Stoot's Steam Next Fest Reviews, February 2024 :)
It's that time again. 8)
21 Games
Expectations: 4 / 5
First-person puzzle. What I thought was going to be a Witness clone ended up being a multiplayer Witness clone with so much more variety. The puzzles are a lot more baked into the environment, like the Witness' best puzzles were, and it makes the whole thing so much more engaging. The 2.5 hours I spent in this flew by without me realising. The story seems pretty meh.
First-person puzzle. What I thought was going to be a Witness clone ended up being a multiplayer Witness clone with so much more variety. The puzzles are a lot more baked into the environment, like the Witness' best puzzles were, and it makes the whole thing so much more engaging. The 2.5 hours I spent in this flew by without me realising. The story seems pretty meh.
Expectations: 4 / 5
Management. An absolute blast. A ton of effort has been put into the presentation and there's a lot of aspects to manage at once. And like all good management games, there's a pause button to take care of all of the time sensitive parts at once. Really looking forward to getting back to this once it comes out.
Management. An absolute blast. A ton of effort has been put into the presentation and there's a lot of aspects to manage at once. And like all good management games, there's a pause button to take care of all of the time sensitive parts at once. Really looking forward to getting back to this once it comes out.
Expectations: 4 / 5
Roguelite FPS. Think of Post Void except with heavy 90s anime aesthetic and the option to make it not punishingly difficult. I could get massively hooked on this.
Roguelite FPS. Think of Post Void except with heavy 90s anime aesthetic and the option to make it not punishingly difficult. I could get massively hooked on this.
Expectations: 4 / 5
First-person crafting horror survival. I already knew I was going to play this so I promised myself I'd only play 30 minutes so that I didn't get too bored during my first session with the game. 45 minutes later I realised I had gone way over. SkillUp mentioned in his preview that there is a lot to wrap your head around and I agree with him. Lots of hotkeys and systems, I feel like I'm playing an RTS. Still, I'm excited for this. Note that I didn't reach any combat sections, which I think I remember seeing mentioned.
First-person crafting horror survival. I already knew I was going to play this so I promised myself I'd only play 30 minutes so that I didn't get too bored during my first session with the game. 45 minutes later I realised I had gone way over. SkillUp mentioned in his preview that there is a lot to wrap your head around and I agree with him. Lots of hotkeys and systems, I feel like I'm playing an RTS. Still, I'm excited for this. Note that I didn't reach any combat sections, which I think I remember seeing mentioned.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
First-person puzzle dungeon crawler. One for Wordle enjoyers. A really fun one with a really fun typing mechanic. It has a sense of humour about it too, so I'm looking forward to playing more.
First-person puzzle dungeon crawler. One for Wordle enjoyers. A really fun one with a really fun typing mechanic. It has a sense of humour about it too, so I'm looking forward to playing more.
Expectations: 4 / 5
Productivity. Uh. It's hard to express why I have such affection for what is effectively an animated screensaver with custom music. Is it the straight-up aodrable character customisation? Is it the chill vibes? I'm not sure I'd ever use it as productivity software but I think it'll be a cool thing to have on in the background while reading a book or winding down before bed, and those experiences are just as important as hitting headshots after work.
Productivity. Uh. It's hard to express why I have such affection for what is effectively an animated screensaver with custom music. Is it the straight-up aodrable character customisation? Is it the chill vibes? I'm not sure I'd ever use it as productivity software but I think it'll be a cool thing to have on in the background while reading a book or winding down before bed, and those experiences are just as important as hitting headshots after work.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
Sniper puzzle. Yes this is a genre, it mostly died out with Flash games but the Hitman series has had a few swings at it. It has a supernatural spin on things that adds some new elements, and what seems like a tragic and disturbing story. It's very stylised as well, which we love to see.
Sniper puzzle. Yes this is a genre, it mostly died out with Flash games but the Hitman series has had a few swings at it. It has a supernatural spin on things that adds some new elements, and what seems like a tragic and disturbing story. It's very stylised as well, which we love to see.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
Building sandbox. Just the cutest little thing. We don't see a whole lot here but it looks like a great game to unwind with and I'm looking forward to seeing how far this can go - there are a lot of similar games to this in development so I don't know if this will be the best but it's nice.
Building sandbox. Just the cutest little thing. We don't see a whole lot here but it looks like a great game to unwind with and I'm looking forward to seeing how far this can go - there are a lot of similar games to this in development so I don't know if this will be the best but it's nice.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
Strategy city builder. Everything a mobile game should be, except it's a PC game. Lightweight, adorable, requires a little bit of brain power but not a lot of focus. I really enjoyed this demo, but I do worry about its depth, and scrolling up and down the street was a little annoying.
Strategy city builder. Everything a mobile game should be, except it's a PC game. Lightweight, adorable, requires a little bit of brain power but not a lot of focus. I really enjoyed this demo, but I do worry about its depth, and scrolling up and down the street was a little annoying.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
Truck simulator. Dadcore games need more sci-fi and fantasy settings. Yeah sure I'm sure you like farming or driving a train, but what about doing it with actual world building? Anyway this is cool but I'm really really bad at it. I like how you need to maintain your systems aboard your truck too, it makes use of the spacious cab.
Truck simulator. Dadcore games need more sci-fi and fantasy settings. Yeah sure I'm sure you like farming or driving a train, but what about doing it with actual world building? Anyway this is cool but I'm really really bad at it. I like how you need to maintain your systems aboard your truck too, it makes use of the spacious cab.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
2D platformer. Very cute and charming platformer with cooking minigames and a bunch of other mechanics. The setting of a young witch finding her way in a new town as a way of becoming a fully fledged witch reminded me of Kiki's Delivery Service, a movie near and dear to me.
