Next Fest 26|1 Day 6
Micro-reviews for Day 6 of February Next Fest 2026, exploring Phonopolis, Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery, Darkswitch, orrb, MUSYNX:RETURN, Modulus, and Altered Alma
Slowly the end of NextFest approaches, but there is still plenty of games to try, and today's lineup has no bad demos in it. Sure, some may be shorter or a bit less cooked than others, but any of them will be worth your time
Highlights: Altered Alma, Phonopolis
Phonopolis
Phonopolis is half point'n'click puzzle adventure, and half an audio book set in a visually unique hand-drawn world. Both halves are full of fun interactions, be it via animations or narration, gearing this up for an enjoyable story to follow when it's out
Playtime: ~20min
Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery
This mystery game feels a lot like noir Duck Detective, in a good way. Puns, silly jokes, and light detective work that requires understanding of the story but isn't too challenging as to get you stuck. It doesn't have voice acting and I found it a bit lacking in the audio department in general, but I'd expect it to be a short entertaining mystery when released
Playtime: ~20min
Darkswitch
A city builder centered around a great tree. Beyond it is the Fog that breaks down unlit buildings and makes people sick and insane. There is a good balance and slow creep of the fog as it rolls in and out, slowly enveloping more and more of the ground below. There is some minor UI issues and translation problems, but the overall gameplay is solid
NOTE: Usually, I do my best to play the demo to completion, whatever the devs set as the ending. However, this demo just... kept going. The prologue lasts around 1-2h and should give you a good idea of what the game is how and how it plays. But the demo keeps going into Chapter 1, and after over 3 hours (total) there is no end in sight. So I had to call it here. Might return to it after Next Fest concludes to properly finish and see where the end marker is
Playtime: ??h
orrb
At first this seemed like a trivial puzzle game about putting tiles to guide a ball of light. Then with no warning it upped the ante, requiring you to solve things in your head, rotating elements, and connecting things in a... creative manner. Fun stuff, but not the best if your mind's eye is weak. Though probably still playable, in the end the premise is relatively simple
Playtime: <1h
MUSYNX:RETURN
A 2/4/6 key rhythm game. Other than offering three difficulties for each set of keys, meaning each song has 9 different chart for a variety of skill levels; this game doesn't do much different. A good way to get more familiar with different numbers of keys, and I like the note design, but it's very much purely about the charts, for better and worse
Playtime: ~30min+
Modulus
A factory game about cutting up cubes and reassembling them into modules, which are assembled into structures and components, which can be re-used further down the chain of production. It's basically Shapez 3D with extra steps, but it's got very high quality visually, runs smoothly, and provides a good balance between monotonic factory building and figuring out the logistics with your limited resource mining spots. On the flipside the UI can be a bit much at the start and some bits feel like they've been done specifically to make the game different rather than for a clear gameplay purpose (e.g. why is mirroring stuff "T"? Why not (M)irror or (F)lip like in other titles?)
Playtime: ~1.5h
Altered Alma
A cyberpunk metroidvania with a crisp pixely aesthetic. Combat's smooth, visuals are great, movement is tight and actually fresh. The game felt a bit off at the start, but I think that only helps the power curve seem so much better as you gain upgrades and get the snowball rolling. By the end of the demo I was a zooming murder machine and I loved every moment of it
