Oaken - 21 minutes. This one is a grid based rogue like strategy game. You play some little thing that can give tiles green and do some other moves. You get a few to start and your partner has some as well. These can be units or spells and I believe are mainly limited. I felt the same flaw I had of one of the other games where the enemy could take out my units and I would run out of steam and lose. This game looks really nice and the music is pretty good as well. I wanted to like it, but it felt frustrating and unbalanced so far. 6/10
Otherworld Legends - 58 minutes completed demo. This one is a rogue-like brawler kind of like a Gauntlet game. You have some a few moves and they can be influenced by up to 5 artifacts doing things. They also have secondary abilities which augment a main one. It is ported from phones and feels like it mainly in the UI. Frankly the UI for clicking and dragging stuff sucks and should not be there for the PC version. The graphics are good, as well as having good sounds, with some OK music. It felt good playing with the Series X controller, but it felt very grindy and repetitive already. This one would be nice bundled, but that’s about it. 6.5/10
Roto Force - 6 minutes. This one had a weird premise. You go around in a square shaped environment and shoot and dash to avoid foes and kill them. There are power ups and it gets hard. The graphics are just OK, but the music and sound are neat. This one didn’t control as well with the Series X controller, though it was workable. Nothing too amazing, but would likely get bundled. 6/10
Salamander County Public Television - 11 minutes. This one is a mini game collection where you try to get ratings up for a community public TV channel. The graphics are OK enough and the music and sounds are as well. I don’t like the text to voice voices used for the story. Overall it was OK, and would get bundled, but it was more gimmick than anything. 6/10
Shattered Pixel Dungeon - 4 minutes. This one is a standard rogue-like game where you around with WASD and hope to not die. This 4 minute playtime was a complete run where I died. It seemed pretty typical with OK enough graphics and somewhat repetitive music. I’m sure this would be alright, but I’m not sure it does anything to stand out from the other rogue-like games. 5.5/10
Sheba: A New Dawn - 11 minutes. This one is a 2D platformer about some guy who meets a jinn and they become one and you fight and move clunkily. This one looks pretty decent animation wise, but just doesn’t control amazingly. Enemies have a lot of health so the fights last a while. I kept losing so much health on floor spike (in the form of bushes) hazards. Decent voice acting and music, but just didn’t like playing this one much. 5.5/10
Shirone: the Dragon Girl - 22 minutes completed demo. This one is a 3D platformer where you play a dragonkin girl who can fly and tail whip stuff. This game mainly is about platforming and puzzles. I liked the graphics and the music was OK. Overall it played well enough, the puzzles were intuitive and I liked the structure of the game. Would easily get it bundled 7.5/10
Sky Caravan - 20 minutes completed demo. This one is a kind of choose your own visual novel simulation trying to trade and get enough money to pay off some loan shark debt. You fly around with a rag tag crew and make decisions Mass Effect style to do some different outcomes and hopefully reach a good ending. It had nice graphics, an alright UI (clicking and dragging as well as holding numbers for choices was clunky), and seemed like a decent game. The characters were alright too, and hopefully you get to know a lot more for the main adventure. The survival type sim elements are simplified, but alright as well so far. Would get it bundled. 7.5/10
Small Saga - 55 minutes completed demo. Small saga is an RPG where you play a rat and deal with some rat issues. Everything is big around you. The adventure seems solid so far with a colorful cast of characters, good sound effects, great graphics kind of looking like Suikoden 2 or so, and decent writing with a fun strategic fight system. This one I would just get discounted or bundled. 8/10
Sophie - 48 minutes completed demo. This one felt a bit long and was a sort of adventure Metroidvania game. You play a girl who is trying to figure out her upbringing. The game controls can be a bit wonky at times, particularly the fighting, but the platforming is decent. The graphics are nice. The movement feels a little slow, but nothing terrible. There is a lot of story here, but nothing much is revealed yet. The UI is very clunky on the controller, and I couldn’t figure out how to fast travel from it. I loved the music, voice acting and sounds. It needs work, but I feel they have something decent here. 7.5/10
Soul Dream: Undesired Shift - 5 minutes. This one was a strange action RPG maybe like The World Ends with You. It has an alright art style but made no sense about shifting realities. The main thing is the combat sucks so badly. It’s hard to move and very clunky with your attacks. It is a bit too ambitious and should have stayed turn based. That alone caused me to quit along with some clunky animations in battle. Not a fan of this one. 4.5/10
Space Wreck - 19 minutes. This one is inspired by the older Fallout games. I think the graphics are really wonky though. It’s hard to move around and interact with things. The game seemed OK enough, but I just couldn’t get into it and died in combat and really failed all my skill checks. Just wasn’t having a great time. 5.5/10
Splatter - 7 minutes. Really weird trippy FPS where you shoot guys in an arena that has a disco ball. It was OK, but a bit repetitive and all. Those guys you shoot are bullet sponges too. The music was pretty good and the controls were OK as well on mouse and keyboard. It was not my style at all. 6/10
