Few more.

Ball X Pit:
Arkanoid meets SHMUP in Loop Hero style. Simplified version of the game loop is that you go and fight in area where you move constantly forward. You shoot enemies with balls that bounce from both walls, but also from enemies.

Pickups can give you XP, resources or more seldom upgrade that lets you gives you few levels worth of upgrades or possibility to few two balls together into one that has features from both balls. For example fire and earth can be fused into magma. Most fusions don't have fancy names though.

When you die, you return to town that you can improve. You can also harvest resources by bouncing workers into resource tiles.

Played it with gamepad, so I don't know what kind of experience game would be with keyboard and mouse.

Definatly worth trying out.

Jump Ship:
Co-op space hunter gatherer simulation. OK, maybe just gatherer as you don't get to eat what you kill (they're robots anyway). Didn't play the game further than missions further than tutorial, but at least the first missions are just resource gathering. Though resources are usually guarded, so there's lot of combat too. I played single player, which is doable, but I feel that game must be more fun with friends.

Basically with two players, one would be controlling the ship and fighting enemies and gathering resources floating in space. Other player would be crafting stuff, loading weapons and repairing. Some of the repairs need to be done outside the ship, but didn't experience what it would be like in moving ship.

Don't know if it gets as hectic as Barotrauma as the first missions are quite easy.

If you have couple of friends who would like to play it, probably worth trying out.

Bloom:
Puzzle game about making flowers bloom again. Basic game mechanic is that you create chain reaction that finishes the level in few moves. First two chapters are very easy tutorial levels, third chapter has some puzzles that need some thinking. Some I finished bit by luck as I didn't realize what order things happen in.

The game over screen is in odd way satisfying even when it's sad.

Once the game actually gets started, it does something bit unique. But I still didn't grab me. So I think mostly agree with Nezchan. The game might be good game for somebody, but it wasn't me (or Nezchan).

Black Hole Fishing:
Incremental "fishing" game. I don't want to spoil the intro too much. Lot of buying upgrades and waiting for money to accumulate enough so that you can buy more upgrades. Background music feels like it's two or three minute song which will repeat maybe too much many times if you grind long enough for the upgrades. Demo ending condition was bit of a surprise.

I have played far more varied incremental games, but at least there are some bits that are funny.

Abstractpunk:
First I didn't get the game to start, but it probably was just compiling shader cache. But it sure is weird. It takes a moment to be able to navigate as everything is such a mess. But basic FPS stuff is there, just implemented in weird way. Like the gun that shoots happiness. The songs for different activities sound kind of funny.

Uses AI generation for several different things.

I have no idea if I should recommend this. I guess if you love jank and weird games.

Into the Grid:
Cyberspace hacking combined with card battles. Cyberspace is moving from room to room and hacking things. The card battles are somewhat usual for the genre, but at least there are few mechanics that are not that common. Like resource that you can generate during combat and lets you do few different things as the fight continues. Also enemies attack animation is nice touch. They actually come toward you.

Didn't feel any urge to get back to it, so maybe it's good for somebody who has run out of card battlers.

The Organized Capy God:
Puzzle game with plenty of jank. Basically you need to organize same kind of things into piles. Once you have made all the similar tiles to touch each together, the vengeful capy god gets hungry for one category of items. Then you try to drag them on top of the capybara and if you lucky it eats everything in one go, if you 're less lucky you need to feed them one by one and unlucky case you feed it wrong item. If you do that, it throws up items it ate and might get your neat piles into disarray if they're too close.

If you feed it everything it wants, it throws up new items and again might get your neat piles into disarray if they're too close.

This same cycle just keeps repeating and I decided that I'll better hide from the vengeful capybara god by closing the game. If capybara god asks you to install the game, try to resist.

Organised Inside:
This game is either organizing puzzle or busywork tidying up. First level has you fill up car with stuff by figuring out what game lets you do. The second level is about cleaning a kitchen. It even teaches that you can wipe plates clean with just a cloth.

I did kind of enjoy it. Not sure I want to wishlist it though

Gold Miner: Classic Edition:
Kind of claw machine simulator with gold digging theme. Basically claw keeps swaying back and forth and you just decide when to launch it.

Basically seems to be something that usually is available for free on some web page. One thing to note is that it really doesn't seem to support fullscreen.

Seems like it's not worth it, though it might be fun for a moment at least.

