ever notice that no one makes half life 3 jokes anymore?
in fact, this post is the first one with the #half life 3 tag! funniest possible milestone.
They're still there, but really small in comparasion. Everyone just tired, and everyone kind of accepted the new status of Valve.
The game itself play as a rhythm game with goal of beating of enemies rather than finishing out a song. The core of the game is to parry or block incoming attack set to the beat of the enemies and attack in the timings when they aren't fighting back. I found the timings of the beats a bit challenging (maybe from my own rust at these games) and if you do lose the rhythm then its hard to jump back into the thick of it. Yet even with these minor gripes I keep finding myself wanting to come back. I stuck to the beat of Disco Samurai.
A new indie metroidvania is on the horizon. Unfortunately I don't really know how to feel about this one. One hand I want to reserve judgement until I play (or see as I went in blind) more of the game. Another the other hand want is in the demo felt very uninspired. The only saving grace was the single boss battle in the game, it wasn't anything special but it felt more interesting than anything else in the demo. Side note: there is an audio bug/glitch that makes the sound effect of picking up coins extremely loud and grating which hampered my enjoyment a bit.
An action based adventure looking to recapture the magic of the gameboy advance. Which I honestly think it nails. I loved every second I put into the demo. The creativity with they way you can bounce your yoyo around a room. The way the music and pixel give me warioware and warioland vibes. The whole concept of the game itself. This is one game I am super excited to play in full.
One of my favorite demos of this next fest. Its a super fast paced arcade racer with a colorful pixel art style. The music is amazing and the gameplay felt great.
A cozy building game with zero resource management. You just go build your cute little castle or house and just chill with the nice atmosphere.
The best way to describe this game is a gardening sim with constantly ominous vibes. Everything about it is neat, but I always have this nagging at the back of my head that something is wrong. Which at one point was my suspicion was confirmed when I got a nice jump scare.
Very much Persona light, but in a good way plus it has tactical twist. The game plays more like a Fire Emblem or X-Com than a traditional JRPG. This then leads to something new, chain enemies based off their location. You can hit enemies into each leading to bigger damage. Its definitely a game I have my eyes on.
Woo another tactics RPG, this one is more a traditional X-Com type though. The two defining features of this game are the ability to see in the future and rewind back if you don't like the outcome of your actions and the superb writing. The game is full of humor at every intersection. This is another I can't wait to play the full game.
I played both of these demos, yet neither of them really clicked with me. Honestly it was primarily the art style for both of them initially. With Selfloss I didn't find the main mechanic to be very interesting. The story was present in finding bits of lore if you felt like it and otherwise you get interspersed dialogue or environmental storytelling. With of the Demon it was more that I didn't an Ace Attorney-like game right now and probably didn't give the demo a fair shake.
