Hello, and welcome back for Round 3 of the February 2025 Steam Next Fest. If you missed the previous post then you can find it here. It covers the following titles:

  • Mudborne
  • Isopod: A Webbed Spin-Off
  • Demon Tides
  • Dark Deity 2

This will be my final post about the event, which should give anyone reading time to check out any demos they’re interested in during the weekend.

Okay – let’s get into the game.

Kero Quest 64

Elevator Pitch: a 3D Platformer designed to look and feel like a Nintendo 64 game, but which features a ton of modern tweaks. Think Shovel Knight, but for Nintendo 64 games instead of SNES games.

Frosti’s Thoughts: I don’t know that I’ve had this much fun with a game designed to play off my nostalgia since A Hat in Time. I loved A Hat in Time, so that’s high praise. 

That said, I don’t know that I have a lot to actually say about Kero Quest 64. The jumping felt great, the combat was snappy, I liked the variety of different jumps that were available, and appreciated the visual variety to the levels in the demo. It felt exactly how I remember games from the Nintendo 64 feeling, while not actually being as clunky or chunky as those older games.

Honestly, I’ve got no notes for this one. It was just a fun demo, and I’d love to play more of it when Kero Quest 64 releases fully.

Wishlisted: yes

Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping

Elevator Pitch: a goofy detective adventure featuring the titular Duck Detective as he attempts to solve another of modern society’s greatest mysteries.

Frosti’s Thoughts: I have a confession to make: despite playing, and enjoying the demo for the original Duck Detective game, I still haven’t played it. I didn’t think it’d even been that long, but with a sequel on the horizon, I’m ashamed that I haven’t gotten to Duck Detective: The Secret Salami yet.

Regardless, I still had to check out the demo for the second Duck Detective game, and it was pretty fun. I don’t have intimate knowledge of the original game given I only played the demo for it, but The Ghost of Glamping seems to feature a lot of the same elements as the original game. You’re still gathering evidence, and making deductions as you would in any detective game worth its salt. Albeit, Duck Detective is far easier in that department, but that suits the much lighter tone, and goofier writing.

I also still really love how the team behind these games has chosen to parody grim noir detective fiction. Not all of the jokes landed for me, but there were a couple of times where I was laughing out loud during the demo. 

Either way, Duck Detective made it onto my wishlist again. It looks like I’ll have to solve The Secret Salami post-haste, so I’m prepared for Duck Detective’s second outing when it releases later this year.

Wishlisted: yes

He is Coming

Elevator Pitch: a Roguelike with Auto Battler combat wherein the bosses come after you whether or not you’re ready to fight them.

Frosti’s Thoughts: Hooded Horse has really become the publisher for oddly specific, but incredibly interesting strategic games on Steam. I already thought He is Coming looked neat, but as soon as I saw Hooded Horse’s name on the Steam page, I knew I had to check out the demo.

Sure enough, He is Coming is really cool.

The gist of it is that you’re an adventurer, and have only a few days before some kind of boss monster hunts you down. You’ll need to roam the land, and try to tech your adventurer out with some complimentary gear. Then, it’s all in God’s hands as you watch the boss battle carry out in an Auto Battler.

It might not sound that exciting, but trying to find complimentary gear for some crazy synergy is just as fun here as finding complimentary cards in a Deckbuilder. The difference is that He is Coming taps into my nostalgia for much, MUCH older-school video games. As such, I’m very keen on this one, and eager to sink a bit more time into it.

Also, you can make this happen, which is hilarious.

If the developers are reading this, maybe put a fail safe in to prevent infinite loops.

Wishlisted: yes

Wanderstop

Elevator Pitch: a story about change, and how we struggle to adapt to it told by way of running a tea shop in the middle of the woods.

Frosti’s Thoughts: about a year ago, I quit my day job. That feels like something I should be a lot more proud of, but I’m not. Just about everyone looks at me like I’ve got multiple heads whenever they find out that I’m not working. That makes me feel fairly uncomfortable, so, more often than not, I try to avoid having to speak about my current working situation.

Hell, even my parents still kind of give me shit about not working. Both of them make suggestions about how I can find some new avenue for employment at least once every couple of times I see them. That adds to the feeling that I’ve done something wrong. That by not working, I’ve defied some assumed truth of the world.

And it’s not like I haven’t had those thoughts myself either. I worked in IT for over 10 years if you count the time I did working terms throughout my schooling. I didn’t know shit about computers beforehand, but I worked my ass off in college to bring home a 4.0 GPA, and eventually land at one of the bigger companies in my city. I then spent years continuing to hone my abilities, so I could excel at my job.

Quitting felt like flushing all of that down the toilet. What the fuck was the gruelling 3 years I spent in college for? What about all of the late nights, or the time I spent working OT for companies in the past 10 years? Was that just…for nothing? Was there any point to any of it? Am I just another failed burnout like so many of the other people that I’ve seen try, and fail to pursue the same career path that I took?

By this point, I assume some of you are wondering what relevance my story has to Wanderstop. That’s a fair question. So here’s your answer:

Wanderstop is a game about someone going through exactly what I’m going through right now. I have, quite literally, never felt a piece of media hit me like the opening of Wanderstop did. The closest was when I watched BoJack Horseman, which eventually led me to seek mental health help by way of therapy. 

If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t good enough, for whatever reason, give the demo for Wanderstop a look. I think you might also find that it resonates with you just as it did with me.

Wishlisted: yes

With that emotionally draining story out of the way, I think I’ll call it for the February Next Fest. Hopefully across one of the 3 posts that I’ve written, you’ve found a demo or 2 that you were interested in playing. There’s a lot of good stuff coming out in the next several months if the current Next Fest is anything to go by.

I think it’s obvious which demos were my favourites from reading all 3 posts, but here they are in a list because I know people like lists:

  • Wanderstop
  • Haste: Broken Worlds
  • Is This Seat Taken?
  • Dark Deity 2

And developers, don’t worry if your game wasn’t on the final list – if I wishlished your game (I wishlisted the overwhelming majority of the games I covered throughout this event) then I still intend to pick it up at some point. Hopefully before you release the sequel.

Anyway, I’ve got to help my buddy paint his house, so I’ll catch everyone in the next one.

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