hey wow! i've been playing a bunch of demos on steam, since there's a whole steam next fest thing, whatever that is (it's demos, lots of demos) and felt like i should write up some of my faves! let's go
The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales
this one is actually out!! and i'm really excited to play it once i'm finished with other, bigger games (oops). striking art direction that is very reminiscent of ttrpg mork borg, it really gets super inventive with both its world building (what it means to be an author & have governmental restrictions placed upon writers... heists extracting real artifacts from the worlds of old forgotten novels, only to be reused as macguffins in new bestsellers...) and visual style, going from first person 3d environments in your apartment (very sh4 the room adjacent) into isometric point & click adventure game environments inside the novels.... super cool, can't wait to play more
Cuisineer
absolutely the most work in progress demo i played, but still a super fun taste (lol) of what's in development. really enjoyed the interplay between dungeon crawling to gather ingredients & simple restaurant management. i don't usually go for the sorta cozy whatever game, but i could see this being a really nice chill game when hanging out and chatting with friends
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
while not all of it was entirely my bag, the visual aesthetic & interplay with creating a new system of tarot divination based on your own choices in symbology and arrangement of those connections is such a neat idea. really interested in seeing where this one goes!
In Stars And Time
i have a very big resistance to rpg maker games, because it's hard to overlook the limitations placed on otherwise extremely talented developers. in stars & time was super striking, though, with its entirely b&w visuals, so i had to check it out. it's really neat!! i actually enjoy the rpg setup a lot, since it uses types in a super understandable way that doesn't get in the way of combat. and the time loop concept is really interesting, especially with developing out a core set of friends across repeats has me pretty excited to try out the final thing.
Jusant
shoutouts don't nod for just continuing to try out new and different styles of games. i really enjoyed the climbing & belaying mechanics in the demo! it's a gorgeous & pretty slick feeling vibe, though i can't say if i'll be fully interested in the story itself from the pretty minimal journal-style narrative so far. but the core climbing is great, so that's what matters.
