Another Steam Fest, another set of rapid-fire demo reviews.
Space Reign
I’ve actually played this demo a few times to see how things are coming along. I love the idea behind the game, but the combat is frustrating to me. I think it’s mostly due to some controls (which I have to relearn every time I play), but also because of very limited ammunition. You’re dropped into an area to patrol and dogfight, outnumbered and outgunned. In all my experiences with the demo, I typically die from attrition; I have a hard time actually hitting targets (despite lining up my lead indicator), and I eventually run out of ammo or get slowly whittled down by random hits. Maybe games like Everspace have just spoiled me when it comes to accessible space combat. That said, I really like the style and what they’re working toward, so it’ll stay on my wishlist for now.
Sons of Valhalla
A Viking-themed Kingdom-style side-scrolling building, exploration, and combat game. The start felt really grindy to me, having to go get a few hits in, then retreat to heal (during which the enemy had fully restored their forces). Felt like I was hitting a wall and going nowhere, despite building up my forces. I assume something’s just not clicking with me. Has that same pixel art style as Kingdom, too.
Oxygen
Survival city builder in the vein of Frostpunk. Magma bubbling up through fissures has caused Earth’s atmosphere to become toxic. Instead of a generator producing heat to fight the cold, you have an “oxygen center” producing oxygen to provide oxygen for your population. There didn’t seem to be anything that really made Oxygen stand out, but it’s not bad.
Super Adventure Hand
I first saw this on Reddit (the Unity subreddit), and thought the idea of a hand walking around looked interesting (also bizarre). When I saw it in the Fest with this fantastic title, I decided to give it a try. It’s a physics-based puzzle platformer with some quirky humor (you get chased by feet with eyes in some levels). Fun to play, pretty easy to get into.
Urbo
Basically 2048 as a city builder. It’s nice and serene, but I was expecting more.
Mars First Logistics
I enjoy the occasional open-world vehicle-building puzzler, like Main Assembly or Trailmakers, and this one is more of that type. Mars First Logistics has an art style like Sable (which is beautiful), and tasks you with modifying your rover to deliver goods from point to point. The goods you deliver help build up infrastructure on the red planet, like a telescope in the demo.
Cybertown
A cyberpunk city builder. They have the bright neon lights vibe down, but the interface is really rough, and it doesn’t work on widescreens.
Voidtrain
Basically Raft with some Subnautica flavor and interesting theming. There’s some Norse styling which is hopefully tied into the story somehow and not just something to look cool. Hopefully there’s something you can build to automatically collect scrap in the full version because boy does that get boring fast. Looks great, and maybe they’ll throw in a peaceful mode so I can just build my train.
Darfall
A voxel survival city-builder with some RPG elements. You get a hero that levels up and is your main defender while building a city to harvest resources and fulfill the needs of your workers. It looks like you can recruit soldiers but I could never figure out how. At night, the undead rise and attack your city, which you have to fend off with your hero (and, presumably, soldiers). During the day, you’re free to explore the surrounding area, killing off roaming enemies and destroying small outposts. The UI can be a little obscure sometimes, but the game as a whole is pretty decent.
Meet Your Maker
An FPS where you raid player-built bases to steal resources, which you use to level up your equipment and build your own bases. The bases are basically small mazes you fill with traps and guards. Has a post-apocalyptic cybernetic body-horror aesthetic. I’m not sure what happens when your base gets raided (do I lose resources?) as I didn’t play long enough to be able to build my own (it requires a decent amount of resources). The first levels feel really grindy, getting only a trickle of resources from each raid. And it all just feels too much like a desktop version of one of those mobile games where every player is attacking each other asynchronously.
Capes
When I saw Capes, I immediately thought of Freedom Force, and it doesn’t disappoint. I loved Freedom Force, a tactical turn-based strategy game where you control a team of superheroes. Capes is just what I wanted, with a roster of heroes with fun abilities and “team-ups” that boost their powers when certain teammates are near. A lot of fun. Definitely recommend.
Infection Free Zone
I’ve played the demo for this one a few times as well, and I’m still excited about it even though there’s still a lot of work needed. You’re in charge of defending an area from zombies, building defenses, farms, etc. But the draw for me is that it uses orbital maps to allow you to play in any real-world location. Unfortunately the demo is locked to only a few areas, but the idea of turning my neighborhood into a zombie-free compound keeps me interested in this one.
Exogate Initiative
Still one of the games I’m most excited about. There’s been some good progress on this one since the last demo I played. There’s a bit of a tutorial now (there’s at least specific objectives to guide you through the start), and the interface is a bit cleaner now. Build your base, hire Gaters, send your teams to alien worlds for exploration and profit. It’s the best Stargate game I’ve ever played. Can’t wait for this one to release.
Fabledom
A cute city-builder with a very storybook style. You can interact with other kingdoms and unite the lands through “love or war”. You can find yourself a king/queen, and it looks like the full game will have some combat as well. Looks decent. The male and female characters remind me of the mom and dad from Luca.
