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Jul 07, 2022 at 09:03AM EDT.
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Hello everyone! I would like to spend some time talking about my favorite indie game demos around the time of the Steam Next Fest and other indie games that are soon to be on sale/release/crowdfund campaign by the following week or so. It doesn’t need to be Steam related, you can also talk about games on Epic, Itchio, and home consoles as well.
You can also ask me about any indie games I have on my tracklist. I don’t really talk much about what I follow/interest around here, but I do want to let you guys know that I have gather up to 220 game developers through the past 8-10 months of mostly stumbling on twitter. Although, I have a bunch of 2D fighting, Arcade, 3D platforming, and Earthbound-Likes. But I also have a good mix of FPS, Racing, Hack n' Slash, Shoot-em-ups, Metroidvania, Rhythm, and Mon Collecting.
Many of the games I might mention are still in development, but a good handful are either nearly completed by the end of this year or available right now!
Day 1
UNBEATABLE [White Label]
By: D-CELL GAMES
Status: Available(Demo)
There were no words to truly put about how much I ADORE this game. UNBEATABLE is a simple 2 button, episodic rhythm game with a stellar art style, fast-paced gameplay, and a story about overcoming self-doubt as a musician. I don’t think there’s ever been a videogame demo that I’ve come back to play for months on end. I’ve been playing this demo for a total of 8 hours (and I only spend that much time on 100% completion and rpgs by comparison)! They recently include a tourney mode with an even harder difficulty and collab stage from No Straight Roads.
I highly recommend trying this game out and especially the tutorial stage ‘Proper Rhythm.’ If a Hideki Naganuma inspired song does not win you over this game, I don’t what is.
Maiden & Spell
By: mino_dev LLC
Status:Avalible
Maiden & Spell is what you get if you took the standard Touhou gameplay and remapped it into a PvP/PvE fighting game. And I got to say, it's a really cool concept and they implemented it pretty well. The game has your standard versus mode with online functionality, a campaign with each of the 4 adventures and 2 that are remenision of Touhou’s EX stages, challenge mode, and other unlockables.
{Next Fest Demo}
Nine Sols
By: RedCandleGames
You know, it’s quite surprising to see RedCandleGames is making hand-drawn souls-like action games. The last time I heard about them was their DEVOTION game being removed due to Chinese regulation or so BS, and now the developers created their own website to promote their games without worry about their games being removed. Seeing them continue on their game development is pretty cool, especially when they went in a different direction.
I also didn’t expect this game to have a taopunk setting about an ancient alien race secretly enslaving the human race either. The premise has already intrigued me into buying it someday.
I’ll also like to mention. The crowdfund campaign is still going til the 23rd. If your interested and want to fund it, here's the link down below:
https://shop.redcandlegames.com/projects/ninesols
Day 2
Sorry for the late post
Annalynn
By: Cruise Elory
Status: Available
Annalynn is a 80’s style arcade game where you play as Annalynn who goes on spelunking the mines collecting every coin/gem while avoiding 4 snakes. The game took huge inspiration from both Namco’s Pacman and Mappy. It’s charming, simple, and the arcade cabinet style nicely. The recent update, version 1.5, includes cheats, additional modes, power ups, and minigames in bonus stages.
Spark the Electric Jester 3
By: Feperd Games
Status: Available(Demo)
Spark: the Electric Jester is a Sonic inspired indie game series made by LakeFeperd,the same creator behind Sonic Before/After the Sequel fan game. The series is known for fast paced gameplay and weapon/abilities that drastically changes both combat and movement. Last year, Feperd announced the third game in the series along with a demo with some levels and boss stage. I Guaranteed that this game will fill the void for anyone who wants another Adventure styled Sonic game. Like, you have NO IDEA how surreal it feels to play a 3D Sonic game that has momentum physics when going through ramps and hills and non-scripted loops that the camera follows you while running. And I didn’t even talk about how sick the combat of this game is, especially when you unlock all the skills.
Since this is the third game, I also recommend the first two Spark games. The first one is a 2D side scroller reminiscent of 2D sonic games, while the second game is more of an Adventure style Sonic game starring the antagonist of the first game.
PomPom
By: Willem Rosenthal
Status: Available
Pompom is a 2D auto-scrolling, puzzle platform where you get to aid Pompom throughout his journey by placing platforms, tools to assist him, and controlling other obstacles throughout the stages. What really catches my attention is the style of the game. Being so on point to the look of Super Mario World that it’ll make someone mistaken this as an lost/unreleased SNES game being revived from the Nintendo Gigaleak.
Day: 3
Welp, my weekend was mostly occupied due to personal issues that left me afk. And only till the end of the day Next Fest will end. damnit.
Well, at least got a good handful of games to talk about before the deadline.
Goodbye World
By:Yo Fujii
Status: Limited Demo
Goodbye World is a small narrative puzzle platformer about two young adult women (Kanii and Kumade) who both dream of making games together. Only after graduating, the hardship of reality having both of them to pursue in more affordable jobs.
