Steam Next Fest – Demo Reviews

I recently wrote about the game demos I’d be playing during Steam Next Fest. It doesn’t make sense to write about the game I’d be playing without also reviewing the games, so I did exactly that!

Here is what I thought about the games I played, and whether I’d play them on release.

All the images included in this piece (but one) were from my playthroughs.

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// Tailside

I enjoyed this demo! It 100% was a cozy game about making coffee and getting to know the people who come into your café. I met two characters, Toffee and Leila, during my playthrough. The demo was around a half hour long.

PROS:

• Really great pixel art style with creatively designed characters.
• I loved the customizations options they had for your café. The dark brown and green coloured countertops were a game changer and matched the vibe I was going for. You can see them in the images up top.
• It was very easy to customize/pick and place where you wanted items. It was also equally easy to pick up and move items once they has been placed. I’m not very good when it comes to designing rooms in games, but I felt like with how easy it was to use the build menu, it’ll be easier to customize my shop.
• It was very easy to make coffee, and there was a recipe book if I ever forget how. In the demo, you were able to make an espresso, macchiato, and a latte.
• The demo warned about bugs, and I only actually experienced one. The audio wasn’t working when I opened up the game, so I just upped the volume in the settings and it fixed it.
• It gave me a good understanding of what the core of the game will be like.

CONS:

• I did find the latte art filling a little tricky at times. I also feel like I’m being a little unfair including it here because you also didn’t need to fill it out to 100% since it was just to get extra coins. Once I got into the groove of using my mouse like a little kid colouring, it became a bit easier.
• Excuse me patrons, there’s tables and countertops. How rude of you to leave your cups on the floor!!! This isn’t a serious con, by the way, I just needed to include it here because well, how rude!!!

Will I Play When It Releases?

Yes. I really enjoyed this demo, and it will remain on my wishlist. I cannot wait to see what’s in store for this one! Excited to see what the day & night cycle looks like in this game!

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// Unfriendly Friend

I was so mad when the demo ended because I was just getting so invested in what was happening. Like with a lot of horror/psychological horror games, you don’t get too heavy into the messed up stuff in the beginning, but the demo was only 15% of the game. I saw glimpses of something, though, as I started getting that “waiting for the other shoe to drop” feeling.

You play as Dakota, a high-schooler with an emotional absentee mother, and I’m not sure what happened to her father yet (but there’s something there). She and her group of friends goes to an abandoned hospital because it’s apparently cursed/haunted, and it’s the teen thing to do. I don’t know much else, as a lot of the demo was setting up the dynamic of her friend group.

PROS:

• The music in this was a vibe. There were moments where it was really peaceful and cozy, which I wasn’t really expecting. There were some unsettling tracks as well, but I wasn’t expecting that cozy vibe.
• The art style was so, so good. I loved the character portrait art, but for me what really stood out was its environments and character sprites in gameplay. The characters moved like paper dolls, something like you’d see in Paper Mario. The backgrounds, especially the interior rooms, all looked like a top-down sketch, which I think really worked in this game’s favour. It’s embracing the paper drawn feel the whole game has.
• The story caught my attention. I want to know what happened to Dakota’s father, why asshole Jeff has problems with Olivia all of a sudden and also doesn’t want to speak of it, what happened with Rina’s Aunt who worked at the hospital–seems very convenient she left just before they were going to shut it down. I also want to know why Dakota’s mom is the way she is, I have my suspicions, but I need to know.
• Controls were fairly easy to get, even if the game doesn’t tell you them all at the start. Arrow keys to move around, Esc/shift to pause and save, enter to interact. If there were any new keys I needed to know, the game told me.
• I got to draw on the chalk board (as you can see above). I had to do it with my mouse, but all that practice I got in making latte art in Tailside prepped me for this.
• There were decisions to be made–I don’t know how much of an impact they have yet, but I’m dying to find out!

