Time played: 41m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell Yes

This blends sniper games like Silent Scope with Superhot - you have one bullet to take out all enemies, once you kill one enemy you can reaim from where they were. Figuring out the optimal lines between enemies feels satisfying and the leaderboards give the levels a ton of replayability.

Love the aesthetic of the cutscenes, sort of deep fried glitch art over woodcuts? Very original and gives the game a little extra juice. Plus the low poly PS1 style character models and bright yellow villains really work well to make everything more readable. Will definitely be picking this up when it's available in full.

Time played: 3.6h
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested Hell Yes (edit 2/8: it's hooked me. Very addictive game)

Probably the most hyped demo of this Next Fest, Balatro is a deck-building spin on Poker. The game's really well polished, with enough card variants to make each run interesting while keeping the poker foundation simple enough to not be overwhelming. I like how you can stack your deck or add joker multipliers to rack up huge combos. I don't think there's quite as much here as something like Slay the Spire or Monster Train but it's still a very well put together deckbuilder. Wishlisted this, will definitely scoop this when it releases in full.

Time played: 1.2h
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell Yes

The movement here is awesome. Echo Point Nova is a movement focused FPS but secretly also a first person snowboarding game? Everything clicks into place so nicely in this demo, all of it centers on the idea of momentum. Manually finding aim for enemies would slow you down? Add a pretty aggressive snap to target system. Limited by your jump? Add a grapple hook and an on demand boost ability. You're constantly in movement here and it feels fantastic.

The demo is comprised of four combat encounters (think Doom's waves of enemies), spread out between wide gaps of floating islands. You're tasked with traversing from one to the next. After you finish all four, you have a Colossus style boss where you have to traverse its body and destroy its weak points. Really cool stuff.

Time played: 21m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell Yes

Probably the best feeling moving around of any game I've played in Next Fest so far. This is a satisfying and polished lil platformer full of secrets and little satisfying puzzles. I love how the drill is used to crank elevators and open locks.

Time played: 30m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell yes

Big fucking epilepsy warning here

This is peak ADHD gaming. Mullet Madjack is a twitch FPS shooter with a really interesting premise where you have a clock ticking down between kills and you need to chain kills together by shooting, slashing, and kicking your way through levels at breakneck speed. You often fly though levels so fast that it feels like a blur, full floors often take 30 seconds or less. Between levels you get power-ups to further increase your speed or power.

The demo was dripping with style, with extremely bright solid colors and maximalist UI elements inspired by extremely online cyberpunk and anime OVAs, vibes reminiscent of Machinegirl or Neon White's UI elements. The anime characters and interstitials are really well drawn and animated too.

Oh and the bosses at the end of 10 floor sets are really fun mix-ups. Nothing more satisfying than getting big "ROBOBILLIONAIRE KILLED" messages for succeeding.

Time played: 24m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell Yes

Death to PS1 indie horror, long live Dreamcast indie horror!

I like how this one blends absurdism and genuinely scary stuff. I'm not always a big fan of these retro indie horror games but this one seems to be focused on taking you on a ride moreso than combat or stuff like that. Love the aesthetic too.

Time played: 67m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell Yes

More than what it seems at first glance. Best to leave this one very vague. If you want to know more, minor spoilers below the fold



Equal parts Dredge and Daniel Mullins, Normal Fishing is anything but. This is a beefy demo, likely 20-25% of the full game? It's fucking awesome, the lobit vibe somewhere between Gameboy and Atari 2600 rules, the fishing is fun, the strange story is compelling, and when it gets weird it really hits. This works great as a standalone, it this was in a Dread Collection it'd be the standout short game. As a standalone thing it works excellently. I can't wait for this to come out in full.

Time played: 37m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell Yes

Genuinely wowed by this. On its face it's a simple throwback football game a la early Madden, but in your hands it feels excellent. The mechanics are varied and interesting, while simple enough to be approachable to newcomers, the pixel art is excellent, and the systems are deceptively deep. While it's not over the top like a Blitz, it still has an arcadey feel. Really excellent stuff, check this one out.

Sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel when you can nail the fundamentals into a really polished package.

Time played: 10m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

Short and sweet little demo. I originally saw this in the Wholesome Direct and the combo of Paper Mario-esque flat characters and social deduction puzzles immediately won me over. I'm pleased to report that the demo lives up to the trailer, while it's very short and simple with only two puzzles, the VO work and character writing is great and the clue-finding deduction mechanics are really fun. I'm excited to see this extended out to a full game.

Time played: 20m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

Some really funny writing in this point and click adventure. Love the clash of contemporary humor and baroque setting. The Monty Python esque collage of classical paintings works well for a game like this.

Time played: 63m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

Very cool roguelike tower defense game. Using tetrominos to strategically route enemies is a really satisfying mixup on the normal tower defense loop, I really liked having to figure out how to best create a labyrinth for these foes. Additionally there was a nice variety to towers and the Normal mode was quite challenging. Will definitely be checking in on this one again.

Time played: 60m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I find liminal spaces weirdly comfy. Sure they're unsettling by their nature as transitory space, but navigating a labyrinth of this space is kind of a vibe.

Dreamcore is a walking sim in the truest sense. In the demo, you navigate this large purgatorial poolscape, trying to locate new areas and mostly just feeling hopelessly lost.

What I love about Dreamcore is that unlike a lot of "backrooms"-likes, it doesn't have a monster to chase you. No monster to justify your feelings of unease or to drive you through the map. Just you alone in this space. There's some Caretaker-like music in a couple of places (it might just be Caretaker tracks idk) but for the most place you're alone in silence. There's some nice sound design adding atmosphere in spots, but it's subtle enough to keep you in this world. There's waterslides throughout, some mundane, some absurd. The architecture is thoughtful enough to make each room feel unique. There's some very minimal navigation puzzles to progress the demo forward. Obscure enough to stay mysterious.

This may not be for everyone but I vibed with it. Will be checking out the full game if they keep it as minimal as it is here.

Time played: 42m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

I'm glad I stuck with this one. At first it seemed a bit bland and dissonant - the blend of pixel art ui and super realistic graphics weren't coming together. Then it gets weird, really weird. And from there, the puzzles become more engaging and the whole thing really clicks.

I love the attention to detail in the graphics too, the footprints being left permanently in the snow, melting and swaying chunks of ice you stand on, and a monstrous dog's head stuck in a big wooden wheel, clacking against a wood beam as it rotates. It all blends with the surrealism of the thing really nicely. Will be interested in seeing more once this releases in full.

Also the steam controller settings are a bit wonky here - make sure to bind a button to Q as it's needed in a late section of the demo

Time played: 33m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Very comfy lil demo. Nothing really to this, just build little buildings and villas. Combining certain elements will unlock new elements but there's no pressure to progress. These kind of open-ended games don't usually hit for me but I hit its wavelength, continually hitting the random element button and placing it where I thought it'd fit. It got me in a really relaxed state, and when I looked up from it, 30 minutes had passed.

Time played: 42m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Trackmania but without all the menu/ui bloat? Count me in.

I like how no-nonsense Gradient Flow is as an arcade racer. You're simply racing along these tracks of increasing difficulty, racing to beat recorded times. It's missing a little bit of variety, but for what it is now, it's a tight little package. Great steam deck game as well.

Time played: 2.3h
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Overcooked as a tower defense game - a really interesting concept that's fun and tricky. I like having to figure out kitchen optimizations as you make more complicated recipes. The chef ai is a bit frustrating as they don't always use the obvious pots and pans nearest them or prep the dish closest to them. If you could set coverage areas for the cooks, that would make this game feel a little less frustrating imo.

