This might be last batch where if somebody spots anything interesting, there's still some time to play the demo.

Anger Foot (Proton)
Very short description of Anger Foot is fast FPS with simple level design and ridiculously powerful kick.

It's one of those few games where you feel like being inside action movie. Even including the fact that both hero and the player character heal from wounds by just by taking small break. Being a game, enemies are more likely to hit though.

Which in turn means that Anger Foot is bit difficult game. Speeding through the levels without thinking at all will most likely get you killed. I completed speedrun challenge at that came quite apparent. Levels are quite short though, so having to retry them few times doesn't feel that bad.

Boss battle was actually so difficult that I gave up for now. I might give it another try if I have time.

Demo is able to throw in new things every few levels. If game is able to keep that up, it could be fun all the way to the end.

I didn't find any indication that there would be Linux native build coming.

Anger Foot is worth trying out for people who are not allergic to FPS games (or Proton).

Kandria
There's already article about Kandria from few days ago.

I actually actively tried to avoid metroidvanias this time, but because of the article and few people might have mentioned the game, I just had to try it.

Basically what sets it apart from most metroidvanias is while world is not in good shape, it still feels lived in.

Less good things is that combat has tricks that make it quite easy. For example single enemies are quite easy to be defeated with endless combo.

Annoying thing is that platforming is quite difficult. Demo is sliced from somewhere middle of the game, so maybe there's plenty of time to get good. I was starting to wonder if there are better gamepads out there than XBox style controller. I actually switched to keyboard as it felt just bit more responsive (though hardly comfortable).

Kandria seems to worth trying for metroidvania fans who are not afraid of difficult platforming.

Flying Neko Delivery
Flying Neko Delivery was bit of a surprise. It seems to be inspired by Kikis Delivery Service and is cute in many ways.

There are few thing to complain about though. Tutorial feels bit like controller test. In case of Linux port it's not that bad thing as at least for me, one of the buttons didn't work. I don't think the bindings are reconfigurable in the demo, so I ended up using keyboard for the not working buttons. It might have been wiser to learn the keyboard controls.

You would think delivering packages with broomstick would be boring. And you would be somewhat right. Staying in the air needs little bit of attention and there are some diversions.

For example food ingredients need to be gathered all over the map. Food and drink in turn turbocharge the broomstick.

So even with the flaws, there's something worthwhile trying out.

Boxville
Boxville is point and click adventure game mostly without dialogue (there's some, but it's based on pictures and animation). Art is quite nice and puzzles require little bit of thinking.

Seems to be worth trying out for those that have trouble following complicated plot and reading lot of text. It might be little bit difficult for people trying out point and click adventure first time around, but otherwise would be nice first entry into the genre.

The Frogs
The Frogs is kind of Monty Python style point and click adventure with art from paintings. There's already article out from few days ago.

User interface feels bit clunky and humor is quite close to being funny. Might eventually buy Procession to Cavalry instead though.

Dragon Forge
Dragon Forge (I read it as DragonForce, but that's something totally different) is city builder, but there's player character that happens to be a dragon.

Demo has quite strict 20 minute time limit, but sacrificing gems seems to be essential part of the game.

For this one might have to wait for the release and see if people like it. There's some potential.

Quant
Quant is game that teaches quantum mechanics through gameplay. It seems to need bit polishing as game doesn't tell how to dismiss dialogs (I was able to figure out that with keyboard it's the control key). Game itself is kind of almost fun, which is not bad for educational game.

Yoko Redux: Dreams of a Blue Planet
Yoko Redux is cyberpunk point and click adventure.

In one way it's opposite of Boxville. Protagonist just doesn't know when to shut up. It's like voice actor was paid by number of words. There are times where dialogue attempts to be clever, but usually it just falls flat.

Good thing is that hotspots are very easy to see. They have have red color in them and background is quite gray. Not that levels are easy to navigate. Walking around changes camera angle, so it takes a while to get yourself familiar with the level. You just need to explore all corners of the screen in case it will reveal something new.

I guess kind of positive thing is that I actually was able to finish the demo, so I don't have to wonder if the game gets any better.

With movies there's sort of tradition of watching bad movies with buddies. For that game would have to be so bad that it's funny, but I don't see that angle working here.

But if I have to be positive, it can be recommended for people who like bad games.

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Developer of Big Ambitions uploaded a fixed build. Nice to see so quick response.

It still crashes quite frequently. If somebody wants to test it, my thread is over here.

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Few more games in this batch. As usual, order is from most interesting to least interesting.

Relic Space
This one seems to getting its inspiration from Elite and similar games. There's also maybe hint of Stellaris. Instead of having long flights in hyperspace, most of the action happens on hex grid in turn based mode.

