Steam+ Deals Mega Thread (All PC Gaming Deals)

Neuro5i5

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This thread will attempt to provide a place to discuss past/present/future PC gaming deals. While mainly focusing on Steam games, any standout sales may also be presented. I will not be updating every Daily/Weekly/etc. sale. The tools to help individuals become a smarter shopper will be provided below.

See this POST for links to store sale pages, threads of interest and other tools to help you become a more informed PC game shopper.
 
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Some companies are just names now and haven't been amazing for a while such as Bioware, Bethesda, Blizzard and others I'm sure. Not saying they're making pure trash, but yeah I don't get excited from any of these companies anymore.
I'm sensing a pattern. Probably just coincidence.
 
With the Summer Fest here I'm slowing going through showcases and wishlisting stuff. In addition many indie games and some not so indie games are getting demos or have demos. I'll be playing some and giving my opinion on them. Look forward to that. Finished going through the day one stuff at least.
 
Steam Next Fest is coming June 10th through the 17th. Expect loads and loads of demos in it and many demo impressions from myself, Kbob (I'm guessing) and others. I will be giving demo impressions of all the stuff I found through the many directs today. Lots of new demos here and I'm guessing many of these will be in the fest as well. Have about 50 demos possibly to go through.
 
Blizzard hasn't been Blizz since around after D2: LOD struck Gold and also when WoW became a juggernaut. It was all downhill, after Activision got their hooks in, Roper left, Brevik left, and Schaefers Bros. left.

Not sure on Bethesda - but it was probably after Fallout 4, which the base-game was disappointing...especially after FNV rocked our shooter-RPG worlds and Outer Worlds with all DLC's proved it's still way better than F4 GOTY. Sure, F4 was still good and I thought Far Harbor DLC was great - but, Will Shen is gone (dude behind Far Harbor DLC), F76 was a mess at launch & is still trying to bounce back, and Starfield don't look to be lighting the world on fire either.
I liked WCIII (though not as much as Starcraft), but mostly agree.
 
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Dragon Age 4 Stuff - fka as Dragon Age: DreadWolf, now called DA: The VeilGuard:

1. Looks like Dragon Age 4, which was once called Dragon Age: DreadWolf, has been renamed to Dragon Age: The VeilGuard for numerous reasons.
2. See Source #1 and #2 below for tons of info on the game: party reduced to 3, DA4's combat sounds like it'll be more like Mass Effect, and more.
3. DA2's Romance system is back, where you can romance anyone that's romance-able, no matter of your gender or the other character's gender.

Sources:
1. See below:
2. https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age-dreadwolf-dragon-age-the-veilguard-gameplay
3. https://kotaku.com/dragon-age-4-veilguard-romance-options-dreadwolf-1851524102
Newman can be counted on to save Bioware.
 
With the next Next Fest™ next week, it's time for an official demo dump. It's been awhile, so get ready to scroll.

I've played 90 demos since last we met. It's been quiet, likely with the build up to tomorrow opening the flood gates. I'll figure I'll show you the 8+/10 games I played of note:

Knights in Tight SpacesYes
68​
Completed
8​
Strong showing, but lacks QOL and UI/UX features of Fights in Tight Spaces
NorthwindYes
68​
Completed
8​
Strong contender for a new Slay the Spire-like; really like the art and offensive focus
SkogdalYes
81​
Completed
8​
Norwegian "redneck/punk" Slay the Spire
Minishoot' AdventuresYes
49​
Completed
8​
Zelda, but as a schmup
Siren's Call: Escape VelocityYes
126​
Completed
8​
VN Newbie; seems like one of those meta-style horror VNs, but had fun reading it
Swordhaven: Iron ConspiracyNo
23​
Abandoned
8​
I have faith in this team, looks like a good one of those
KILL THE WITCH (v0.4 update)Yes
52​
Completed
8​
Dev made an update that feels way better, now it’s good 2D action
Demon's MirrorYes
42​
Completed
8​
Satisfying crunch; a good balance of cards and match 3
Slice & DiceYes
61​
Completed
9​
Little slice of heaven
LOK DigitalYes
26​
Completed
8​
Fun puzzle game; mixing words with sequences
Astral ThroneNo
120​
Abandoned
8​
Almost won the first run, but bug caused me to lose; sad, but fun game!
Mystical TacticsYes
50​
Completed
9​
Very fun SRPG with team building and roguelike gameplay structure
HalverYes
18​
Completed
8​
Halve a good time! Very neat puzzler
Glyphica: Typing SurvivalYes
51​
Completed
8​
Fun take on VS-like titles using typing as your weapon
Border PioneerYes
72​
Completed
8​
Rely fun little city building tower defense RTS. Super cute. Needs better Enlglish
The Land Beneath UsYes
46​
Completed
8​
Solid more traditional rogue-style game w/ rogue-like elements, fun weapons
AerutaYes
67​
Completed
8​
Fun 2D ARPG/Bakery Store Management game, very lite in nature
CryptmasterYes
40​
Completed
8​
Very good shit; interesting puzzle blobber meets Stanley Parable almost
Witching StoneYes
19​
Completed
8​
Real 90s Genesis game vibes, I liked it, beat it on the first run.
Pampas & Selene: The Maze of DemonsYes
60​
Completed
8​
Solid 2D 8-bit ARGP

As you can see (or count), there are 20 games taking the top spot, none getting a perfect for me. As for a Top 5, I think these are likely the ones most likely to make a splash and are worth your time looking into:

Knights in Tight Spaces
8​
Strong showing, but lacks QOL and UI/UX features of Fights in Tight Spaces -- I liked this more than Fight in Tight Spaces because the aesthetic is refined and I'm a fan of fantasy settings over modern or future ones
Minishoot' Adventures
8​
Zelda, but as a schmup; don't let me undersell this, its very fun. It has since released to an Overwhelmingly Positive reviews, so I know how to pick them.
Slice & Dice
9​
Little slice of heaven. My only 9/10 this round, and like above, this one is also overwhelming positive. I'll likely pick it up after I finish a few other games.
LOK Digital
8​
Fun puzzle game; mixing words with sequences. I consider this a very novel puzzle game and likely to catch fire, as well.
Cryptmaster
8​
Very good shit; interesting puzzle blobber meets Stanley Parable almost. And look, I'm 3 for 3 regarding playing demos and recommending overwhelmingly positive games. You get items and actions by playing word games with the dungeon master. Just try the demo, trust me.

If you're strapped for time, I hope this narrows down your search. I'm sitting on 31 demos already downloaded before the event starts and I'm certain I probably have some of the better looking ones forthcoming. But I stand to be surprised, as always. Get out there and try something new!


