The Steam Next Fest is live!

The Steam Next Fest is running until March 3rd, so make sure to download and play the games that interest you while you can. Here are the games I've played so far:

TinyCraft Town, played for under 15 minutes

The art style is all over the place (obviously not OG assets), the game is a slog, the demo is too short (finished it in about 10 minutes), and the game is super jank (item drops fell through the ground). I think the core concept is fun, a side scroller idle/survival game, but what is here is so barebones and lacking that I simply can't recommend this game unless it gets major improvements.

electrobillion, played for about 20 minutes

Shockingly () fun. I wasn't expecting much, but the charming art style, simple gameplay loop, and realistic electricity system combine into a short but satisfying loop. My only complaint is that money is way too slow to accumulate, some parts I was unable to do anything without more money and was just sitting there. If the dev is able to fix the money issue and add more content, I think this could be a really fun game. I especially like the land value system that makes you hate people building houses near your infrastructure (realistic!).

Brickadia, played for about 30 minutes

Dammit, I really wanted to like this one. I have been waiting for a good Lego like building game since I first played Minecraft, Roblox, and the demo for Blockland, and this game has gotten closer than all of those in some ways. Unfortunately the controls are god awful, legitimately some of the worst I have played. The player moves way too stiffly, and everything has this heavy handed inertia that makes movement frustrating. It's a shame, as the game looks great, has tons of charm, and I like how the game works on a technical level. If they are somehow able to improve the controls significantly, I think this game would be great.

Lands of Rumour, played for about 10 minutes

The concept is by far the most unique I have encountered in this Next Fest. It's a 4x game like Civ but as a band of Robin Hood esque thieves, which is a really cool twist on the formula. Sadly the game doesn't play great. The UI is pretty bad (worse than Civ 7) in that it doesn't communicate anything to the player, and the game doesn't really have an intuitive way to play. I think if the UI was fixed and the game systems got some extra work, this game could be good, but not great.

Solarpunk, played for about an hour

So far my favorite game of the Next Fest. It's yet another survival crafting game, but the controls and game feel are some of the best. The game had a craftable guide, but I didn't need to ever use it. The game was so intuitive ever step of the way that I never felt like I didn't know what to do next or how to do it. The game has a bunch of nice QoL features that are appreciated as well. Such as movement being paused when refilling the watering can, how a dead crop still returns it's original seed, or that the game provides clear audio cues when hitting vs missing a resource with a tool. I also appreciate how the game teases all the stuff not in the demo, smartly done and makes me excited for the full game. If you like survival crafting games, play this.

Monaco 2, played for about 10 minutes

Shocked this game is actually a thing, I heard the OG was getting a sequel almost 3 years ago, and thought the project was dead as I had seen literally nothing beyond the announcement. So far it feels pretty different from the first game, and I am not sure if that's a good thing or not. I felt the first game was good, but dated and short. This game feels less like a sequel and more like a totally new series with some slight nods to the OG. The controls felt nice, and the technical side of things seemed solid. However the character designs and writing seemed kinda trash (Marvel esque) and the game seems to have removed the best part from Monaco 1 (the ability to blend in and manipulate people and the world). I have only done the starter level, so maybe there are more mechanics in the 2nd, but so far the game seems to be pretty dumbed down. Not going to give this a thumbs down until I finish the demo, but it isn't looking good so far.

Games I have downloaded but haven't played:

Ruffy and the Riverside, the whole 3d to 2d thing seems like it's heavily inspired by Mario Odyssey (specifically the only good part of that game besides the costumes) so I am interested, hope it plays well.

Lost Skies, someone on Reddit recommended this for puzzle game fans. This seems like what Worlds Adrift should've been (same dev team), so I am already sold assuming the game sticks the landing (no guarantee).

Fellowship, recommended by another Redditor who also suggested Monaco 2, so I am already expecting Marvel tier writing. Seems to be one of the more popular demos, which is promising.

Iron Village, not really into trains, but I do like city builders. This one looks pretty charming, but don't really have much to say.

Hang up Street, I have no idea what this even is. The title shows up as Chinese in my Steam library, and only the game description is in English. I am either in for some kino jank, or a virus.

Pochemeow, some sort of digital board game? Not entirely sure, the description just says "Economic strategy about trade war" but it looks neat.

Uber Urban, another city builder. Bad ones are a dime a dozen, but no great modern ones exist. Here's hoping this is the first.

Settler's Domain, a settlement builder. Looks great, but no idea how it plays.

Crusader Knights: Templars, someone else taking a crack at the Total War series. As long as the AI doesn't suck, this might unseat the king.

Let's Build Wonders: Galaxy Demo, a city builder MMO? The last game to try this was SimCity 2013, and it flopped. Here is hoping this game succeeds, because the concept is amazing.

Gentoo Rescue,

Wanderstop, Stanley Parable was 10/10, The Beginner's Guide was 1/10, praying this one is more like the former. I really hope this isn't one of the games where the twist ruins the game like Beginner's Guide. The game looks like it could be played straight and be pretty fun, but knowing this dev he's going to frick it up.

!g*mers