Puzzle & Stack:
Another organizational puzzle. Doesn't seem be too picky where you put things, which is good as some items are hard to identify. Later levels let you rotate items and in one level you can polish dirty items.

Prepare some time for playing it. If you think that level is quick, once you're done the game will throw you more items. It would be nice that there would some indication how far you actually are in the level.

But solid enough entry into organization puzzles.

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Had time to play few. Downloaded also few recommendations, but haven't gotten to them yet.

I'm trying to play demos in order I installed them in order to avoid getting distracted. Usually I have plenty of leftover demos that I have never played and probably never will.

Replicat
In short it's memory game rogue-lite. There's lot that's borrowed from Balatro. There's gameplay loop of meeting target score, boss fights with modifiers, modifying cards with essences.

Difference to traditional memory game is that by default there's several same pairs, so it's bit more likely to find matches. But of course you can slowly modify the deck to your liking.

Good fun, though there's another that's quite similar: Matchstone.

Matchstone
Most of the things that apply to Replicat apply to Matchstone too. Main difference is that Matchstone has gray quite simplistic theme. Also joker analogue is quite simplistic as there's no choice what you can get. Getting new tiles with new functions is pretty cheap though and you can increase the tile category value.

Tiles have maybe can have more wild features than I saw in Replicat, but all in all Matchstone feels bit more boring. Maybe it's the gray plain feel, but it could also be generally making things look and sound satisfying.

Still, could be fun for somebody.

Insider Trading
It's kind of Balatro meets stock market. The stock market part is bit weird and could maybe explained better with the tutorials. I was first confused about the different animal icons and though they were different stocks. It all makes sense, but it takes maybe one failed run to see all the mechanics clearly. It does work like shorting in real stock market that you buy when stocks and sell when they're high, it just took a moment to figure out how to apply that in the game.

Could spend lot more paragraphs explaining the mechanics. Good variation of the theme that changes things around enough that they things feel different. Maybe missing some of the fun factor, but it's not totally obvious what would fix it. Still worth trying out if you have some patience figuring things out on your own too.

Become the Moon
Become the Moon describes itself as deck building auto battler, which kind of explains it. Basically gameplay loop is that you play cards that can be minions, spells or battle spells. Spells usually give some kind of bonus to minions, but there are other kind of spells too. Battle spells are spells that play during battle.

Once you end your turn, battle spells trigger and minions fight to the death. Ones that survive attack opponents mastermind (don't remember what term the game used). If mastermind is still alive after that, both master minds fight to the death. If player wins, there's few rounds of rewards and everything repeats. That's the high level view of it.

Cards do have all kind of different ones that have synergies and/or modify the game rules somehow. On top of that cards can be discarded, deleted or exhausted. So pretty common deckbuilder stuff, maybe with just bit changed naming.

It was fun enough, that I might try the demo again.

Spinny Dungeon
This one is easy to compare to Luck Be A Landlord as it's slot machine rogue lite. And there are similarities, but few differences that go nicely along with the dungeon theme. Like enemies that move between rows towards you. Also instead of paying rent, you just have to stay alive. Which you can't do if you starve (there's hunger meter). Mana helps also and money helps too (not sure what happens if you run out. So you need all kinds of symbols to stay in balance.

For protecting your health bar, there's weapons and for healing some rare symbols and spell. For hunger meter there's food, for mana there's at least scrolls and mushrooms. For money I don't remember anything else than gems, but there must be some default symbols too that I forgot.

Also there's the usual symbol synergies. Some delete the other symbols, some transform other symbols. Some get even improved when they get to transform or delete.

Feels different enough to the inspiration and pretty good fun.

Sunken Engine
I left this one as last as dishonorable mention. First of all I didn't check the mention of AI usage, but there seems to be bit more to it than that, which is a shame as developers might otherwise be onto something.

What irks me a bit that they take bits out of Dredge bit too directly. Red eyes everywhere is straight from Dredge and the AI generated NPC:s ooze so much Dredge style that I would have to do side by side comparison.

It's nautical themed cleaning simulator with some ship repair and shopkeeping thrown into the mix. With some horror elements thrown in.

I guess this one is rare don't touch so it stays sunken.

Forgot to mention Watchword and The Drifter. I played Watchword before the event started and what probably killed it for me is that I started optimizing it to death. The crossword format gives so many options that going through them all takes lot of time. Also it accepts some nonsense words, which means there urge to try some random stuff just in case. Should try out Wordplay, which AFAIK is bit more simplistic.

