Next Fest 25|3 Day 4

Today is variety day! Lots of developers from across the globe, completely different styles and settings, and varied gameplay as well. Only thing not varied was the quality, which was generally high across the board which is great to see. Some minor snags here and there, but fun stuff nonetheless

Highlights: Homura Hime, E9uations, The Berlin Apartment

Relooted

Relooted on Steam

Reclaim real African artifacts from Western museums in this Africanfuturist heist game. Recruit crew members, plan escape routes, acquire the precious cargo, and bounce out of the joint as fast as you can.

STEAM

A heist game about a group of South Africans stealing back stolen artifacts. You scan a location, set up what isn't bolted down with an alarm, and then grab the big cheese and make haste for the getaway vehicle. The voice acting is a bit on the weaker side, but the heist planning and the escape sequences are solid, and you get a lot of third world history alongside the gameplay bits

Frost and Glory

Frost and Glory on Steam

Snowfall City is hosting a legendary snowblaster tournament, and you’re set to compete! Enter a light, wintery open-world RPG with a cheerful atmosphere, level-up talents through snow-slinging trials, recruit companions, outplay tricky rivals, and rise from rookie to seasonal champion!

STEAM

An RPG in which you're on a quest to win a snowblaster championship. There is an overworld where you pick up jobs, gear up, and talk to characters; and then dungeons where you actually fight stuff for the quests you collect. Generally feels fine, but the combat felt a lot more DPS- than strategy-based. Also having same button for "attack enemy from a range" and "walk to the spot" is... a choice, and one that cost me a lot of health as I walked towards enemies instead of throwing snow their way. There is some more imprecision in the movement in and out of buildings, but the bugs are relatively minor and can be plowed through with ease

E9uations

E9uations on Steam

You are the equal sign(=). Rearrange the numbers and operators to form equation and solve the puzzle.

STEAM

Did you ever want Baba Is You to have more math? No? Well now you can have it regardless! A very good sokoban where positioning matters as you make equations to try and create numbers you need. The math is simple, but the puzzles are clever

NONEWORLD

NONEWORLD on Steam

NONEWORLD is a cute RPG set in a dying world. You are a Princess from another world, accompanied by an omnipresent Cheshire Cat. Only YOU and your fruity colored allies can LIGHT THE WORLD and return home safely.

STEAM

NONEWORLD is... strange. I feel like my difficulty with digesting the demo comes in part due to not much really happening throughout it. Don't get me wrong, stuff does happen, the rough aesthetic is well-executed and there were no bugs I encountered; but I don't have much of a clue what exactly it is I did. I imagine that's part of the charm, but also I would need a lot more than 30min to have better thoughts on this RPG so uhm... no dragons to be found in this game, keep scrolling

Key Fairy

Key Fairy on Steam

A hand-drawn, pacifist, folkloric, bullet-hell. Grapple and dance around monsters to collect their shattered stars, weave your way through twisting paths, encounter strange folk, uncover ancient magic, and evade forgotten gods in this frenetic 2D action-adventure.

STEAM

An extremely unique game. Not only does it have hand-drawn 1-bit pallette-swappable visuals, your main means of traversal is a grapple that can pull you towards and around enemies. That's all well and good, but the game is a bullet hell, and you have no way to fight back. You have to zip about, dodging attacks, while collecting shards enemies drop to calm them down from their frenzy. Add to that the mysterious fairy forest, and I've not seen any game quite like this before

Homura Hime

Homura Hime on Steam

Homura Hime is a third person action game, featuring anime-styled visuals and intense 3D bullet hell gameplay. Alongside Homura Hime, fight against archdemons possessed by deviant emotions, and get closer to discovering the truth behind both the archdemons and her own veiled legacy.

STEAM

A mix of anime, hack'n'slash, and bullet hells. A very good mix at that, the combos, dodges, and parries flow remarkably well, with lots of ways to jump between different targets or lash out at specific foes. Enemy introductions could use some sound to them, but it's a minor nitpick in an otherwise fantastic experience

A Fox Tale

A Fox Tale on Steam

A challenging precision platformer with evolving pixel art environments, tight mechanics and instant retries. Join Eva’s journey to uncover if she is the last of her kind.

STEAM

A precision platformer in which you're a fox looking for a place to belong. Cute pixel art style, solid movement (even if simple), and some bonus challenges for those that find the base game too easy. Nothing too remarkable, but if you want some more platforming then it's worth trying out

The Berlin Apartment

The Berlin Apartment on Steam

One apartment, many stories: Witness turning points in the lives of the inhabitants of an apartment in Berlin over the course of a whole century.

STEAM

A narrative driven game about an apartment in the center of Berlin. While set in the same walls you will get to experience the story of the different inhabitants, and how they lead their lives. Each apartment is unique, and though demo is short and limited, it exudes a lot of detail, down to the English accent of the characters changing to reflect the slightly different speech patterns of different generations (and I imagine the German audio is even better in that regard)