@PlzGivHugs Unciv, neat open-source turn-based 4X, obliviously inspired by the Civilization series

@simple Can we have a spoiler free TL;DR?

@games Today I even have a theme: strategy games

Crab God

I wasn't expecting much from this, and yet I came out positively impressed,
it can be defined as a more refined Kingdom Two Crowns-type of tower defense. Instead of using coins, the player uses faith, crabs can specialize in 5 roles, it's level based, instead of having a singular map, progressing once gathered enough food. I suspect that this game was made by a marine biologist, no other way to explain the detailed in-game encyclopedia.

@SkyNTP @IndustryStandard Indie games may be janky, but jank is experimentation, jank is risk, jank is beautiful

@mesamunefire What are y'all going to buy in this sale? I'm thinking Space Tyrant, to satisfy my itch for a more laid back 4X focused on combat; the Metal Gear Solid master collections; and maybe some indie games below 15 bucks

@games Silence of the Siren

I took me 2 minutes of playtime for a grin to start forming in my face, for I recognized what the project was aiming to achieve: this is a turn-based title following the same design principles of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, but in a sci-fi setting. It has everything: random resources on the map, stacked units, abilities, equipment, city management, the hexagonal battle map, plus some other unique tricks, this game is an instant wishlist.

@games EcoGnomix

Bizarre premise, and even more bizarre gameplay, it's a turn based economy and savaging game, economy because half of the gameplay loop is about constructing your city to reach the bottom and the treasure, the other half where you have to scavenge level by level the resources need to survive, mainly wood to hire gnomes and food to keep the bats at bay.

I came out of this demo with a perplexed face, I'll have to double think whether if this premise is appealing to me or not

@games NecroKing

I'm acquiring a certain taste for auto battlers, and this one has definitely a lot of charm, the graphical style reminds me a bit of Loop-hero, albeit in a more simplified matter, and the deck building is an interesting choice for progression.

My only doubt is about variety of enemy encounters, for now there is only the human kingdom, so I hope for more factions and more races in the future, still, I'll keep it in my radar.

@games

I'm open to suggestions, both games new and old, as long as they stick to the dark fantasy setting

Also, if this post looks weird to you, that's because I'm experimenting posting from Mastodon to Lemmy

EDIT: So, it turns out that if you post more than 1 image on Mastodon, lemmy will only show the 1st one, TIL

The other ideas are Disciples 2, Solium Infernum, and Age of Wonders 4

@ampersandrew

I'll wait for its release and read the reviews, assuming they don't screw it up like they did with Battlefront, 15 bucks is a fair price

@Carighan @anewdaydawns Another fundamental aspect is that RTS is PC centric genre, and therefore made with a mouse and keyboard only mindset, ignoring the consoles fan base, as such, If we want it to become more popular, then we should ask ourselves what kind of RTS can be designed with a controller in mind, and therefore work on home consoles, find a balance of being appealing to them without straying too far from the core design principles of this genre

@games Glyde the dragon: when I first found out about Glyde, I was sure it was a Spyro-like, and I was half correct, because it's closer to the Eternal Night series than the classics of the PS1, less 3d platforming challenges more rpg stuff, there are even 2 elements diamonds, the graphics are a little rough, especially the stiff animations, as matter of fact the whole package is slightly off, but this is merely a proof of concept, as even the kickstart was open just a few days ago, so we'll see

@games Ash & Adam's Gobsmacked: cute little goblin FPS that embraces the gremlin nature of the gobbos, the art design is great, the gameplay works, considering it's rougelite nature, fast climbing and jumping around, and challenges taking place in small arenas, it's clear that is designed for playtimes of up an hour, I am afraid that it can fall easily into a repetitive grind, but I am cautiously optimistic

@Jaderick Yeah, Age of Wonders 4 seems to be the closest alternative, any opinion on Spellforce: Conquest of Eo, Disciples 2, or Solium Infernum?

@Aielman15 Thanks, I'm going to make a video recap of all the demos I'm playing at the end of this Next Fest

@Hubi I hope this fares better than Phantom Fury, I was bummed out when it came out the way it did

@games The first demo I tried is for Jump4, a puzzle platformer where you have only one button, and a limited amount of jumps, don't let it's simple nature fool you, the game has several tricks up its sleeve to challenge you

@games Pipsqueak!

There is a niche set of developers who produce games under certain limitations, mechanical or thematical however may it be, I suspect that this project was born of a similar cloth, specifically from those who create games as if they were to run on a GBA, kind of like Goodboy Galaxy, it's an interesting way to create games, it has that feeling to it, and luckily, it also has the charm and a feel of polish for a game from such a console

@games Beacon of Neyda

Another Kingdom Two Crown-like, however, here the protagonist can shoot, scavenge, and build, and the setting is based in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world with killer robots.
There are also elevators leading to bunkers where you can find items and lore bits, watch out for the robot hordes!.

Personal irks include the lack of a map, the control scheme not optimized for mouse and keyboard, and the fact I could not issue to the bots, apart from this, it looks promising.

@ampersandrew @simple Whenever someone says that X ruined Y, I always hypothesize that it may be the opposite case: the reason why so many copied its addictive nature is because the publishers themselves were already searching for ways to maximize player engagement, and therefore increased revenue through monetization.