Tempus RailNo
9​
Abandoned
5​
Tedious and Slow
Knights in Tight SpacesYes
68​
Completed
8​
Strong showing, but lacks QOL and UI/UX features of Fights in Tight Spaces
ManiacNo
25​
Abandoned
6​
Filler food of games
Daemon SigilNo
3​
Abandoned
5​
Wall of text, throws you into the deep end too fast, don’t like the look
NorthwindYes
68​
Completed
8​
Strong contender for a new Slay the Spire-like; really like the art and offensive focus
Take Me To The Dungeon!! - Family FriendlyYes
92​
Completed
6​
H-game without the H, actually fun card game, but really easy
SkogdalYes
81​
Completed
8​
Norwegian "redneck/punk" Slay the Spire
Minishoot' AdventuresYes
49​
Completed
8​
Zelda, but as a schmup
Siren's Call: Escape VelocityYes
126​
Completed
8​
VN Newbie; seems like one of those meta-style horror VNs, but had fun reading it
Rebellion GODSOUL: AwakeningNo
5​
Abandoned
5​
Says English, No English
SWORNNo
9​
Abandoned
4​
Literally "Hades at home" type nonsense
Acolyte of the AltarYes
23​
Completed
5​
Very interesting "boss" style card game, but the reviews say its woefully lacking
Sword vs HordeNo
1​
Abandoned
3​
Nah
Claymores of the Lost KingdomYes
28​
Completed
6​
Brutal; died twice at the very beginning… awful player on-ramp
Swordhaven: Iron ConspiracyNo
23​
Abandoned
8​
I have faith in this team, looks like a good one of those
RUNGORE: Beginner ExperienceYes
19​
Abandoned
6​
Runner cardgame; I don't like real time combat
THE MULLER-POWELL PRINCIPLE: ForewordYes
31​
Completed
4​
It's poopy with portals… Half Life 2 left at home, under the old half life at home
KILL THE WITCH (v0.4 update)Yes
52​
Completed
8​
Dev made an update that feels way better, now it’s good 2D action
Deck Adventurers II (replay)Yes
45​
Completed
7​
Slow, but fun gameplay
Demon's MirrorYes
42​
Completed
8​
Satisfying crunch; a good balance of cards and match 3
Rack and SlayNo
11​
Abandoned
5​
Nah
Indies' LiesNo
51​
Abandoned
6​
Something feels off; its close to being really fun, but I don't like it
Slice & DiceYes
61​
Completed
9​
Little slice of heaven
GalaiaYes
38​
Completed
7​
Solid little Hades clone
Rune ColiseumNo
16​
Abandoned
5​
Interesting Concept of Card Based Simul-Battler, but not well done
SAND LANDNo
28​
Abandoned
7​
Demo is empty, just a tech demo, at best; wait for full release reviews
Beyond HanwellNo
6​
Abandoned
5​
Too Spoopy 4 Me; unreal engine stuttering like made
Morbid The Lords of IreYes
138​
Completed
6​
Very close to a cool Souls-like, but too early to tell
Perennial OrderNo
23​
Abandoned
6​
Tedious; one hit kill for you, so good luck getting a "perfect" on every boss
LOK DigitalYes
26​
Completed
8​
Fun puzzle game; mixing words with sequences
SULFURNo
132​
Abandoned
7​
Hard, weapon durability sucks, but its still pretty fun; doesn't respect your time, tho
ReMixYes
12​
Completed
6​
VS-like using rhtyhm based movement to attack; not clicking for me
Eternal Remnant: The First ChapterYes
82​
Completed
6​
Solid RPG Maker JRPG, but too many tedious components that need streamlined
Astral ThroneNo
120​
Abandoned
8​
Almost won the first run, but bug caused me to lose; sad, but fun game!
PARKSIDE: DECAYED SOUL MANIPULATIONNo
1​
Abandoned
4​
Intentionally ugly can work… this game doesn’t
Anomaly CollapseNo
0​
Abandoned
1​
Removed their game demo after release; this is the worst, stop it devs
Bloomtown: A Different StoryYes
89​
Completed
6​
Persona, but with Tweens in old timey America; its got real bad pacing issues
Blood RushNo
42​
Abandoned
6​
Fast, but feels very weak; says its "hard" but more unfair and underpowered
ZortchNo
17​
Abandoned
6​
Really fun old school shooter, but has weird performance hitches for me
Mystical TacticsYes
50​
Completed
9​
Very fun SRPG with team building and roguelike gameplay structure
HalverYes
18​
Completed
8​
Halve a good time! Very neat puzzler
Terrorformer TDNo
17​
Abandoned
5​
Solid, but not outstanding TD with some tedious maze building aspects
When the Light DiesNo
14​
Abandoned
4​
VS-like, but add in survival!... Manage three more meters while playing VS, fun?... No
Void SolsNo
14​
Abandoned
5​
Neat concept, asteroid souls-like, but the actual controls are busted
From Glory to GooNo
8​
Abandoned
5​
I think I have other games I can play that are better developed, like Rimworld
Do Not Press The Button (To Delete The Multiverse)Yes
13​
Completed
5​
Go play the Stanley Parable instead
SaGa Emerald BeyondNo
68​
Abandoned
5​
What the actual fuck Squeenix? That Scottish accent is trying to deport itself…
Glyphica: Typing SurvivalYes
51​
Completed
8​
Fun take on VS-like titles using typing as your weapon
KILLBEATYes
42​
Completed
7​
Very early rhythm Hades-like, needs a lot of work to get going
STRONG FORTRESSNo
16​
Abandoned
5​
Repeatable crash bug not able to pass; otherwise, tedious tutorial, but fun idea
Border PioneerYes
72​
Completed
8​
Rely fun little city building tower defense RTS. Super cute. Needs better Enlglish
Virtua Unlimited ProjectYes
42​
Completed
6​
It's anime girl Megaman Zero; I'm not the biggest Megaman Fan
RP7No
5​
Abandoned
4​
I don't like the way it plays, using Z thru M keys on a QWERTY keyboard
The Land Beneath UsYes
46​
Completed
8​
Solid more traditional rogue-style game w/ rogue-like elements, fun weapons
Mist SurvivorNo
2​
Abandoned
2​
Ow, my eyes… weird framerate issues and bad frametiming
Project: AHNO's ArkNo
2​
Abandoned
4​
Low budget; I dislike the paper doll aesthetic of the combat
Pinball Storm: LokantaNo
4​
Abandoned
4​
Interesting concept, but the translation is non-functional and very slow to start
Stellar InitiativeNo
6​
Abandoned
5​
Tedious and boring 2D tower defense title
Turtle RidersNo
25​
Abandoned
5​
Tedious and frustrating
Escape The Mad EmpireYes
67​
Completed
7​
RTWP roguelike dungeon crawler; I like turn based more, but this was solid fun
Moose MinersNo
15​
Abandoned
5​
Looks like one of those idle game from a mobile ad
Margoq's LairYes
26​
Completed
5​
It's not bad, nor mediocre, but not good, either; solid?
AerutaYes
67​
Completed
8​
Fun 2D ARPG/Bakery Store Management game, very lite in nature
Dark LordNo
39​
Abandoned
7​
Evil version of Reigns
Enter The Lost ChamberNo
4​
Abandoned
4​
Threadbare in terms of design, starts off way too flimsy of a character
Knights WithinNo
24​
Abandoned
6​
Helldivers, but indie and sci-fi medieval - neat, but needs work
Dice & FoldYes
71​
Completed
7​
Great premise, I had fun, kind of dice solitaire, but it's VERY RNG heavy; I broke it, too
Ten Thousand Coins: The Golden MerchantNo
35​
Abandoned
7​
I got softlocked due to gameplay during the demo, otherwise has potential
Hexxen: HuntersNo
5​
Abandoned
3​
Shit
CryptmasterYes
40​
Completed
8​
Very good shit; interesting puzzle blobber meets Stanley Parable almost
Wander StarsNo
21​
Abandoned
7​
Hopefully going to be amazing, but the initial demo is quite rough
Fallen Tear: The AscensionNo
15​
Abandoned
6​
Looks visually well, but gameplay doesn’t grab my attention
Dungeons of the Amber GriffinNo
23​
Abandoned
6​
Looks visually really good, but fumbly to play; I don't like the real time combat
Improbability Control BureauNo
1​
Abandoned
2​
Runs like piss, is it a stealth miner?
Warstride ChallengesNo
20​
Abandoned
5​
Plays fun, but over tutorialization and unskippable prompts make it too tedious
Nova HeartsNo
36​
Abandoned
5​
Looks great, interesting premise, but plays like absolute garbage - bad combat!
RevelatioNo
10​
Abandoned
5​
Plodding, not engaging
SodamanNo
5​
Abandoned
3​
Just trying to use the controls turned me off
Gales of NayeliNo
4​
Abandoned
4​
Clunky, clunky, clunky… controls are awful, controller is broken
AscendantNo
10​
Abandoned
6​
Could be fun, but its undercooked
Sacred Earth - ReverieNo
4​
Abandoned
4​
Your weeb friends in high school made a game in their spare time and this is it
Enter the ChronosphereNo
20​
Abandoned
6​
Turn based Hades-like kinda game, interesting concept, dunno yet
MunchNo
5​
Abandoned
3​
Bad
Beat the HumansNo
78​
Abandoned
6​
Pray to RNGesus you can get the right loot, units, etc. to beat the demo
Witching StoneYes
19​
Completed
8​
Real 90s Genesis game vibes, I liked it, beat it on the first run.
Beasties of GreenhollowNo
1​
Abandoned
4​
Not interested
Conqueror Of TimeNo
2​
Abandoned
4​
Not interested
Pampas & Selene: The Maze of DemonsYes
60​
Completed
8​
Solid 2D 8-bit ARGP
Desert KingdomsNo
2​
Abandoned
4​
Not interested
Creator of Another WorldNo
15​
Abandoned
6​
Brick wall of depth called an "Elona-like," I guess Elona is a Rimworld-esque JRPG?
 
