Now Playing

I love Next Fest. It’s always exciting to get a feel for upcoming titles, positive or negative. After spending a long weekend on a laundry list of demos (a few of which aren’t technically Next Fest exclusive but shhh) I’m here to rank them! These run the gamut from wildly disappointing to some of my most anticipated in quite some time. Let’s roll.

25: Big Boy Boxing

The first few entries here are unfortunately quite weak. I adore Punch Out, especially the SNES one, so I was greatly disappointed to see a miserable simulacrum disguised as a love letter. Each fight is just a short exercise in memorization to the point where some of the fights open with punches before you can even see what’s going on. It demonstrates a total misunderstanding of what makes Punch Out satisfying. At least the animations are nice?

24: Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire

Look, I’ve had a Skies of Arcadia-derived screen name for ages. Sega blue skies and flying machines are my jam. Despite being the exact target audience this game is, against all odds, terminally dull. When the characters aren’t tripping over their words they’re floating at exactly the speed limit and getting into derivative turn based battles without any focus on positioning or, you know, the fact that everybody’s in midair. There’s just nothing here for me, and I don’t want to dwell on it.

23: I Am Your Beast

I’m starting to think Strange Scaffold needs a new group of testers. I Am Your Beast has potential for speedrun enthusiasts, but it needs significant mechanical tweaks and an entire container of polish before I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s incredibly easy to get stuck on interactables thanks to wonky context sensitive inputs, or to not be able to use them in the first place, and with too many inputs mapped to a single interact button this makes your elite Rambo-wannabe feel distractingly clumsy. I want to root for this because I love the concept, but it needs to play better first.

22: Evil V Evil

Gamefeel is an important thing to manage in an FPS. Guns need to feel like they have impact, and enemies need to function as more than moving targets. Evil V Evil manages neither, but it’s happy to give you a bunch of tiny percentages to tweak between identical runs in service of “builds” instead. In many ways it feels like some sort of Source mod that got lost in a temporal rift and only just appeared. I haven’t played an FPS that felt this off in ages and would suggest checking it out for that reason alone, but in a genre as bloated as coop shooters you could easily trip over a better one.

21: 500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ

Bryce Bucher’s horror works are consistently solid and the aesthetics of this one are perfect early 2000’s Newgrounds-ish style translated into 3D. The gameplay, on the other hand, is raw in both senses. You can achieve ludicrous momentum and fly practically anywhere, but it never feels precise enough to confidently navigate the levels as designed. Half of the game’s challenges felt like an exercise in trial and error as opposed to platforming challenges. I could like this with some adjustments, and I’m hopeful it’ll get there, but I’m not a fan yet.

20: The Crush House

While I saw no mention of AI used in this game, the baffling dialogue did have me checking its Steam page to verify that this wasn’t some kind of Chat GPT mess. Characters respond to each other with incomprehensible non-sequiturs then start furiously making out or fighting at the drop of a hat. Multitasking Pokemon Snap-esque goals in real time with running ads and achieving goals is an entertaining framework, and the aesthetics are pleasant, but you spend a lot of time staring at pretty unenjoyable NPCs. I guess that suits the reality show premise, but did it really have to?

19: Metal Slug Tactics

This is as low as it is in large part due to personal disappointment. MST seems…fine? A roguelike tactics game is something we’ve seen done well before and the short puzzly levels aren’t a bad idea, but there just wasn’t enough here to differentiate it from several other better crafted TRPGs. It’s a tough genre to be mediocre in, no matter how excellent your spritework is.

18: Galvanized

We’ve reached the threshold of mid to good! Galvanized feels like a lost Quake mod in a lot of ways, mostly positive, but its enemies and weapons are so generic that I struggled to really get hooked. What does stand out is its excellent movement, including a grappling hook, making it feel almost like a surf map at points. With some punchier combat this could be a boomshoot banger!

17: Sulfur

Sulfur’s not my kind of roguelike. FPS dungeon crawls are all fine by me, but incremental stat gains and constant mid-level crafting take me right out of it. That said, I can’t deny the quality of what’s on offer here. From the movement, to the gunplay, to the solid dialogue when you head back to town, it’s clear that a lot of craft has been put into this. I could see plenty of folks sinking plenty of hours into Sulfur’s plentiful dungeon.