It’ll be a short but sweet linear story about questioning your passion for game development. This relates to me in a sentimental kind of way since I was interested in game design during my college years.
The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo
Published By: Gammera Nest
Status: Limited Demo
TBH, I haven’t played that many point & click adventure games. It’s less of a genre I’m not interested in, but more of I haven’t got that many games in my collection when looking back. But I do like the style of the genre, both the largely premade render FMVs like Myst and sprite/drawn 2D animation. Which, incidentally is when I stumble upon this game’s mix of frame-by-frame animation and photo-capture objects/nicknacks forming the world around it. The looks and charm of the setting have already won me over as someone who has quite a fondness of the old surreal cartoons from the pre 1940’s.
The demo is very short, about 10-15 minutes because, you know, being a hand-drawn animated game. I say if you’re interested in animation like I do, I suggest wishlisted for the following release.
Day 4
Well, now the Next Fest has ended… kind of..? Technically you can still access the event page by going to the news tab under the store dropbox and download most of the demos and still play them. There definitely a chance the most demos will be locked to play and some I mention have released way before the event. So I’m taking my chances and talking about the others I have finished playing that interest me.
Berserk Boy
Developed By: BerserkBoy Games
Status: Limited Demo
This game and the following one is inspired by the Megaman series, Berserk Boy is more traditional while the latter is a roguelike. I heard of this game in the SAGE game fest last, and it shows. Your main attack is a quick diagonal dash and you use it constantly for both combat and traversing through areas and unlocking abilities to widen your attacks and momentum. I’m having a blast replaying this several times, getting the fastest possible time in stages. It has my big recommendation.
Elsie
Developed By: KnightShift Team
Status: Limited Demo
Elsie – as mentioned above – is a roguelike Megaman game. Given the genre, it already has good replayability from the start. But to me, a great roguelike is when you can synergize unconventional powerups and blast away with absurd setups, like Binding of Issac. Sadly I couldn’t get a crazy setup for any of my runs. But from what I saw from other streamers' clips, this game has the potential for it one day.
Quetzal
By: TissueInu
Status: Limited Demo
Quetzal is an Aztec inspired, precision platformer. The gameplay is about reactive timing on parring various hazards to reach to the next area. I can definitely see this game being played by a small group of speedrunners. If you like small-scope, fast paced gameplay like RITE, I would recommend this.
Day 4.5
Last Command
By: DinayaHsu
Status: Limited Demo
It’s like the game of Snake, but with a twist. Mixing both bullet hell and ability customizations, this game is about fast & precision boss fights with visualizing bullet patterns and exploring the abandoned cyberworld where humans left their physical form into the internet. And the Snake/bullet hell mix gameplay isn’t that terrifying since you can swap the 2 movements when gathering data and dodging bullets respectively. I’m genuinely impressed how the developer manage to reinvent a very basic game like Snake into something amazing.
Pry into the Void
By: ErnestPlacido
Status: Limited Demo
Pry into the Void is a bleak monster collecting rpg about traversing the subconscious of the world and battling/negotiating with abstract souls based off of human nature. Think of it as a mix of Shin Megami Tensei with RPG Maker horror games (both the game premish and mechanics). Monster customization involves prying at their problems, training them, and/or sacrificing them for moves and abilities, (but no fusion system, which I would love see it implemented).
三伏 Snafu (Untranslated)
By: MoonRoach / Moonlight Cockroach
Status: soon to have a permanent Demo, I think..?
From looking through some horror related games that interest me, I found this mystery style game made by the developers of Shiying Studio. Sadly, I couldn’t understand the dialogue from this since the only available language is Chinese. But the visual aspect of this game has got me interested. Shiying Studio’s previous work, Firework, was a highly praised horror mystery game that I also recommend checking out if you're into narrative driven games.
For what little translated info I could get, it appears that the demo will stay after the next fest is over. Probably by that time Snafu might have an English translation.
Day 5~
When Making this article, I spent at least 2-3 hours on most of the games that’s on my wishlist, so I could get a good experience on it. In addition to seeing how other people have experienced the same game too. Sadly, I didn’t take into account how limited my free time has become for video games. At least those past 2 weeks I spent playing a dozen of them in my own leisure.
From the indie games I’ve gathered and stumbled upon, I see concepts and mechanics inspired by other well-known/forgotten franchises. Some wear their inspiration on their sleeves while others are quite hidden in places most people won’t take account. But I’ve never thought to see an indie game based on a minigame from Kirby 64’s Checker Chase.
Dragon Drop is a party game where you can customize your Pico’s color and hats and against cpus or players locally and unlock multiple stages, colors, and hats. The game is in its alpha state, so it hasn't implemented online play or other features yet. But it does have a robust achievement system similar to Kirby Airride/Smash Bros.
As someone who played Kirby 64 as one of my first games I’ve played as a child, I look forward to Dragon Drop and its completion. That, and how this game has no right to be this cute.