So,... Steam added over 900 demos to my account. And like, I cannot remove them.

demo1.JPG

I religiously categorize everything, therefor demos fall under "Uncategorized" for me. It's super handy to keep track of how many demos I have to play at any given time, too.

I woke up with 932 demos added, since I had 31 on deck to play before the Next Fest started.

I put in a trouble ticket, but wondering if anyone else has had this happen?

Edit: The uninstalled demos are no longer showing, but all the licenses are now tied to my account again. And I am very thorough about removing demos from my account when done (Hi, I track the demos I play with a spreadsheet...). So kinda frustrating they'd make such a big oopsie-doodles right before Next Fest. I'm dumb, I clicked the "ready to play" icon. The boatload of demos are still there.

Edit2: The "remove from account" is no longer available for demos or playtests, either.

demo3.png

Edit3: It's easy to hide them all if you use the directory on the left instead of the actual icons on the right. Just Shift + Select a batch a bunch of them, right click > hide games. It's a solution to clear it up for me, but bothersome they can mess up something like removing demos from your account.
 
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I like removing those trials/prologues/demos from my account cause how would I even give a care about any of those once the main game is out? I'm clearing out some impressions right now for demos before I look at the Steam Next Fest demos. I have 2 demos pending as well, but I believe they're in this Next Fest, and I'll give impressions then. I'm going to include these demos in my Next Fest Awards I usually give at the end of my demo impressions. The three very strong demos in this one are Cabernet, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, and Toxic Crusaders. Other decent games were Bittersweet Birthday, Bloodless, Constance, EbiTapes, Parcel Corps, and Pinball Spire.

10 Dead Doves – 3 minutes. This felt like a 2 deep for you walking simulator with no English subs for now (I believe will have some in the full release). It controls horribly with the left stick moving forward or backwards. The other stick moves yourself around. It’s pretty much a new take on tank controls. I didn’t enjoy this at all and was having a hell of a time moving myself around. 4.5/10

Afterlove EP – 13 minutes. This one is an interactive adventure narrative game about a guy in a band and a girl he is I assume in a relationship with. Something happens and stuff happens to you and the band. Lots of drama I’ve read/seen before, but it was alright. The walking around interfacing with things was extremely clunky. The story seems OK enough although I dislike the main character already. The music is excellent and provides a good atmosphere. Everything else is just alright. I would get this bundled. 6/10

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure – 16 minutes completed a quest. This one almost feels like Sokoban where you move around and everything moves with you like a conveyor belt. This also has to do with fighting where a sword moving to a monster kills it (had to do with the quest I did). It has decent enough graphics and a repetitive but alright soundtrack with chill vibes. I got stuck about what to do next, and wasn’t enjoying myself a lot. It’s innovative, but would give me much more stress than chill, but there are puzzles to solve. 6/10

Big Boy Boxing – 10 minutes won a fight. This is awful. It is trying to be Punch Out clone but the dodges which are one of the most important parts of Punch Out barely work or something, as I couldn’t dodge a single thing. It also has another stupid mechanic where if you get 3 hits in any fight the fight is over. The graphics are pretty good as is the music, but the gameplay just felt horrible. I have beaten the Punch Out games, so I should do a lot better than this. 5/10

Bittersweet Birthday – 27 minutes finished one full area with boss battle. This is a weird doesn’t make much sense story wise weird looking (turn off the CRT monitor effect for sure) action souls like game with decent fighting, but not making much sense otherwise. It looks and sounds good, and I had fun in the battle. It controls well with the Series X controller. The story was nonsense for the moment, but may get better later. 7/10

Bloodless – 39 minutes completed demo. This one is about a former samurai who comes back to a place she abandoned and no longer wants to kill. The graphics and sound are very decent. In this game you have to disarm opponents instead of killing them. You look for tells and can also attack stamina till they’re stunned. It is slightly floaty at times for movement and reads, but overall works well. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and would get it cheaply or in a bundle. 7/10

Bloodrush: Undying Wish – 8 minutes. This one is arena brawler where you play some thing who can dodge, shoot and throw your line. It is frantic and some enemies have too much health, but it plays alright and is entertaining enough. It feels super repetitive already though, and I’m not one for game where you just fight arenas of enemies. 6/10

Cabernet – 29 minutes. This one is kind of a choose your own adventure game about a girl who dies and is turned into a vampire. In this game you kind of figure out what you’re doing and try to figure out what to do as a vampire. There is a lot of choices that lead to different paths and you have stats that offer kind of status checks to get more XP to get level up your parameters. The art is really pretty and unique looking in this. The music is quite good too and the sound is excellent. The voices are well acted. Honestly if it was a full version I would have kept playing since it was interesting. This had a pretty well told story that didn’t feel like nonsense either. One of my favorite demos of this time so far and an easy one to get bundled or even cheaper if it’s not expensive on release. 8/10

Century of Anticipation – 4 minutes. This feels like choose your own adventure nonsense after playing the Cabernet demo. This one is really abstract and the art looks like scribbles on a paper. You go doing your own thing interacting with things until you get to a black and white choose your own adventure game saying about choices being made. I got into a loop and was already tired before the loop happened. This was not my type of game at all other than the music being OK. 5/10

