The latest Steam Next Fest has kicked off, and this one is running through February 23rd to March 4th. While perusing the Next Fest page, I installed a bunch of demos for things to check out as I did last time. I tried my damnedest to ensure no AI slop found its way into here, so as of the posting, none of the games below have AI disclosures on their Store page, nor did any of them look blatantly AI. This is only part one, and I’m hoping to check out a bunch of games each day, and posting these every day or two as I can.
Altered Alma
A solid metroidvania with a good cyberpunk aesthetic. I really like the artwork of the character designs. So far in this demo, the combat is a bit limited, but once you get the Quantum Blade, it makes traversal a lot cooler through the game. I picked it up pretty fast, but I can only imagine how swiftly you can maneuver once you really start to master it. I also like the fact there is more to the other NPCs than just quest givers, as you can actually get to know them through conversations, and possibly build romance. Overall I think I’ll check this game out after it launches. Not sure if it will be right away, but definitely on my radar.
Animalkind
Alright this games look cute and chill AF, but I kept having an issue with Y Axis inversion. I could open the game and set it, but every time I entered a conversation, it would set it back to normal, even with inversion checked. After a couple tries, I kind of rage quit out. Hope this is resolved at launch, but for now this is a no go for me.
Witch’s Bakery
Holy hell does this look good! I really was enjoying the characters and aesthetics a lot. The gameplay is pretty simple and fun so far. Just go in the back and handle the various methods of prepping dough, and your familiar does the backing. Make sure you serve the customers in time, and all is good! My only complaint is I wish I could progress the conversations faster, and sometimes you have to let it sit a second or 2 before it registers your button input to progress it. I ended up putting the demo down so I could enjoy the full game when it comes out, and not have to sit through the same conversations again.
Eletta
You can change the sensitivity of the Y Axis, but no inverted controls. I’m not going through the trouble of grabbing a 3rd party app to handle that for me, it’s an easy enough option to put into your game. I tried to see if the game was playable with minimal use of the Y axis, but as soon as I needed to up stairs, it became evident, I would not be able to deal with it. Pass
Boost Vector
Seems to be only a single race and a story element wrapped up in Chapter 0 for the demo. The racing feels pretty good, and I wonder what it would feel like once you really started getting it down and moving really fast. I felt like traversing through some of the menus and stuff wasn’t always fluid though. There are online and quickplay modes. Quickplay is just a quick set of 3 circuits. I did some quick play and kept falling off course and getting stuck in random places. Online play I did not test out, as I didn’t have much interest in that mode. Not something I’d snag unless it was in a cheap bundle honestly.
Combat Kart
Holy shit, this one isn’t good at all. Has a cute and adorable aesthetic, but that isn’t enough to help this one. First off it is keyboard only, and those controls are not fun at all. The combat items are about as boring as you could get. The racing feels slow and no sense of speed. Do not recommend this one folks!