Next Fest 24|3 Day 7
Micro-reviews for Day 0 of Autumn Next Fest 2024, exploring Emberdrift, System Purge, Yume Kakigori, and Rogue Rhythm
This post was originally on Discord, and as such does not contain additional information 2025+ posts have
The Final day is here, ending with some solid games. I intentionally am posting this a bit early so that if you want to try anything out, you still have what little weekend is left to download and play
Highlights: System Purge: Hollow Point, and Emberdrift
System Purge: Hollow Point
A combination you don't see often: 2D platformer horror. While I'm not a big horror fan, I've enjoyed the platforming, and the pixel art is incredibly well done, giving off Rain World vibes of 'thriving industrial post-apocalypse'. Even if the thing that's thriving is some mutated horrors. This game seems to build up from it's previous release, so seems like it'll be a good ride if you're a fan of spooky vibes
Playtime: ??h
Rogue Rhythm
This game is incredibly polarizing when it comes to the gameplay. Regular dungeon crawling and rhytm battles (on the three available floors) are a bit of a snoozefest, especially given the music keeps looping over and over and over again. However you then reach the boss on floor 3 and oh my gosh that is a difficulty spike. It's not that it's suddenly brutally hard, it's just it requires you to constantly pay attention, as on the final phase it randomly changes which of the two keys you need to press, and it might do it every beat, keeping you on your toes. I have never simultaneously wanted more of this game while also not wanting to actually play it enough to get to the interesting bits. Though hopefully over time even normal enemies get interesting
Playtime: ??h
Yume Kakigori
In this game you find your speech ensnared, yet the surrounding denizens posses such verbose vernacular, that even the most exceptionally extraordinary poets would find themselves unable to refrain their involuntary awe. Or maybe it's just the raven trying to sound profound while teaching you the ropes. Either way, the game is about mixing different emotions into shaved ice in order to overcome your lack of a face (and thus a mouth to speak with). Supposedly the way you interact with characters will impact the world and the story as you go, which I find believable given the "world" is composed entirely of your little shop, but the extent of the impact is impossible to predict from the demo. Could be cool, could be meh, either way the writing seems good so far
Playtime: ??h
Emberdrift
And ending on a super high note, this game is phenomenal. It's a movement-shooter-meets-deadcells kinda roguelike, with a tiny dose of bullet hell in its boss fights. This game is all about flowing from one room to the next, obliterating everything in your path, and I love it. It felt a bit weird/floaty at first and took some getting used to (and a 3% damage buff on hard mode), but once it clicked it clicked and I was zooming through rooms, evaporating enemies with a triple-shot machinegun, because this game is that kind of over-the-top snowballing. I don't know how to feel about the story bits, but I am impressed that each of the skins you unlock after defeating bosses will make your character respond differently in dialogue, adding a lot to replayability. With how polish this game is, the release can't be far.