COD itself didn't ruin multiplayer games, it only showed an easy and replicable way

If you may forgive the metaphor: a weed can only spread if the soil itself is fertile

@Macaroni_ninja @simple It's never a good idea for a small indie team to tie their first project to online servers, even if those devs are talented or veterans of the industry

@games And for today's theme: 2d platforming

With Ghost Knight: A Dark Tale

This charmingly Halloweeny game is a project I've been waiting for 4 years, since its reveal in 2020, and while we may still be far from its release, even in this small slice I could see the potential of a sweat little gem, this is a passion pet project through and through, and I can't wait for its maturing

@Tekkip20

Elden Ring sequel following the Frenzied Flame ending, having Melina as a protagonist, and experimenting souls-like combat with a party creation system

DC's Green Lantern action-RPG in which an OC Lantern suffering from Aphantasia must find out the fate of the disappeared lanterns from earth

If I were to stick to an original IP, an experimental rogue-like RTS, in an attempt to create a project capable of generating infinite narrative content from finite resources

@games Sacre Bleu

Oh boy, it's absurd to pretend completeness during a demo showcase, but for this one ... I feel like it was released a bit too early for its sake: missing sounds, finicky controls, and overall not a good impression, one positive note is that it manages to blend 2d sprites with 3d environments better than others, but I do believe that the dev should have waited the next event and spent a bit more time cooking, because as now, it feels too much half-baked, even for a demo

@games Byte the Bullet

A 2D platformer that I classify as the comfort food of the retro gamer:

Tight controls, lots of references, a great degree of polish, and some tricks to make it unique.

However, one thing bringing it down and something I loathe about this type of games in general is the artificial difficulty: you can't shoot upwards or in diagonal, and you can't even duck, it would have been appreciated in the Castlevania style sequence

I hope the devs improve it for the release

@games Edge of Sanity

One genre that I can't get into no matter what are survival horrors, I like to murder stuff, and the idea of hiding until the scary thing goes away is unappealing to me.

Every time a game like this comes out, I try to figure out whether it's a survival horror with action elements, or an action game with survival elements.

Unfortunately for me, with its camp management, resource scavenging, and too strong creatures to overcome, this game belongs to the former category

@games Voidwrought

This MetroidVania (or as I like to call them explorative platformers) belongs to the birthing category of Hollow Knight-likes, the graphic style, the subtle narrated story, and even the combat, resemble that of HK, the whole judgment hinges of whether the devs are going to be able to match its level of quality, if they will, that's going to be great! If they don't, it's going to be forgotten faster than the failed vessels thrown into the abyss

@setsneedtofeed it frustrates me how Embracer fumbled over this franchise without giving it a proper classic collection

@games The second demo is of ParaPerpescitve, a puzzle about prospective, to connect two separated blocks just on how the camera is positioned reminds me of Echochrome, PSP game with the same premise, this one though has some features of his own, like creating illusory bridges when covering a gap with another block, I'll definitely keep it in mind, you can also make the little guys fall into the void, if you're feeling particularly petty

@games This is the video recap of all the demos I've tried during the Steam Next Fest, with a bit more in detail, and some jokes added here and there, I hope you enjoy it

@naticus @Nima It's one of those cases of a game shown so far away from its release you eventually forget it even exists

@voracitude Thanks, anything revolving around a dark fantasy setting?

@Tekkip20 Lunacid, King's Field like with many modern accomodations l

The Big Catch, a coming low poly 3D platformer

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, a surrealist action adventure

@games Technotopia

City-builder card game with an interesting premise, you are an AI created to manage a city for the betterment of its citizens, having to balance your resources so that none goes into the negatives, dealing with various dilemmas of the residents, lest you lose.

However, requires better pacing for the time being, with a smaller area to deal with at the start, I will definitely retry the demo on another fest if I get notice of significant improvements on this front

@Zahille7 Parcel Corps seems fun, I'll try the demo if I can muster the time

@games Warden's Will: now, there is a lot of potential in this 3rd person shooter, to fly cape flapping in the air superhero style is something that few games can claim, however, I'm afraid the devs may focus so much on the Co-op aspect that they may neglect the single-player balancing, it felt way too slow to conquer the radar points, I'll have to take a second good look once the project matures a bit

@games Warcana

Half pseudo-turn based Tower defense, half autobattler/deck builder, with the caveat being that opposite armies go directly for the enemy base, not each other.

The spectacles are great, the sprite work is fantastic, the UI is a bit of a mess, why would you put your resource display on the right side of the screen instead of on top, and the gameplay needs to involve the player more during the action, not just limited to casting spells.

It could be good, but needs more mechanics.

@games Wild Bastards

Procedurally generated FPS, from the creators of Void Bastards

The neon/cowboy/scifi setting works, the shooting is way slower paced than I imagined, the unique abilities for the characters are interesting, and the fact that you're constantly chased and need to pick your battles carefully gives a nice tension to the whole.

The demo definitely left me wanting to know more about this project, I'll take a good look at it in the months before its release

@simple My favorite 7/10 game is Enclave by Starbreeze

The animations are broken, the enemy AI brain-dead, and bows and arrows are hit-scans, but man, the combat is just so much fun

@games The Big Catch: Man, with a little graphical change, this demo would fit right into the Game cube catalogue, the level of polish of this 3d platformer is astounding, and the dreamlike desert setting/music reminds me a lot of the desert chili-induced visions of Homer from the 8th season of The Simpsons, my favorite sketch from the series, I can't wait to see what else this game has to offer