There's multiple factions, some are in war with player faction. You can do missions that help the faction or help it economically by trading. While factions do things on their own too, player actions seem to have quite big impact.

There's some procedural generation, but there's also main campaign with a plot. Demo has bit of the plot in the tutorial. It's hard to say much about the plot, but at least it has intriguing start.

Relic Space seems to be slightly less complex space simulator (I think biggest ones are quite massive). Also gameplay seems to be faster, paradoxically there seems to be less waiting even when its turn based.

Old Skies
Another point and click adventure from Wadjet Eye Games. While they're known for their pixels, Old Skies is their most ambitious game yet. Resolution has been bumped to full HD and voice acting cast should be bigger than previous games.

User interface is quite simple and intuitive, even web search interface has been simplified.

As for the plot itself, time travel is in heart of it. World building is quite nice. I got bit stuck on one puzzle, so I haven't finished it yet.

Based on what I have seen so far, it's good pick for sci-fi point and click adventure fans.

Metal: Hellsinger (Proton)
In short, this is Doom 2016 the rhythm game. Looks as great as Doom 2016. Because of the rhythm game component, it's harder to get into flow. It's possible though, seems to require bit of practice. Especially with shotgun as it seems to be annoyingly bit slower than beat.

This one didn't work with the default Proton version. Proton Experimental did the trick though. No Linux version promised as far as I could find out. There's PC version though, but I assume it means Windows.

If you like FPS and rhythm games, this one might be worth trying out. If you like metal music, even more so. For me it caused small itch to start up Doom 2016 though (I don't have Doom Eternal because of Bethseda account requirement).

Tyrant's Blessing
Imagine Into the Breach, but in fantasy setting. Tyrants Blessing fits that description quite closely. There are small differences though. One of the major ones is that moving out of the harms way is not as effective.

Characters leave in most cases ghost in the original tile, which relays damage to the character. I guess that's there to have something similar to the buildings that can't move in Into the Breach. Without it, it mechanic for moving enemies would be useless most of the time.

Once you figure out the basics, demo throws in quite varied levels.

I didn't have patience to play the demo all the way to the end, but Tyrant's Blessing seems to be good game for tactical turn based games fans, if Into the Breach influences are not too distracting.

Alchemia: Creatio Ex Nihilo
This one has also quite clear influence: Slay the Spire. Largest difference is that instead of cards, there's ingredients for alchemy components. Game gives few recipes for free, but rest you have to figure out on your own. You can find hints for general ingredient layout or exact recipes.

I guess biggest flaw in the game, alchemy is not fun as core gameplay mechanic. You just have to keep trying things out until you accidentally get things right. Store description hints that the recipes might be unique for each gameplay.

At least once you upgrade recipe once, you don't have to manually place the ingredients.

I guess this could be recommended for people who have appetite still for one more Slay the Spire inspired game.

Poly Skies
This one is is city builder, but people are on floating islands. Based on the demo and store page description there's not much more to it and release is scheduled for this summer.

Demo is bit too basic to be interesting and some of the basic city builder things are not there. There are better city builders out there.

Legacy of Sin blood oath (Proton)
This one seems to be have kind of Plants VS zombies style gameplay, just less cute. Can't say much more as demo seems to be broken. So if it for some reason seems interesting, only option right now is to watch gameplay from stream.

I didn't spot any promises about Linux version.

Big Ambitions
Based on description, this is some kind of rags to riches simulation.

Demo is broken though. People are commenting about the gameplay, so it might work better with Proton.

For me all texts were placeholders and button that's supposed to start the game didn't work.



I have also bit odds and ends. I tried Hands of Necromacy again and it being metroidvania makes more sense now. I was doing things in wrong order, but after backtracking I found more of the multipart key fetch quest. Maybe bit complicated for FPS, but quite norm for metroidvania.

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Todays batch. I'm again arranging them from most interesting to least interesting.

Justin Wack and The Big Time Hack (Proton)
This one is point and click adventure inspired by the LucasArts classics. This one has has pixelated graphics too, but only to censor certain area. Game seems to be fully voice acted too.

Puzzles in the demo are relatively easy if you think what would be the wackiest solution. For this kind of game, humor can be be quite hit and miss, but I might have chuckled out loud few times.

I actually wishlisted this one. System requirements include Linux, so native version is most likely coming.

Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders
Another point and click adventure. This one is more serious and is pixelated all the way. Voice acting is in German, but text has English translation.

What makes this one interesting, is somewhat serious tone (there's humor, but it's not wacky) and low tech detective stuff. User interface takes moment to get used to (scroll wheel opens either inventory or notebook). Speaking of notebook, it's similar to Blackwell series (which in turn must be inspired by something else).