Spiritlink Tactics - 14 minutes completed one battle. I feel this is an OK very much looking Final Fantasy Tactics turn based strategy game. The sounds in this one suck and feel very, very generic. The graphics look like Final Fantasy Tactics, and look good. The story seemed OK. Overall I would get it bundled or on a deeper sale. 6.5/10
Suhoshin - 24 minutes completed demo. This one is a visual novel with mystery elements, which are barely explored in the demo. It takes places in a previous Korean era and I do feel the setting, outfits, and music seem appropriate. I really liked the graphics and felt the characters and animations were quite well done. I did wish there was voiceovers. It has a flow chart system, as the game can take different routes. There seems like it could be a good game, and I would gladly get it discounted or bundled. It seemed very well made. 8/10
Super Catboy - 16 minutes completed demo. This one is a 2D platforming beat em up shooting a bit game. It stars a cat and the graphics are excellent. The animation is clean and the movement for everything but shooting is clean and precise. I like the music enough and the sounds are solid too. You can collect coins/pieces of a cat statue, but I’m not sure they do anything other than gain points. The shooting is a bit slow and clunky, but it works. I liked this one a lot and would easily get it bundled. It was one of the cleanest 2D platformers I played for the whole Steam Fest. 8/10
System Purge - 9 minutes completed demo. This is a 2D platformer avoid the traps type game. The graphics were OK enough, but nothing too amazing. The sounds got to me with the jump having like an Atari jump sound. It got so annoying. The other sounds were decent for the most part. The controls were pretty clean with the Series X controller. You play some witch or something that is with another and they get taken away. Pretty much you try to get to the next area avoiding a lot of traps and interesting platforming. I didn’t like this as much, but it was playable. It felt like I played for longer, and I was wishing for the demo to end. 6/10
A Tale of Paper - 16 minutes completed demo. This one is a 3D platformer where you play some being made of paper. It kind of reminds me of the perspective from Little Horrors. The graphics were pretty good, although some things looked fairly simple. The music and sound were excellent. I loved the feel for the size of things as a little paper being. The controls were solid on the Series X controller, but the jumping felt off a bit as it was hard to get perspective and time your jumps/height. This frustration was enhanced when you got the frog form which hops like a frog and I don’t believe moves normally otherwise. I think this one has potential, but the jumping will cause many deaths and missed jumps in the final release. Hopefully those can get ironed out. 6.5/10
Terranova - 10 minutes. This one reminds me of Emily is Away, except instead of a girl you can never please, you roleplay and blog in a post apocalyptic role play. There is IMs on an AIM messenger type thing and a site like Live Journal. The graphics seemed OK enough. The sounds are generally just the IM sound back and forth. I didn’t really like the stilted language. I know IMs are not meant to be formal, but sometimes it seemed more off than it should be. This really isn’t my style, and while I enjoyed enough playing the first Emily is Away 1, I’m not really into these games. It may be good for that role playing audience, but that’s not me. 6/10
Tinkyin - 59 minutes completed demo. This one is another 3D platformer but it’s more about exploring, collecting things like popcorn and using tinykins, which are similar to Pikmin. Your guy is shrunk and has to traverse quite large open world like rooms to gather artifacts. It is a collectathon of sorts but has some puzzles and things going around as well. The graphics are great and give a good sense of perspective. The sound is great and the music changes as you go to different places like the church. The game controls very well with the Series X controller other than some weird perspective issues leading to bad jumps. The game is friendly with dying and starts you where you died. This one has a lot going for it and is high quality all around. I really enjoyed it and felt it was one of the strongest demos available. I will buy it hopefully on sale on release. 8.5/10
The Tower - 25 minutes. This one felt like a waste of time. I’m assuming it’s an action packed shooter, but it didn’t feel like it. You come in a first person view to a building and are a soldier security guard or something. I figured out how to get into one room and then was asked to scope out my floors and just felt I was wasting time. The floors are big but empty without much interactivity. The graphics are fine, but nothing amazing. It seemed to have OK enough voice acting. Just didn’t provide enough to do or enough instructions. 5/10
Tower Princess - 14 minutes. This one is a 3D platformer kind of Dark Souls game where you play a knight rescuing princesses. The first knight they give you after a beginning part is a musketeer one, and then the gameplay rears its ugly head. It’s very hard to target so this feels almost unplayable. Hits lack the weight and everything just feels clunky with the Series X controller. Not a huge fan of this one, although the graphics look similar to Dungeon Defenders. 4.5/10
