Steam Next Fest Demos 2023

Published: 31 Aug 2024
Last updated: 1 Sep 2024

Originally written: 26th June 2023

Some thoughts on a few of the Steam Next Fest Demos I played this year. Not usually very up to date with new stuff coming out, especially new games - but thought I’d have a change of pace for a week, download a bunch of demos and play ’em for a bit for some immediate(ish) reactions and perhaps some more games to add to my evergrowing list of games to play.

All games listed are in chronological order of first playing - which is one way of saying this is no real order.

1. Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery

This was the one game I was aware and interested in beforehand - having played one of Sunborn’s mobile games (Girls’ Frontline) a fair bit as a broke university student. The game itself is rooted quite deeply in past history, being a fully-fledged remake of “Codename: Bakery Girl”, a China-only PC game released in 2013 developed by MICA Team (pre-Sunborn and Girls’ Frontline era), which itself story-wise was based on a small Doujinshi-released Visual Novel named “Girl in the Bakehouse” all the way back in 2008. This is clearly something the devs are passionate about - and from my perspective this game is a win/win for me, likely having gacha game money poured into it but without having the gacha elements.

I’m also very excited about this game after playing (and you can tell sinking 6 hrs into a demo!), lots of positives to me. A character focused tactical RPG, akin to something like Advance Wars x Fire Emblem (there are almost definitely better games to compare, but that’s what first comes to mind) - with a fairly in-depth Action Point system (reminded me of a slicker Time Unit system from the very original X-COM) and a variety of skills and stats to equip and upgrade on said characters (hence the RPG elements). The AP system definitely allows a lot of flexibility - moving, shooting, placing traps/throwing grenades, which is nice to see compared to a more simple “volume-of-units” system like in Advance Wars where units can just do a few things per turn.

The are also additional mechanics such as the stealth, fog of war and patrols, which are done pretty well and open opportunities for the occasional sneak mission (over the tactical equivalent of just runnin’ ’n’ gunnin’) - and overall it just looks like it plays like a very very solid Tactical RPG, reasonably polished (although still lacking with some polish in terms of default settings, text formatting, repeated tutorials etc.) and very lengthy for a demo (not finished after that 6hr playtime) - and while I was familiar with the themes of the story they were still done reasonably well, even if the use of rather obvious tropes at times (such as the saviour Mystery Girl) - and the atmosphere/setting is perfect for a game playing against the odds - in the cold, isolated in dire situations and needing wit to make up for numbers. Am sure the story looks good enough to at least carry my interest and more importantly am sure the gameplay will as well.

Fingers crossed it comes out soon! (Although seems to be 2023 by the earliest)

See steam page here

2. Mr. Run and Jump

A rather visually distinct 2D platformer! - I don’t think it does anything super new, at least in the demo - but the for a platformer the movement is fun, clearly inspired by many other good platformers such as Super Meat Boy and Celeste, and the variety of tricks certainly made it fun to romp through, with its very bloomy vector graphics and bright, upbeat atmosphere and music to boot. Not much to say, but it really sells itself to people who like precision platformers like me.

See steam page here

3. The Fabric of the Mind

Another platformer that caught my eye, this time an entirely B&W line artstyle, with more of a dark/horror vibe to everything - and some interesting movement potential to not just walking across floors but sticking to walls and ceilings. Again, looks well done, liked the movement, liked the difficulty, one to keep an eye on - although I can foresee the cannons used throughout to feel more like a bullet hell!

See steam page here

4. Smells Like Burnt Rubber

This little racing game looks and plays like a retro/throwback to some old arcade racing game - and is definitely some fun in short bursts of time, controlling pretty well on keyboard and featuring a few powerups here and there to spice things up. Sort of a no-brainer to play with friends as a fun casual experience - which arcade-y racing almost always is. Might be good to get just to have as a party game or game you don’t have to think too much while plating.

See steam page here

5. Dream Swing

Another fun relaxing game - this time based around swinging around floating islands and collecting… floating balloons? - With the focus being mainly movement, zipping up down and all around in the sky. A bit out of my wheelhouse in terms of movement, but could be very good fun - and its casual enough to play and goof around and not take too seriously. Not on my highest priority, but its nice while it lasted.

See steam page here

6. Studio System: Guardian Angel

A classic style survival horror complete with tank controls - with a really cool twist of having a “3rd person mode” where you can move the camera, move certain objects and shoot bullets (the “guardian angel” aspect), and a well done demo. Very cool art direction (and music/sound design), its rough and unpolished nature is a big part of its charm and adds to the horror aesthetic. Mechanically its also quite rough around the edges (melee combat is wonky, moving objects can sometimes be odd) but its got a lot going for it to me - I think I just enjoy some low-def anime games with a heavy surrealism aspect (Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk hits a lot of the same beats to me in some way, definitely not the perfect comparison given its just a Visual Novel, but its got that abstract surreal nature in both art and sound design).

See steam page here

7. Krimson

Wow… a very over-the-top, hellish, horror looking platformer, with loud electronic metal music, rhythmic platforming and a very gritty art direction that is very… well let’s say the seizure warning is appropriate. I admire the all-out/go-for-broke glitchy hellscape aesthetic - its certainly a choice! - but the platforming felt a bit weaker than others I played unfortunately - the ‘ball’ you control felt too… heavy? and double jumping was an annoying affair at times - may just be a small preference but yeah, didn’t feel amazing to platform about unfortunately. Perhaps it’ll be different when I try it again in future.

See steam page here

8. LunarLux

A cute and very pleasant looking RPG, definitely think a lot of thought and work has gone into the world, mechanics etc. and definitely has some potential even if I spent most of hour just floating around the initial starting area exploring the environment. The combat mechanics seem well done, being a typical RPG but also having some manual inputs and involvement, even if rough around the edges (and not really explained that well?). I’m not the hugest fan of RPG’s, so I don’t see this as masterpiece in the making, but it seems good enough to go on some RPG lover’s wishlist and potential recommendation fodder for someone else.

See steam page here

9. Axon TD: Uprising

A neat little Tower Defence game, with a few cool features of being able to redirect the enemy path - via adding tiles or placing blockers/towers on the path. Looks pretty slick, and the demo was fun and well structured, but don’t have much thoughts beyond that - I don’t generally play Tower Defence games too much.

See steam page here

Others I didn’t get to

Other games that looked interesting but unfortunately didn’t get to for various reasons (a.k.a no time)