I like the pixel art here but the AI music has gotta go, it doesn't sound good. Still with music muted this could be a fun distraction. Would scoop if it's under $8

Time played: 21m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Footgun is a roguelike soccer action platformer in which you kick a ball to kill enemies in tight levels. You can bounce the ball off walls and ceilings to hit enemies from every angle. It's cool but needs a little polish to really shine. I wish it was easier to control the trajectory of your ball, levels took twice as long as they should because I had a hard time kicking the ball where I was aiming for. Pair that with all the running around you have to do catching up to your ball and it gets a little messy. Really neat premise though, could be cool if they improve the game-feel a bit.

Time played: 26m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Adds more twists to the Motherload formula than Ad Fundum - making each dig mission based (gather certain materials, destroy certain blocks, collect key items, etc) mixes the formula up nicely as does the twin stick shooting. My two main gripes are that damaging your hull by running into stuff doesn't have enough impact (partially due to the poor readability of some stages/biomes, but it should be emphasized more via sound at least) and that runs get a bit repetitive. Considering they seem to take a little inspiration they should look to that game for inspiration on possible other mission types. Just a little additional variation would go a long way.

Time played: 5m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

The ideal short demo. Introduces some interesting mechanics with the option to throw your main sword then phase shift to it. It's really just one breezy level but gives you a great idea of what the full game would be like. I'm a sucker for pixel art games with limited black/white/red palates and this game does that excellently. Worth checking out if you want a 2d combat platformer (can't tell if this is a metroidvania or not. hopefully not)

Time played: 37m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Zau is shaping up to be a very good Metroidvania that will unfortunately be stuck in the shadow of Prince of Persia the Lost Crown. I like the style and the combat of switching between ranged and melee combat with combos and specials is satisfying but it's hard to say if it can reach the highs of Prince of Persia's combat and platforming.

If this was another year I could see this making a big impact, unfortunately it's coming out just a few months after one of the best Metroidvanias of all time, so we'll see. Still, this has a ton of heart.

Time played: 22m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Cute little open world adventure/collectathon. I'm usually not a fan of open world games but this one smartly keeps its map pretty compact. The character writing and designs were cute. I don't think I'd play this full game as it'd probably outstay its welcome but a nice little demo nonetheless.

Time played: 24m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Tony Hawk meets an action roguelite is a cool combo. When you hit its wavelength, it feels great. Unfortunately it's pretty easy to fall out of that groove, and once you do the game feels messy and unpolished. Hopefully this game needs that final bit of shine before release, because I could see this game being really great.

Time played: 29m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

I love the style here, a weird sort of mixed media approach to point and click adventure. It's abstract and obtuse in some really cool ways, while having some old school style adventure game puzzles. With that said a few of the puzzles are a little too obtuse, to the point where I had to look at the walkthrough. These points had some logical leaps needed that I don't think I'd pick up on on my own.

I can see a certain type of person being super into this but I'll appreciate from afar.

Time played: 37m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Cute lil city builder. Smartly keeps the scope very small - one street where you have to strategically build to satisfy certain requirements. It feels like a bit of a puzzler as you have to figure out what would best satisfy the request. I wish there was a bit more room to creatively build, it's not much of a sandbox, but for a puzzler it's cute.

Time played: 15m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Gorgeous, gorgeous game but not quite enough in the gameplay department to keep me engaged.

Time played: 37m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

This a pretty straight knock-off / rip-off of one of my all time favorite flash games Motherload. Dig deeper to get more resources to upgrade your driller to dig deeper etc. While the pixel art here is nice, I think I still prefer Motherload. It seems like they've added a few systems here but I can't quite tell what they are from this demo. If you haven't played Motherload, this is a nice entry point. Alternatively just check out Super Motherload since it includes the original as well as the sequel.

Time played: 37m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Cute little spin on minesweeper, where the floor is a big minesweeper grid and you have to clear the grid with flags to progress. Adds some power-ups and rhythm combat to mix things up. Makes sense that this is called Dreamsweeper because it made me a bit sleepy by the end. A little too slow and boring, doesn't quite mix things up to be engaging for more than the 30 minutes I played. Very comfy though, I love the aesthetic

Time played: 31m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Some cool mechanics here - it takes the pre planning a scene of something like Your Only Move is Hustle and expands upon them with you controlling a whole squad of four. The real time / planned tactics thing works well - however there's a whole lot going on here so it's a bit much to do well at with just the demo. There were moments where I didn't think I'd hit the enemy and I would instead do a fatal blow.