Basically clues are collected mostly by talking with people and combining clues start building up the case. Final conclusions require some deduction, paying attention is needed. Game hints if you got things wrong, remember to save before start arresting people.

Demo has one full case, final game should have more cases to solve.

In the end bit clunky, but does have certain charm. I wonder if there are more good murder mystery games out there.

Dome Keeper
Dome Keeper has actually article already. Basically it's mining game mixed with dome defense. For roguelike it might not have enough variety, so you'll better get good in order to start exploring the upgrade tree bit further. Trailer sure has some interesting things.

Arcane Waters
This one is sort of Stardew Valley inspired MMORPG with pirates. You can enable single player in the settings, but setting is not sticky. It seemed though that only multiplayer thing you'll encounter is global chat, but based on that there were at least few players.

Fights are kind of somewhere between turn based and realtime. There's visible and invisible cooldowns, so instead of using the most effective attack, it's easier to just spam whatever is not in middle of cooldown. It's possible that eventually there's more attacks to choose from, so multiple choices could even be available.

I didn't feel like grinding quests outside the tutorial, but it seemed that demo might have bit more content.

If you're interested in this type of game, you could have more fun than I did.

World Turtles
Based on tutorial it seems somewhat basic city builder with animated turtle. Store description hints though that there's more to it. I might revisit this if freeplay reveals something more. I played just the tutorial.

Rogue Warlords
Game about building massive army and slowly defeating your opponent. Basically you spend gold that you divide between recruiting units and purchasing upgrades. Battle itself mostly doesn't need that much interaction.

I wonder how fun replaying this is, but still: massive...armies.

Walk Hero (Proton)
Is Loop Hero too complicated for you? Walk Hero replaces loop with direct path and throws most of things from Loop Hero away. Still, it's oddly satisfying. Store page promises different characters, so there should be some meta progression.

Still, there's risk that it gets boring quite fast.

Words Can Kill
Kind of Slay the Spire style roguelite game. Cards are replaced with letters and longer words you can form, more attack or defense you can get. It gets bit more complicated than that. I guess only fault is that it doesn't feel fun. But it might be just me.

Fech The Ferret
Runner game. Running seems bit pointless as game doesn't guide where you should go. Music is supposed to get more exciting if you run faster, but at least the demo doesn't tell much how to run faster. If remember correctly, game is still in alpha, which could explain things. It's still missing the fun.

Blank Space (Proton)
Twin stick shooter where you clear rooms. I guess what killed this for me was the weapon reloading. Hard to get into flow when you have forced break like that.

Graphically looks good though and maybe there's good game in there somewhere.

Dino Mercs (Proton)

This one is broken, didn't work even with Proton Experimental. Could be fun, if you like debugging Proton. Based on the discussions, it works at least on Windows. There's system requirements for native build, so maybe that works better if it turns up.

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Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: PhlebiacWhat happens when the host creature gets an itch, and rolls over to scratch all those pesky parasites on its back?

Given its biology, I'm not sure it can roll over.

I'm kinda interested in how your villagers get up there in the first place though—the game kinda glosses over it.

Initially they could get up there when creature is sleeping. After that there's gradually more options like making the creature lie down or building some kind of lift system.

I don't remember game explicitly telling those things. Patrols just somehow return and get wood and stone up there.

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Quoting: PhiladelphusWhen you open the demo there's also a big splash screen photo of the dev team, and it made me think about how we never really see that in games. Sure, there'll probably be a list of credits when you finish the game somewhere, but seeing that photo reminded that games are made by real people, not just a scrolling list of names on a screen. It really humanized them in my mind. I dunno, it just stood out to me because I can't remember another game that did anything like that.

It's not totally unheard of. System Shock 2 did that with the end credits. When going far back enough, even having the credits wasn't sure thing. One of the first easter eggs in a game was developers name.

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Another batch from today. Most interesting games are at the top.

Astro Colony (Proton)
I played the demo some more and watched the stream, so I'm confident enough to give short review. It's a building game in first person perspective. You start in very simple space station, but can eventually dock to asteroids in order to build and mine. Lot of the production can be automated via conveyor belts. Great fun and I have still things to try out in the demo.

Demo is available only during the event (as stated by the developer, no need to guess), so if you're interested in the genre at all, now would be good time to start playing the demo. It's bit of a time sink, so if you want to try everything that's included in the demo, prepare to spend several hours with the demo.

There's system requirements for Linux, so I guess native version will come at some point.

Sweet Dreams Alex
This one is kind of tower defense inspired puzzle. Tutorial is missing few hints how to start the game, but at least points to the right direction.

