Game News Steam Next Fest, February 2024: Demos of upcoming RPGs available from February 5th to 12th

[Infinitron]

Tags: BlackMark Studio; Caribbean Legend; CONSORTIUM; Dustgrave; Geneforge 2 - Infestation; Innervoid Interactive; Interdimensional Games; Monomyth; Rat Tower Software; Spiderweb Software; Steam Next Fest

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest

CONSORTIUM Remastered
Caribbean Legend
Dustgrave
Geneforge 2 - Infestation
Monomyth
​

 

[CyberWhale]

I was hoping Consortium is gonna have new assets as well. Seems like this is just an engine port, unfortunately.

 

[toro]

Outcast - A New Beginning - seems to be quite a decent AA game. Jank to be expected but the jetpack mechanics are way better than whatever ELEX implemented. It's a timed demo. 35Gb. Exploration is good. I don't think it will be great but it has potential not to suck.

Dustgrave - undercooked trash at the moment. I could not pass the character creation screen therefore I was forced to take the default party. Needless to say, there are no tooltips implemented and the UI is retarded. The characters dimensions are fucked up. Honestly I did not bother to finish one quest because I got annoyed with a v-sync frame issue. Really, they should have not release the demo in this state.

Unforetold: Witchstone - undercooked. Many promising systems are not implemented. There is a thread about it. Way better state than Dustgrave but still underwhelming atm.

Silence of the Siren - HOMM3 with sf creatures. This one is quite polished but I did not play enough. I don't think it's as good as HOMM3 but I guess it does the job.

Duel Corp - imbecilic DaS clone. They copied most mechanics from DaS but with 2 major differences: (1) no backstabbing while active fighting and (2) directional parry system taken from For Honor. I can live without backstabbing but the parry system is retarded. I think the devs are simple cretins considering that Sekiro exists and they could simply copy the parry system. Also stamina is worse than DaS2 with Endurance 0.

Knight's Path - Gothic-like with DaS combat. The demo is janky but it has great potential. I don't even know if it's part of SteamFest but it's good.

 

[Morgoth]

You drive your rust bucket through a Stalker-like disaster zone, scavange stuff, fix your car, and listen to radio chatter a'la Firewatch. Sounds pedestrian, but it's actually more gripping than it has any right to be. Try the demo.

 

[Tyranicon]

Dustgrave - undercooked trash at the moment. I could not pass the character creation screen therefore I was forced to take the default party. Needless to say, there are no tooltips implemented and the UI is retarded. The characters dimensions are fucked up. Honestly I did not bother to finish one quest because I got annoyed with a v-sync frame issue. Really, they should no have release the demo in this state.

Yeah, I don't know if there is a way to get past character creation, but it's crazy they released the demo with chargen and it doesn't work, therefore setting up the trap where prospective players spend 10+min just to quit and start over with the default party (which for some reason is ugly as sin).

WTF bro?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Dustgrave - undercooked trash at the moment. I could not pass the character creation screen therefore I was forced to take the default party. Needless to say, there are no tooltips implemented and the UI is retarded. The characters dimensions are fucked up. Honestly I did not bother to finish one quest because I got annoyed with a v-sync frame issue. Really, they should no have release the demo in this state.

Yeah, I don't know if there is a way to get past character creation, but it's crazy they released the demo with chargen and it doesn't work, therefore setting up the trap where prospective players spend 10+min just to quit and start over with the default party (which for some reason is ugly as sin).

WTF bro?

To be fair created characters are ugly as sin too.

 

[toro]

Just finished playing Vendir's demo. The demo is timed as well (60 minutes) but it's not completly bad.

Of couse the UI is retarded (thanks Disco Elysium) but for some reason I dig it.

At lvl 5 my main character INT-based was already OP (because of skills synergy) which was a nice surprise.

It starts with rat diplomacy as all proper rpgs should start



edit: I just saw that the game was already released on mobile.

