most amazing or the most detailed, but it's all round and pastely and bubbly and bouncy, I really like the little animations of the NPCs and creatures.
But the dialogue boxes have much, much higher rez portraits and not pixel art that looks... kinda off, as if they went through heavy post processing? The same applies to fonts, which are cute and girly pixel handwriting in the menu... but no in the text boxes or the options. Why? Not that is it ugly or unreadable, but, it's certainly not a coherent artstyle.

Now gameplay wise, I expected more... magic from a title like this. You need mana fountains (or death) to get more magic (which you get two casts of baseline), using it to unlock the way with fire and ice, electricity, etc.
Except there's no mana fountains in the second part of the demo so... you pretty much never use magic except on the required "puzzles"...?

Because, otherwise, you just jump around and smack things around with your wand, and it's... not the best. The character is pretty sluggish, and the double jump and the dash take away too much control of your char... and I'm not sure what they were going for... but the very first jump of the game?
Can't do it with jump! Yeah, you need to jump then dash, which is only told to you after you did it. But don't double jump (not explained to you until right after either), because if you do you hit the spikes on the floor above.
Like, thanks game?
But that's pretty much the game in a nutshell, the difficulty is out of this fucking world, you die in two hits, checkpoints are insanely rare, every jump is rigged to trick you into damage, especially when you go up as there's spikes on ceilings way too often, and with controls being... not Souldiers, oof.
Oh, and ennemies and chests contain gems. Which are lost forever when you die.

Really, really off putting, I was expecting a cute little metroidvania with a little witch with pink hair, I got Dark Souls but far more unforgiving, poor controls and almost never any magic use... yeah that's a no from me.



Not the biggest fan of Kao, the first was okayish as a Crash clone, 2 was pretty janky, and in general the series really lacks the atmosphere that you can find in other C-tier platforming franchises.
And well, this one is not very inspired, but it plays well, looks pretty good, combat is simple but the "special move" is a nice uppercut with a little slow down, and... it just works?
Nothing amazing, but good visuals, good sound design, linear levels with a few side challenges (and bonus levels I assume, but the purple portals are not open in the demo), decent enough combat... sure, why not? It does exactly what was advertised, and I guess Kao is not a bad character, not too cute or too edgy.

I'll play it.


Well, now that's not something that you see everyday from tiny indies, a first person 3D action adventure game... with the open world tag, but that's not really true, that's more in line with Gothic than Elder Scrolls, open but meandering little areas and corridors linked together, with some shortcuts unlocked later and little secrets chests strewn around.
But it's actually a survival game based on archery! Pick up wood, feathers, plants and stuff to craft arrows and potions, fights enemies and use the mats to unlock new skills... and then you see that it's also a story driven game, with plenty of voice acting and a good chunk of cut scenes in a creepy-ass Slavic mythology world with talking mushrooms and assorted monsters, with a crazy spirit possessing you as her brand new... apprentice? Pet? Who knows.

It's kinda like if Hellblade and modern Tomb Raider had a child, with some very decent visuals for such a title and archery combat that feels quite nice, especially once it opens up with the addition of magic - you can charge your shots with a shotgun-like effect in the beginning, and more later... or just outright use corroding magic to kill opponents (and more), it regenerates fairly fast too so it's not too static a game. But the demo is not enough to explore the gameplay potential.
Same thing for the morality system, where you can do good acts like helping little birds caught by carnivorous plants, or kill them for resources, talk to the weird bug NPCs and help them or lie to send them to their doom... in theory, it should end up giving you different passives in the skill trees, but that's a bit of a question mark for now.

And not only because it's obviously a demo... but because it ended up being a bit buggy and crash prone. I went through the environment twice, got a sequence that didn't load the first time, then crashed in the boss fight... not great.

Still, I'll keep that one in my wishlist for sure, it's both unique and well done, without falling into the trappings of either the walking sim or the survival genre but using both effectively.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto

Not the biggest fan of Kao, the first was okayish as a Crash clone, 2 was pretty janky, and in general the series really lacks the atmosphere that you can find in other C-tier platforming franchises.
And well, this one is not very inspired, but it plays well, looks pretty good, combat is simple but the "special move" is a nice uppercut with a little slow down, and... it just works?
Nothing amazing, but good visuals, good sound design, linear levels with a few side challenges (and bonus levels I assume, but the purple portals are not open in the demo), decent enough combat... sure, why not? It does exactly what was advertised, and I guess Kao is not a bad character, not too cute or too edgy.

I'll play it.
Agree completely. From a technical standpoint, it's fantastic. Mechanics are solid (for what was on display), it looks good, plays smoothly, sound is crisp, levels are a little small but well realized. I just have... It's fun, but I have no immediate urge to ever play more of it based on that demo.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
Agree completely. From a technical standpoint, it's fantastic. Mechanics are solid (for what was on display), it looks good, plays smoothly, sound is crisp, levels are a little small but well realized. I just have... It's fun, but I have no immediate urge to ever play more of it based on that demo.
Also agree. In direct comparison to Hell Pie, the controls are tighter and the animations are better, however the main character clipping through some of the assets this close to release, not a good sign.

In general, this game has a LOT more in common with Super Lucky's Tale than the original Kao the Kangaroo from 22 years ago. Which, all things considered, is good. So everybody who liked SLT, give this some 👀
 

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
3,028
6,667
113
Finland
Played a bit of CHRONICLES OF 2 HEROES: AMATERASU'S WRATH and Sheba: A New Dawn.

Not really feeling neither at the moment. Both feel like they could have potential, but just not grabbing me at all. :shrugblob: