With Steam Next Fest in full swing, here are the ones I got to play with a mini review accompanying each one! If you like them, please add them to your wishlist and support these indiegames! This is a ‘living document’ article, which means we’ll update it throughout the Next Fest with more awesome demos. So give this article the old bookmark treatment as you’ll want to check back on it!
Verho: Curse of Faces
If you’re a fan of old school medieval RPGs, then this will feel very familiar to you. Personally tried the Knight Class and while the game (atleast the demo) throws you into the world without much direction, it’s fairly easy to find your wauy
Wishlist Verho: Curse of Faces
Winter Witch
A cozy adventure game that will have you explore more and more of the forest as the witch living with her pet cat, Merlin. You’ll get to pet the cat (and you should do it every chance you get, because… Why wouldn’t you?!) and also explore an ever expanding map as you craft your way past broken bridges and brambles covering your path. The art style is quite monochromatic and the UI could use a little bit of help but a nice and cozy experience awaits anyone that boots up the game!
Philna Fantasy
An old school isometric RPG, shares visual similarities to many in the genre but the gameplay is quite smooth and the battles were fun. The art style is beautiful and the map seems quite expansive even in the demo.
Misery
Misery has gone viral with survival players and it doesn’t take too long in the game to know why, one that’s focused on the fundamentals with a very Retro aesthetic. Misery is looking like an extremely strong contender for launch later this month! For a developer that was denied a job in games, they seem to have done extremely well for themselves with over 250,000 wishlists and climbing!
Laugh Track
While I am not a huge fan of VNs in general, this had a very interesting type concept. You work for the ‘management’ to exact pain and punishment on the main character of the show you’re the narrative lead for. You get choices on how to approach and how each scene plays out, there’s an element of comedy to it much like one of my favourite shows, The Good Place.
However, there is voice acting with an ‘alien language’ which can be tiring on the ears, the art style and comedic writing (mostly dark) is definitely the focus of the game. It releases in 2026 for Free so not too long to wait and it won’t hurt your budget one bit!
Switchboard
A great voice acted game much alike Paper’s Please that will have you handle the switchboard in what seems like post-war briton. The plot thickens day after day as your loyalties are tested between the crown, the communist insertion and even your family. The writing is really well done and has the best representation of ‘cutscenes’ without actual cutscenes. It’s done marvelously and is one of the best games I’ve played as far as Narrative pacing is concerned in the next fest. Definitely one to watch!
Taxi Chaos 2
It’s like Crazy Taxi but it misses the elements that made Crazy Taxi over the top fun! There’s no great jumps that give UI explosions and the dialogue feels a bit repetitive. It can still be a fun time though and I am hoping that the campaign (story mode) that’s planned for the full release brings with it a host of improvements. If you’re looking for some old school Arcade fun, not a bad way to spend some time!
Eternal Palace Sakura
Even though the localization needs a bit of help, if you’re into a hack and slash dungeon crawler experience, then Eternal Palace Sakura is the right one for you! It has an anime flavour to it and landing combos can feel extremely satisfying!
Wishlist Eternal Palace Sakura
Mainland
Fans of Mount & Blade will feel at home, for newcomers though it might be a rough go at first. However, remembering it’s a solo dev project that enables you to experience the game in Co-Op even at the demo stage, you can’t say it’s not ambitious!
Spiritstead
Not sure if this is a next fest demo or a demo that was out already, I came across the game on reddit and the art style made me jump at the chance to play the demo. It’s quite a cozy experience to start off with, there’s also a seasonal update that added some spooky music and design elements to get you in the mood for Halloween! If you’re into cozy ‘village’ builders, then you’ll love Spiritstead
Into The Depths
Card based ‘village-builder’ that will have you explore within the depths of the world. The challenge comes in expanding your search and settlement by balancing the food. Not one that introduces you to the game the ‘easy’ way and has no issues telling you it’s game over, but if you’re looking for a challenge, few in this genre will probably give it to you like Into the Depths. All it needs is a bit more UI based tutorial (camera movement, rotation, etc) and a little bit more polish and it could be quite the hit in the genre.
Train Reaction
A bit complicated for my taste but if you have a mind that’s a tad bit more logical than mine, you’ll find a lot of joy in building the train networks and simulating conditions. It’s possible that it can also be a great tool in the classroom to teach If/Else arguments and the basic structure of programing and logic!
Final Sentence
This game is definitely going viral. It’s gaining popularity as a demo already but I expect this to have a massive release purely at how simple the game loop is. It’s like Stephen King’s ‘The Long Walk’ which had a great movie release this year.
Keep typing, if you make a mistake, start again. 3 Mistakes, then the roulette starts. It’s not just about accuracy, it’s also about the speed. Because there can only be one winner.
One change that would make it extra challenging? An endless mode, where you get less and less time and you win purely by virtue of staying alive the longest.
Gem Miner TD
If you’re a fan of Tower Defense games you’ll know the basic loop, however, Gem Miner TD brings it’s own flavour to the genre by adding another type of strategy. The route you mine will decide how easy or hard it is for the enemy to get to you as well as the types of weapons (which are gems you unearth by mining next to them) you unlock!
Had a blast playing it and really enjoyed the art style!
Retro Relics
A lovely RPG that willl have you hunt for relics with a metal detector, it has an underlying story of treasure hunting and some intrigue with you trying to follow your grandfather’s footsteps! It seems the game is actually based on things the developer (a solo dev I might add!) went through. I really enjoyed playing the demo and it’s definitely one for the fans of Cozy games that make your heart feel warm with every playthrough!
CoThrust
This is a game that will end friendships. It’s extremely frustrating, but fun to play, even solo but if you have a friend or partner to play, you’ll have a blast yelling at eachother to thrust at the right time (your neighbours might mistake you for doing something else than playing CoThrust though! Fantastic game based on physics and destroying friendships, can’t recommend this enough!
Medieval Startup
This game is right up my alley, it has everything from scavenging and crafting to managing employees and serving customers that are thankfully, patient enough to wait for their tankards while I hunt down apples!
If you’re a fan of restaurant sims or cozy games, this is right up your alley with a nice medieval background score to keep your ears humming while you get your customers served! All this done by a solo dev too. As they say in medieval time, I take my hat off to you! (maybe they didn’t say it then, but it still counts!)
More to come…
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