Constance – 10 minutes. This one is a Metroidvania game with quite beautiful graphics and decent music and sound. You play some girl with a paint brush and it’s your attacks and movement. You can ink up to dodge and all. It’s pretty challenging with fights, and overall was a lot of fun for what I played. The movement was very solid and tricky to handle, but felt very precise. This one felt really good and I would get it cheaper or bundled. 7/10

The Crush House – 15 minutes. Another one not for me at all. In this one you have a first-person viewpoint and are the one who is taking footage for an up and coming reality show about people in a house. You have to impress the audience or you will be fired. The graphics are OK, but a little bland for character models and some environmental details. You pretty much record them and gauge the audience. I’m not really sure what to do otherwise as I became bored waiting for the contestants to start conversations. This was boring to me, but I could see this being fun for someone. 6/10

Detective Dotson – 7 minutes. This feels like a nonsense pretty good-looking platformer where you try to figure out who killed your dad. The setting Is alright, but you get no guidance except to look for clues which you do a 2D platforming setting where you can jump and grab on everything. I really didn’t like this at all. Felt more like a tech demo of a person going around interacting with people and doing quests while finding items to fill in the blanks in a menu. 5.5/10

EbiTapes – 27 minutes completed demo. This one is a color drawn looking adventure game about a place that says no music. You are not motivated as the main character. You eventually get a recorder that can record sounds and you can make beats of it solving puzzles and jamming with people according to what they want. This was really chill, a bit challenging at times and quirky and cute overall. I had some fun with it, and although I wouldn’t buy it unless very cheap, it is perfect for those cozy bundles that Humble always has. 7/10

Eclipsium – 4 minutes. A really weird graphics first person horror game where your only things are grabbing with a hand and using items grabbed with a hand. I know the graphics are meant to be grainy and ugly, but I couldn’t see much of anything and it was nothing for me. Feels more like a walking simulator, except I could never tell where to go because of the details. Not for me at all. 4.5/10

FREERIDE: The Personality Test – 20 minutes completed demo to one ending. This one is very strange, looks a bit strange, feels a bit strange and overall is strange. It’s kind of a 3D platformer adventure puzzle solving game thing. You are a guy who gets taken by a spirit and get on a train to have adventures. Not sure what it all means and just like the name a personality test is given. This is pure fluff, but wasn’t terrible. I wouldn’t buy it, but it would be a decent enough game for a wholeness bundle. 6/10

Iron Meat – 24 minutes. This one is a Contra like 2D run n gun. The graphics and music are quite good. The controls are good but the aiming and the movement to duck feel a little off with the Series X controller. I kept losing lives, but the action was intense and pretty fun. Very high-quality game although I feel it was very cheap at times. 6.5/10

Kitsune Tails – 6 minutes. A very cute looking and sounding kind of Super Mario Bros 3 style 2D platformer including a run meter. Unlike Super Mario Bros 3 the controls are floaty as all heck and it feels horrible to play with the Series X controller. It really needs to fix the control issues, but otherwise it’s a standard platformer with some story. 5/10

Memory Lost – 9 minutes. This is a very okay action like Hades cyberpunk themed game where you play a person who fights who can transfer into enemies to use their weapons and bodies. It is very clunky with many enemies and the dodge is a little weird to use. This feels alright though, but would need polishing to really recommend it. Still would get it bundled. 6/10

METAL SUITs – 8 minutes. A 2D platformer kind of like Mega Man but you transform with powerups like Kirby and get new abilities. The stage I completed was not very fun to play and not well designed. It still was alright enough. It controlled alright with the Series X controller and had good graphics/sound. It just didn’t feel exciting at all. 6/10

Mira and the Legend of the Djinns – 9 minutes. This is a typical 2D Metroidvania where you get a sword and a pick axe. The controls are pretty good on the Series X controller. The only wonky control is dodging a little and trying to get up on objects. You also have an instrument to make music (why did you invert the controls for up and down when playing one of the songs. Also, a major flaw where you practice a song and need to play it for the djinns or something and it doesn’t remind you of the song, or say I remember that. It’s left to pure memory, of which mine threw out the previous commands to the song so I ended the demo there. It has decent graphics and alright music. Overall, it needs some polish and a little hand holding at least to not cause progression halt because of memory. 6/10

Morn – 3 minutes. Quite a bit unpolished kind of feels like Quake FPS with some similar guns like the nail gun. You move around decently well and the shooting is alright as well. The handgun feels like a pea shooter. The music is OK and the graphics are very blocky and generic looking. I feel this would be a nice piece of the lower end of a bundle, as it’s not super amazing. 5.5/10

Motordoom – 7 minutes. A strange mix of Tony Hawk and Doom. Pretty much you play as someone in an arena and could do tricks and all for points. There are enemies too and you can shoot them. The graphics are a bit below average and feel like they could be out the PSX era. The music is some head banging heavy metal. Overall, I didn’t feel this combination came together and felt much more clunky to play. There is also leveling and rogue lite elements, but I only got a few, as I grew tired of the formula quickly. 5/10

Parcel Corps – 23 minutes completed demo. This one is an open world kind of Crazy Taxi like game except you’re on a bicycle. You complete parcel deliveries and get to know people. The game controls pretty decently with a Series X controller, looks pretty alright, and has decent music and OK voice acting. They have something unique and cool here and it would scratch that Crazy Taxi itch in a somewhat unique feel. I liked it enough to get it in a bundle later on or for a good sale. 7/10

PARKSIDE: DECAYED SOUL MANIPULATION – 33 minutes almost completed one mission. This one is an atmospheric first-person action game similar to Dues Ex (the original) or System Shock. It has a weird nonsense story in a decayed future. It plays alright although it controls a bit funky and the physics system is also a bit funky. Overall, it is a good, maybe not great game. It felt very much like I was playing an old school first person immersive sim, which is good. 6.5/10

Pinball Spire – 30 minutes completed demo. This one is a pinball game where you play as a ball and must traverse tables accomplishing pinball goals along the way. The music is really generic as well as the story. The graphics were fine and the game controlled well with the Series X controller. This was decently challenging and reminded me of a way better Sonic Spinball. I enjoyed this one enough that I would pick it up discounted or bundled. Pinball lovers who are good at pinball will enjoy the game. The tables seemed well designed as well. 7/10

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – 16 minutes completed level one. This one is a great throwback to the quirky action games that were on the GBA. This one controls wonderfully with the Series X controller and has you playing a guy who uses a yo-yo. This yo-yo can help to solve puzzles, bounces off corners and helps to fight enemies. There is also a story which is alright. The graphics and sound are excellent as well. This is one of the best constructed demos I’ve played in a while and is well worth it to get it bundled or on sale when it comes out. 8/10

Project Absentia – 7 minutes completed one level. This one is about an angel I think who is getting revenged for her apartment being raided and other angels taking her two friends. This one has very Newgrounds looking graphics and some decent synth music. It controls well with a keyboard and mouse and provided some good FPS action. It is decently unpolished, but was more fun that a lot of generic boomer shooters that are coming out nowadays. I would get it on a very deep discount or bundled. 6.5/10

Renaine – This is a strange 2D platformer that looks like a nicer looking C64 game with out of place music (drum music and then swing vocal tracks in jungles?) good controls and very little sense of guidance. Like a game like Tomba you get quests. There is also a combo system and it controls very well with the Series X controller. I just didn’t like how off putting the music was and the lack of direction. I was getting bored from just going around killing things. I do feel with more guidance it would be a fine enough game. 6/10