Basically the premise is that you should delay the nightmares long enough so they don't reach the sleeper in time. How nightmares are delayed works quite much like in tower defense where you can place walls. Walls are just cardboard boxes in this one. And there's no towers, so you can't actually kill the nightmares.

Starts very simple, but I got stuck in bit harder level where I think I did everything that I can, but nightmares are one second too fast.

If they bring enough new things during the levels, this one might be interesting for people who love puzzles.

Grim Horde
This one is weird, basically your character is demon who can open portals that will summon the horde slowly. At the same time villages and defenders attack the portals and you. If you manage to kill villagers, you can collect souls that can be used to buy upgrades.

After a while you unlock boss battle. I'm not totally sure if its based on amount of destruction or time. Game doesn't really tell you.

I wasn't able to figure out what to do in the boss battles. But I guess this one is good for somebody who wants to try out something weird and different.

Race Me Now
Retro arcade racing game. Playable enough with keyboard.

Decent enough, but based on the demo, there are more fun racing games out there right now.

Flashout 3
Another racing game. This one is more futuristic and has weapons. It just didn't seem fun enough and tracks are harder to read because of the graphical style.

If you are not tired of Wipeout style racing, might still be worth trying out. Just don't expect too much.

Poly Fury
Quite simple bullet hell shoot 'em up. It seems to consist of boss battles where you can only move in circle around the boss.

If you want to something that you have seen in few minutes, it might work as a quick snack. But ultimately it seems bit pointless.

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Quoting: KROMI've played the demo during one of Steams Indie Demo Days and really enjoyed it. It had some fresh gameplay elements, which is kind of rare to see when you've played hundreds of games. Really nice to hear that there will be a native version. Looking forward to it.

Building and caring about your "vehicle" make it feel quite different. Also usually you can't fail in building games, but Wandering Village is not that easy.

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Quoting: hiryuI haven't tried this game under Linux in years... What is its current state? Is the performance still terrible?

Should be fine enough, depending on the system of course. I get somewhere between 160 to 220 FPS when I did quick run around the slums.

Back when I had GTX 970, game was playable most of the time, though there were times where performance was horrible right from the menu. Don't remember why.

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Few games that I played today:

Find All 3: Travel
Hidden object game mixed with a coloring book. Basically things work like in simple hidden object games, but in this one level is black and white and gets colored when you find the targets. There's little bit of gatekeeping as you have three different types of things to find at a time, by finding all the objects in a slot, slot gets another types of things to find.

Simple as that. If you like hidden object games, demo will keep you occupied for a while. If you want more, previous games in the series are not that expensive.

Pocket Wheels (Proton)
This one is kind of toy car 3D platformer. I haven't played Micro Machines, but based on screenshots, both games have graphically same idea: tiny cars in environments where you can really see that they're tiny.

Exploration is also big part of the game as level has (which in demo is a kids room) coins and batteries to collect. Coins seem to be for unlocking new cars and batteries open next room (which is not included in the demo). Level has also racing challenges.

Most fun I had was with the racing challenges, in the demo collecting items didn't cause any addiction. I think somebody might still enjoy it though.

Even when demo is for Windows, system requirements contain Linux, so native version might be coming up.

Adamstown
Adamstown is tile laying puzzle game about building cities. Tutorial gets easily dismissed, but luckily it can be re-enabled in the settings. Tutorial is needed as it takes a moment to get used to the controls.

Things start simple, but slowly tiles include targets. For example tile might have target of five continuous blocks of red buildings.

What makes that difficult is that tiles have hooks (I forgot what the game calls them) which enable attaching them to other tiles. Having hooks on all sides of the tile is rare. Because of that, after playing a while there might be half completed area that have no hooks available at all on its side. Which is not game over at all, you just have to start building from closest hook.

There's certainly puzzle element in there. Not wishlist material for me, but I can clearly see that this might work for somebody.

Hands of Necromancy
GZDoom based FPS inspired by Heretic. Decent level design, puzzles where just too hard for me. Might take a another look later.

If you have no idea what kind of game Heretic is, its Doom, but weapons are staves and wands. And no, Heretic was inspired by the original Doom, not the 2016 one.

Machinicide
This one is FPS that has gimmick that guns are disposable. I didn't have enough patience for it, but it also advertises that there's gravity switching mechanic.

So lot of potentially cool stuff, but for some reason it doesn't feel fun.

The rest

I also played Homemade TCG, but it seems to bit of mess right now. It doesn't seem fun.

Missile Input is broken at the moment. Good news that Python source code is included in the download, so if you treat it as programming game, it could be fun. Coincidentally description says that it's a typing game. Bit more seriously though, lets see what developer responds to my bug report.

I also played Astro Colony, which seems to be first person space station building game with some automation. I think I'll get back to that later, there's still lot of things that I haven't tried.

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