Accessed Archive: Nextfest Spring 2026

Really strong start for me this year. Letter Lost is a horror game during which you don't actually see that much of the horror. Much like Strange Antiquities, you play the entire game inside a post office which you are supernaturally bound to. Without spoiling too much of the shtick, the game plays with your expectations in an interesting way- if you do your job to a T, you will find out very little of the story thats going on around you. You have to rebel a little bit, open packages, read outgoing letters, to start to clue in on some of these storylines. At first I felt some resistance to the game pulling me in different directions, but the game actually played with that feeling directly as well. The demo pretty much just covered the part of the game in which you start to play around with that balance, but I'm excited for more.

Score: 7/10    Tags: Horror, Job Sim, Story

This is a very simple game about charting islands. Cute. Had some fun. Think I had my fill in the hour and a bit I played.

Score: 5/10    Tags: Puzzle, Casual

Very charming metroidvania with a very majoras-mask inspired timeloop and world! I found the winding paths intimidating at first until I realized that you end up playing the same 'time' over and over again with new abilities- learning where things are, even when you're not equipped to tackle them yet, is very much part of it. This game is largely a platformer where the platforming feels... ok. Needs some time in the oven, but I like what they're cooking. Sandloop definitely has potential.

Score: 6.5/10    Tags: Metroidvania, Time Loop

Don't ask why I played this demo without playing Planet of Lana I! Its'a cute 2D sidescroller/platformer where you play as two characters simultaneously, Lana (presumably) and her weird cat thing with magical powers that can control other creatures. It's fun enough as a platformer, but I felt like I was fighting the game a lot to move and respond how I wanted to. One thing I appreciate about the demo is that instead of playing one seciton, they put in snippets of 5 chapters. Overall, the transformation gimmicks definitely give the game a sense of identity, but I'm not sure it comes together into a super compelling product quite yet.

Score: 6/10    Tags: 2D, Platformer, Story

Definitely the game with the most potential that I played this time around. This is a roguelite where you play as a possum protecting your train from endlessly incoming waves, with an interesting mechanic where every single item in the game doubles as ammo for one of the array of weapons available. You always have to make decisions about how to use them, whether to burn them to upgrade your other gear, etc. If I have one major criticism, it feels too easy right now to get an really solid build early on and once you do there's little incentive to change it through your run, and the battles get a bit samey because of it. It needs more to it, but the bones are really fun.

Score: 7/10    Tags: Roguelike, Shooter