CONS:

• I don’t think this game will be for everyone. It is a blend of visual novel and exploration, so you have to be okay with doing a lot of reading. This isn’t a con for me because I am into visual novels, but I know it’s more niche.
• So far it’s about a group of teens, so if teen storylines with teenage problems don’t interest you, this likely won’t be for you either.
• Jeff is an asshole. Not a real CON, but I just had to include it because that boy is a piece of work

Will I Play When It Releases?

Yes. It’s staying on the wishlist because I have questions that need to be answered and that can only be done by playing this game.

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// Wanderstop

I loved this demo and I want this game so badly. It not only scratched that cozy farm sim itch, but it had such a unique way of farming! I am already in love with Boro, I will do anything for him. He was such a gentle soul and so patient with Alta.

Wanderstop is about Alta, a fighter who went undefeated for so many years until she lost, twice. While running through the forest on the way to her mentor, in hopes of training to become the best again, her strength begins to weaken, her sword too heavy to carry. She leaves it behind, only to collapse shortly after. She awakens on a bench sitting beside Boro, the proprietor of the tea shop she’s at. He makes her an offer to join him in taking care and running the shop. She’s reluctant and disinterested, as her single focus is getting to her mentor. After some time, though, she agrees to stay, only until she has the strength to pick up her sword again.

PROS:

• Very well written main characters. Boro was amazing and sweet. I love how he spoke in 3rd person, and I couldn’t get enough of him. I hated some of the replies to him as Alta; who can be so mean to this man????? You could also tell Alta had a lot going on. She was really struggling with herself, and I felt it in not only how she acted, but the things she said too. Considering how well I liked both of these characters, I’m excited to see what the rest of the game brings!
• Absolutely beautiful world. I don’t even have the words to describe it. It was so vibrant and colourful. I loved just stopping and staring at the trees and the sky on the grounds of the tea shop.
• The music was so beautiful and relaxing. I’m writing this while I have the main menu open and the music is perfect to write this to.
• This is mainly a pro for me, but I feel like there’s going to be a shoe that drops. There was definitely something more going on. I noticed it at times when Alta was talking about her past. Also, why was her sword too heavy for her to carry, but Boro could pick it up no problem?
• As I mentioned already, the farming was unique. You made patterns when you planted the crops to turn them into bigger, different crops. There was one I made where you plant a crop on either side of the starter plant, and once you watered the “plant egg” that was made, it turned into a small hybrid plant. If you made a three point star, it made a large hybrid. I really liked this a lot!
• Making tea was very simple and easy, and most of all, cozy. You don’t want your cozy game being stressful, and I can confirm you won’t find that here. It was fun spinning around on the ladder you used to do everything on the tea machine.
• I liked that there was some voice acting! I don’t think it’s necessary all the time because I liked the sounds for Boro and Alta’s “voices” outside the cutscenes, but I liked that there was some!
• The art style for those cutscenes was really awesome. Those scenes stood out to me a lot.

CONS:

• I don’t really have any? I didn’t have any bugs and there wasn’t really anything I didn’t like.

Will I Play When It Releases?

You bet I will be. The demo sold me.

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// Saihate Station

This is probably the first game I’ve played I don’t know quite how I feel about it, but there’s enough there that got me interested at least. The demo was fairly short, which is likely why I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet.

Saihate Station is a psychological horror/exploration/adventure game with a bit of a visual novel flair. You play as Haru Akinashi, a product developer at Pawahara Co. Ltd. While on his way home from work, he falls asleep on the train and awakens to an empty train car. Thinking he dozed off until the last stop, he begins to look around and quickly finds out he’s completely alone and cannot leave the car. Or so he thought he was alone… It turns out his more capable co-worker, Shion Tatsunami, is also on the car. Weird and unsettling things begin to occur.

PROS:

• I really loved the art style for the game, both the character sprites and the gameplay portion. Much like Unfriendly Friend, it’s all hand drawn and in an anime style.
• The music fit the vibe for the game.
• You could tell the shoe will drop hard in this one.
• The content warning being included as the game boots up.