The missing star is for level scaling. It makes you want to not level up because you will encounter tougher monsters. To offset that, you need better equipment. For that you need money and that only comes with XP, "forcing" you to buy silver to open chests, as that is the only source of equipment without XP. Baring that, I really like the skill tree and the interactions and sinergy between them. The quests are also really fun and in the gray area.

Yeah, lost interest in this one.

 

[toro]

You drive your rust bucket through a Stalker-like disaster zone, scavange stuff, fix your car, and listen to radio chatter a'la Firewatch. Sounds pedestrian, but it's actually more gripping than it has any right to be. Try the demo.

Yeah, it's shit like Firewatch. It's basically a scripted walking sim. Charming but linear as fuck.

You lose an item and you cannot finish the tutorial area. Great design.

 

[Morgoth]

Tutorial areas are always linear and scripted.

 

[ropetight]

Silence of the Siren - HOMM3 with sf creatures. This one is quite polished but I did not play enough. I don't think it's as good as HOMM3 but I guess it does the job.

High potential and great surprise - nice graphics, weird SF setting with vibes that evoke French & Russian SF cartoons from the 70's.
Faction you play with in demo is bunch of Animal Farm communist moles, rats and worms.
Notable units are commisars on mounts, and archers that are firing area damage subsurface torpedoes from some kind of tractors.
They are already grown to me more than anything from Planetfall.

It could do for Heroeslike same thing Endless Legend did for Civlike 4X.
Sometime this year there will be early access, and release is "planned" in 2025.

 

[Kamaz]

Tutorial areas are always linear and scripted.

Deus Ex tutorial offered multiple (6-7?) solutions. Even the Temple of Trials in Fallout 2 - however terrible - is not necessarily linear.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Can't get old consortium anywhere eh? Esp Gog.
https://www.idgi1.ca/consortium-remastered

https://delistedgames.com/consortiu...com-and-steam-ahead-of-remastered-re-release/

 

[whydoibother]

Had a busy week, just noticed this. Do the demos usually stay up after its done, or should I expect most of the developers to nuke them/disable service?

 

[Tyranicon]

Had a busy week, just noticed this. Do the demos usually stay up after its done, or should I expect most of the developers to nuke them/disable service?

Depends on the dev. Usually they stay up for a while. I remove mine after they're completely outdated and I'm too lazy to update them.

 

[Modron]

Had a busy week, just noticed this. Do the demos usually stay up after its done, or should I expect most of the developers to nuke them/disable service?

A lot of them usually disappear the day it ends. Best to play all the large ones you're interested in and then just download a bunch of the small ones and hope they remain playable afterwards.

 

[AndrewCC]

Just finished playing Vendir's demo. The demo is timed as well (60 minutes) but it's not completly bad.

Of couse the UI is retarded (thanks Disco Elysium) but for some reason I dig it.

At lvl 5 my main character INT-based was already OP (because of skills synergy) which was a nice surprise.

It starts with rat diplomacy as all proper rpgs should start



edit: I just saw that the game was already released on mobile.

The missing star is for level scaling. It makes you want to not level up because you will encounter tougher monsters. To offset that, you need better equipment. For that you need money and that only comes with XP, "forcing" you to buy silver to open chests, as that is the only source of equipment without XP. Baring that, I really like the skill tree and the interactions and sinergy between them. The quests are also really fun and in the gray area.

Yeah, lost interest in this one.

Tried it, chose the 'scholar' background, 1st dialogue lets you bypass the fight by confusing the guard by unleashing a torrent of smart sounding words, and that's actually how it's described in game, paraphrasing, "you dazzle the guard with a bunch of smart sounding words" the writers were not smart/good enough to actually make lines for a character that can do that, so there's literally no hope the writing will not be shit, this was written by the guy who programmed the game probably. Also in the first fight, one of the option is, [sic] "single attac".

 

[Crispy]

GF2-I looks neat as fuck. Downloaded, getting some coffee.

 

[whydoibother]

Man.... MULLET MAD JACK looks so good, but plays so bad.