next fest
Steam Next Fest is a semiyearly(ish) event where tons of free demos of upcoming games are made available to download for anyone to try out. I’m going to use this page as a place to collect my thoughts on the game demos I try as I play the ones that most catch my eye.
Table of Contents:
- The Invincible
- Lies of P
- Mythforce
- Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master
- Sea of Stars
- Spells & Secrets
- Viewfinder
The Invincible
Genre: Sci-fi Adventure
I live and breathe science-fiction, so when I say that I can see amazing potential in this game after the brief, 30-40 minute demo, I really mean it. The atmosphere of exploring the barren, lifeless planet was incredibly well-done, thanks in large part to the game’s implementation of Unreal Engine 5. For a “walking sim” game with no real action, discovering the story through log recordings and robot-captured photos was gripping and suspenseful. My experience with the game, however, was slightly tarnished by some technical issues present throughout the game. I experienced a large amount of shader-comp stuttering that was ever-present in UE4 games (this is my first experience with UE5, time will only tell if this is a game problem or an engine problem) and even a hard crash to desktop that completely broke my GPU drivers and required a PC restart to fix. That being said, performance issues are typically more readily fixed than game issues, so I’m looking forward to the full release with mostly optimism.
Lies of P
Genre: Soulsborne
It’s Pinocchio, but Dark Souls. Don’t ask how that works, because I don’t get it either. I’ve never been hugely into Soulsborne games, but I had to try this one because of the sheer absurdity of the concept. Gameplay was slightly faster than I expected from a Souls game (potentially because I went with a dex build), but nearly everything else was the tried-and-true Soulsborne formula. If you’ve played one before, you’ll know if you like it or not. I played the demo long enough to beat the first boss and explore the hotel and I felt satisfied ending there. Fun game, just not for me.
Mythforce
Genre: Roguelite FPS
I was thrilled to see this game have a Next Fest demo after seeing it featured in the latest Nintendo Direct. While the game captured my attention immediately, I was hoping I wouldn’t be forced to play a first-person action game without the comfort of aiming with a mouse (or even Steam Deck trackpad). The art style is polished and well done, the gameplay loop is satisfying for both ranged and melee combat, and the campy, Saturday-morning cartoon level dialogue is everything. As a huge fan of Borderlands, it reminds me of a sort of combination of the best parts of BL3’s Arms Race and TTW’s Chaos Chambers, both of which I enjoyed more than the general reception. I’ve only played solo so far, but it feels like the game will truly shine in co-op. A definite must-buy for me.
Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master
Genre: Colony builder/Tower defense
Admittedly this isn’t a genre I foray into often, but I was hooked by the humor in the trailer. The humor was maintained in the game’s writing, which was refreshing and enjoyable. The gameplay, however, left me a little unsatisfied. The castle you take over is very large but the demo only has you add a couple rooms and pieces of furniture. If the game allows for the depth I hope it does though, it’ll be a very interesting prospect.
Sea of Stars
Genre: JRPG
Wow. I grew up playing all kinds of JRPGs as a kid; Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, you name it. Modern JRPGs, though, haven’t scratched that itch in the same way. Dragon Quest XI came close, but I could never get into the newer Persona or Final Fantasy games. Sea of Stars transported me right back to my childhood with its perfect recreation of 90s pixel art combined with a fantastic soundtrack by composer Yasunori Mitsuda, best known for his work in the Chrono series as well as Xenogears/Xenoblade. The take on combat is refreshing — traditional turn-based combat is present but with fun additions like party combo attacks, boosting, and timed hits for bonus damage a la Paper Mario. This one is an instant pickup, I can see myself getting lost in this game the moment it drops.
Spells & Secrets
Genre: Action Roguelite
The Harry Potter influence is clearly strong with this one. This is another game that feels inspired by the massive success of Hades in the roguelite genre as many recent indie games have felt. This isn’t a bad thing! Isometric action games have felt underrepresented for a while so I’m happy to see a resurgence. As many of them as I’ve played, I know exactly how I want these games to feel and this just felt slightly off. I can’t put it into words, but playing it didn’t grip me the way I wanted it to. The levitation spell seemed incredibly overpowered and charge attack damage scaling seemed too low at times. Probably a game I’ll skip, but I’m glad it exists for the sake of Potterheads everywhere.
Viewfinder
Genre: Puzzle
This game caught my eye immediately; I’m a sucker for a good “think outside the box” puzzle game a la Portal or Superliminal, and Viewfinder is right along those lines. The intro/tutorial levels beginning the demo were tons of fun and showed off all the highs of the puzzle concepts very well. After those, however, it skips you forward farther into the game and that caused me a little confusion as it felt like the natural progression of puzzle games like this was skipped and that threw off the flow of the game. Looking forward to the release for the full experience!