This is commentary on myself and not the demos, of which I liked many. Here are some that met the prompt.
Synergy
I really like the idea of a post-apocalypse city-builder that's about coming up with new and more sustainable ways to live (or, you know, making use of the ones that already exist) rather than fulfilling your most self-satisfied survivalist fantasies among the wreckage of the old world. You have to think carefully about whether you want to clear-cut all the trees or uproot any given plant, even if the plant happens to be in the way of your building plans--or anyway, while it's not a huge concern in the very generous tutorial, that seems to be what they're setting up. Visually it's Moebius with a little Ghibli, which I realize is a pretty basic mashup of nerd desktop wallpaper and phone lock screen subjects, but it looks good and works well in the context of a game like this, where you want everything to be cleanly delineated and recognizable.
Until Then
VN with impeccable presentation. I found the demo to be mostly charming--"mostly" because it's minigame-heavy and I am not a minigame liker, and particularly in this case I think the writing's at its best during dialogue, though I will say the social media stuff, how you interact with posts coming up in conversations later, is well done. I'm also into the alternate near-past these kids live in. I'm trying to think of a way to say "it'll have to avoid overrelying on corniness to keep me invested" that doesn't make me sound completely cynical, but it is what it is.
Bore Blasters
Kind of a twin-stick mine-em-up. Not much to say about it, but it's very satisfying and extremely dwarfy.
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
Like the lofi girl stream on Youtube if you could customize the girl and some other things. Also the girl can be the devil if you want. Described on Steam as a productivity tool, which, sure, as a chronic fidgeter and internet looker, maybe I'll try that at some point. Interested to see games and game-like objects that plug into different levels of your awareness (and aren't clickers or similar idle games, which stress me the hell out).
Hauntii
Comes out of the gate like a puzzle adventure game, but your main way of interacting with things is twin-stick-shooting soul bullets. I picked this one up because I like looking at it, and, yeah, it has some really excellent animations and interactions. Strong first impression and a nice experience overall, though I think sticking the landing will require the restraint to keep things pretty vague.
Aden
Cute and unhinged beat-em-up/rhythm game sort of thing. Probably the most "you'll know whether you'd like it when you see it" game on this list, and the one that most feels like an unfiltered expression of someone's specific interests.
Mullet Mad Jack
Fast-paced arcadey FPS about killing robot billionaires efficiently and elegantly, like if Doom 1993 had the melee kills of Doom 2016 and was designed around 30-second runs, and also cribbed its aesthetic from bottom-of-the-barrel 80s OVAs on corroding VHS. Whips ass, no further comment.
Urbano - Legends' Debut
RPG with rhythm game fights. And also rhythm game conversations. Wears its influences on its sleeve, but they're good ones, well suited to what the game's going for. It's a lot of fun, and I don't know why I decided to try some things with rhythm elements this time given that I'm not really into rhythm games for their own sake, but I'm glad I did.
