Round two of Steam Next Fest games, and this one is a variety of genres for sure. From Train kick flips, to high school girls fighting kaijus, to relaxing with Mercats, I bring you handful of demo impressions. I was hoping to get to a couple more today, but other things popped up. I definitely have a good amount of other games to try, so I should have another post up by Friday afternoon if all works out.
AI disclosure: I personally do not like the use of AI, and therefore did not play any demos that disclosed AI usage at the time of this writing. I checked every game’s description looking for a disclosure. I do my best to not support games that utilize AI.
Denshattack!
This is really dumb fun, and I really suck at it, but not in a way that I feel like the game is at fault. It’s definitely a skill issue on my end, that makes me want to keep getting better. You can do skateboard style tricks in a train, which I was not expecting. I can only imagine how good some people will get at this game. I wonder if it will have leader boards at some point, because that would make for some good competition with friends. Unsure if I will snag this at launch, but it will be on my radar for a sale for sure.
Titanium Court
This is a very interesting pixel art match 3 game, but it goes a bit beyond that. You also have resources and personnel to manage. While I found the game interesting, I realized pretty quickly it is not for me. It just wasn’t clicking with me, and I found myself begging for less of the non-match 3 stuff. I’ll pass on this one, but I can see this being something a lot of people are into.
Divinum
This was a super fun hack and slash platformer. Even as someone who typically sucks at these games, I found myself really getting the controls down and doing decently well. Pixel art in these darker and grim settings really helps to nail the vibes. I’d like to see how the game handles the character progression with new abilities and buffs. Still not sure I would grab this at launch, but definitely will be on my radar to check out at some point.
MIGHTREYA
This game is great if you want a lot of fast paced action and combat. As you fight Kaiju, you basically beat the crap out of them, while dodging mostly sends you away from them to a safe spot, in which you then launch more attacks. It was a lot of fun, but I was having issues with sometimes getting a safe spot to dodge to as a choice due to camera movement. This led to some frustrating moments, as while the camera can be moved around quickly, it’s not as precise as I would like. If they could tighten up the camera, it would be more enjoyable. Still the combat is satisfying when things are going smoothly. Doubt it’s a day one pick up, but something I want to play down the line.
Mermeows: Chill Cat Mermaids
This is an idle clicker game featuring cat mermaids. It’s got a pretty and adorable aesthetic, with some nice relaxing music and sound effects. I found it to be pretty enjoyable sitting off on another monitor as I did other things, while I interacted from time to time. You also collect items when offline, which is nice. My one complaint is now that I’ve been playing idler games that only take up a small section of the bottom of a monitor screen, I wish this game was a similar setup. Still I’d like to see more of what the full launch will be, and see what price point it launches at, because I can see myself picking this up at some point.