Rogue Labyrinth – 12 minutes beat area one. This one is a rogue lite arena game where you have a club and can charge it, dodge and shoot a thorn ball projectile to kill all the enemies in an arena. The main gimmick is your club can knock back projectiles and toss other things around the room. You gain upgrades and other abilities to keep going further. It looks fine and has okay sound and sometimes out place music as well. Overall, it felt very okay to play, but I was getting a bit bored (arena brawlers can get old quickly) and I didn’t like the feel for hitting enemies and not feeling much weight to hits or attacks. I would only get it bundled, but it’s fine enough. 6/10

Rugrats Adventures in Gameland – 13 minutes. This was kind of an awful 2D platformer. The graphics were funky looking and felt out of proportion. The music and sound were just OK. Everything felt floaty in the game and this game takes inspiration from Super Marios Bros 2. I died 4 times on the first boss since I couldn’t dodge things well coming from the ceiling. This just felt awful to play and took the game off of my wish list. This is a true nostalgia grab and I’m glad I didn’t touch the LRG pre-orders. This needs a major amount of polish to be even decent. I liked that you could switch from 8-bit graphics to HD. Regardless it didn’t play well. 5/10

SCHiM – 3 minutes. This is a weird artsy game where you play a blob thing who is in a kids shadow or something. You try to get objecitves done and get out of a screen. Sometimes this involves the kid or you as a blob going between shadows. The art is really cool and the music/sounds are alright. I just wasn’t having fun and this felt like style over substance. I cleared a few rooms but wanted to move on. This feels like it will be bundled someday, but I’d only get it very cheaply in a bundle. Just didn’t feel like it had enough to the gameplay. 5.5/10

Slipgate – 5 minutes. FPS boomer shooter trying to be like the original Half Life. The graphics, sounds, voices, music, and controls are all good enough. It plays a little freewheeling, but is OK. I wasn’t too excited and the enemies were a bit too bullet spongey for my liking. Just an average shooter that I would likely only get in a cheap bundle. 5.5/10

SONOKUNI – 12 minutes completed first level. This one is a weird looking Hotline Miami like game where you have music from a Japanese group and get through the levels without dying and killing all the things. This one is pretty decent but was also very hard with levels with quite a few enemies. Because of the way the graphics are they become muddied and hard to distinguish things. Otherwise, you kick things, block things, and move to get away from things to get through areas. Overall, this would make a fine bundle game and a decent game for Hotline Miami fans. 6/10

SoulQuest – 5 minutes completed one level. This one is a pixel 2D platformer and brawler with arena combat with lots of floaty juggles/movement/timing to beat enemies while moving forward in a level with Devil May Cry combat grading. There is also voice acting, which is okay and the music/sound were okay as well. The graphics are decent, but kind of generic. I really didn’t enjoy this as the fighting was getting old already. It played well enough, but didn’t excite at all. 5.5/10

Toxic Crusaders – 37 minutes completed one level and demo. This one is a classic 2D beat em up Streets of Rage style except with characters from the Toxic Crusaders cartoon. Honestly this one is well done, sounds and looks great, has a cool style and was a lot of fun. This isn’t as good as Streets of Rage 4 or such, but I liked it enough to buy it in a bundle or cheap discounted. Also, the music/sounds are quite good as is the corny but nice voice acting. 8/10

Undusted: Letters from the Past – 1 minute. This is one of those repetitive motion games about cleaning that some people like. In this one I believe you’re looking through your mom’s old stuff and restoring it and likely getting some story. I was very bored using a toothbrush to clean a mug. It seems calming for those who care, but these are not my type of games at all. It did give me more appreciation for Unpacking though. Otherwise, it looks OK and all, but was very bored already. 5/10

Urban Jungle – 3 minutes. This one is another chill game, but has about placing plants in different environments. You get points for placing them well and get lilies for completing tasks. This is another not in my ball park game, which I would only get bundled, but I did see potential in this. It’s a chill game, has decent enough music and graphics and would be fine to wind down on. 6/10

While Waiting – 6 minutes. This is very similar to the Consider It games but instead of being considerate you have to wait and can accomplish tasks while you wait. The art style is pretty cool and the music/sounds are nice. This feels very gimmicky and some scenes last too long, but as the opening says, waiting can be boring. Another not my type of game although I did quite like the Consider It games. 6/10

Wild Bastards – 18 minutes. This is a sister game to Void Bastards, which was an FPS sc fi game. This one is a western game where you play Outlaws, move around nodes and discover things (similar to Void Bastards), and sometimes fight it out in Wild West type settings with different characters who play differently. This doesn’t feel as fun in the levels like Void Bastards, but has excellent voice acting. The shooting is really simple and some of these levels are just not fun to navigate. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t enjoying it a lot either. It is very polished nonetheless. 6/10
 
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Man, I really loved Renaine. Luckily, I only have 68 demos so far, which is lower, but many that I would have tried I got in before the event started. So there's that.

As for me, I'll share what I'm seeing and not going to play.
  1. Games with AI art right in the logo. Really wish Steam would enforce their ban better.
  2. "Absurd, Whacky Thing To Do" Simulator. They really are prolific after a few hit it off big. Maybe I should pioneer a stamp collecting sim game.
  3. Multiplayer/PvP Focuses Stuff. If one of them takes off, then there will be a good time to invest and enjoy a big group of players, but demos rarely have a player base to support. And indie multiplayer games dying is a daily occurrence
  4. Survival/Farming/Building games. Kind of combining #2 with #3 in this one. I have so many staples from gaming past, like Stardew Valley or Valheim to play, there's no point in attempting another. Plus, their demos are time sinks same as...
  5. 4X Games. I should really just finally learn Stellaris.
  6. The Extremely Chinese/Korean game. I have no problems with devs from any nation. Rather, I am referring to the certain category of game with usually 2D tweened sprites and UI filled with writing and shit everywhere. With mechanics so dense, you'll need to get an associates degree from the tutorial to play. Let alone hoping the game overcomes a steep language barrier. Whether its a roguelike, card game, tower defense, RPG, or whatever genre, they have a certain look to them that just melts my brain.
  7. The Korean/Japanese Real Time/FMV VNs. You know the ones. The ones with the pretty ladies on the tin.
  8. Autobattlers as I feel they remove a lot of tactical crunch from otherwise interesting battle systems. Too much work to be an idler, not enough scheming to be satisfying.
For me, this is what I tend to look for:
  1. Roguelikes of many varieties as they're usually where an indie dev can hone in on one or two good mechanics and create a breadth of interactions and gameplay off that versus trying to build a much larger narrative title
  2. JRPGs, typically the smaller ones that have a novel hook to them or an homage to a specific on I like. I am always skeptical of an obvious RPG Maker title, though. Sometimes those do payoff.
  3. SRPGs, but only square grids. For some reason, hex grids turn me off.
  4. CRPGs, but only turn-based. RTP isn't satisfying for me.
  5. Tower Defense since I find them zen, however most are either extremely busted or try to get overcomplicated without a satisfying learning curve. It's a genre that suffers the most, likely because they're very easy to create, so many are a devs "first game".
  6. Metroidvania as I have friends interested in them more than me and I like helping them find stuff.
  7. Boomer Shooters because I just want mindless violence sometimes. High quality single player FPS with 3D graphics seem very far and few between from the '00s, so usually the Doom engine-style games are scratching that itch.
  8. Character Action, similar to DMC or Bayonetta, but these rarely land in indie land, IMO. Hard to make them feel right.
  9. Novelty, which lastly, is the "what the crap is this?" style game that is just a weird thing someone did. I feel like at least seeing it once can be an interesting opportunity.
 
