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

i played the rise of the golden idol demo and already it's shaping up to be a perfect follow up to case of the golden idol. things are interconnected in even more complex ways but still lead to intuiting some really interesting conclusions. the demo is the prologue and chapter 1 for 4 interesting vignettes to solve, with a "chapter wrap up" to solve that makes you put together all pieces of the chapter for a grander conclusion. i think that addition alone will make for a cool narrative experience.