2D platformer. Very cute and charming platformer with cooking minigames and a bunch of other mechanics. The setting of a young witch finding her way in a new town as a way of becoming a fully fledged witch reminded me of Kiki's Delivery Service, a movie near and dear to me.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
First-person horror. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach any combat sections due to crashes. However, what I did see was really good. The environments were well decorated, and the random horror.mp3 sounds were well placed and set a great atmosphere. So I'll give this a provisional 3.5, and if I have time I'll give this another crack at the end of the Fest.
First-person horror. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach any combat sections due to crashes. However, what I did see was really good. The environments were well decorated, and the random horror.mp3 sounds were well placed and set a great atmosphere. So I'll give this a provisional 3.5, and if I have time I'll give this another crack at the end of the Fest.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
Multiplayer FPS. A bit hard for me to gauge this at this stage. It definitely feels like Tribes, but sadly I live in Australia so I'm not going to get a match under 150 ping. It's a bit hard for those of us in Oceania to play niche multiplayer games.
Multiplayer FPS. A bit hard for me to gauge this at this stage. It definitely feels like Tribes, but sadly I live in Australia so I'm not going to get a match under 150 ping. It's a bit hard for those of us in Oceania to play niche multiplayer games.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
First person adventure. This is a sort of game I've dreamt of before. An exploration game set in a city where the populace are varying degrees of struggling with life. While I expect its shallow gameplay loop to wear a little thin, I still expect to enjoy this.
First person adventure. This is a sort of game I've dreamt of before. An exploration game set in a city where the populace are varying degrees of struggling with life. While I expect its shallow gameplay loop to wear a little thin, I still expect to enjoy this.
Expectations: 3.5 / 5
Card-based strategy roguelike. A solid sci-fi strategy game. Fairly lightweight but still enough to sink your teeth into. There was a bit of writing too and it fit the setting well, even if none of the characters made an impression in my short time with them.
Card-based strategy roguelike. A solid sci-fi strategy game. Fairly lightweight but still enough to sink your teeth into. There was a bit of writing too and it fit the setting well, even if none of the characters made an impression in my short time with them.
Expectations: 3 / 5
Turn-based strategy roguelike. I dunno man, outside of one (admittedly very cool) mechanic, I didn't really vibe with this. Maybe it's just because the mechanics were unfamiliar and I didn't get a good sense for the story.
Turn-based strategy roguelike. I dunno man, outside of one (admittedly very cool) mechanic, I didn't really vibe with this. Maybe it's just because the mechanics were unfamiliar and I didn't get a good sense for the story.
Expectations: 3 / 5
Isometric adventure. It's a Zelda-like except without combat. It's pretty simple and charming. Too simple actually, there's only one button to jump or interact. This sucks because it means if you hit interact slightly too early then you'll jump and possible fall off a cliff. Devs, please separate these into two buttons. Thank you.
Isometric adventure. It's a Zelda-like except without combat. It's pretty simple and charming. Too simple actually, there's only one button to jump or interact. This sucks because it means if you hit interact slightly too early then you'll jump and possible fall off a cliff. Devs, please separate these into two buttons. Thank you.
Expectations: 3 / 5
First-person action. It's definitely a game where singleplayer is an option, but the best experience with this game lies in its multiplayer. Combat seems very one-dimensional so I'm not sure this will have a long life for many players, but its co-op should be fun shenanigans with friends.
First-person action. It's definitely a game where singleplayer is an option, but the best experience with this game lies in its multiplayer. Combat seems very one-dimensional so I'm not sure this will have a long life for many players, but its co-op should be fun shenanigans with friends.
Expectations: 3 / 5
Side-on metroidvania. It's hard to talk badly about a game with an art style this cool, but what on Earth are they thinking? The default keyboard button mapping is awful and there aren't any options to change the binds or switch to controller. I'm meant to fight with W, A, S, D, E, F and space? How many fingers do you think I have? And why can't I quit to desktop without alt-F4ing? Isn't this coming out in less than a week? Assuming this stuff is fixed in the full release, we might get something cool here. But how on Earth are these oversights?
Side-on metroidvania. It's hard to talk badly about a game with an art style this cool, but what on Earth are they thinking? The default keyboard button mapping is awful and there aren't any options to change the binds or switch to controller. I'm meant to fight with W, A, S, D, E, F and space? How many fingers do you think I have? And why can't I quit to desktop without alt-F4ing? Isn't this coming out in less than a week? Assuming this stuff is fixed in the full release, we might get something cool here. But how on Earth are these oversights?
Expectations: 2.5 / 5
Sandbox. Man, I dunno. It's a neat little idea but there's so little variety in the demo that once you've spent 2 minutes in it you've kinda seen everything. The only thing you can really play around with then is the camera mode. There seems to be a few more options in screenshots but there's nothing really here to dig into.
Sandbox. Man, I dunno. It's a neat little idea but there's so little variety in the demo that once you've spent 2 minutes in it you've kinda seen everything. The only thing you can really play around with then is the camera mode. There seems to be a few more options in screenshots but there's nothing really here to dig into.
Expectations: 1 / 5
Third-person open world survival craft. Just a janky disaster. Maybe this is a pre-alpha build. I hope it is. I've looked at the screenshots and it looks like a different game.
Third-person open world survival craft. Just a janky disaster. Maybe this is a pre-alpha build. I hope it is. I've looked at the screenshots and it looks like a different game.