Steam Next Fest | Live Until June 17

[Moonface]

S T E A M
N E X T F E S T
A CELEBRATION OF UPCOMING GAMES

I never really gave it much attention when it was previously happening, but seeing quite a few games that interested me during SGF 2024 announcing they would have demos during June's Steam Next Fest made me take a bit more notice this time around. If you're unaware of what Next Fest is, it's a week where hundreds of upcoming games get demos on Steam so you can try them out hands on for yourself before they release!

Does anyone have anything in particular they might try out during this current Next Fest that started yesterday and runs until June 17? Taking a quick look through what Steam is recommending to me, I might check out some of these if I remember and my laptop can run them:

• Dungeon Clawler, a rogue-like where you build your deck and fight enemies by grabbing weapons and items from a claw machine.
  
• Mind Over Magnet, a puzzle-platformer that is the first release from Game Maker's Toolkit.
  
• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, a GBA-styled action-adventure by the developers of Dodgeball Academia.
  
• SCHiM, a 3D platformer where you have to jump from shadow to shadow.
  

[ShiraNoMai]

Pipistrello looks like a Minish Cap/LTTP style game, I love that.

[Moonface]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2160010/MORN/

Holy smokes this game is literally just a Minecraft mod. "Unique block system", please anyone who knows Minecraft could pick out every block from that game in this one and probably easily recreate every level in this game in it. Even some of the enemies are blatantly knocking off Minecraft ones visually.

[Moonface]

So I decided to actually play some games before this ends, and here's my thoughts on what I did play so far in order of playing them:

SCHiM
The opening has far more interesting mechanics compared to what I assume to be the main game. In the opening, you get to swap between controlling your shadow blob and the human it's attached to, making for some interesting puzzle opportunities where you need to create a shadow with the human character so the shadow blob can then advance to activate something for the human character. However, the opening ends with you becoming detached entirely from your human, which I assume to mean the game is focused on getting back to your human but I have no idea. The trouble with this is that the game has nothing to now build on because everything is just using shadows, and you can't manipulate anything to create new shadows. Levels just become jumping from shadow to shadow to the end point with no mechanical progression and it feels very shallow both by itself and compared to the opening. I would hope the game does actually get more challenging but the demo gives no impression of that, and if it doesn't evolve the formula beyond what the demo shows then I wouldn't suggest this game to anyone unless it's less than $10 and you really have nothing else to play.

Mind Over Magnet
A very good puzzle game that reminds me of the blend of simplicity yet complexity of puzzle games like Box Boy. Not really sure what to say about it beyond it just has a good idea for puzzles and does them well. I'm strongly considering picking this up when it releases.

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo
Dang this one is very good, but also very hard. The opening level is my favourite when it comes to showcasing the yoyo mechanics, whereas the second level is more about puzzle platforming with less combat. The boss fight is superb and a really good way to practice the parry mechanic, which once you get the hang of it is incredibly satisfying. Visually awesome and although the demo doesn't offer them it does show there's a lot of mechanics to play with in the full game such as badge loadouts, move choices and perk trees.

Dungeon Clawler
A little mixed on this one. It gives off a very heavy "started as a concept on itch.io" vibe with the way it looks and plays, but I think what doesn't help it really is just the lack of a soundtrack. Hearing the same song playing on repeat anywhere in the game without it ever stopping was adding a lot to the feeling of a browser game for me. Gameplay wise, I like the concept it has but it didn't really manage to entice me into wanting to see the content locked behind the full release. It is pretty challenging though; I haven't won a run with any of the available characters yet.