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omg yes!! Love a good nextfest :) Are there just a ton more this time around than last time, or am I just imagining that?

After I enabled Proton by default few years ago, there has been more than you have time to play. I couldn't find any actual numbers for each year, but this year doesn't seem to be making any records. Might be just the new normal.

I played two demos today, both enjoyable, but neither caused urge for immediate wishlist.

Rentlord: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3546440/Rentlord/ [External Link]

Rentlord is Balatro inspired "deckbuilder". Instead of cards, you buy properties and collect rent. There are multipliers and jokers (though game calls them plugins). There's bit less randomness as without plugins the profit would be static. Demo gives you a taste, but hopefully final release has lot more content.

Wander Stars: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1575810/Wander_Stars/ [External Link]

Wander Stars is vaguely deckbuilder like game with anime theme. Anime theme is even followed by re-using same animations, which was back in the day used for budget reasons. Though at least animation looks gorgeous.

It's built around the cliche of shouting movement names before doing them. In Wander Stars the movement names are actually constructed from verbs and adjectives and they each have slightly different function. In overall it's maybe slightly too simple after you understand how everything works (it's bit more complicated than what I explained). But at least map view has other things than battles and plot while not highly original has potential for some drama later on.

Kind of still on the fence adding it to wishlist.

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Why was the publisher banned?

There doesn't seem to be much information about it. Only reason I was able to find that there were fake reviews. But even that was guess from a Reddit poster. I guess though if reason was something like that and developers tell what the reason was, they acknowledge that they were complicit in the scheme.

As for the game, it has some learning curve. The organ system is not explained in full, but each organ has some text that describes the rules. I was able to glimpse into bit wackier stuff already. There's some rarity system, so I might not seen the best stuff yet.

Seems bit unpolished overall.

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Looks like you can only buy it as part of a bundle on Steam?

More or less seems to be true, though I found via checking the store page in incognito mode that that there's EA Play subscription option. Probably not good deal though.

Had no idea that Steam has forced bundles.

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Wanderstop

Wanderstop (Steam Play) - Farming/Life Sim about running a tea shop with a very intense protagonist. I'm more intrigued by her internal conflict than I am about the weirdly complex tea-making and gardening process, although those mechanics don't seem too bad. Also major points for frowny penguin-like birds. Runs pretty poorly on my machine with a lot of framerate dips, maybe the full version will be better optimized.

I love the fact that her internal conflict is relatable. There's maybe too much exposition, but it got much more interesting once story reached tea shop. Too bad demo ended before first customer, so that part of the game remains mystery for now. Didn't get to see multiple tea recipes either.

Cubic Odyssey

Cubic Odyssey (Steam Play) - Actually played this a couple days ago, but since it's in the Next Fest I'll comment on it here. Pretty good No Man's Sky-like but with blocks. Very pretty, although it can be hard to see threats in the visual clutter. Crafting feels decent, and resource gathering isn't a chore. My framerate dips pretty bad at times, particularly anywhere near water. I'll never understand why voxel games insist on lovingly rendered water. Generally a good time, although I'd like there to be a bit less combat focus.

I hope the blocks mean that you can dig everywhere and changes are permanent. Didn't do much testing on that.

Scope is not as in No Mans Sky either. Though if there's just hundreds of planets, hopefully there's some really unique ones in the mix.

I didn't go looking for water, so didn't test how much that affects framerate.

For me there wasn't too much combat, but compared to NMS there's a lot. Main plot seems to revolve around threat that you need to fight so probably rest of the game has combat too.

I guess the problem is that it's just decent. Had fun enough for few hours, but it's harder to say what it really makes it unique.

Twisted Tower

If you enjoyed any of the BioShock games, YOU MUST TRY THE TWISTED TOWER DEMO. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506090/Twisted_Tower_Demo/ [External Link]

I tried it out and it seems to copy surface level stuff from Bioshock. There's a wacky circus theme, but story isn't very deep. I loved smashing the old fashioned telephone enemies and few other enemy designs were fun too.

Otherwise it's game with lot of almosts. Also having only gamepad button prompts was annoying. Had to check the keybindings several times.

Nautical survival

The setting for the game, of course, is the ocean; which adds an interesting twist to the the typical Bullet Hell gaming experience.

I think it as vehicular Vampire Survivors like Pest Apocalypse (though in Nautical Survival the boat is easier to control than the car in Pest Apocalypse).