I think my main issue with Renaine was the lack of direction. I thought the art, controls and other things including the music, which grew on me a bit, were pretty clean and solid. I just never knew where I was going and really didn't care much for the quests given. Felt more like an exploration game to me. Not bad of course, but just not my type of game.

I myself have some things I look for in demos, but also games in general:

1. Rogue anything. These are my most played genre and usually why you see me bang my head against very hard games (like Skul...may have been balanced more in future patches) until I win. Generally these are the action or more turn based affairs. These will also get me to try out genres I don't play much like City Builders (put goals and rogue elements and I'll play it like Before the Storm).

2. Card games. These include deck builders and rogue games as well. I just enjoy using cards for things. I also like building decks. I like games like Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone. I also like card games that are ports of real card games.

3. RPGs. I generally enjoy more JRPGs, but like CRPGs as well. Generally my favorite ones have good stories, characters and usually battle systems. for demos in particular I play until I get a good feel for games, as these demos tend to be longer.

4. SRPGS. I like turn based and real time RPGs and strategy games as well. Nothing comes close to Final Fantasy Tactics for me, but I like seeing people trying homages to it or other games as well.

5. Visual Novels. I mainly look for good art, music, story and characters. These are barely in the demos, but I do enjoy indie developer's takes and do prefer these for telling a story over very gimmicky adventure game style or something that.

6. Platformers of any type. I've always loved platformers and will always try them. The most important things are good level design, graphics, music, sounds and of course how tight the controls are. Bad controls ruin most games, but in platformers everything feels much worse since you are moving around everywhere.

7. Metroidvanias. These are one my top genres and I like exploring and doing fun things in areas. Generally what's most important are controls, graphics, sounds and especially level design. If it's not fun exploring or hard to because of bad controls, it generally will never be played by me.

For my dislikes I generally don't like low effort games with awful art or something else bringing it down. I don't like AI art at all. I don't generally play games with not distinct goals like city builders, idle games, farming/whimsical games (I do like these though), minecraft style games where you have to build stuff, survival games, anything simulators, and extremely repetitive games. For Steam Fest I generally give anything a download, but sometimes delete stuff if I'm not in the mood or just don't want to play that genre.
 
I downloaded 9 demos yesterday. So far only tried 2.

Shell Runner - singleplayer extraction game, top down perspective. Seems decent. I'll play more. So far the 3 missions I ran were not difficult, though I definitely don't have the firepower to take on the level bosses.

Honeycomb: The World Beyond - only just started that one. Nothing really stood out yet for this survival crafting game. At first glance, feels like Subnautica on land?

The other titles I downloaded are (and I make no promises that I'll remember to come back and give updates, as I'm lazy and forgetful):

Swordhaven
Super Fantasy Kingdom
Skye: The Misty Isle
REKA
LOK
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
First Dwarf
 
Flintlock demo is long. I've died maybe once or twice and after two hours I'm not at the end. That's if you explore all the nooks and crannies.

It's Goddess of War, but as a AA title.
Damn, no demo on Xbox for it. I'm a little disheartened to hear it plays like GOW but seeing as it's on Game Pass, still willing to give it a go. Does it feel more corridor like GOW or more open world? That was my main issue with GOW: level design felt very 2000's.
 
Damn, no demo on Xbox for it. I'm a little disheartened to hear it plays like GOW but seeing as it's on Game Pass, still willing to give it a go. Does it feel more corridor like GOW or more open world? That was my main issue with GOW: level design felt very 2000's.
More verticality. It's like mini-open world level. You can take two different (or three) different paths.

It's kinda like a small Crysis idea. The sandbox is there, but it's smaller.

Definitely maze like at times and I felt like I was breaking the game getting certain places and it turns out it lead me to places I wanted to be. Rewarding traversal.

It's still rough, definitely AA as you can see the seams at times, but still fun.

Just know that the opening part of the demo has a limited moveset. You get more movement options when the game opens up. And it's got a lot to juggle, if you like that.
 
2 hours yikes. I generally play demos till I'm comfortable with what they will offer and then *yoink* on to the next. Got through about 10 demos myself yesterday. Have about 90 or so to go maybe.
 
More verticality. It's like mini-open world level. You can take two different (or three) different paths.

It's kinda like a small Crysis idea. The sandbox is there, but it's smaller.

Definitely maze like at times and I felt like I was breaking the game getting certain places and it turns out it lead me to places I wanted to be. Rewarding traversal.

It's still rough, definitely AA as you can see the seams at times, but still fun.

Just know that the opening part of the demo has a limited moveset. You get more movement options when the game opens up. And it's got a lot to juggle, if you like that.
Awesome, I'm in.
 
2 hours yikes. I generally play demos till I'm comfortable with what they will offer and then *yoink* on to the next. Got through about 10 demos myself yesterday. Have about 90 or so to go maybe.
Some games aren't really able to be evaluated in a short window.

Rather, it's easy to bounce off bullpoop and bad games because you get an eye for it, but some of these larger games require more time to weigh their value.

I suppose different approach of more of a review over personal interests.

As a counter example for me, Enotria: The Last Song is obviously aping Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Lies of P (more so the latter with the stage and play themes), but I bounced out much earlier simply because of the extreme layers of complexity.

Different weapons, different skills, and different passive buffs per each mask and you can hot swap three masks. It's just an overload of player choice that discerning value would either take hours and hours to pick apart or just wait for a guide. I quit that and put it on my ignore list. If it turns out to be the next best thing, I'll wait for a deep sale and build guides.

Whereas Flintlock was genuinely fun, but if you quite during the prologue, you'd think it was a clunky, slow modern God of War clone.
 
So far I tried two Next Fest demos on Steam Deck

G.I Joe Wrath of Cobra
Features 2 stages 3 and 4 and three playable characters, Duke, Snake Eyes and Scarlett. I didn't like how Scarlett played at all. Her jumping attacks is terrible. Stages were fun, combat was decent with a lot of juggling of enemies. My only gripe was no grab combos. Could be decent fun.

I also tried Metal Slug Tactics. Game booted up fine but I could not get the controls working on Deck. I even tried to remap controls and had no luck getting the right mouse click to function. The games page says it supports controller so I was disappointed the demo did not.

I also have downloaded the Demo for Dustborn and will be trying that one later today.
Other demos I was looking to try if I have time are Pinball Spire, Wild Bastards, Bo Path of Teal Lotus and Handmancers.
 
So far I tried two Next Fest demos on Steam Deck

G.I Joe Wrath of Cobra
Features 2 stages 3 and 4 and three playable characters, Duke, Snake Eyes and Scarlett. I didn't like how Scarlett played at all. Her jumping attacks is terrible. Stages were fun, combat was decent with a lot of juggling of enemies. My only gripe was no grab combos. Could be decent fun.

