This time of the year has always been a personal favorite of mine. The sun starts to shine while the gray skies are replaced by a beautiful blue, snow starts to melt away as we get closer to summer but most importantly, The Steam Next fest graces us with a ton of demos from a plethora of hardworking devs who are looking to get new eyes on their projects. I have always enjoyed this part of the year and as I have dived more into the Indie scene, The appreciation for this event has only grown that much more. Here are a few titles that I have on my personal wishlist and cannot wait for, in no particular order.
Hollow Body
Developed by Headware Games
Survival-horror has always had a special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. I vividly remember checking out a copy of Silent hill and hanging out with my dad while he ran through those misty streets. Ever since then, I have always had my eye out for a game that gave me a similar feeling of dread while I explored the area, saving my ammo and health items for when things got rough while the static of the radio warned me of any nearby threats. After booting up HollowBody, I can safely say that this is looking to capture that similar feeling but in a completely different setting.
I found myself wandering the halls of the empty apartment building with my fingers gripping the controller, awaiting for some new horror to spring out from the abandoned rooms. The atmosphere is phenomenal and presents you with an eerie feeling of something being off with the area around you. One moment that really solidified this game as a must have was the usage of environmental storytelling to help with puzzles. There was an instance where I had to use the documents laid out in a room to determine the graduation year of the resident in order to gain access to the safe. The only thing I had to go off of was a graduation postcard on the safe, a picture of a pregnant girl at her graduation, a picture of a woman celebrating her 30th birthday with a 3 year old child, and a hospital document that gave me the birth year of the woman. The game did not tell me that I needed to put these pieces together and it didn’t have the character make any remarks on the situation but instead, trusted that I was fully capable of figuring it out on my own. For fans of the horror genre who have been looking for something to scratch that itch of early Silent Hill titles, this is definitely something you’ll want to keep an eye on.
Captain velvet meteor: The jump+ dimensions
Developed by MoMo-Pi
Another title that I want to draw attention to is one that really caught my eye. Captain Velvet meteor revolves around a young boy, who moved from London over to Tokyo with his family. Like most younger children, he’s not too happy with this move and handles it the way any other child would. Damien, the main character, takes on his alternate ego who is a space captain named Captain velvet and imagines all of his problems as vicious monsters and challenges to tackle. These might be tough situations for a normal child but these monsters are no match for Captain velvet and his trusty sidekick, Jay-P, who is the family’s roomba back in the real world. Gameplay takes place in two different sections with you navigating an open map as Damien in the real world and then grid based tiles as Captain Velvet while he navigates the multiple challenges that face him on the mysterious planet he crash landed on.
At first, I was really concerned with the amount of enemies that were presented during the initial combat tutorial but the interesting thing here is that Captain velvet and his sidekicks are capable of taking out multiple enemies in one turn by standing adjacent to one another and picking up orbs that allow them to perform powerful attacks. So even though you’ll only be controlling two characters at a time,, there’s no need to worry about being overwhelmed with the amount of enemies on screen. Instead of utilizing healing items to keep your party in top shape, you recover health with each enemy that is defeated so you are incentivized to take out as many enemies as possible in one turn in order to keep your party healthy. This is extremely important since your party shares one health bar and although this sounds like it could lead to some unfair battles, I had a wonderful time from the beginning of the demo to the end without any real trouble. This is a title that I highly recommend for those who enjoy a heart touching story paired with a really interesting take on grid based tactical RPG‘s. The highlight for me? Seeing Lloyd from Spy X Family making an appearance here, although I hope Anya is being good for Yor while he’s away.
Crow country
Developed by SFB Games
If Hollow body is a love letter to Silent Hill, then Crow Country is a love letter to Resident Evil and Final Fantasy 7. The first thing that caught my eye was the fact that the graphics are more reminiscent of the blocky characters from Final Fantasy 7 as opposed to the more realistic depictions found in titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. If you were to tell me that this was a mini story that Cloud was telling to his companions, I would believe you just based off of the appearance alone but once you dive into the game, that’s where the Resident Evil inspiration starts to show.
Marie Forest is an agent sent to Crow country to uncover its secrets and we will navigate its eerie landscape with good old-fashioned tank controls and limited ammunition to keep us company. I found myself trying to figure out ways around the small areas so that I could conserve ammunition and avoid unnecessary combat. I really enjoyed the little touches to Marie’s character, since she comes off as calm, cool, and collected in the intro and this shows throughout the game. She seems un-moved by the creepy notes left around the area and when taking aim, uses one hand to hold the gun as if she couldn’t be bothered to take up a normal stance seen by many other survival horror characters . She doesn’t enter the amusement park by finding a key but instead chooses to shoot the lock pad off of the gate and barge right in. This just screams that she is meant to portray a cool, badass character that has no time to play around. The monsters are off-putting and the soundtrack really gets the heart pumping, so I cannot wait to see what we have in store for us for the full release of this game.
