Steam Next Fest Winter 2023 Demos Ranked
Planet of Lana: Cute puzzle--platformer. Worth playing. Fun surprise at the end. 3.5/5. 30min playtime
GeoJelly: Unfair brutal difficulty, buggy gameplay, absurd precision required and not in a good way. 1.5/5. Abandoned.
Afterimage: Very fun, but I reached a difficulty wall on one of the bosses I presume later on in the demo. Recommended for fans of Hollow Knight, just way harder than that game. Story did not interest me. 4/5. 1hr playtime, abandoned unless they nerf some of the bosses upon release.
Mika and the Witch's Mountain: Great premise, demo was too short to gauge if it would be for me though. Only about 6-7min of playtime followed by an ingame trailer. Top of the list so far though just because what I did play was really fun and not too challenging for me, and it's right up my alley. My only suggestion at the moment would be to fine-tune the controls before release. 4/5. 10min playtime
Glitch Busters! Stuck On You: Great demo, great game. No bugginess, took a bit to get used to the controls and some things aren't explained as well as I would hope but it's really damn good. Definitely wishlisting this one. 4.5/5. 15min playtime
Gripper: Fantastic artstyle and gameplay, a bit brutal but way more fair than, say, Afterimage. Once you figure out the controls and how to tackle the demo's boss, it won't take you that long. Excited to see what the full release of this is like! Definitive wishlist for sure on this one. 4/5. 1hr playtime
Bionic Bay: Too dull, it's like they couldn't decide on what kind of platformer to make so they just fused the worst parts from every aspect. The ragdolling is annoying, the physics engine is inconsistent on what it wants to do, the timing is too precise for some jumps and even at some moments you're at the game's mercy, the only good thing this game has going for it is its graphics. Otherwise, it's sensory deprivation. 1/5. 1hr 8min playtime
NOT ON IGDB:
Goblin Dash: Buggy controls as to be expected from a demo. Not for me personally, geared more towards speedrunning crowd. Art is too simplistic and difficulty is just barely manageable and fair enough for a precision platformer. 2/5. 5min playtime.
GeoJelly: Unfair brutal difficulty, buggy gameplay, absurd precision required and not in a good way. 1.5/5. Abandoned.
Afterimage: Very fun, but I reached a difficulty wall on one of the bosses I presume later on in the demo. Recommended for fans of Hollow Knight, just way harder than that game. Story did not interest me. 4/5. 1hr playtime, abandoned unless they nerf some of the bosses upon release.
Mika and the Witch's Mountain: Great premise, demo was too short to gauge if it would be for me though. Only about 6-7min of playtime followed by an ingame trailer. Top of the list so far though just because what I did play was really fun and not too challenging for me, and it's right up my alley. My only suggestion at the moment would be to fine-tune the controls before release. 4/5. 10min playtime
Glitch Busters! Stuck On You: Great demo, great game. No bugginess, took a bit to get used to the controls and some things aren't explained as well as I would hope but it's really damn good. Definitely wishlisting this one. 4.5/5. 15min playtime
Gripper: Fantastic artstyle and gameplay, a bit brutal but way more fair than, say, Afterimage. Once you figure out the controls and how to tackle the demo's boss, it won't take you that long. Excited to see what the full release of this is like! Definitive wishlist for sure on this one. 4/5. 1hr playtime
Bionic Bay: Too dull, it's like they couldn't decide on what kind of platformer to make so they just fused the worst parts from every aspect. The ragdolling is annoying, the physics engine is inconsistent on what it wants to do, the timing is too precise for some jumps and even at some moments you're at the game's mercy, the only good thing this game has going for it is its graphics. Otherwise, it's sensory deprivation. 1/5. 1hr 8min playtime
NOT ON IGDB:
Goblin Dash: Buggy controls as to be expected from a demo. Not for me personally, geared more towards speedrunning crowd. Art is too simplistic and difficulty is just barely manageable and fair enough for a precision platformer. 2/5. 5min playtime.
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