Next Fest 25|3 Day 2

When looking for demos to play I do try my best to vary them by style and genre. But despite trying to find some good RPGs to throw into the mix, I've struggled to be convinced by the ones I did see. So if you see a bit too many puzzlers/metroidvanias this week, it's just my recent gaming influencing the Steam recommendations

Highlights: Scrabdackle

Familiar Findings

Familiar Findings on Steam

Summon and study witches’ familiars in this charming creature collection game. Gather dragons, spirits and more in your quest to complete your magical grimoire. Watch them enchant your screen without intruding while you work, study or relax. With over 100 variations there’s a favourite for everyone!

STEAM

A mix of idle games and desktop pets, where you can have tiny pixel creatures roam the bottom of your screen as you do anything else. The art is cute, and you can combine different monsters into new ones, though the fusions don't exactly follow from the mixed familiars into the outcome

Fatal Claw

Fatal Claw on Steam

Dive into Fatal Claw, a Metroidvania game in vibrant 2D artwork. Explore the arcane underworld your way with Kisha. Your ultimate goal is to find the key to the surface world alongside other survivors, while vanquishing infected enemies and absorbing their power. Start your clawsome adventure now!

STEAM

A metroidvania whose vibes I'd most closely compare to Nine Sols. However, unlike Nine Sols, the difficulty is much more approachable. There also seems to be a certain disconnect between the environment and the gameplay elements, and the enemies are a bit awkward to fight at times. Don't get me wrong, it's a promising demo worth trying, but there is an overall lack of attention to detail that really makes a game like this whole

Rondoku

Rondoku on Steam

Fill elegant diagrams with the correct numbers using three simple rules. Rondoku invites you to think, take your time, and enjoy beautifully hand-crafted challenges.

STEAM

A simple game about putting digits on patterns. It likely originates from pen and paper puzzles, and frankly doesn't really justify the need to be digital, so this game is on a similar level as digital sudoku. A nice and simple time killer that gets your brain thinking

Scrabdackle

Scrabdackle on Steam

The magical misadventure of a novice wizard thrown (literally) into the unfamiliar world outside. Go on a sprawling hand-drawn adventure with spells to study, bosses to best, and a huge handcrafted world to traverse on the long journey home.

STEAM

Phenomenally silly top-down adventure. You're a wizard trying to make your way back to the wizard tower after a casual defenestration. But the whimsical world outside the wizard academy grounds is gonna make that a long ordeal. The world has style, the UI has style, the characters have pizzazz. Just a great experience all around

PROHIBEAST

PROHIBEAST on Steam

Immerse yourself in a 1930s Chicago plagued by corruption and illegal meat trafficking. In this stealth-tactics game, control Eliot Ness and his team. Exploit the environment, deceive your enemies and strike the mafia from the shadows to dismantle Al Capone’s criminal empire.

STEAM

I make it a point to play demos to completion. But this one I did not, out of respect for my own time. It is a slow stealth game that lacks a save system despite being janky enough to easily make a mistake that costs you your life (and all your progress). As far as gameplay goes it's fine, very average. It looks like a decent effort was put into it, but also all the holes were filled with AI, which potentially contributes to the poor performance of the demo

The Way of Knight

The Way of Knight on Steam

The Way of Knight is a chess-like puzzle game where you think your way through various enemies, boards, and hazards.

STEAM

Simple puzzle game where you're a knight (chess piece) with a simple goal (get across the enemy-filled chess board). Though the demo is short, the lighthearted writing could be a good combo with the not-too-difficult puzzles, making for a very friendly and approachable package

Exofactory

Exofactory on Steam

Awaken as a forgotten AI on an alien world, your every choice reshapes your technology, environment, and identity. Automate deeply transformative factories in a chill open world, where the story evolves uniquely around you.

STEAM

This demo is best described as clunky. Does it work? Yes. But the world is uninteresting, movement is stuttery for some reason, and building is cumbersome. This is an extremely early alpha of a game with very little actual content, and unpolished systems. I actually forgot to take screenshots of the factories themselves, but there is no autosave and you're not missing out on much of anything, really

The First Mine

The First Mine on Steam

The First Mine is a turn based building, strategy and puzzle game. You need to run a productive gold mine by placing, grouping and upgrading various resource tiles without being distracted by different tasks and random events.

STEAM

A game about laying down hexagonal tiles to provide people and resources to keep a mine running. Why? I'm not sure the game knows either. It scores you based on the gold you mine, but it's on a fixed round limit and you're unlikely to make unintentional mistakes or get cornered into expansion choices like in dorf romantik. You just... place 50 tiles, do a few events along the way, upgrade some stuff, and you're done. A lot of systems, not a lot of game

Rabbit's Hop

Rabbit’s Hop on Steam

Guide clever rabbits into one hole using smart hops and limited moves. Plan each jump carefully — squirrels, logs, and lily pads add fun twists! Use obstacles wisely to solve unique puzzles that blend logic, timing, and strategy.

STEAM

A cute puzzle game about making rabbits hop to their barrow. I'm not sure if I was overthinking things or if it's actually surprisingly tricky, but the demo definitely took a lot longer per level than I would've expected. The mechanics require very careful consideration of which rabbit you move when, and how to save precious moves by hopping greater distances

Naginami and the Crimson Thread

Naginami and the Crimson Thread on Steam

Guide Naginami as they ascend the enigmatic Yora in search of their beloved, Iza. In this 2.5D adventure, utilize the Crimson Thread, to swing, grapple, and pull your way through unique peaks and platforming challenges.

STEAM

A fun platformer that utilizes its grapple-like thread in a multitude of ways. It's a bit on the easier side, and the mountain you're climbing feels rather empty, but as far as gameplay goes it flows decently well