Next Fest Demos
Exploring and Crafting
Life’s been too busy. I’ve been working very hard teaching and finishing my dissertation, so I had to neglect this newsletter for a few months. Thank you to the subscribers who did not unsubscribe through this short hiatus. I am definitely still here, and I’ll do my best to write at least one post every month, even if it’s just an opinion piece or another short roundup of cool demos, like this post.
The Steam Next Fest is over by now, but I managed to try out some demos. Several are still available to play, and others had a short window of availability. At this point in the renaissance of demos, some are almost like full games, except for certain time limits. Some of these demos are so fun and engaging you could play them for enough time over and over that they might as well be full games.
Who needs to pay full price for all those broken AAA games on pre-order when you have free demos that give you more and only ask for a wishlist?
The Legend of Khiimori
I love games that move away from established cultures that have already been given enough attention in games, such as medieval Europe. Some of my favourite games are incidentally set in medieval Europe or inspired by the tropes of medieval Europe, but I still think developers should try to do other things. The Legend of Khiimori takes place in 13th-century Mongolia, allowing you to play as a horse rider and courier. This is a beefy demo with a time counter, but lots of content to explore. The game will enter Early Access next year, so it will be in a rough state but still playable.
The Legend of Khiimori is available to try the demo on Steam.
Cairn
Cairn is utterly relaxing, beautiful, and at the same time stressful as hell. One false move and you can fall, then you might even double-fall as your body rolls down the rocks back to where you started. You’ll have to wait until your unconscious body wakes up so you can patch yourself up and try all over again. It’s humbling and cozy, and at the same time vertiginously terrifying if you’re even slightly afraid of heights.
Cairn is available to try the demo on Steam.
Bladesong
I always knew that the dialogue system in Disco Elysium would change the way many games design their dialogue systems. Bladesong is not exactly a Disco-like, but it incorporates some of its dialogue design with skill checks and a scroll-like bar. The heart of the game is the blacksmithing game, where you adjust all the possible attributes for a blade and add a hilt. Customers come and go, with different personalities, as you explore the location in your free time. Great worldbuilding.
Bladesong is available to try the demo on Steam.
Clean Up Earth
If you hate a mess but love the feeling of cleaning it up, here’s the game for you. You get a futuristic garbage-sucking gun to point it at all the mess in beaches and deserts until you can get it all sparkling. The levels literally sparkle once you’ve sucked out every piece of garbage. And if you miss one little piece, you’ll be stuck looking for it before the map gives you a three-star rating so you can move on to the next map. On the way, you can upgrade your gun and get some other add-ons.
Clean Up Earth is available to try the demo on Steam.
Duskpunk
The Disco-like is not a genre; it’s more like a school of game design. The genre here is Victorian steampunk RPG, which has a long tradition all the way back to Arcanum. But Duskpunk isn’t isometric; it’s a map-based exploration adventure with dice-based dialogue mechanics. The writing is bare but effective, with no heavy lore dumps. You just have to survive in this London-like city, and eventually learn about your past.
Duskpunk is available to try the demo on Steam.