Phantom Brigade
I had completely forgotten about Phantom Brigade, but after playing the demo, I’m hooked. The timeline system is a great way to orchestrate attacks, and being able to see what everyone will do allows you to play very aggressively, which is refreshing since most tactical games (like XCOM) encourage playing very slow and defensively. I will definitely be picking this one up when it releases (in two weeks).
HumanitZ
I’ve been searching for some sort of survival defense game where you can build a base, set up defenses, scavenge for resources, etc. This isn’t it. The interface and controls are really clunky and it’s in desperate need of a tutorial. It needs a lot of polish. Also, that title is just terrible.
Dust and Neon
A slick and stylish isometric action looter shooter. The reload animations are fantastic. A lot of fun. The demo starts you off with a good set of upgrades, so you get a feel for the mid-game (I assume).
Perseus
Isometric action roguelike. Seems like it wants to be the next Hades, mixed with a bit of Diablo, but the combat is a little annoying and uninspired.
Galaxy Pass Station
It’s basically Papers, Please with some space station building mechanics. It’s not bad, but I don’t think I’m really into the “catch all the mistakes” gameplay. You can at least build “bureaucrat desks” for robot bureaucrats to check documents for you in this one, though.
Planet of Lana
An absolutely gorgeous puzzle platformer. You have a little cat-like creature that follows you around and helps you solve puzzles. There looks to be an interesting story going on in the world as well, which I won’t comment on to avoid spoilers.
1000xRESIST
A narrative game where you flip between time periods to experience the story and figure out the mystery around the game. It’s a weird one, but I enjoyed how the story was told in the demo.
System Shock
It’s System Shock. I love how the graphics are a semi-pixelated retro style but still look clean and modern. Interface is really clean, too.
Broken Arrow
Looks like a solid tactical strategy game. Not really my thing, and I couldn’t play too much because it runs terribly without my new video card…
Roots of Yggdrasil
A roguelike city builder, similar to Against The Storm, but more puzzle-like. Building is turn-based, with income each turn based on the buildings you’ve placed. There’s a different objective on each map, and if you take too long, a dark cloud starts covering the map and if it gets to the portal, you lose. I prefer Against The Storm, but this one isn’t bad if you want something more puzzley.
Builders of Greece
A fairly standard city builder with a Greek theme.
Lakeburg Legacies
A charming little village management game where you manage the lives of your villagers. A big focus of the game is pairing your villagers into couples, which isn’t something I expected to enjoy as much as I did. You don’t get to build your village directly (building order is predetermined), and you just build houses as you need them in a separate view. Instead, you manage who works where, assign apprenticeships for children (to determine their affinities for jobs as adults), make sure everyone’s needs are filled, and handle villager’s dates (awkward moments and all). It’s like part village management sim and part dating sim, with a lovely art style.
Shadows of Doubt
A detective game with a procedural world and a voxel art style. Needs some optimization, and I’m not sure if I missed something or if the tutorial didn’t guide me to everything I needed for the first case; it led me to a murder reporting form that wanted the killer and I hadn’t figured out that information yet. I did enjoy organizing the case board, though. Has potential if it’s able to procedurally generate cases for you to solve.
My Dream Setup
Definitely more a toy than a game, but it’s a nice way to visualize furniture and layouts. It’s basically what I typically use The Sims for, without job or artificial social interaction.
Mr. Saitou
A game about a llamaworm that works a boring job. Basically a cute little adventure game. According to the Steam page, meant to be a short story about finding meaning in life.
Radio The Universe
A 2D action game with a interesting style. Dying resets the room you’re in. Not really my sort of thing, but I like the style.
Afterimage
A beautiful 2D Metroidvania. Gameplay is pretty solid, though in the short time I played the demo, I’m still a little confused about what’s going on.
SUPER 56
A game composed of 56 minigames and the whole thing (menus and all) is controlled with a single button. Some of the minigames are pretty difficult when you’re limited to a single key (racing and minigolf). Others are pretty simple (type “A” 100 times). Very wacky.
The Pale Beyond
A narrative survival game where you have to make some very tough choices. It’s based on historical polar expeditions, and you’re constantly fighting to manage your food, fuel, and “decorum” – basically a measure of the civility of your crew. The demo was a lot of fun; I’m looking forward to trying the full game.
Mail Time
A cute little game where you deliver mail and fetch items for various creatures. It’s adorable.
Tape to Tape
A roguelike hockey game. I’m not typically into sports games, but I like the style of this one. You earn powerups after each match and can unlock new “stars” to bring with you for each run. What little I played was a lot of fun, though the menus don’t work well on a wide screen.
Next Fest Complete
I obviously played a lot of demos during this Fest (and a few of these after it ended). I found a handful that I’m definitely looking forward to, like Phantom Brigade and Capes; and there were several that I’m not really interested in but were fun to dip into. Some of these were suggestions from articles I read and wouldn’t have tried on my own (like Tape to Tape and Mr. Saitou), which was a good diversion from the sort of games I typically play.
I think my favorites this time around were Phantom Brigade, Capes, Dust and Neon, and Exogate Initiative. They’ll definitely be in my library at some point.