I also tried Metal Slug Tactics. Game booted up fine but I could not get the controls working on Deck. I even tried to remap controls and had no luck getting the right mouse click to function. The games page says it supports controller so I was disappointed the demo did not.

I also have downloaded the Demo for Dustborn and will be trying that one later today.
Other demos I was looking to try if I have time are Pinball Spire, Wild Bastards, Bo Path of Teal Lotus and Handmancers.
huh, Dustborn was not on my radar, but it looks like it could be fun.
 
There are a couple restocks on alienware arena if you are tier 4+

Absence of Light

Roots of Yggdrasil
 
Played through Dustborn during my break. Took about 40 minutes. Very narrative driven game. Reminds me of the old Telltale games but with more for the player to do. Didn't run that great on Steam Deck around 25FPS at medium settings. Seems like an interesting setting of an alternate American timeline with some basic melee combat and puzzle elements. Also involved some music and hitting notes to a beat since you are in a band. Overall seems like it could be an interesting story. Demo featured a few different scenarios each focused on a different aspect of the game play.
 
I downloaded 9 demos yesterday. So far only tried 2.

Shell Runner - singleplayer extraction game, top down perspective. Seems decent. I'll play more. So far the 3 missions I ran were not difficult, though I definitely don't have the firepower to take on the level bosses.

Honeycomb: The World Beyond - only just started that one. Nothing really stood out yet for this survival crafting game. At first glance, feels like Subnautica on land?

The other titles I downloaded are (and I make no promises that I'll remember to come back and give updates, as I'm lazy and forgetful):

Swordhaven
Super Fantasy Kingdom
Skye: The Misty Isle
REKA
LOK
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
First Dwarf

Swordhaven...meh
Skye - looks like a tech demo, might check back in a year
REKA...not my thing
LOK - ok, could be fun, but my head wasn't in it
First Dwarf...seems ok, need to spend more time
Super Fantasy Kingdom - interesting, but not sure I'll stick with it
Honeycomb...I uninstalled without going back to it, just wasn't feeling it
Flintlock - seems decent, need to invest more time in the demo
Dustborn - another interesting one. Will keep an eye on it
 
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Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece is $56 on GMG if you're a member. I'd still maybe wait until the issues get patched out if you're buying it though, all of the same issues that occured on the epic games version happen on the steam version (certain AMD GPUs having crashes, ROG Ally crashes, etc.)

It seems like this time the dev is invested in patching it up, unlike the EGS version which they likely made nearly no money on. Also keep in mind that Melody of Memory remains exclusive to Epic
 
Of course they patched the game up for Steam-release.

Epic-version's the Alpha or Beta version and most on PC have the "Buy from Steam, screw Epic attitude." So, they then port it to Steam way later all fixed-up (and Epic gets that patch too, of course) b/c they don't want to get drilled on Steam w/ bad Steam-User Reviews on its Steam Release.

EDIT - Square did that with FF7 Remake Intergrade PC port. Release in Alpha or Beta state on Epic (it launched a mess on PC), but make sure it's all good and patched-up on the launch when it hits Steam. Played it on Epic way later, after it's Steam-launch; that Epic-version was all fine when I played it on Epic. Ran great.

EDIT 2 - See Spoder's post below and mine below his. He's right, I'm off by a bloody mile.
 
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Of course they patched the game up for Steam-release.

Epic-version's the Alpha or Beta version and most on PC have the "Buy from Steam, screw Epic attitude." So, they then port it to Steam way later all fixed-up (and Epic gets that patch too, of course) b/c they don't want to get drilled on Steam w/ bad Steam-User Reviews on its Steam Release.

EDIT - Square did that with FF7 Remake Intergrade PC port. Release in Alpha or Beta state on Epic (it launched a mess on PC), but make sure it's all good and patched-up on the launch when it hits Steam. Played it on Epic way later, after it's Steam-launch; that Epic-version was all fine when I played it on Epic. Ran great.
They didn't though. It's the same version as epic, but they've stated that they'll be working on fixing issues. There were a lot of issues with the epic version so who knows if it'll fully get patched.

Also they never fully fixed the FF7 remake port either lol. I started playing it a couple of months ago and it was a stuttery mess. I managed to mitigate the stutters by running it in Vulkan but it's still bad and occasionally has memory leaks.
 
About midpoint for my demos from the Steam Next Fest. Have a lot of adventure/visual novel/narrative games for my final days, as I usually skip those at first since they require a bit more time. The best ones from this set are Angelstruck (fun Galaga type variant) and Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus (excellent Metroidvania more like Hollow Knight). Other recommended ones are Blade Chimera, Creatures of Ava, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, I Am Your Beast, Linkito, Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess, and Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening. I should be through the main games by Friday evening and I'll likely drop another set of games. My final impressions will likely come out Sunday unless I finish sooner.

Aerial_Knight's We Never Yield – 17 minutes completed one level. This is pretty much a fancified Bit Trip runner. It stars two guys who get broken out of prison by a drone. Basically, you control one brother with the face buttons and the other with the control pad. According to obstacles you push one or two buttons to get the brothers through them. I didn’t quite enjoy this a lot, but the soundtrack was excellent. The graphics were stylized but mainly just OK in my books. I’d only get this bundled, but it’s a higher quality game. 6.5/10

Angelstruck – 29 minutes completed demo. This one is kind of a take on Galaga where you play a person who moves back and forth, shoots up, has to reload with timing, can dodge bullets and has a secondary fire. You gain abilities as you kill things and there are bosses at the end of some waves. This game is pretty okay looking, and the soundtrack is really pumping metal. The sounds are also very clangy and good. I really enjoyed this take and this game controlled much better with mouse and keyboard than Series X controller, although it would be playable with less precision with that. Well worth trying out and I would likely get it bundled or on some type of sale if cheaper on release. 8/10

Blade Chimera – 21 minutes completed demo. This one is a Metroidvania taking place in a futuristic setting where you play a guy who hunts down demons. This one is a bit unique as your main weapon to start is a gun. You also get melee weapons. You go around accomplishing missions while vanquishing demons SOTN style. There is some pretty decent artwork, the controls are good except for a bit of aiming with the gun, which is just OK. The story was pretty generic, but nothing terrible. The music was generic techno music. Overall, this feels like a pretty good enough game and it felt pretty fun to play. It didn’t excite or amaze, but it was very playable. 7/10

Blue Prince – 54 minutes finished demo. This one was strange. It was kind of a board game mystery house thing. You enter a mansion and must explore, but every room must be drafted. In the rooms you explore FPS style and get gems (for better drafting), gold (can buy things), and some other stuff. You keep going till you figure out the puzzle. Every day the layout resets along with general items. It’s weird but was pretty fun. I kind of wish the first-person stuff wasn’t there and it was just clicking, but I guess it makes it more immersive. I just find it clunkier and slower. It looks and sounds nice enough, but I’m not sure of much else. 6.5/10

Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus – 58 minutes completed demo. This one is a 2D Metroidvania with fighting similar to Hollow Knight. You play a Fox spirit and have to go around the land helping and destroying bad guy. It controls very well with the Series X controller although it takes some getting used to for jumping. There is a lot of abilities that affect movement as well. Overall, this was really good. It looked, sound and played great. 8/10

