Quoting: AndroidNougat7I tried 39 games from the Next Fest (February 2024) and all games, which I tested works fine on Linux and also on my Steam Deck.

I count that I played 27 demos, though it's 29 if demos that didn't work are counted. Also I have been playing some demos even after the fest has ended. Even installed few more.

I think I have played even more in one of the previous fests, but that one was during my holiday. This time around had to balance work and other stuff at the same time, which left less time for demos. But still added seven games to wishlist, which is plenty.

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Some of the demos have already vanished, though ones I mention here still have the demos available. There's few games worth mentioning. I do have few more unplayed demos, but let's see if any of them are worth mentioning.

Worth Checking Out

Rotwood [External Link]
Rotwood is reminds me bit of Cult of the Lambs "dungeons", though based on the experience on the latter, Rotwood is the more fun version it. I guess that benefit of coming later and being bit more genre pure game that can concentrate on making one gameplay loop fun. Plenty of roguelite featurures like upgrades and different weapons. Combat requires bit of skill, but learning curve feels like manageable. Though I still might hit ceiling in the full game, but hard to know as the game hasn't been released yet.

I managed to try out different weapon types and they do affect the gameplay by having different moves and combos.

Ultros [External Link]
Metroidvania with interesting art style and world building is wonderfully strange. Also, you get to eat your enemies organs (which is tied to update mechanic).

Almost Fun

Death Relives [External Link]
Horror game getting inspiration from Aztec mythology. Some puzzles and hiding from the monster. Only thing that managed to scare me were the jumpscares. Probably could learn trick or two from the Amnesia games. I didn't play long enough to see what the odd looking gun does, though that might have been the main reason why I downloaded the demo. Not totally sure if there's strong enough reasons for me to launch the game again.

Breachway [External Link]
Space travel, space battles and a card game. Those are the main ingredients of Breachway. Lot of interesting mechanics, but ultimately bit boring. I guess that's the only thing wrong with it.

Level Up Your Body [External Link]
I mentioned Beat the Beats earlier. Like it, this one is VR only game based on boxing moves. Main difference is that this one is bit of a mess. It copies few things from Beat Saber, but they don't seem to do anything at all. Ultimately fixable things, but this might be the only time I play the game ever.

Not Worth it

Hell Galaxy [External Link]
What could go wrong, if the premise is sci-fi horror? Sadly tutorial execution can ruin the great premise. Seems to be some kind of space combat game, but tutorial hides the enemies behind icons (known issue) and if you die in the tutorial, you get soft locked behind door that can not be opened.

Though still, based on the store page, maybe there's good game hidden in there somewhere. Hard to know.

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Looks like the Fest is still up for a while. Slowly some of the demos are going to vanish. Shapez 2 is going to be there until 26th, so if you want to try that out, there's still time.

Todays games:

Worth Checking Out
Millenia: [External Link]
This one is Civilization clone and some of the features are familiar from Civilization 6. There are though some things that makes it bit different. For example eras shape gameplay and first one to unlock the new era can affect which one it will be. Different eras have different requirements, so unlocking specific one is not necessarily easy. Refreshing in a sense that there's not launcher, but as games publisher is Paradox, so can't totally rule that out.

Balatro: [External Link]
there's already article up about this one. In short it's gambling rogulelite based on poker. Good fun and quite addictive.

Lightyear Frontier: [External Link]
Satisfactory with mechs and with more farming and less automation. I had fun and based on the store page there's some potential and it's advertised to be on the cozier side. So there might be some Slime Rancher influences too as exploration is a thing. Demo had ancient ruin to explore, and full game seems to have few more additional areas to explore, which were walled off in the demo.

Pacific Drive: [External Link]
Stalker meets driving with fixing the car and all. There's already article up for it.

Still fun
Homeworld 3: [External Link] it's a Homeworld game, I didn't play past the tutorial yet. Could be maybe higher maybe based on the actual gameplay.

Almost Fun:
The Carrier And Crows: [External Link]. It's a survival game alright. You can punch trees, but you do have axe rightaway so you don't have to.

Crafting takes quite lot of resources and there seems to be something weird going on. Water looks like a gel and doesn't flow downriver, crow might hover in air. There's also crow person in a hollow tree. Some of these might actually be bugs. Based on the screenshots there's more weird stuff in the game, but it was too little too late for me.

Farcaster: [External Link]
VR only. Sci-fi western on the rails shooter. I got trouble starting up the games and it seems that menus don't work all the time as guns don't work as pointers consistently. Also for some reason, second eye was having view too far apart, so I got double vision.

After warmup, difficulty raises drastically. Might be more fun if I get better at dodging bullets. Though still best arcade VR shooter so far, but the bar is quite low. Actually Superhot might scratch the shooter itch bit better, though it's quite hard as well.

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Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: SeegrasLooks good, but.. is it intentionally "Stalker"? Even the Region is called "Exclusion Zone" too...

Well, yes, but presumably this one is full of zombified athletes . . . sprinters, javelin and discus and hammer throwers, weight lifters and whatnot . . . it is the Olympic Exclusion Zone, after all. :grin:

I didn't see any Olympics going on, so I guess the Olympics exclusion is working.