CONS:

• I know these demos are supposed to be short just to give you a tease in hopes of enticing you, but I felt like this one was just a bit too short. It felt like I didn’t get a chance to know either character as much as I wanted to. Haru appeared to have some issues with self-loathing, but I don’t know much else about him yet. I would have liked to have learned a bit more.
• There was no way to make this full screen. I could only play windowed full screen, and I wasn’t super crazy about that.
• This is less of an issue for me because I know what I’m walking into with a game like this, but it’s still a con because this won’t be a game for everyone. Please make sure you check the content warning if you’re considering checking it out.

Will I Play When It Releases?

More than likely since I want to know what both characters’ deals are, but I’m not as hyped for this as I thought I would be.

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// Seeds of Calamity

I really wanted to love this game, but unfortunately I had a lot of issues with bugs while I played, making it a frustrating experience. There were still aspects of the game I loved enough for me to keep an eye on it, but I wasn’t able to play all through the demo because the bugs hampered my experience.

Seeds of Calamity is an adventure farming sim where you play as an adventurer turned farmer. The Adventure Guild you’re a part of sent you and your fuzzy spell book companion to this town to farm after a Great Calamity occurred. You will pass the time farming, crafting, fishing, doing quests for the townsfolk, going through the mines to not only mine but fight monsters, including bosses. When I stopped playing, I had also unlocked bounties, but I’m not sure what those are about. Regardless, you have plenty to do.

PROS:

• Really nice pixel art style
• I liked the combat. I love turned-based combat, and this was a welcomed surprise! The spells were fun to use and while I didn’t unlock anything past the water spells, I enjoyed using the ones I had.
• I loved that there was no actual clock. There was a day & night cycle, but it progressed with a marker up in the corner instead of there being actual numbers. I found I was less focused on what time it was and more focused on the things I was doing.
• Loved the skill level up system.
• The fishing mechanics were great in this game. Sometimes fishing can be brutal in farming sims, but I really like how it was done here. You waited for a bite and once you hooked a fish, a mini-game popped up. It was a circle with a coloured part and a rotating notch. You had to get the notch to stop on the coloured portion or the fish would get away.

CONS:

• Some of the controls were a bit wonky. It felt like there was a lag at times when I would try and do things. I was using my sickle to cut the grass on my farm and when I’d hit the A button (I was using my Xbox controller to play), it wouldn’t do anything right away. So I would hit it a second time, and then it finally did what it was supposed to do. I started waiting a second after walking to the next spot as a way to stop this lag from happening. It was noticeable too it when talking to NPCs. I also didn’t like that you had to drag quest items over instead of pressing A just slotting it when you were going to give it to the quest giver.
• No running option.
• There were some bugs. I entered the house of one of the villagers and there was supposed to be a cutscene, but nothing happened. I thought I was stuck, and I kept waiting and waiting for something to trigger. I was able to skip the cutscene at least, but nonetheless, it was a bit frustrating. I also got some weird text when speaking to the same villager. Furthermore, I couldn’t get the go to sleep text box to open sometimes when I got into the bed. I also ran into some bugs during combat. The hit box indicator disappeared as did the indicator in my spell book, and I couldn’t do anything. This happened multiple times.

Will I Play When It Releases?

I want to. I liked what I saw, I just couldn’t play anymore because it was too buggy, which was unfortunate, because the demo seemed longer than those I’ve reviewed until now. I’ll keep an eye on it and hopefully some of the issues I had will be fixed when it releases!

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// Veloria: The Knot of Candles

I actually couldn’t get very far with this one. I had changed the language to English, but not everything was translated, so I couldn’t understand the instructions given. Not only that, there were some odd things like when I was checking out the cabinet, the text was incomplete. It just stopped. There were also some weird choices, like having white text on an illustration that’s has a lot of white already in it.

