Steam Next Fest Summer 2023 – What I Played

Steam Next Fest is on just before the Summer Sale kicks off. Not sure if I’ll buy anything but one game is on sale for under $10 so I’m trying not to resist.

Anyway, I’m not the type of person who plays more than ten demos when this rolls around. It’s mainly just whatever on my wishlist, but last year, there were at least two I found that weren’t and I added them shortly after.

A Tower Full of Cats

If Devcats puts out a demo, I will play in a heartbeat. I actually picked this up a few months back but the demo kept crashing so I decided to wait and then this month I played again and it ran better.

Once again same gameplay but now there’s a new cat, Leo who wants me to locate all the cats in the tower and some other items. It looks to me that each level of the tower represents a different time so the first two floors available are prehistoric and then ancient Egypt. That’s as far as it goes and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the full release.

They Are Here

I have actually played this demo before when it was first announced years ago. The release date has been pushed back before but it’s probably because the devs consist of a small group of people.

Then when they added a prologue to the demo I decided it was time to return to this one.

It’s a survival horror game about an alien invasion, and I saw lots of elements taken from the Resident Evil games like examining objects to find clues. It was quite dark and mysterious, and the devs have done a great job with the horror element using the classic Martians. I really hope that when the game is fully out, it delivers suspense from start to finish.

Lies of P

Alright, so this game was recommended to me, so I decided to try the demo when it became available. I was originally drawn to the Victorian theme and dark take on the lore of Pinocchio.

But the gameplay felt like it could be better. It’s supposed to be Souls-like, and when I tried Asterigos last year, I died a lot against two bosses available to fight. However, I eventually found the best weapons and strategy to triumph.

This game, however, was not the case. No matter what I tried, I kept being pummeled by this larger enemy who wasn’t even a boss, and there was no other place for me to turn to. Either it’s my skill, or the protagonist’s design just isn’t agile enough or something. It’s not a terrible demo, but this still puts the overall game into a “maybe” category when it’s out.

I rather play a small number of demos than tons of them, not gonna lie. When Next Fest rolls around, I know what I want to play, so I stick to it.

👽Emily