I kind of forgot how I discovered this game from either mutual developers or appeared in one of the suggestion feeds in Steam/Youtube. But man, from both the trailer and my experience from playing the demo, I could only imagine how big this game’s community will quickly become. It has the style that’ll draw a bunch of let’s players and streamers into playing this in both searching for secrets and alternative routes. In fact, Peppered gives me the feeling I have with Undertale when I play that for the first time (while being completely it’s own thing). As such, I recommend trying the demo out blind and try out different endings. Apparently, there’s still some secrets that a few people discovered outside of the 4 endings. If you enjoy this game, then I recommend bookmark their upcoming kickstarter campaign in the near future.
Truly, a precious game. Petal Crash is an action puzzler about pushing same-color blocks onto each other and creating a chain reaction towards the opponents. Single combo clears junk blocks while multiple combos can create junk blocks towards the opponents. The bigger the combo, the more junk blocks apply. The story mode for each character is heartwarming, the extra/challenge modes are a go-to for both puzzle experts and those who want to master this game, and even online functionality with additional characters/guest stars and options for public and private matches.
If that one game journalist thinks that the Crash bandicoot N’sane Trilogy is the dark-souls of 3D platforming, then imagine their reaction when they play this! Psilosybil is a linear 3D platformer, reminiscent of the first Crash game, that targets the more veteran players of the franchise. And I don’t take that statement lightly. As someone who hasn't completed any of the harder stages of Crash Bandicoot and jumped in the demo at face value, let me tell you, I was in a world of hurt. Precision jumping, predicting certain frames to maneuver obstacles, and a lot of trial and error is how you succeed in this game. Sure, I was frustrated trying to complete a state and to only miss 1-2 collectable shrooms. But in the end, I came out of the demo, feeling accomplished and ready for anything both this and the rest for Crash Bandicoot games.
A bunch of people saw clips of the game on twitter and wondered ‘what the heck is this game?!’ then it released and is as stupid as it gets and I loved it! Upon first glances, the game feels like it’s just about speeding towards the goal at the end and going through various areas. Do as many unplanned tricks and destroy other drivers to unlock newer cars. However, causing havoc will result in having police cars to stop you for your tracks, so you also have to destroy them. Only to discover that there is also an eff’n fighting versus mode with an entire move list and combos! Updates are still going, so you’ll probably expect more cars, tracks, and maybe more features later down the road.
I never knew how much I miss the early-to-mid 2000’s era. Especially the Y2K aesthetic. I could go on how many forms of media/genres/fashion/devices that particularly forms my taste/interest as a child. And while there hasn’t been a renaissance/revival of Y2K in the media industry (for now)I can go back to games like this to remember how cool looking the future could be.
CROSSNIQ+ is a Y2K action puzzler where you drag the same color blocks to form a cross on the screen and that’s pretty much it. It’s simple, but very effective on what it set itself out to be. The UI and visuals are stunning and cool to navigate, the music has some great DnB, and various modes like versus, trail, and unlockables. The only drawback is that the game has a lack of online implementation since the crowd campaign has not reached the goal. It’s a shame, but the final product is still great.
If that one game journalist thinks that the Crash bandicoot N’sane Trilogy is the dark-souls of 3D platforming, then imagine their reaction when they play this! Psilosybil is a linear 3D platformer, reminiscent of the first Crash game, that targets the more veteran players of the franchise. And I don’t take that statement lightly. As someone who hasn't completed any of the harder stages of Crash Bandicoot and jumped in the demo at face value, let me tell you, I was in a world of hurt. Precision jumping, predicting certain frames to maneuver obstacles, and a lot of trial and error is how you succeed in this game. Sure, I was frustrated trying to complete a state and to only miss 1-2 collectable shrooms. But in the end, I came out of the demo, feeling accomplished and ready for anything both this and the rest for Crash Bandicoot games.
A bunch of people saw clips of the game on twitter and wondered ‘what the heck is this game?!’ then it released and is as stupid as it gets and I loved it! Upon first glances, the game feels like it’s just about speeding towards the goal at the end and going through various areas. Do as many unplanned tricks and destroy other drivers to unlock newer cars. However, causing havoc will result in having police cars to stop you for your tracks, so you also have to destroy them. Only to discover that there is also an eff’n fighting versus mode with an entire move list and combos! Updates are still going, so you’ll probably expect more cars, tracks, and maybe more features later down the road.
I never knew how much I miss the early-to-mid 2000’s era. Especially the Y2K aesthetic. I could go on how many forms of media/genres/fashion/devices that particularly forms my taste/interest as a child. And while there hasn’t been a renaissance/revival of Y2K in the media industry (for now)I can go back to games like this to remember how cool looking the future could be.
CROSSNIQ+ is a Y2K action puzzler where you drag the same color blocks to form a cross on the screen and that’s pretty much it. It’s simple, but very effective on what it set itself out to be. The UI and visuals are stunning and cool to navigate, the music has some great DnB, and various modes like versus, trail, and unlockables. The only drawback is that the game has a lack of online implementation since the crowd campaign has not reached the goal. It’s a shame, but the final product is still great.
Why the link doesn't show? Here's the proper link this time.