Will I Play When It Releases?
Sadly, probably not.

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// Gothic 1 Remake

I unfortunately experienced some issues with the game right off the bat. It was just so poorly optimized it made it unplayable for me. I wasn’t really vibing with the dialogue or the character animations either. Something just felt off.

I didn’t even get any screenshots of the game, so I had to take these off the store page. The game looked good but it was too choppy to continue.

Will I Play When It Releases?

No.

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// Solasta II

This was another demo I really enjoyed. I didn’t finish it because I kind of screwed myself over for what I think was likely the final battle. I tried a second time by reloading a previous save, and no dice (pun intended).

I don’t really need to go into the story for this one because it was a self-contained story with a premade party, as the point of the demo is to give you an idea of the mechanics and spirit of the game. It very much does that.

PROS:

• This felt so much like playing DnD and I loved it. I loved doing the skill checks, I loved seeing my dice rolls for attacks when in combat, I loved picking the spells and attacks I’m so familiar with. I thought it was really cool when I took a long rest and was given the chance to attune to an item (I didn’t have anything to attune to, so I couldn’t do it). I just really loved how DnD this game felt, and I can’t wait to see what the full game has in store.
• There were consequences for your actions! I took a long rest and just before I hit okay, the game warned me some fishermen I was supposed to find were still missing, and they were running out of time. I was going to go find them, but my party was low on health and spell slots. Plus, I wanted to see what would happen anyway. The fishermen died. In the game log they all took damage, went prone (fell down) and died. I liked that your actions and inactions mattered.
• I played this using a controller and I loved how they did the menus. Instead of using a radial menu, all my spells and other actions were in a menu above what I had just picked. You can see an example of this in the 4th image above. I really liked how it was done in Solasta II–it was great to see all my spells in one menu.
• The world looked fantastic. I was unsure how I felt about the style of the game before, but the demo sold me.
• I liked that if you wanted to dash, you had to hold the A button so you couldn’t mistakenly use your action on a dash (unless you were playing a rogue).

CONS:

• The lip sync seemed a bit weird at times, but I don’t know if that just has to do with it being a demo.
• I experienced a couple bugs, but nothing game breaking.

Will I Play When It Releases?

You bet I will. I ended up buying the first one, too. That’s how much I loved this game.

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// Tales of Seikyu

I really wanted to like this one, and I’m not giving up on the game entirely like two of the others I just stopped playing, but I had to stop playing the demo because it was very poorly optimized. I tried playing around with my settings too, to try and improve it, but it never actually solved the problem. I know it wasn’t my computer specs either because I didn’t have a problem with some of the more graphic intensive games I played (I had no problems with Solasta II, and it had a lot going on at times). Not to mention, when I did change the settings, I could never make it go back to default settings, even after hitting the default settings button. The game kept freezing, screen tearing, and stuttering. I unfortunately just had to stop playing.

Will I Play When It Releases?

I want to, I’m just going to make sure this won’t be something I experience when it is released.

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// Sugardew Island

This is probably the most Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons inspired game I’ve played. It was very reminiscent of the classic DS games, particularly Grand Bazaar. I didn’t get through all the demo, but I still liked what I saw.

You play as the first human to inhabit an island that once was home to humans. The humans once lived in harmony with the animals and spirits of the island, resulting in the birth of the Harmony Tree. However, the humans were overtaken by greed, and wanted to cut down the Harmony Tree. They fortunately were repelled by both a creature and the island’s own natural magic, and were forced to flee the island. The creature lived alone, until now, hoping someone would come along and restore the balance of the island. That’s where you come in! You will tend to the land as well as run a shop for the forest spirits!

PROS:

• Like I said already, this game is very old Harvest Moon inspired, so if you loved those games, this one is for you.
• I ended up liking the art style. The character style worked for the game, especially once you start meeting some of the forest spirits. The world was very colourful and vibrant.
• Running the shop was very easy and a lot of fun. I liked having to convince customers to buy products, even if it didn’t always pan out. I even convinced them that buying 3 bundles of weeds was a good idea. And they tipped me for it!
• Farming was pretty simple, and I loved the precision button; it really helped make sure that you were doing whatever action straight on.
• I like that were quests to help keep you engaged.

