Steam Next Fest is a week-long celebration featuring hundreds of FREE playable demos as well as developer livestreams and chats. Players try out upcoming games on Steam pre-release, developers gather feedback and build an audience ahead of their Steam launch, everyone wins!
I always enjoy checking out the demos from these events. Has anyone else tried any yet? Would love to hear about any fun demos you’ve found.
Botany Manor – low poly indie game where the puzzles are figuring out how to grow plants. the low poly is done well and feels very painterly and cozy! the puzzles feel very short and easy to solve, and I suspect that won’t really change in the full game. I’m hoping it’ll be a $10 to $15 dollar game that I can pick up and complete in a weekend.
Jusant – a slightly janky but enjoyable rock climbing game. I’d be very curious to know if actual rock climbers feel it was represented well here? I think rock climbing in general isn’t usually the focus of an entire game so it’s neat to see it become the main game mechanic here. the physics can be a bit janky if you do things that you’re probably not supposed to do (eg. I almost got stuck with the rope under a metal support beam once) but as long as you don’t try to break it, things go well. If this releases around the $20 to $30 price point it’ll be a definite buy from me.
Sticky Business – create your own stickers and sell them! the final game needs a much broader range of options for your sticker creation, and needs a better UI view of all your stickers once you start packing them for orders. the writing feels a little clunky and generic, but it helps provide a little motivation for why you’re selling the stickers. also has a slider for music in the options but was dead silent in the demo?? honestly got my fill of it during the demo so I can’t see myself picking up the full release.
Haven’t played it yet, but I’m looking forward to trying the demo of Stray Gods – it’s got the Greek Gods vibe of Hades, and I’m a Dragon Age fan so have to give it a shot for David Gaider’s writing.
Oh and I also have to plug the demo for Horticular! It’s a relaxing, gorgeous, and satisfying garden design sim. I’m super excited for the full release of the game whenever it comes out; I played ~10 hours straight last year when the demo first launched, and it looks like it’s been well polished for this year’s Next Fest.
Nice reviews. I hadn’t heard of Botany Manor or Horticular and they both look interesting, I’ll check them out. Getting 10 hours out of a demo is crazy, really good “selling” point to check it out.
The game mechanic loops around unlocking new plants in Horticular are very satisfying to me, and I especially enjoyed building habitats to attract new animals to the garden. Wanting to collect all the plants and animals in the demo really sucked me in! :)
I tried it out and loved it. Great rec and glad I heard about it. Had to stop myself after an hour to save more of the experience for the full game, but it’s a great demo and I can see how you could lose a lot of time to it.
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Here’s what I’ve tried so far:
Botany Manor – low poly indie game where the puzzles are figuring out how to grow plants. the low poly is done well and feels very painterly and cozy! the puzzles feel very short and easy to solve, and I suspect that won’t really change in the full game. I’m hoping it’ll be a $10 to $15 dollar game that I can pick up and complete in a weekend.
Jusant – a slightly janky but enjoyable rock climbing game. I’d be very curious to know if actual rock climbers feel it was represented well here? I think rock climbing in general isn’t usually the focus of an entire game so it’s neat to see it become the main game mechanic here. the physics can be a bit janky if you do things that you’re probably not supposed to do (eg. I almost got stuck with the rope under a metal support beam once) but as long as you don’t try to break it, things go well. If this releases around the $20 to $30 price point it’ll be a definite buy from me.
Sticky Business – create your own stickers and sell them! the final game needs a much broader range of options for your sticker creation, and needs a better UI view of all your stickers once you start packing them for orders. the writing feels a little clunky and generic, but it helps provide a little motivation for why you’re selling the stickers. also has a slider for music in the options but was dead silent in the demo?? honestly got my fill of it during the demo so I can’t see myself picking up the full release.
Haven’t played it yet, but I’m looking forward to trying the demo of Stray Gods – it’s got the Greek Gods vibe of Hades, and I’m a Dragon Age fan so have to give it a shot for David Gaider’s writing.
Oh and I also have to plug the demo for Horticular! It’s a relaxing, gorgeous, and satisfying garden design sim. I’m super excited for the full release of the game whenever it comes out; I played ~10 hours straight last year when the demo first launched, and it looks like it’s been well polished for this year’s Next Fest.
Nice reviews. I hadn’t heard of Botany Manor or Horticular and they both look interesting, I’ll check them out. Getting 10 hours out of a demo is crazy, really good “selling” point to check it out.
The game mechanic loops around unlocking new plants in Horticular are very satisfying to me, and I especially enjoyed building habitats to attract new animals to the garden. Wanting to collect all the plants and animals in the demo really sucked me in! :)
I tried it out and loved it. Great rec and glad I heard about it. Had to stop myself after an hour to save more of the experience for the full game, but it’s a great demo and I can see how you could lose a lot of time to it.