It’s Steam Next Fest! What is that? I had no clue when Ian told me about it. I thought it was yet another Steam Sale, which, to be fair, it is, but it’s also a conference/festival/etc. Summer seems to be the time for this shit to happen, which is fine. In this case, that means many demos! I’m a casual gamer at heart and with casual games, demos are expected. Casual games are probably easier to make in general so it’s no biggie to have a demo, but it’s really nice to be able to play the first hour or the first chapter before buying. And that’s with a $7 game! With hardcore games being upwards of $70, it makes sense to want to check it out before buying.
In fact, that’s one reason Game Pass (Xbox and PC) is such a good thing. You can play the games for free and then buy them if you really like them. It’s pretty great that most of the stuff coming up on Xbox is going to be on Game Pass from day one. Which includes PC. I’m here for that and my Game Pass library is growing to the point where I have a pile of shame over there as well.
First, I’m still playing Cozy Grove by Spry Fox every day. It’s my comfort game and it’s my way of starting the day–well, continuing the day. I don’t do it when I first get up–that would be my taiji routine after feeding Shadow, but I usually do it within a few hours after that. Nowadays, it takes about an hour because I have so many resources to gather plus helping my spirit friends and, most importantly, Fashion Grove! I had to help one of my friends leave this mortal coil–look. This is difficult to explain, but they’re spirit bears who are caught in limbo. When they need help, they’re translucent as is the area around them. Nothing grows in the translucent areas and the animals are frozen. After I help them, they wave their paws in the air and become colored again–as is the area around them. Animals spring back to life and you can harvest fruits and flowers again.
Anyway, once you fill all five of their hearts, they are ready to move on. That happened with one of the characters and I was caught off-guard. I was trying to back out of it because I wasn’t ready and managed to flub it up so I didn’t get her final story scene. That bothered me and still does, but I can picture it in my mind (also, not going to play the game all over again just to get there because that would be two more actual live-time months). I actually said I wasn’t ready for her to go. Afterwards, she turned golden and she’s still there, but I can’t talk to her. Or rather, she can’t talk to me. She still sends me on fetch quests now and again, and I can still buy/sell from/to her when she does, but other than that, she’s just there.
Today, I had a task to do for another spirit bear and he said it was one last craft. I adore him and did not want him to go so even though I had the material he needed, I refused to give them to him until I had done absolutely everything else for the day. Then, I gave him what he needed and it wasn’t actually the thing that pushed him to being released. I was relieved that he was still going to be around.
I’m also still playing Repentance on the daily (Edmund McMillen), but I don’t want to talk about that right now. I keep saying I’m done with it and yet I can’t quit it. But, let’s talk about the demos I’ve tried instead.
First up is GRIME by Clover Bite. It’s a soulslike (still not sure if I want to write it Souls-like, soulslike, souls-like or whatever, so I’m going to keep switching it up until I figure it out) with an interesting mechanic. First of all, though, I was not impressed by the intro cutscene. The graphics looked terrible and the protag looked weird. It kissed another being and they were nekkid and hugging. Hey, what? I didn’t think it was gonna be that kind of game. Fortunately, it wasn’t, and I have no idea why the cutscene was like that. It’s more like Dead Cells crossed with Dark Souls, which I can dig. The interesting mechanic is that when an enemy attacks, you can hit RB at the right time and absorb their force, killing them instantly. You need force to do several actions, including healing (which is similar to Hollow Knight), but the risk, of course, is that if you fuck it up, you get a huge chunk of your health taken away.
You also eventually get weapons so you can just kill things the old-fashioned way, but who wants to do that? At first, it was rather easy to absorb the force, but then it got harder to time it, which is as it should be. There are plenty of secrets to be found as well and I suspect there is a metroidvania aspect to it in that some places that aren’t accessible right now. There’s probably some ability that needs to be acquired in order to reach these areas.
I played for about forty-five minutes and enjoyed my time with the game. I did not reach a boss so I can’t speak to that. The game is very soulslike, but it’s not nearly as difficult in the time I’ve played. I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised by the game and enjoyed it much more than Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry). Sigh. Let’s not talk about that game because I wanted to like it so much and just…didn’t.
For whatever reason, cat games are becoming huge. I mean, I think cats are great and will try any game with them in it, but I don’t know why games staring cats have been become suddenly so popular. There was one that looked cute and seemed to have a good premise, but after installing it, I quickly realized it was a port of a mobile game–and a lazy port as well. The graphics were terrible and I did not want to ‘swipe’ on my PC. It was clear they just wanted to make a quick buck and I installed it after maybe a minute of playing it. I’m not divulging the name because I don’t remember it and I can’t be stuffed to look it up. But in general, mobile games need a lot of massaging before they’re acceptable on PC.
I tried one other demo. It was. Um. Oh yeah! Little Witch in the Woods by Sunny Side Up. It’s about a plucky young witch with a talking hat who wants adventures! She’s brash and doesn’t follow the rules. She’s on her way to a wizard school when her train gets stopped and she decides to go exploring. I really liked the idea of this game, but, it just did not scratch any itch that I had. It tried to be whimsical, but it just felt like drudgery. I feel bad for saying it, but it did not have the charm I was hoping for.
I have a bunch more demos to try and I’m just hoping to find one or two games that can tide me over until Elden Ring by From is finally released. Then, that’s all I’ll be playing for the next year.