10 Steam Next Fest Games You Should Try
Alternate title: 10 Games To Keep An Eye On
Steam Next Fest is here, and all sorts of upcoming indie games are available to try — sometimes for a limited time. I’ve spent the last few days trying out a new number of them, and I have some recommendations for games you should try, or keep an eye on for later this year.
Blockbuster inc
In the last few years, we have seen a few attempts to capture the spirit of Lionhead Studios’ cult classic The Movies, but I think Blockbuster Inc. Is going to be the one that does it. While others have focused primarily on the tycoon side of things, Blockbuster Inc has that alongside the ability to create, and direct your own short films.
There’s a lot of room for expression with the ability to make your own sets, timing sounds, captioning your silent films, and assigning animations for your actors in the game. Its matched with a solid tycoon type experience, and with the developer saying they are interested in adding an export feature for the created films, and many more animations and tools to come to the game it is one to keep an eye on.
News Tower
I admit that the theme for News Tower is a big hit for me, as someone who has a lot of interest in journalism, but there’s more to this promising game than just a strong theme. This game places you in at the end of the 1920s America, where you try to rebuild a failing newspaper as the publisher.
As you work to build your news empire, you will get to choose what matters to you in what the focus for reporting is. You will also, have choices about how, or if, you engage with the powerful criminal element of the time, as the mob has requests that you can choose to do or not. There’s an engaging ongoing drip of decisions and interaction in the best of these games that News Tower manages to hit so far for me, and I’m looking forward to its release next week.
Dungeonborne
Not every game is for me, but I can see a good game even if it’s not one I am likely to play again as is the case for Dungeonborne. A fantasy extraction game, it mixes that with Diablo and Dark Souls for a game that is unlike anything I have played.
The inventory and skills bring Diablo and ARPGs to mind, but the actual combat itself calls to mind the deliberate, commitment focused Souls style of combat. This fits with the general commitment focus for extraction games, as doing everything is a weighing of risk and reward, as you try to emerge with the best loot, slay foes in the PvPvE environemnt, and escape back out.
Poised to be a breakout hit, Dungeonborne has been hitting demo CCUs nearing 20k, so check it out now before it’s everywhere.
Menace From the Deep
On the other side is a game that has had little fanfare in Menace From the Deep. This is a deckbuilder set in the Cthlhu Mythos during 1920s America with roguelite elements included. There’s some interesting mysteries in the plot teased at in the demo, with some neat characters shown in the clandestine organization opposing the rise of the eldritch abominations.
The combat in the game is similar to Slay the Spire, but unlike in that game you have allies who also take actions. The first character you do runs with has a dog accompanying them. As you play your cards, they are improved, and you get to make choices about how they are leveled up, as well as what new cards you get. There’s an interesting pathing method here that makes use of deckbuilding, all of which point to a promising game that just needs a few dashes of polish to truly glisten.
Millennia
We’ve seen a few games try to take on Firaxis’ Civilization lately, but none of them have quite managed to stick the landing. The next contender, published by strategy masters Paradox, might just manage to give the venerable 4x strategy game the challenger it’s been waiting for, as Millennia is very promising.
The game feels a decent amount like Civilization, but it has its own ideas and concepts for them in the game. Concepts like different ages based based on what you’ve been doing and leading into victory conditions, and a number of other ideas that are interesting. That said, they definitely managed to capture the ‘one more turn’ appeal of the Civilization series, and I look forward to seeing it more later this year.
Baladins
Few of the games I tried out had the sheer energy and exuberance that Baladins bounces with. A co-op adventure RPG board game that has you travelling as one (or a group) of character(s) that handle quests and problems across the land in a time-looping story. Charming, breezy, and full of whimsy, Baladins looks like a perfect light rpg game to play with friends when it releases.
Guild Saga: Vanished World
If you are in the mood for a heftier RPG, Guild Saga: Vanished World is there for you with something that goes more of the classic CRPG and tactics style. An intriguing premise, story, and characters are at the heart of this game, and it is complemented by a deep and robust combat system.
There’s a variety of magic, and other combat skills that give you a lot of options in combat, and outside of it there’s different choices and quests you can do. Despite everything else that is going on, and the serious main narrative, the game manages to mesh humour in quite nicely to bring levity in the long hours of play.
Lightyear Frontier
If you are looking for a survival-style of game without combat or much stress, Lightyear Frontier is a game you should look forward to. Colourful, vibrant, and full of personalty, Lightyear Frontier jumps at you and wants to have fun with it’s ideas, and of building on the frontier, even as it has hidden mysteries to be discovered. Also: you do all the harvesting and different things in a mech!
Pacific Drive
Far from the bright lights of Lightyear Frontier, Pacific Drive is a survival horror game full of tension, and suspenseful atmosphere. Mixing the genre that Resident Evil popularized, with more survival game features, roguelite runs, and a driving game it turns out to not be a random mash of ideas but a masterful use of different concepts to create an unique experience.
Pacific Drive takes full use of the idea of procedural generation and changing areas in its narrative and atmosphere, as while you travel around you the world itself changes. Random surges of terrain, anomalies and more can pop up as you travel, scavenging for supplies and more to improve your car as you work to solve the mysteries of the area, and escape away from this reality warping area of Earth.
Geneforge 2: Infestation.
The original Geneforge 2 released over 20 years ago, and it was a masterwork by Spiderweb Software, with almost all the work done by designer Jeff Vogel. Featuring rich factions, tons of choice, a deep character system, and plenty to explore it was an engrossing RPG.
The Geneforge 2: Infestation remake isn’t just prettied up (for the value that has to the low budget art of Spiderweb games), but it has added new content, streamlined some segments, and a significant improvement to the user interface.
(Disclosure: I backed this game on KickStarter and am a longtime fan of Jef Vogel’s games)
Backpack Battles
Missing the last Next Fest, Backpack Battles managed to make it this time and has made use of the last three months to refine and add more content to the demo. A PVP autobattler where player’s control is limited to what items they purchase and equip their hero with, there is a lot of depth to the variety of builds and approaches you can take with the two classes available so far.
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There you go, that’s ten games you should keep an eye on, or you can try these games right now in the Steam Next Fest.
