Next Fest 26|2 Day 0

And it's time for another round of demos! Next Fest starts tomorrow, and below are some things I tried in-between Fests to kick off the week of demo micro-reviews

Highlights: Asterika, Draco Blade

Draco Blade

Draco Blade on Steam

Draco Blade is a “Dragon-Action” game that combines exploration and combat within a land inhabited by dragons. Slash your way through the world, slice your foes, and discover where you came from in this blazing adventure!

STEAM

A dragon metroidvania with combo-focused combat featuring delightful pixel art. Even ignoring my dragon bias I'm very positively surprised by this demo, in both length and quality. I worry the full release might be a bit too linear for a metroidvania, but the combat is fluid and boss battles fun. Just the protagonist is a bit... gruesome.

The Odyssey of Pebble

The Odyssey Of Pebble on Steam

The Odyssey of Pebble is a cute little puzzle game inspired by Baba Is You, Stephen Sausage Roll, and Snake. Your goal is to get to the fruit, however sometimes rocks will be in the way, so you may have to move them to make your way.

STEAM

A puzzle game about being a big long lizer trying to get some monch. The simple premise is more than enough to provide a playground for interesting interactions between different elements of the world and you(r tongue). The demo is a bit on the short side of things, but teases a variety of ideas the full game will hopefully expand on.

Flamecraft

Flamecraft on Steam

Flamecraft is a 1-5 player cozy strategy game filled with magic. Become a Flamekeeper and help adorable dragon artisans find the perfect home. Enchant the town’s stores and fill them with dragon cards as you watch the whimsical shopping district come to life.

STEAM

Flamecraft is a boardgame, but now it's also a video game! Brought to life with plenty of animations, UIs, and extra details; all while staying very true to the original. I'd like it to be a bit more obvious what the opponents are doing on their turns, but this is a good digital version of a boardgame, if your friends happen to live far away.

The Gardener

The Gardener on Steam

Solve tile based lawn puzzles. Explore the grounds of a forgotten manor. Discover mysterious flora and figure out their rules. Cut grass and have fun!

STEAM

A seemingly simple puzzle game about mowing the lawn. But the perfectly mowed lawn requires you to follow strict rules, and nobody is around to explain them. It works well as a rule discovery game, but I did find it a bit on the simpler side of things. Another addition to the Short and Sweet demos? Mayhaps.

BPM Bitcrushed

BPM Bitcrushed on Steam

BPM Bitcrushed: A retro roguelite rhythm shooter where every shot, dodge, and jump must sync to the beat. Battle through dungeons where enemies attack in time with the music. Find epic loot and even import your own songs to create a custom, rhythm-fuelled soundtrack for your destruction!

STEAM

BPM Bitcrushed is made by the same devs that made BPM Bullets Per Minute, but has otherwise very little in common when it comes to gamefeel. Bitcrushed offers a top-down twinstick bullet hell shooter to the rhythm, and it does the shooting part just as well as its FPS predecesor. I was worried it would be a bit too much like Enter the Gungeon, but was happily proven wrong as the vibes are quite different when actively playing the game. I do think the way lore/story is included is a bit superfluous (to not say bringing down to the flow of the game) but other than that it has convinced me to try the full game when it's out.

Fright Train

Fright Train on Steam

Fight through a train overtaken by monsters and survive Antarctica’s cold as paranormal special agent Doug Barker in this chilling single-player third-person survival horror roguelite.

STEAM

Fright Train mixes roguelikes with Resident Evil and a somewhat wave-based enemy assaults. It's a good indie game to geta similar-but different RE, and a very replayable one at that. But it also has a bit of indie design jank where it has a lot more features than it has time to properly make use of, at least in the demo. Overall good quality though.

Polly's Puzzle Box

Polly’s Puzzle Box on Steam

As a small flea, explore a mysterious puzzle box filled with shapes and secrets. Gather strange items with hidden abilities, and unravel a trail of clues as you attempt to escape.

STEAM

My most internally divisive puzzle game yet. I enjoy the aesthetic of a small flea in a whimsical puzzle box full of secrets to uncover. Every room is different, and it has so many details you don't know which ones are just random things and which are actually important for some grand puzzle. The main demo playthrough was a lot of fun... but the post-game kinda soured things a bit. I have not enjoyed the various meta puzzles the game has to offer nearly as much as I typically do. Between the obscurity, the red herrings, the tiny details that show off secret nooks; it all was a bit more uncertain than it was fun, especially (and potentially mainly) since I didn't know what's doable in the demo and what's a full game thing. Still a demo I'd say is worth playing, but one I'd not necessarily recommend trying to 100%.

Asterika: Phantom Rose Refrain

Asterika: Phantom Rose Refrain on Steam

Asterika is a bullet hell rhythm game! Forget falling notes. Move to the beat instead! Weave through bullet patterns, and master the chaos on the grid!

STEAM

Asterika is a spin-off from a roguelike deckbuilder into a rhythm bullet hell, which sometimes feels like a puzzle game as you have to figure out where to go on the very limited grid in order to dodge the flurry of dangers. And while the visual novel story elements didn't really feel very connected to the rest of the game, the devs navigate the rest of the hectic concoction expertly. It could use a bit of extra polish with sounds and perhaps some scoring tweaks, but the core gameplay has had me hooked like few others.