CONS:

• It didn’t feel like there was a lot to do in the demo. I felt like there were other things you could do, but it just wasn’t available in the demo.
• Controls could be a little wonky at times. They didn’t quite always respond in the way they should have, and it got a bit frustrating at times. The precision button helped align the hit box indicator at least.

Will I Play When It Releases?

More than likely, I will.

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// Dragon Song Tavern

This was another demo I didn’t finish, but I played enough that I walked away with a good picture of what to expect. I enjoyed what I played, and the game caught my interest.

You play either as the brother or sister of a pair of siblings. I played as the sister (who I customized). You just bought a tavern for pretty cheap. Your brother wasn’t impressed as you spent all your combined gold. To make matters worse, the building was already inhabited by an adorable dragon. Your mind is already made up, this is what you want to do, and you’re not willing to change it. You want to run a tavern. The three of you come together and agree to do exactly that. You tend to the land to grow the items you’ll use to cook, as well as make products with the various buildings on the grounds. You can also fish and forage too! Then, once you’ve cooked your dishes in the kitchen, you open up your tavern and serve the customers whatever they ask for from the menu you set.

PROS:

• The art style and graphics for the game were striking and beautiful. I loved the 3D-2D the environment had. Everything looked 3D, but when you moved around, you realised they were actually flat objects.
• I enjoyed farming in this one. You could till, plant, and water a single square in one go. You could theoretically till everything, plant everything, and then water everything step by step, but I preferred doing everything for a single square since it’s a single button to do all 3 steps. This has always been something I’ve found a little frustrating in farming sims since you have to pull out the hoe, then the seeds, and then pull out your watering can. In Dragon Song Tavern, you don’t have to do any of that. It was a great way to streamline the process.
• The fishing mini-game was simple, but not in a bad way. Not all fishing mini-games are easy, and some can be downright annoying. I’m glad this one wasn’t though, as it makes the game more appealing.
• I really loved using all the kitchen appliances. Using the juicer was fun, cooking was fun, even doing the experiments to find new recipes, although I failed, was fun. Since this is going to be a big portion of your time, it’s good it’s fun to do!
• I loved all the buildings on the grounds and all the various things you could make, from cheese to cured meats and even wine!
• Serving your customers was enjoyable. You can double up on orders to go faster. I had one customer come in and only ordered lemonade — 4 glasses!!!
• I loved the return to tavern button when you go into town
• Character customization, while limited, still has a decent amount of options, especially colour options.

CONS:

• Some of the controls were wonky. I couldn’t set a name for myself in character customization because it kept starting the game. I had to restart because I when I tried to set a name, I was just known as “f”.
• I purchased some seeds before getting a side quest, and it didn’t register I had bought those seeds, soft-locking me. Fortunately, the game auto-saves frequently, so I was able to go back to an earlier save.
• Not everything is translated. Some of the button instructions in character customization still hadn’t been translated.
• No running option.

Will I Play When It Releases?

Definitely. I do hope the issues I had in character customization and the controls are fixed, but I’m sold on this game.

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// Dark Deity II

I haven’t played too many SRPGs, but I did enjoy the ones I have played, so I was interested in this one the second I saw it. I was somewhat familiar with the first one, but I hadn’t played it.

The demo allowed you to play through five chapters (4 chapters with combat and the 5th chapter was story). I really enjoyed my time with this one.

The starting party you play are coming back from a mission when they see smoke in the distance. They run in the direction of the smoke and quickly learn the Asverellian Empire has launched an attack on Haven in an attempt to take control of it, which kicks off the story in Dark Deity II.