Time played: 40m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

Loved the claymation aesthetic, did not love the performance issues on steam deck or the 50+ Gb demo size. There was some heavy slowdown and an early demo crash on default and medium settings, I got it working in the end on Low settings.

I really respect the craftsmanship on display here, I know this project has been gestating for over a decade at this point and it shows in its presentation. Really impressive art style with its scanned clay figures and miniatures. The world is really interesting too, a blend of underwater and industrial designs that feel worn and lived in.

With that all said, I don't think this is for me, I was left quite bored by the end of this. Mechanically it was quite simple, walk to x, do y. In the demo there wasn't much by way of engaging puzzles. I don't think it will ever get weird enough to my liking, which is a bummer considering how much can be done with adventure game claymation (see The Neverhood). I'll check back when the full game drops, I'd love to see this succeed. If it does, I'll definitely play more - right now I need to see validation that it's worth my time.

Time played: 11m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

I don't usually get motion sickness but the camera in this made me feel really nauseous. So jittery.

A lot of cool concepts here (golf speedrunning, golf meets katamari, chaining stage boosts and a ball dash to get hole in ones) but it's a bit messy altogether. I almost wish they would've stuck to one of these ideas and really polished it to something nice over the smorgasbord we get. Still, it's a unique little golf game.

Time played: 8m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

The premise of a roguelike breakout is really fun and original. It's just too slow, I want a game in this style to feel more frenetic and engaging. Would love to see these systems beefed up and expanded upon.

Time played: 10m
HYPE GOING IN: Hell yes
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

Talk about a frustrating demo experience. I spent about half of the ten minutes manually rebinding controls in Steam because the built-in controller bindings are incorrect and there's no way to rebind in-game. Once I started playing, it became clear that this was a demo that would really give me nothing, no clear idea of what the full game would be like. It's a new arcade game with an aesthetic inspired by retro-future sports games like Mach Breakers and Windjammers, however from the demo you'd barely know it. Instead of including a slice of the actual game, the devs included the bonus stage in this demo, a button masher where you avoid bulls as you run towards the screen. I understand that it's tricky to create a demo of a quick arcade experience, but I would've much preferred to see a vertical slice of what the game itself actually feels like.

The graphics for this look amazing, a throwback to the Capcom CPS-II era of games like Street Fighter II Turbo. It's a true arcade game with a NEO-GEO style four button layout. There's even a toggle in the menu for old-school wonky translation. What a shame that they don't do a good job showing off the game here.

Time played: 15m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Not for me

Look, I grew out of blacklight posters in college. This art style is garish and ugly to my eyes. It's hard to read the foreground from the background and I don't like looking at it.

The metroidvania aspects of this are not great either, Zau and Prince of Persia eats Ultros lunch. Will probably side-eye anyone that praises this one tbh

Time played: 10m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Not for me

It sounds harsh but good art alone isn't enough anymore. In an oversaturated subgenre like metroidvanias, you need more than interesting pixel art, you need to have gameplay that's tight and undeniable. While I liked some of the pixel art here, I wasn't a fan of the aesthetic as a whole and worse, the gameplay wasn't very fun. It felt clunky and moving around did not feel good.

Time played: 10m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Not for me

Vampire Survivor clones are sad. Adding driving mechanics could be cool but this didn't feel good to play. Played one run and got what felt like the full experience.

Time played: 7m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Not for me

Already breaking my 15 minute rule to end this one early. Extremely not my thing, found the humor irritating, the movement clunky, and the basketball minigame frustratingly obtuse and difficult. I respect that the devs have been at it for 7 years but this is a pass from me.