Accessed Archive: Nextfest Summer 2023

I really wanted to like this game, but just couldn't. Deer Crusade is a game that takes hefty inspiration from hollow knight and wears it transparently on its sleeve. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to understand exactly what it was about hollow knight that made it fun- the platforming is basic and the combat is boring at best and unfair at worst, with little room for skill. Deer Crusade mistakes difficulty for quality, and despite a cute artsyle and intriguing atmosphere, I grew frustrated extremely quickly.

Score: 2/10    Tags: Metroidvania, Puzzle, 2D

With an artstyle i can only describe as DRG meets paper mario, Passing By has a really cute atmosphere, if slightly dry dialogue. The game is a sky-island hopping exploration game where you can move only one direction on the West Wind, sailing your ship place to place and making deliveries. Unfortunately, in its current state, flight feels sluggish and many of the game's puzzles aren't terribly well communicated, leaving you guessing more often than not. I think this game has potential with further development time, but for now, Merchant of the Skies does a better job scratching the island-hopping itch.

Score: 4/10    Tags: Exploration, 2D, Adventure

This was the only demo I played this season that I had previously heard of, and as a reality-bending puzzler, I knew I would probably like what it had to offer. The artstyle feels warm and polished and the world is fun to move through. The introductory puzzles were not at all difficult, but were enjoyable to move through onetheless. The demo only gives you a tiny taste of what the main gameplay loop entails at its very end. While the mechanics as far as I was able to interact with them feel simple, this is nonetheless the first demo I have played that has left me wanting more.

Score: 7/10    Tags: Puzzle

This game really surprised me. An energy management crafting-exploration game with a lovely pixel artstyle, you play as Lucca, the apprentice to a village smith. This game has the most fun crafting mechanics I've interacted with since Spiritfarer, with unique minigames and challenges for each type of activity that makes the act of crafting itself enjoyable. The world is fun to explore and find resources and recipes, and the energy system is well implemented to make you think about what you're doing each day without being stifling. You can upgrade the village, your home and forge, and develop relationships with the people in the world through your practice. I played for a full hour and audibly said "No!" When the screen came up that said the demo was over. If they expand on the mechanics here they've got a really unique game on their hands.

Score: 7.5/10    Tags: 2D, Crafting, Adventure, Puzzle

This is a unique little screen-by-screen platformer where you play as a slime thing in a world stylized similar to undertale. It’s hard to make a full judgement, as the game's main story mechanic- collectible memory cores that presumably tell you about the world and yourself- were locked behind the full game. However, the movement felt surprisingly good without being derivative of any of the giants in the field. I will say the game had a kind of air of self-indulgence that I wasn’t crazy about, but I can’t deny that I had fun.

Score: 5/10    Tags: 2D, Adventure

If you like narrative-focused, mostly walking-simulator games like Edith Finch, keep an eye out for this. Inner Ashes is a game about a man with alzheimers grappling with what's left of his memories, taking you in and out of the real world and the moments you can remember as they inform each other. The demo was very short, but sweet in the story it told. I suspect the full game won't be longer than a couple hours either. It succeeded at what it set out to do but won't be for everyone.

Score: 7/10    Tags: Walking Sim, Story

This game is a treasure. In a garden sim meets survival, you wake up next to a small oasis in the middle of a desert. By gathering and planting flora, reshaping waterways, and connecting with the plants, animals, and spirits of the land, you slowly make the world around you more and more habitable, enabling you to push farther into the depths of the desert to explore gorgeous ruins, meet and learn from spirits of the past and find new wellsprings to bring back to life. The atmosphere and art direction are gorgeous, and the world totally transforms from night to day. There is a story of some kind, but in the hour or so I played (I will be playing this demo for days, I think), I found myself spending plenty of time just running around and finding seed, expanding my arable land, and crafting structures to make my oasis feel like home; and given what's possible in the steam trailer, I've only scratched the surface. Your relationship with the garden you grow is not simply cosmetic or for food, either- at night, plants you care for produce a magic essence that you use to learn from spirits and harness magical abilities, allowing you to influence the desert and its inhabitants and respond to dangers. This is a truly unique experience that offers something I've always wanted from a sandbox and nothing has ever quite provided, and I'm extremely excited for it. My only current complaint is that some of the controls while menuing are a bit clunky. Overall, I'll be watching it closely.

Score: 9/10    Tags: Sandbox, Exploration, Gardening, Co-op

It's whats on the tin. Station to Station is about mapping rail networks over procedurally (I think) generated levels to connect buildings that supply and demand goods for each other. I was hoping there would be opportunities to make fun intersections and such, but rail lines don't interact with each other at all, with the exception that goods can be transferred between the two lines that pass through stations. Fun to play for an hour, good enough at what it is, doesn't have much staying power IMO, unless you really really like connect-the-dots puzzles. It's objectively well made, but too simple to be anything remarkable. I do really dig the art direction, though.

Score: 5/10    Tags: Puzzle

This one is short and sweet, but according to the steam page, the main game is short as well. It describes itself accurately as a narrative-driven cooking game, where you play as a South Indian immigrant in Canada facing a difficult challenge with her family. The demo included only one cooking puzzle, but it was fun to figure out how to do it right, and the story is very soulful. The writing reminds me a lot of the experiences of friends from similar backgrounds. I don't expect more than a couple hours of playtime when it releases, but I think I'll enjoy those couple hours quite a bit

Score: 8/10    Tags: Cooking, Story, Puzzle

Why did I save the horror one for the end of the night! ...Actually it wasn't that bad lol. Luna Abyss feels like a classic metroidvania, skinned in an intriguing dystopian horrorscape. The world is well designed and moving through it feels good. The combat is very dynamic, very stressful, and very fun. Not a typical me game, but I actually enjoyed the demo a lot and was compelled by the world they've built. If you like games like Metroid Prime and don't mind having your blood pressure raised, give it a try.

Score: 8/10    Tags: Action, Bullet Hell, Metroidvania

Of the city builders I played, this one is my favourite. The central mechanic is taking advantage of your limited space and different characteristics of levels of the mountains to establish supply lines, producing goods from raw production to keep your citizens happy. It's quite relaxed, theres very little pressure, but that also means there's not a ton of drive to expand since upgrading houses- the main goal of development- doesn't actually change gameplay at all. I'm unsure how much replayability it has yet, but it's definitely fun for a runthrough or two.

Score: 7.5/10    Tags: City Builder, Resource Manager