These ones were already in my wishlist before Next Fest, so not a lot of fun surprises here for me. But hey, maybe you haven't heard about them, so I'm still going to highlight them! (also most of these are coming out in august/september?? Oh no summer is gonna be STACKED)
Tactical Breach Wizards: GREAT
The new Defenestration game from Tom Francis! About a (good) renegade wizard SWAT team pursuing a (bad) renegade wizard SWAT team. Not that much to say about it, it's all great. The characters are likeable and share that sense of dry wit in their dialogue, the jokes all got a chuckle out of me. The tactics are more on the puzzly side (find the optimal solution) than the strategic side (adapt your approach to an evolving situation), but are still very pleasing to think through. And it's always a good time when most of the levels revolve about finding the best way to chuck someone out a window
The Rise of the Golden Idol: GREAT
More Golden Idol mysteries, hell yeah. The 70s Pseudoscience setting is an inspired choice to continue the story without feeling like retreading old ground. The art is still grotesque and macabre, the music deeply unnerving. Some changes in the presentation; the answer sheets you fill in are now split into small pop-up windows you can move around, which has its pros and cons. Other than that, it's still one of the best mystery games around, I'm jumping on this day one
The Crimson Diamond: GREAT
This one is for all the Laura Bow enthusiasts out there. The game feels exactly like a forgotten classic of interactive fiction from the 90s, text parser and all! But it comes with some welcome quality of life features: a map you can consult at any time, keyboard shortcuts for recurring commands. The writing rides a thin line where you're basically having a Nancy Drew adventure except bodies are dropping left and right. It's got a bit of that old Sierra humor ("Whoops, you just got gruesomely murdered. Don't do that again you doofus!") The demo seems on the right track for a fun throwback to old school parser adventures, that still offers a good mystery in its own right.
SCHiM: Good
I don't know that I'm all that invested in the sad story of "man grows up and gets fired" but it looks good, and the jumping around in shadows is really fun and satisfying. Hopefully the full game doesn't last too long, this seems like it would work better a short-ish experience exploring a bunch of ideas than trying to drag it out over a ton of levels.
of the Devil: GREAT
By the people who made Model Employee, so, you already know it's a banger. Play a defense lawyer in a cyberpunk future of police states and big corpos gone rogue (looking less and less futuristic each day, sadly), and protect your clients by finding whodunnthemurders. The style is out of control in this one. Extra-sharp script with a mean satirical bite, lots of good worldbuilding tidbits here and there. The direction has a ton of impact: camera angles, dramatic cuts, killer lines. It's almost a bit too much at times! For this tutorial case at least; I think it'd work perfectly in a full chapter. The mystery is good, the reveal is good, the chara design is fantastic. Also, it has, and I quote, "girl yaoi". Your honor, I rest my case
Demonschool: GREAT
Persona-style, kill demons by night and hang out with your friends by day (well, in this one sometimes you hang out at night and kill demons during the day. It's good to mix it up!) Everything feels very snappy and reactive. It's fun just roaming around the school and the town, each area looks different at various times of day, there are a lot of neat little animations and incidental dialogue with the people milling about. It looks great! The tactical combat will take a little time to wrap my head around and really start experimenting, but I like how it's based around positioning your characters just right to set up combo attacks between them. The crew seems like a fun bunch!
Dustborn: Good
So it's a band doing a road trip across a North America that's been fractured into a variety of dystopic states in conflict with each other? Something like that? And there are robots and mutant powers. Seems like a bit much on a first impression honestly. Playing it, it feels very of a type with the modern Telltale games: each scene is a small 3D area that you navigate to talk to people, solve puzzles, or have a fight. Yeah there is a combat system that is kind of a beat'em up with special moves, not the best section in my opinion especially with the non stop banter over it. The characters seem good but I can't say I'm immediately vibing with any of them. Definitely has potential, but the alchemy between the crew and how the politics will be handled remains up in the air.