Card Clash Chronicles – 6 minutes. An RPGMaker take of Triple Triad. You pretty much get cards and battle people till you fight bosses. It is really generic and the music/graphics are just OK. Never a huge fan of seeing RPGMaker things nowadays. 5.5/10

Coin-Op Vice – 5 minutes. This is very much like the creator’s previous game where you kind of have auto scroller but you hit things like arrows and they guide you to an exit. In between these levels you have an open world zombie thing. I think I preferred it more just going level to level. The open world stuff is quite a bit clunky to control. This one really looks like a C64 game. 6/10

Creatures of Ava – 22 minutes completed first area. This one is a 3D platforming action-adventure game where you play a lady who is exploring a planet and trying to save the animals. She crashes on the planet and you have to get your surroundings and eventually meet some people and solve some puzzles. It seems to have an open world and looks pretty nice. The voice acting is pretty good and the graphics are more than decent. The main quirk of this one is taking pictures of wildlife and using things to calm down creatures instead of fighting them. 7/10

Creep Creepy Love – 5 minutes. The second worst Punch Out clone thing I played. This one is in RPGMaker and was hard to control and had OK enough graphics, but the fighting was awful. You play some dilequent girl and fight other girls. 4.5/10

Enotria: The Last Song – 13 minutes. This one is a souls like game with masks and can dodge and do parrying and it doesn’t quite control as good as the main souls games. The graphics are alright although the environments are pretty nice. It gets really complicated with systems and skills and what’s active with masks and I don’t know. I wasn’t having as much fun playing it before it hammered on all the stuff. 5.5/10

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn – 94 minutes. This one is an OK solid enough newer God of War kind of game where you play someone who has a melee weapon and a gun and does things without thinking at first. This ends up releasing gods in to the world and you afterwards have to beat the areas and the gods. Honestly this one looked decent enough. The combat is kind of Dark Soulish, but not as clean for parrying, blocking or dodging. The attacking is more like the new God of War and is OK. Overall I think the difficulty is hard enough because everything does a lot of damage and you have a limited amount of healing potions. The last area in the demo was particularly hard because of very hard to dodge and parry attacks and being attacked by guns as well. Overall, it feels like a good enough bundle type game or maybe a cheaper sale game. It needs polish for sure though. 7/10

Forgotlings – 26 minutes. I’m going to forget about this game soon enough. This is 2D platforming action game with quite nice drawn graphics. The voice acting is alright. Pretty much I really don’t enjoy the exploring in the game. It’s kind of boring and the controls for navigating are not always clean. I got in one fight as well and it felt horrible to fight although I had too many enemies around me. Overall this needs polish, but could be OK. Just too slow for my tastes. 6/10

G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra – 20 minutes completed one level. This one is 2D side scrolling beat em up with nice graphics and pretty good music. That’s where my positives are going to end. The controls are very basic yet somehow feel floaty at times or imprecise. The combat itself is extremely repetitive with very basic fighting and I couldn’t find as many combos either, but that could be on me. The sounds for fighting were not very good at all. This one feels like more of a cash grab with okay enough graphics but not great gameplay. I would only get this bundled, but if it has a bit more put into it, it would be an okay beat em up at least. 6/10

I Am Your Beast – 18 minutes completed demo. This one is a kind of speed running FPS where you play a former trained agent who sees some agents kill a bird. It sets off his killing instinct and then you go on more kill fests in levels taking weapons and doing tasks if necessary. There is story between these levels about people wanting him to do another mission and he doesn’t want to. Overall, this is pretty solid although a bit clunky at times mainly for movement. It has very good voice acting, music and sound. It would be a good pick up and play game and would be a good bundled game as well. 7/10

Linkito – 27 minutes completed a decent number of puzzles. This one about a guy who gets chosen from the poor by lottery and now is working a job where you have to have logic puzzles with circuits/switches/power cables and other elements to accomplish whatever task is there for the table. These can be very tricky and do provide some good knowledge about how circuits operate. I’m not much into these logic games, but this one was fun enough I could see playing a few puzzles a day from a bundle. 7/10

Lucky Hunter – 11 minutes completed one failed run. This one you choose a tile every turn and they show up in a field and add their bonuses and then shield, attack and buff units and also make some other tiles. At the end of the turn, you get another title and make it through enemy nodes until a boss and hope you survive and win. It’s very basic and very repetitive. The tile variety isn’t very high in the demo. Overall, not the worst, but feels like a low end bundle game. 5.5/10

Mechanophagia – 2 minutes. Just a workable Vampire Survivors clone where you play a robot shooting things and can dash, but need to be careful not to overheat. Not terrible but could be a bit more polished and fun. 6/10

Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess – 12 minutes completed 2 levels. This one is a Desert Strike type game (yes, the one from the Sega Genesis) where you fly a helicopter around doing missions. It controls well enough with the Series X controller. It has good enough graphics and sounds. Overall, it was fun, but could use a little polish. It’s tough to aim your guns really well and dodge bullets. Still fun enough. 7/10

Megaloot – 9 minutes. This is pretty much a basic RPG battle simulator where there is a shop where you can buy equipment and you just keep fighting more and more monsters. It was okay, but the loop was not very fun. 5.5/10

NEODUEL: Backpack Monsters – 6 minutes. This one is a lot more generic Backpack Battles involving Pokemon like creatures that activate and do things. They have natures and can use items to fuse or whatever. The battles are a bit too long and everything feels really generic. I don’t love Backpack Battles, but this is a below average clone of it. 5/10

Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening – 23 minutes. This one is a Chinese hybrid between a visual novel and a Slay the Spire kind of RPG fighting system. The menus ooze Persona 5 and the art overall is very solid. Everything looks quite nice. There is voice acting in Chinese and I believe there will be Japanese as well. The visual novel is about a guy in a tough school where they push students to exhaustion and don’t let them pursue other interests. Our MC wants to pursue AI, but he has to deal with mean teachers and his own exhaustion. In the game there are what seems 2 worlds, a generic kind of school in the present day and a future place with lots of different things going on. In the future place we fight with some girls. Overall, I did enjoy this enough. The writing for the teachers and such was comical, but other parts were written alright. I think it has potential and has quite nice art. 7/10
 
They didn't though. It's the same version as epic, but they've stated that they'll be working on fixing issues. There were a lot of issues with the epic version so who knows if it'll fully get patched.

Also they never fully fixed the FF7 remake port either lol. I started playing it a couple of months ago and it was a stuttery mess. I managed to mitigate the stutters by running it in Vulkan but it's still bad and occasionally has memory leaks.

Say what? I didn't have any issues running FF7R Intergrade on PC, back when I did. Let me dig more into it, if I did something to make it run better or if I didn't have issues.

EDIT - Okay, I must be losing it. Sorry about all that. I did have issues (Epic version) with it bouncing b/t 30-60fps a lot, so I locked it at 35fps
-> https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TGAEC/discussions/0/4030221396671991788/
 
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Jason’s a little behind the times. The FFT remaster happened ages ago, it was called War of the Lions. It’s pretty good.

Fair.

But I think Jason likely means a Remaster is coming to modern platforms - i.e. probably for modern consoles like XBox 1 and Series, PS4, PS5, Switch; and maybe also PC over on Steam, Epic, etc.

Since you bring that up, I wonder if the Remaster is based off FFT OG or if it's a Re-Remaster based off War of the Lions version.
 
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bread's done
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