TS Fantasy - 1 minute. This one should have been up my alley. Save girls and date them I guess. In the beginning you get a pretty annoying opening sequence with your cat making some of the most annoying noises in the world. I couldn’t stand it and after that sequence my game almost crashed and I was walking around hearing that sound more and more. It was so high pitched and terrible I stopped the game. It seemed very, very unpolished. For annoying me so much and feeling a bit broken I couldn’t take anymore. 1/10
Twilight Wars: Declassified - 3 minutes. This is another clunker for me. Supposedly this one is a cyber punk dungeon crawler. The opening cinematic has some somewhat stilted dialogue that doesn’t make too much sense. After that the guide tells me I need to do something, but guides me to nothing. I clicked on some things and got nothing so gave up after a bit. It’s another unpolished demo. 3/10
A Twisted Tale - 7 minutes completed demo I think. This one is another adventure game. This is a teaser more than anything. You have one room and interact by looking at items referencing other famous adventure games. The voice acting sounded pretty good, the graphics clean and kind of retro and the animations were alright. Seems like it has potential, but there was almost nothing here. 6/10
Undergrave - 13 minutes. This one is a tactical roguelike where you dash, jump and throw your sword to slay enemies one move at a time. The graphics are alright, and the music was just OK along with the sounds. This is a very simple game that can get complicated and tough with many enemies. The enemies move and if you’re next to them you take some damage. After a few levels you get an upgrade as well. This one I would like bundled, but the simplicity may be a bit too much for me to just buy outright. 6.5/10
John's Tombstone - 26 minutes. This one is a 2deep4me getting over depression or something. I really thought the music was pretty good, and the atmosphere interesting, but everything else was just not as well put together. I got tired of the driving level and got lost a lot. Just not for me at all. 5/10
Uspavanka - 7 minutes completed demo. This one is a Slay the Spire like where you play a kid who is fighting against their nightmares. The art is pretty interesting. The music and sounds are a little bit repetitive and muted. Just wasn’t a huge fan of this one. The UI was also not amazing. 5.5/10
Vanaris Tactics - 7 minutes completed a battle. This one is another Final Fantasy Tactics like. The game controlled fine enough. The graphics weren’t as amazing, but they were decent. The music sounds stock, though I could be wrong. Overall it was nothing bad, but nothing exciting either. Likely would only get bundled. 6/10
Weirdlands - 20 minutes. I thought this was a clunkier moving decently animated adventure game at first, but it’s a JRPG. It feels really old school with no music playing, simple sounds and decent if not amazing graphics. The battle system felt way too clunky for me. The story could be alright, but I’m not sure. It overall just seemed a little directionless. 5/10
Where The Heart Leads - 56 minutes completed demo. This one was a trip, and not like an acid trip. It’s an adventure game that starts out weird and just goes to the past where you see how the main character, his brother, his dad/mom and his gf and future wife and others turn out. The art style wasn’t too amazing at first. As you go on though the simple art style turns kind of abstract and beautiful. I loved the way the movement was shown in the past with fluttering papers and silhouettes. The music was beautiful and calming, and it controlled well on the Series X controller. It grew on me the more I played, and I wouldn’t have stopped likely if it wasn’t a demo. It got a lot of high scores from impressions of it I guess, and I feel it deserves it. It feels like it will be a heartfelt adventure game with choices of how the main character will live his life. I will get if cheap enough on release or on sale or bundled. It seems like it already released on PS4. 7/10
Witchcrafty - 21 minutes reached second level. This is another beat em up 2D platformer. The animation was pretty good, but so many other things are basic. The music is just OK and the sounds are blips and bloops for many things. The controls with the Series X controller are OK, but can feel a bit weighty at times. The main issue with this is the 2 health system, so you can only take 2 hits. If you die you lose everything from where you were and start at the save point. This is frankly garbage and caused me to not look around and explore once I knew a path was just crystals, of which I know not what they do. Some heart was here, but the experience was not to my liking. 5/10
The Wreck - 16 minutes completed demo. This one is a narrative adventure of a French girl and her mother and the decisions and all to make in one day or possibly suffer a wreck. It is very 2deep4u, but it seemed interesting. The main character is a bit annoying and eccentric, but I was starting to get used to her. I liked her English accent, and the voice acting in general was nice. The graphics were very unique and almost dreamlike at times. I think I would only get it bundled, but I feel this could have a very decent story. Another one I would have liked to play more if I could. 7/10
ZOR: Pilgrimage of the Slorfs - 12 minutes completed one map. This one was an interesting mix of turn based tactics commanded by cards like a deck building game. The graphics were pretty good for the most part. The UI was a little clunky and weird to do some things were annoying like having to click and drag action cards to the slorfs. This should just be clicking and accepting. Overall it seemed alright and had some strategy, but it didn’t 100% click with me. The music was mysterious, but a little forgettable. It felt a bit repetitive already, but I would get it bundled. 6.5/10
ing hilarious.