#Blud
Developed by Exit 73 studios
This title right here captured my heart with its art style and managed to hold it hostage over the course of my time with the demo. Even though the demo is split up into three sections, you can play from the beginning all the way to the end or pick and choose which section you want to hop in at but I promise you no matter which option you choose, you’re bound to have a good time here. Playing like an old school legend of Zelda title, we control Becky who is a freshman in high school and is on the field hockey team. After she takes her mothers grimoire to school to help with a cookie bake off, she accidentally summons hordes of vampires and monsters to wreak havoc on the town she just moved into. Thankfully, our pink-clad heroine is not afraid to get her hands dirty and takes out monsters with ease with her trusty hockey stick.
Everything in this game is dripping with the 90s cartoon aesthetic and I found myself laughing along with each dialogue option and facial expression that Becky and her friends made. The gibberish that accompanies the dialogue really brings home that cartoonish feel and watching the characters and they’re over top expressions had me ready to see what new conversation had in store. I also really enjoyed watching Becky during combat and seeing her facial expressions and attacks change based on the direction you were swinging the stick in. The enemies in the demo had such a variety between them,ranging from simple rats to shrunken vampire heads and had me looking forward to each encounter. By the end of the demo, I was ready to wish list this game and I’m definitely keeping an eye on it closely. This is going to be one of those titles that I just know is going to be a joy from beginning to end
Camera anima
Developed by EXP-resso Mutt
As a fan of both pointing click titles and horror adventures, I was really surprised to see this title pop up. You play as Elise as she is in search of her sister, who seems to have gone missing as a series of murders have started to pop back up. The mysterious part of it all is the fact that Elise knows what happened to the murderer years ago and says that this shouldn’t be happening again. We get a glimpse of the creature that is roaming the streets and it Has to be one of the most unique monsters I have ever seen since it seems to be composed of an old-fashioned camera walking around on mechanical legs in a cloak and top hat.
One thing I really enjoyed was a mechanic that had me making decisions in a short time span in order to keep myself alive, similar to a Quick time event in other games. The demo puts us in an eerie situation where we can either move past a mysterious person in the fog or standstill to wait till they pass and when the quick time event starts, you have little time to make that decision. I was genuinely panicked and received a dead end real quick due to a poor decision I made hastily, and this had me so excited to see what else is in store for the rest of the game. As a fan of the Zero Escape series, I felt at home with this title and will definitely be picking it up day one since it worked so well on the steam deck. I have a strong feeling that this would be the perfect companion for a rainy day and some headphones on an eerie night.
College bowl
Developed by Super Pixel Games
The last I like to bring attention to is one that is so far out of my usual realm of gaming that anyone who knows me knows that this is a strange choice. I grew up playing Tecmo bowl with my dad and watching him put countless hours into the NCAA college football games. I downloaded this demo expecting a bare bones game with no depth to it outside of getting a ball from one end of the field to the other. What I ended up getting was around four hours of playing the exhibition against the CPU in an attempt to do better than I did last time. Instead of having a simple list of plays to pick from in a fashion similar to Tecmo Bowl, you were given a full roster of plays to execute and control over your team during the game. It looks like there’s going to be a dynasty mode in the full version but I’m here for the multiplayer and the fun pick up and play aspect of the game.
Along with some retro graphics and tight controls, I found myself enjoying the chit chat between players and the commentary that came with the completion of each play. There was an instance where the quarterback overshot a throw, and the commentators said that he might have miscalculated the throw or he might just be bad at the sport and I couldn’t help but laugh. It gives a similar play style to the NCAA games while maintaining a wonderful sense of humor that we have come to know and love with titles such as Golf Story. Once again, I played this on the steam deck and put more time into this than anything over the past week and that’s just with two teams and no extra modes to play. It’s safe to say that this is going to be one of my favorite comfort games when it comes out and I can see myself playing a full dynasty in building up a team
The steam fest is one of my favorite events and I always look forward to what we’re able to see from upcoming developers. This year did not disappoint and I cannot wait to see these games and more over the course of the year. These developers have crafted something wonderful for us to experience, and I have a strong feeling that the full releases are only going to build a bond, the solid foundation that they have set.