Steam Next Fest Jan 2024 Recap
The Floofer Zone #16 | February 12th, 2024
Steam Next Fest, for the uninitiated, is a tri-annual celebration of upcoming games on Steam, where hundreds of demos for the latest indie games become available all at the same time for just one week
Every time Next Fest rolls around, I like to look through all the available demos and pick out 20 or so of them to actually play, and I also force politely ask a few of my friends to watch me play them on discord :)
With so many different games, not all of them are winners. I only play each demo for a little bit since there are so many, and sometimes the game doesn’t hook me or just isn’t very interesting. And frankly… most of the stuff lining the Next Fest front page is either another rogue-like, souls-like, survivors-like, or some other “-like” that I’ve already seen a million times before. But, there are still those few hidden gems... those weird, niche little indie games that turn out to be super creative and fun. Those are the ones that make it onto my wishlist, and those are the ones I want to talk about today!
Parry Nightmare (2024, KAKUKAKU GAMES)
You can click on any of the banner images in this post (like the one above) to go directly to the game's Steam page
Ok I know what I just said about survivors-likes, but hear me out! This one’s actually cool!!
In Parry Nightmare, u play as a soul separated from its body. The soul’s owner is asleep, trapped in a nightmare, and freakish creatures called Trauma swoop in to make sure she stays asleep forever! With the help of Honnou-chan, who is… well it’s not really explained who she is, but she looks like some sort of demon lady— the protag’s soul must fend off the Trauma and collect enough Light to drive away the darkness and survive until morning
Hordes of enemies will constantly try to surround u in Parry Nightmare, but you can't attack them directly. As the game’s name implies, u can parry them instead with left-click, which will temporarily stun them and push them back, but only within a certain range. Honnou-chan will target any parried enemies and finish them off, which is the only way to actually defeat them and collect the Light they drop. This creates a thrilling experience where you need to let the enemies get close on purpose in order to be able to defeat them at all!
In between levels, there are short point-and-click segments where you’ll explore the protagonist’s room. The protagonist’s soul and Honnou-chan will comment on everything strewn about the place, and certain objects— such as the laptop reminding the protagonist that she has work tomorrow— will trigger another nightmare, and allow u to proceed to the next level. It seems to me like the full game will have a more extensive story exploring what’s bothering the protagonist in her life, which… I mean the enemies are literally called Trauma, what did u expect lol
I’d also like to mention that the art in Parry Nightmare is very charming, and the jazzy soundtrack that gets more intense as more enemies spawn in is super neat
MULLET MAD JACK (TBA, HAMMER95)
In a complete 180 from the previous game, MULLET MAD JACK is a fast-paced boomer shooter rogue-like (yes i KNOW what I said about roguelikes just hear me out) with a superbly well-executed cyberpunk 90’s anime OVA aesthetic. This game is all about attacking anything that moves— with guns, swords, or a swift kick to the face
In fact, if you don't kill anything in this game, you die! The protagonist, Mullet Madjack himself, only has 10 seconds to live, and every kill grants a few more precious seconds to make it to the end of the level. The goal is to clear 10 levels of randomly generated madness, which is a lot easier said than done, as taking damage from enemy attacks also costs time
You can increase Mr. Madjack’s odds of survival by choosing the right upgrades between each level and making clever use of the environment. His kick move can be used to insta-kill smaller foes or knock bigger ones into environmental hazards, and some upgrades can give u different weapons, useful stat buffs, or change the way u play. In one of my runs, I got an upgrade that gave me extra time for hitting headshots— all of a sudden the starting pistol became pretty good! Replayability is definitely one of this game’s strong suits
I also really have to stress how incredible this game’s aesthetic is. The entire game is oozing with visual flair, and the writing is pretty funny too
Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse (2024, Frontside 180)
You might think from its looks that Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse is just a clone of Hollow Knight. I thought the same at first, but I was pleasantly surprised when I actually played it. For starters… yeah it’s another rogue-like. There’s a lot of them, okay? They sneak up on ya
Never Grave is a 2D action-platformer where u explore the ruins of a fantasy world and use spells and swords to fight the creepy crawlies lurking within. The interesting thing about Never Grave is that it’s a roguelike with some metroidvania influence— each randomly-generated level feels like a small slice of a larger metroidvania with how many secrets are scattered about, and combined with how the controls feel and how the main character can slide under small gaps or cling onto high ledges, I almost felt like I was playing a Metroid game
The controls are quick and snappy, and scoring hits with your sword’s 3-hit combo feels satisfying. With how platforming heavy the game is, u have to mindful of the environment at all times while battling enemies, which I think is neat
Never Grave is also really hard! I didn’t check if anyone had given this game the souls-like tag on Steam, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was there. Enemies hit hard and fast, and healing seemed limited. This is a game where u will die a lot, but you'll have fun doing it
Lastly, I'd like to point out that the entire game is hand-drawn and hand-painted, and the result is some very beautiful visuals
Yohane the Parhelion: NUMAZU in the MIRAGE (2024, BeXide Inc.)
Yohane the Parhelion - NUMAZU in the MIRAGE - is a deckbuilder rogue-like based on the Love Live spinoff anime of the same name (minus the subtitle). Like every other game in this genre, it takes its cues from Slay the Spire. You battle monsters in turn-based, card-based combat, playing cards to either deal damage or block damage, which will reward u with resources, random passive abilities and/or randomly drawn new cards. Your goal is to make the most of what you’re given to build the most OP deck u can, and with a little luck and a lot of strategy, survive till the end and beat the game
I guess you could say they were... inSPIREd
I unfortunately didn’t get to play this one for very long, so I never made it past the tutorial… all I can really comment on is that I think the visuals are very well done. Fans of the anime (like me :3) will be happy with how faithfully these characters were represented in 3D and how expressive their animations are
Valkyrie Saga (TBA, Public Void)
The one game in this post that isn’t a “-like”! Crazy!!
Valkyrie Saga is a 3D platformer that makes no attempt to hide its N64/PS1 influence— the game looks like it came straight out of 1997! You play as a valkyrie named Roll, and your goal is to climb all the way to the top of a network of huge buildings and floating islands for reasons that the game explained in the intro… and reasons which I promptly forgot. oops
Roll can double jump, air dash (which doubles as a spear attack, though there aren’t that many enemies to use it on), or glide through the air for long distances. The map is very very wide open, and your time in the game is split between navigating tricky platforming challenges, or flying through the open air searching for your next objective. You might feel a little lost at first, but eventually you’ll find NPCs that will give u helpful hints as to where to go. Not to mention that some structures are hiding useful upgrades for Roll, like heart containers, so exploration is encouraged
There’s also a bit of a story to unravel in Valkyrie Saga as well. Some of the NPC dialogue seems to hint at the lore of the game’s world, and I can only assume you’ll learn more about it as the game progresses
Ultimately, Valkyrie Saga still leaves it up to u to figure out how to ascend all those towering, complex structures reaching up into the sky. It’s the kind of game that asks a little bit of patience from the player instead of holding their hand the whole way through, but if u can offer that patience, I really think there’s something special here. Something about the calm, ambient soundtrack mixed with how the game looks created this unique vibe that really captivated me
If any of these games sounded interesting to u, I highly recommend u go on Steam and play the demos yourself if they’re still available! I only played these demos for at most 20 minutes at a time, and my descriptions really don’t do them enough justice. also I wrote this blog post at like 1 am lol