Hey! there's a new steam next fest going on, and i've played a FUCKTON of demos! I'm here to post about some of the coolest/most interesting ones to show them to you. Maybe you'll find a new indie game to be excited about! Or maybe you'll just see me dunk on a company's logo (moire on that later). I'll be doing about 5-10 per post, and will give a brief description beforehand if you just want to scroll past. I'll also be sorting them into a few different genres for my different posts.
IN THIS EDITION: TACTICS GAMES, ROGUELIKES, CARD GAMES, AND PLATFORMERS
TACTICAL BREACH WIZARDS
Quick thoughts: BEST IN FUCKING SHOW, HOLY FUCK
God, this one is awesome. The gameplay is one of my favorite examples of the puzzle-tactics sorta genre we've seen get big since Into the Breach, with no random numbers and everything able to be taken back. The writing is shockingly good, extremely funny and smart enough to keep you engaged with a really good central mystery. This feels like the best possible example of a silly premise done just right. Play this, or just skip the demo and play the game cause it's gonna be awesome
Dungeon Clawler
Quick thoughts: Roguelite fans should try, but it needs polish
A simple pitch: what if slay the spire/peglin/whatever sorta game, except the main mechanic is "grabbing your attack moves from out of a claw machine"? It's a real fun thing to try and i'd encourage anyone who likes this sorta gimmicky roguelite to check it out. ...It does need polish though, the balance is wonky and a lot of items don't really make sense. Also, there is one music track and it's the ONLY SOUND EFFECT IN THE GAME. This will make you appreciate how well polished balatro is, haha.
Desvelado
Quick thoughts: Flash game-era style precision platformer
Love how cute this little bat guy looks, he's adorable. The gameplay is some really snappy precision platformer stuff, anyone who likes celeste or games like that shoudl check it out. Demo is short as hell, you will probably beat it in under 10 minutes. Excited for this, although these games rely completely on level design and that's still a big unknown for the full game.
Kitsune Tails
Quick thoughts: What if Mario, but Yuri (and maybe in need of some adjustments)
Kitsune tails is almost perfectly made for me. It's a platformer that's HEAVILY based off Super Mario Bros 3, even including a p-speed bar for running. On top of this, the sprite work is great and is used to talk about girls being gay, my favorite thing on earth. I do think this game needs... a bit more tutorialization? It's so heavily based off mario 3 that it doesn't bother to tell you things like "this power up is a mushroom", and if there's a way to fly tanuki style I could not figure it out. The movement also feels really floaty/icey for a mario clone, and the final boss has some severe "wait what do i do here" issues (the spot you can jump on safely looks exactly the same as the rest of the boss). Still, I really like this game and I'm really hopeful that if this stuff gets ironed out it could be something I love wholeheartedly.
Metal Slug Tactics
Quick thoughts: Exciting unique tactics game, though i'm worried bout the full game
Metal slug tactics is shockingly... really cool??? It sounds like an absolutely terrible combination, but the game's gimmick of doleing out damage reduction + ability points for how far your characters move means the game actually does sort of feel like metal slug. Every stage you're running all over the place as you shoot at an endless array of dudes, it's kind of awesome. It's also another tactics puzzle thing, like Breach Wizards above it, which is an exciting genre to me. I am worried about a few things for the larger game; the roguelike metagame payouts seem... grindy, and I worry about the balance on some parts of the larger game. Also, it sure is about as racist as every metal slug game, the endless guys you're fighting are often guys in turbans throwing swords at you. Still, it's a fascinating idea I want to see refined.
500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ
Quick thoughts: The most stupidly stylish 2000s 3d platformer since Shadow the Hedgehog
I don't feel like I should need to talk about the aesthetic here, as one look at the image above (or the windows movie maker trailer) can tell you everything you need to know. Talking about it makes you want to drop into 1337 5P34K just to fit in. What I can tell you about is the gameplay, which is a highly janky movement based 3d platformer. This is the sort of game for someone who likes mastering 3 or 4 different movement abilities to propell themselves across a platformer stage at impossible speeds so they can instantly complete all their objectives. It's less a game for fans of Shadow the Hedgehog then it is a game for Shadow the Hedgehog speedrunners who like to take a janky system and really see how far they can exploit it. And it's fucking awesome. I expected jank and got something really, really cool. Just make sure you can meet the system requirements such as "Sound Card: Gigantic Speaker From Movie"
Dungeons And Degenerate Gamblers
Quick thoughts: Balatro, but blackjack. And it's good.
I've played this demo before in the steam next fest and while I was impressed, I was also a bit dismissive of it's long term viability. For this next fest, though, it's gotten a much needed coat of polish that has turned this from an interesting game pitch to something that can actually compete with the roguelike big boys. I don't have much to say cause the premise is obvious; if you liked balatro or other simple roguelike deckbuilders, check it out.
Ironhive
Quick thoughts: An interestingly tight board-game style engine builder, but with almost no hand holding.
I was curious what sort of game this would be; the trailer promised both citybuilding and card mechanics (two of my favorite genres). After playing it, what it actually reminded me most of was some complex board games i've tried. All cards represent specific resource you need to build machines which provide those same resources, and the small numbers and space mean you can't fumble around like in a normal citybuilder every placement matters. This is also the demo's biggest problem; you will realize far too late that you didn't understand how important every resource is or how a base mechanic works, and realize your run is dead. Check it out if trying a few times doesn't bother you that much and mastering a system like this sounds fun.
WILD BASTARDS
Quick thoughts: You can't be calling your studio that, white gamedev baby.
The spiritual successor to Void Bastards, a game I enjoyed, is an fps roguelike! And it looks super cool! I wonder what the studio is called, and what their logo looks like?
Ah. Hm. Well. Hm. That seems like a bad decision.
OTHERS I DID NOT GET TO PLAY YET BUT THAT SEEM VERY COOL
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The Big Catch is what all my friends are talking about, when it comes to stylish 3d platforming. God this game looks fucking beautiful.
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Seafrog is a platformer with my favorite platformer gimmick: giving you a fuckin skateboard
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Demonschool really wants to be persona but gayer and attached to a tactics game, which I can get behind.
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Parcel Corps is a 3d biking game with jet-set radio vibes, but couldn't quite run on my crappy machine so I'll stick to Bomb Rush for now
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Sky Oceans is made by someone who is insane about Skies of Arcadia. Also seems like an interesting aerial tactics game.