As for the technical issues, I must have done something wrong as the game worked for me. It asks to choose between DX11 and DX12 at startup and I left the default which was DX12.

Performance was tolerable.

As for the game, it was fun. Just got the car pimped up, so the regular gameplay loop is probably going to start. Let's see how much I have time and how long the demo is going the be available.

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Roguelite gambling is not yet a category in Steam, but now there's at least two of them, this and Luck Be A Landlord.

I thought that I found perfect synergy for second round by creating tarot engine. But I guess plain multiplication generation is not enough. Need to get also chips. One and half hours went quite fast.

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I have played few of these, not totally sure if what I don't already have makes worthwhile bundle me. I have so far avoided getting The Talos Principle, so at least that would be an excuse to get the bundle.

Superliminal, is quite good, even when it doesn't beat Portal. It just keeps things fresh for the whole game.

The Witness is puzzle game in a lush environment, but mostly your just staring at screens. You have to figure out the puzzle mechanics on your own and that was bit too much for me.

The Pedestrian is nice puzzle platformer, with different perspective. If the Witness about staring at the screens, in this one you're staring at street signs.

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Had time to play a few this time around

Worth checking out:
Bore Blasters: [External Link] There's already article about this one. But if you're too busy to read it, it's horde survival, except you're piloting a helicopter and you mine deeper and deeper.
Beat the Beats: [External Link] VR only. Bit like Beat Saber, but with boxing like mechanics. Like Beat Saber, can't play too long as both are physically bit demanding.
Reus 2: [External Link] Graphically bit more impressive and maybe bit easier to play than original Reus. Basically god game about maximizing bonuses so villages can grow. What's new in this one is multiple planets there are some choices in shaping the humanitys history.

Still fun
Cat Needs: [External Link] basically moving cats around in order to feed and get them to bed. Bit on easy side, especially once you get used to the puzzle mechanics. Roadmap promises new mechanics, so full game could be fun enough.
Doodle Harmony Ghosts: [External Link] match silhouettes together. Another pair is black and white, with some details, the second one is just color. If your brain can't handle too much thinking, this could be fun for a while.
Swappy World: [External Link] Survival game with card swiping mechanics. Has some potential, though I found a bug that will make sure you're overburdened all the time.
Menace from the Deep: [External Link] Feels bit like Slay the Spire, but mixed with Cthulhu mythos. More complex mechanics, but feels still bit more forgiving as there's things like healing. Froze before I reached the boss. Retried, but looks like I couldn't continue where I left. Some potential here.

Almost fun
Space Drop: [External Link] Another VR only game. Dodge and shoot asteroid and try collect collectibles while at it. Barely any tutorial. Some potential, but ultimately frustration won.

Broken
Dungeonborne: [External Link] I browsed the discussions and it might work on Steam Deck, but for the rest of us, anticheat will stop the game from starting.

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Quite refreshingly different. Many horde games depend on the meta game in order to get fun. Bore Blaster didn't have that problem at all. I even completed few more levels after there was notification that demo is over.

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Quoting: CatKillerVoxlands [External Link] was pretty fun.

I concur. Basically, do quests, shoot enemies and maybe do some survival stuff on the side. Apparently there's also crafting. There's also surprisingly fun way of showing how much health spongier enemies have left.

I played a bit of Shapez 2 also. Core idea is still the same, Factorio-like with more puzzle like coziness, now in isometric 3D. But if you like automation games or have even played the original one, it's worth trying out.

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Haven't had that much time to play games, but still managed to play some.

Arcticide [External Link] is kind of rogue-lite version of Tarkov. I haven't actually played Tarkov, but there are some survival elements and exploration seems to be necessary. The game is just quite rough around the edges. For example by default lean is toggle instead of hold. Which wouldn't be necessarily bad, but with toggle I didn't find way to recenter the view. I guess the games pricing needs to be quite low so there's not too much competition from the old classics.

Escape Room VR [External Link] first VR game I have had time to play. There's few more in the queue.

Title says basically what the game is about. Two rooms that I completed today were doable, though time limit is bit tight, might be easier to reach with multiple players. Though you can keep playing when the time runs out, so the experience is stress free compared to the physical escape room games.

So as far I know, it's compatible with original including the multiplayer, it's just made for VR. The VR side is fine, but interaction with the objects is bit streamlined. Good thing is that interaction with objects is quite effortless once you get used to it. Immersion less so, but games rarely get to Alyx level of immersion. Now the controls can be bit confusing as grip and trigger both are used for grabbing objects, it just depends on the context which one actually works. Trigger just has way longer reach.

All the regular VR sickess reducing things are there. Teleportation, slide show turning and probably vignette that appears when turning might help. I'm too used to VR so I turn those features off whenever I can. Though this game is quite suitable for room sized experience as the pace is relatively slow and game rooms are somewhat small. Probably bit bigger than the Steams smallest recommended play area.

Kind of hard to say if the VR version actually improves the experience over the original. It's nice that you get better immersion in the world, but the actual gameplay might not benefit that much. Though at least the DLC is compatible between the versions, so you don't have to buy everything again if you device to switch to the original.

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