Hello, and welcome back for Round 2. I’ve played yet more Next Fest demos, and have written up my thoughts about them here. I’ll be following the same format as last time. If you’d like to read the previous post then you can do so here.

Alrighty – that’s enough of an intro. Let’s get into the games.

Blue Prince

Elevator Pitch: players solve the mystery of the location of the 46th room in a 45 room estate where the floor plan of the mansion changes daily.

Frosti’s Thoughts: I liked it.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to think of Blue Prince at first, but the longer I spent with the demo the more of it I wanted to see. The central mechanic is that you assemble the manor’s floor plan as you explore it. This involves choosing 1 of 3 randomly selected rooms to connect to any door that you’re opening. Each room has a specific layout, and some have resource requirements (ex. a key to unlock the door), so much of your exploration involves trying to work out how to make a floor plan where you don’t box yourself in. I got the impression from the demo that there might be a “true” layout that allows players to squeeze every single room into the manor simultaneously, but I wasn’t able to work that out in my limited time with it.

Regardless, Blue Prince showed me just enough to get me interested, and now I really want to know what all it’s hiding in the full release.

Oh, also the game is gorgeous. That’s not really something I talk about a lot in these sorts of write-ups, but each of the rooms was jammed packed with a ton of fantastic looking visual detail. Big ups to all the folks on the art team because y’all absolutely knocked it out of the park.

Wishlisted: yes

Tactical Breach Wizards

Elevator Pitch: XCom by way of Into the Breach.

Frosti’s Thoughts: Easy wishlist.

Into the Breach was one of my favourite games from 2018, and Tactical Breach Wizards does a lot of the same things that made Breach so compelling. You’re given perfect information about what the enemy intends to do every single turn, which means that your strategy is built around figuring out how to use your limited resources to overcome a seemingly insurmountable situation. There’s no chance, so success always feels earned which is great.

One key difference from Breach is that Tactical Breach Wizards also has a story. The tutorial, and first few playable chapters in the demo setup a narrative hook that I’m keen to see more of. It’s your standard military conspiracy trope of some super soldier turning heel for some unknown reason, but a) I enjoy stories that use suspense to build forward momentum and b) that only became a trope because it was effective. That’s all to say, I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on Tactical Breach Wizards. 

Wishlisted: yes!

Cato

Elevator Pitch: a Puzzle-Platformer where you play as the infinite falling cat and buttered toast meme.

Frosti’s Thoughts: Surprisingly enjoyable.

Of all the alleged Puzzle-Platformers that I’ve played this Next Fest, Cato was the only one where the platforming was part of the puzzle design. That was incredibly refreshing because a lot of Puzzle-Platformers are usually just Puzzle games where your character can jump. Not here though. The demo for Cato featured numerous puzzles where movement was part of the solution, and I really liked that about it.

I will admit that I was a little surprised with how good Cato was. Being based on a meme, I had made a few assumptions about the game prior to playing it. None of them were founded though. Cato is really well designed, and I’d like to play more of it when it releases fully later this year.

Wishlisted: yes

Tiny Glade

Elevator Pitch: an interactive art program where you make picturesque cottages.

Frosti’s Thoughts: Incredibly interesting from a technical level, but not my cup of tea.

I’m still blown away by how the developers managed to make Tiny Glade. Just about every single element in the demo would interact with whatever its surroundings were in a way that made sense. This means the toolset for building cottages in Tiny Glade is extremely intuitive. There was no tutorial in the demo, but within 5 minutes I’d come to understand how all of the available tools worked, and went to work building a tiny little stone cottage. Seriously, the people who made Tiny Glade are wizards.

That said, it was abundantly clear after about 15 minutes that this wasn’t really for me. I’m still absolutely blown away by the technology behind Tiny Glade though.

Wishlisted: no

Caravan Sandwitch

Elevator Pitch: you embark on a journey through the desert to find your sister in a combat-free adventure

Frosti’s Thoughts: I liked it, but it’s more of a mood game.

Some of the other games covered here grabbed me with a gameplay hook, or narrative hook. Caravan Sandwitch didn’t manage either. Instead, what has me interested in seeing more of it is the atmosphere. The game takes place on a desert planet that has been stripped clean by corporations. All that remains are a few derelict settlements, and those people who couldn’t afford to leave the planet after it was otherwise abandoned. That setting, and the twangy string instrumentation that softly played as I explored the demo are what caught my interest. It kind of felt like exploring a chilled out, less vulgar version of Borderlands’ Pandora, and I think I’d be down for that.

Wishlisted: yes

Genokids

Elevator Pitch: Devil May Cry, but you play as the 4 members of a Punk Rock band.

Frosti’s Thoughts: Eh.

As someone who has enjoyed Bayonetta, and last year’s Hi-Fi Rush, I figured I should give Genokids a look. It was doing a lot of the same things as most other spectacle fighters, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Copying something you love is the most sincere form of flattery.

However, Genokids just didn’t work for me. I think it was the general lack of impact for all of the attacks. This is a problem I have with a lot of indie shooters too where they don’t have the same impact as their big budget counterparts. I think that stems from having less money to waste on tweaking the sound design, and animation until it feels juuuussssssst right. As such, the combat in Genokids felt a little flat even though everything else about it was perfectly serviceable.

Wishlisted: no

Well that’ll do us for today. I’ve got less than 24 hours to finish the last few demos I’ve got downloaded, so I’ll, once again, see you tomorrow for my thoughts on the final round of demos.

Until then, thanks for reading, and stay safe out there.

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