I like that there's exploration and crew gives bit variety to gameplay. The map is quite small that makes trips to dark unknown feel safe once you realize that how quickly you can find everything. I had fun though there's a risk that it gets bit boring after a while when you have seen everything. Full game does seem to offer little bit more content. If priced cheap enough, could be worth it.

Duck Detective: Ghost of Glamping
Seems to be solid casual detective game. Never played the first one, but seems to be more of the same. Basically you look for clues from environment and discussion and then try to answer few questions by placing the clues in a sentence. Bit harder than it sounds. Reminds me of Detective Grimoire. Not straight to wishlist material, but might be tempted to get it in a some bundle.

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Haven't found yet found anything that's clearly worth for wishlist yet and the event ends soon. Luckily there has been lot of recommendations here and there, so I can fine more interesting demos also next week.

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Had time for few

Punch A Plant (VR)
First person tower defense with punching mechanic. I guess the biggest problem is that punching doesn't really feel satisfying as enemies are tanky. There's hint though that punching them off the platforms is way to go. Didn't have patience for learning that though.

Shinobi Match
Sort of match three game. What makes it special is that there one type of tile that represents people who need to save and rest you shouldn't let escape. Saving and escaping works by the match three mechanic. Though instead of switching tiles around, you use weapons to destroy them.

Quite satisfying level of complexity.

Is This Seat Taken?
As the name suggests, the game revolves around seating people. Puzzle element is that people have different demands you need to fulfill. For example some people have forgotten to shower and they spread the bad smell around them. Some people don't like bad smells. There more of demands like that and them make the game mildly complex.

Problem is that the demo doesn't ramp up the difficulty that much. It plays bit like simple Sudoku and you'll shortly get perfect solution.

Monster Train 2
Fusion of few game ideas like the first one. Basically you defend pyre by placing monsters. You defeat enemies by playing cards. There's also map that has slight branching and branches usually have different set of rewards. You have some kind of idea how the game plays if you have played Slay the Spire or Legend of Keepers.

It's not radically different from the first one. Clans have been remixed and now it's mix of heaven and hell. Effects are also bit different. Still had good fun, though I could maybe play the first one instead to get my fix.

Ryua: Ascension
Also bit more complicated match three. This ones is actual puzzle game. After some simple puzzles showing how the game is played, the puzzles start including drawing patterns and dropping blocks. Slightly frustrating, but puzzle fans probably get something out of it.

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I personally find these big events more than a little overwhelming. I fear I'm missing out on so much because masses of developers choose to only have their demos up for such a limited amount of time.

It is disappointing that devs are so stingy with their demos, but I am grateful to the Next Fests that we get demos again at all.

It's actually quite murky. Some demos vanish right away when the event ends, some linger for a while after that and quite large number of them stay.

Problem is that only way to be sure which category game belongs to, is to ask the developer. Only rule of thumb I have found is that the AAA and AA studios pull their games fastest.

I managed to play two demos today. As I have played some casual games lately, Steams algorithm recommended me some more of them.

Spire Blast is a puzzle game where you collect things while destroying a tower. It's fun at least for a while and demo manages to introduce few mechanics. Gamepad controls are bit messy and when I managed to mouse controls working, the most of the frustrations were gone. Idea has potential, though maybe more varied buildings could provide variety. Also it feels in some ways like a mobile game.

A Building Full of Cats 2 is part of many games in the series and I'm not sure if it brings much new. Not that it absolutely needs to, clicking hidden cats is fun as is.

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You can call it jealously, but it annoys me having to hear year after year that Linux's market share is too small for devs A, B and C to make games for it, and yet a whooping 23% of them are making games for a platform with only a tiny *checks latest Steam Hardware Survey* 1.61% of the players.

The math just doesn't work, you know? 🧐

As the question is platforms being used, it could be that Linux is part of the development process somehow. Part of it could be that game is tested on Proton, but it could also be that Linux is used somewhere in the build infrastructure. If the title of the chart is same than the question in the survey, there is some ambiguity in there.

Creating unambiguous questions can be bit tricky.

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I'm kind of surprised that Balatro didn't win the Best on Deck award. I haven't played GoW Ragnarok, but when I do it will be on my desktop to get the most out of the visuals.

I voted Balatro for game of the year, best game on Deck and most innovative gameplay. Didn't help, it didn't win any of the awards.

Awards are bit of popularity contest though. While Balatro is a successful indie title, it might not be as popular as some of the AAA titles.

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