Next Fest 26|2 Day 4
Micro-reviews for Day 4 of June Next Fest 2026, exploring Bunderkin: The Ocular Eclipse, SHATTERFARMS, Torii: Beyond The Gates, Dragon Dinner, and The Button Effect
I do value keeping these micro-reviews short, but man do I sometimes have a lot more to say, or a game might have a lot of nuance I have to gloss over. If you want to get some extra thoughts about any game I play, you can always reach out about it!
Highlights: The Button Effect
Bunderkin: The Ocular Eclipse
Having a hard time describing this one. Bunderkin is a story-driven stealth game. And it pulls off all that decently well. But it also has both not enough and too much directing of the player, some clunky design choices, and a seemingly core part of the story (time looping) is mostly absent from the demo. It's both one of the larger demos I've played this fest, and one of the ones that has the most work ahead of it, especially in the playtesting space. Worth trying if you're into the aesthetic, and worth keeping an eye on if you'd rather wait until it's more polished
Playtime: 2-3h
SHATTERFARMS
I think this game could be really fun for some, but I struggled to wrap my head around what was the core thought behind it. You zip around defeating foes and foraging plants to plant plants to get buffs to better defeat various foes. There is a lot of fun components and the visuals are very sharp, edgy, and intentional old-school quality. But also I couldn't find satisfying flow with the combat and the UI is a bit messy (in 4k? Likely a hardware thing on my end)
Playtime: 20min++
Torii: Beyond The Gates
I don't like being too negative about things that clearly had a lot of effort put into them, but Torii needs more time in the oven. The art is lovely, but the gameplay is clunky. Combat, platforming, storytelling – all could use some polish. It's not far off of being really good, but it does a lot of things poorly dragging its good aspects down. I hope they have the time to make this into something that's at least close to how good Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus was
Playtime: 2-3h
Dragon Dinner
Dragon Dinner can get surprisingly intense. It starts off chill and cozy as you serve one or two clients at a time, but quickly dissolves into a hectic juggle between getting new clients in, handling the orders, and cleaning up after they leave. A dragony single-player Overcooked, just you're the waiter and not the chef
Playtime: 1-2h+
The Button Effect
At first this game looks a bit absurd. But trust me that underneath is a great puzzler where solving each puzzle isn't so much about executing the right sequence of moves, as it is about figuring out how the puzzle functions. Once you understand the rules of this abstract gallery, the puzzle instantly clicks and you can move on to the next one. Fantastic stuff