PROS:

• I loved that it had 4 different difficulties. I really only played around with the one I played on–the easiest difficulty–so I can’t say what the others had, but the difficulty I chose had further settings I could play around with to tailor my experience.
• I loved the pixel art and the character portrait art. This is what attracted me to the first game and what caught my eye about the second.
• It was fully voice acted! And the voice acting was very well done too. I wasn’t expecting that, so it was a nice surprise.
• The battles were easy to understand. If you’re playing on the game difficulty I did, and have no prior experience with SRPGs, this game could be your introduction to them. I also liked the tip in the very first battle about letting your ranged attackers go first before the melee fighters. I ended up doing exactly that in every battle.
• I liked that you could bond with your party members. There were even little cutscenes for them when you were in your base (between chapters or missions), and each bond level up gave you something.
• The banter between characters was very well written. I was very invested in the characters
• I admittedly didn’t play around too much in the menus. You could change some characters’ classes, but I never played around with that. I did, however, level up some of their skills. It seemed like all skills had four different ways you could level them up (whether it was increasing its range, it’s damage output, minimizing the amount of mana it uses, etc).
• Great demo length. Introduced you to the characters, the story and what the game will be about.
• There are choices in this game that do have consequences. At one point, the Asverellian army was going to launch an attack on the leaders I had just met with. I had to pick who to go help, and I went with the Southern Riders as they were the group who had the refugees with them. Later, you learned you doomed the other two groups as they were killed. Having choices like this opens up replayability, and the demo even mentions that as well.

CONS:

• I don’t have any.

Will I Play When It Releases?

Yup!

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// Cattle Country

I got a critical error with this one and it crashed my game. I still enjoyed my time with this one, so I’m not going to totally write it off, since there’s so much to do and the opening was voice acted by Roger Clark, but since this wasn’t the only bug I experienced, I’m going to end my time with the demo here. I’ll give a brief run down of the pros and cons from what I did play.

PROS:

• There was so much to do. There was farming, crafting, fishing, you could explore the mines, there were quests. You could also get to know all the townspeople, too. Except for the Sheriff. He was always so rude to me. The real shame about having to end this demo so early was it meant I couldn’t do everything it had. I’m not joking either when I’m saying there was so much to do. There was one quest where it asked you to plant different crops and the list was so long–I could have spent days playing this game. I know you could also fight bandits, but I never managed to get there.
• Loved the pixel art style for this one a lot. The colours were very vibrant. The characters sprites and portrait art were very well done, too. I found it fascinating how they could translate the character sprites so well, even though they’re so small. When you saw the portrait art, it wasn’t like you were looking at a different character entirely.
• Another game with a good system for the fishing.
• You started the game with a horse, and you get a dog very early on.
• They got Roger Clark to do the voice over for the intro.

CONS:

• Trees were glitching a lot and created a flashing effect. I thought it was just one tree, but there were several I saw doing this. When I was on my horse, I rode into a new area, and it brought me back to the area I just left several times. I had to keep pushing the joystick forward when I moved to the new map to stop that from happening. I went to speak with a villager and got a hard crash, crashing the game entirely.
• Game only saves on a rest.
• No running, but you do get a horse.

Will I Play When It Releases?

I want to but I’m going to keep an eye out to make sure these issues have been fixed. I liked what I saw and this is exactly what I’m looking for in these kinds of games, but because you can’t manually save the game, the hard crashes will become annoying because you’ll lose your whole days progress

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// Conclusion

To recap:

I think no matter how I feel about any of these games, even the ones I won’t play, if they interest you, you should try them for yourself. You may have a different experience than me and walk away feeling different.

Ultimately, I walked away liking most of the games I played. I’m looking forward to playing them when they release!

If you want to try any of these demos, or any others, Steam Next Fest is still happening today but ends tomorrow, March 3, at 1pm Eastern Time or 10am Pacific Time.

I look forward to the next Steam Next Fest, as it was a lot of fun finding new games to try out and put on my radar!