Curious to get the community’s thoughts on the demos they loved in the latest Next Fest!

To start things off, here’s a few that I absolutely loved and played through as much as I could (or stopped myself if I knew I’d like it).

Viewfinder - A first person puzzle game a la Portal, The Witness, Antichamber, Entropy Center, etc…I played enough to see the hook of using images to solve puzzles and backed away quickly. This was a game I didn’t want to spoil too much for myself when I saw how cool it was.

Beyond Sunset - This was a “boomer shooter” recommendation I saw on Lemmy and checked it out because it seemed neat. I got really into the storyline and art style of the game and saw it through to the end of the demo. I almost gave up on the final boss but when I said no and wanted to push through, I knew I was hooked!

Galacticare - In the last few years, “simulation games” seem to have become my preferred genre and managing an outer space hospital was really engaging. I enjoyed designing each room and trying to optimize the flow of patients. The style and humor of the game worked well since sometimes the humor can feel a little “try hard” but it came together nicely. I don’t purchase a lot of games Day One any more but this might be one of them.

One Lonely Outpost - I’ve had this on my wishlist since it was announced during a stretch of time I was playing Stardew Valley, but this was the first time it’s been playable. I enjoyed the interactions with the world but I’m not sure what exactly it would build to (since the planet you land on is desolate). It may be about creating the town/outpost yourself. The demo seemed to overstay its welcome a bit BUT Stardew Valley-likes are super slow in the beginning, so I’m in a “wait and see” mode since I did enjoy parts of it and the unique setting.

Anything that ended up on your radar after this Next Fest?

  • broken_chatbot@vlemmy.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Played mostly JRPGs to write reviews for my small community later, so here is the list:

    • Alterium Shift - a pretty buggy, but still nice take on SNES RPGs with classic turn-based combat. (A more detailed review)
    • Hazuki Dies: She Has No Name - an absurdingly hilarious game about a girl which dies after a single hit. A bit too well made to be in shitpost / kusoge tier, featuring decent anime art and music worth buying on its own. Has crazy high meme potential.
    • The Edge of Allegoria - also tries to be a meme game with Pokemon parody, nudity and toilet humour, buuut it has to be more than that to attract attention. But the equipment system with stat building is pretty interesting.
    • Cross Tails - a pretty complex tactical RPG which dumps a lot of numbers on you and has a lot to take in from the start, but the battles are pretty exciting.
    • Wargroove 2 - it’s the opposite of Cross Tails. All the simplistic mechanics are under the hood and all you see is basically the percentage of HP you’re going to damage. The demo doesn’t have the story mode yet, but features a rougelike mode with series of quick encounters, which is pretty fun!
    • Dreamed Away and In Stars and Time - basically different takes on Earthbound and Undertale. The former also has an OMORI vibe, focusing on character’s face expressions and mood. The latter is more of a spooky story from the childhood.
    • Sea of Stars - well… It’s like everyone else has also played this. It has gorgeous style and animations and it’s battle system, where you can choose any character to make your turn, proves to be pretty deep.
    • Cuisineer - a REALLY grindy restaurant simulator with a side of a decent, but repetitive dungeon crawler. It’s like it would fit more as a mobile game?