16: Elation For The Wonder Box 6000

This is here on vibes alone. EFTWB6K is a bizarre journey into the head of an alternate universe internet poster who for lack of options is forced to touch grass. The demo goes absolutely crazy for the entirety of its five minute runtime. Yeah, that’s all this is, and that’s the only reason this isn’t higher on the list. If this game delivers on its premise and potential it’s going to slap.

15: ULTIMAHJONG

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a roguelikeified version of a classic card (ok tiles but you get the point) game. This one’s going to be niche by its nature because Riichi Mahjong is a tough nut to crack, but we’re seasoned tile clackers here at Pixel Die (find me on the Sanma stage and I’ll clap y’all in 3 player rules. LESGO – Kyle). What ULTIMAHJONG lacks in approachability it makes up for in satisfaction when you Tsumo the whole table for each of their wallets.

14: Wild Bastards

I liked Void Bastards but didn’t love it. While Wild Bastards still feels oddly weightless and doesn’t have amazing player feedback, but the character asymmetry and upgrade variety does an immense amount to elevate the gameplay. The demo cuts right after revealing party relationship mechanics as not everyone in your gang gets along, which likely adds an interesting wrinkle to an already compelling shell. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

13: KILL KNIGHT

The venerable twin stick wave shooter has seen many iterations, but few of them look as pretty as KILL KNIGHT. Throw in active reloads, combo mechanics, and several resources to manage as you frantically dodge and counter, and you’ve got an arcadey gorefest for worthy of the real ones.

12: Dungeon Clawler

Let’s class it up with a DC. I don’t think this game was 100% ready for primetime, in large part because it’s missing all sound beyond some repetitive background music, but the mechanics on display are as compelling as they are funny. Taking Slay the Spire-adjacent fights on by yoinking your weapons out of a physics-riddled claw machine is a great hook, and the character variety already present in the demo impressed me. 

11: Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age

Random question, does anyone else remember Guilty Gear Isuka? Where it was basically a fighting game, but with lanes and 4 player support? Diesel Legacy is that, but with a splash of Skullgirls and modern Streets of Rage. In the interest of not just making lazy comparisons: I’m always intrigued by team-based fighters and this one feels really good, as well as meaningfully different from other newish fighters. Plus Eleanora is just the coolest.

10: Thank Goodness You’re Here!

Mischief simulator, but this time it’s even more Bri’ish. You’re a lil guy sent to a lil town to talk to a sales client about…something? Doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re going to improve everyone’s quality of life despite your only means of interaction being a punch. So far it’s a mixed-media journey through fantastic depictions of decidedly mundane locations and I’m very interested to see what else it has up its sleeve.

9: The Spirit Lift

This is an exciting point in the list, as these are all games I’m now hotly anticipating after spending some time with ‘em. I’ll be the first to acknowledge that The Spirit Lift is a tad lacking in polish, particularly in its menus and HUD elements, but I don’t care. A first person VHS horror dungeon crawl with turn based deckbuilding combat is so my shit it’s ridiculous. The demo was almost jarringly easy to clear and there wasn’t a ton to explore, but the potential for this one is through the roof if it gets the dev time it needs.

8: SCHiM

“Cozy” has had its very meaning stripped from it by a slew of insincere farming games. SCHiM earns it. You’re a creature that lives in someone’s shadow whose purpose is making their day a bit better, but adulthood makes that increasingly difficult to the point where the two of you eventually get separated. The game plays akin to a platformer, but you’re moving from shadow to shadow and manipulating the camera to navigate them. It’s adorable, kind of touching, and incredibly creative.

7: Sumerian Six

I wasn’t in love with Showgunners (which should have remained Homicidal All Stars), but I liked it enough to keep an eye on Artificer’s next game and I found myself quite impressed with it. Sumerian Six sees you navigating a stealth commando squad in a tech-infused WW2, completing objectives and backstabbing legions of goosesteppers. Coordinating a multi-pronged attack and covering every angle is incredibly satisfying, and the inclusion of a fast forward button to speed patrols up is an excellent quality of life addition to a genre that doesn’t cater to the impatient.

6: MACHI KORO With Everyone

Is it fair to call Machi Koro a classic at this point? MKWE is an official online implementation with excellent presentation, and notably includes both the original game and its sequel. Assuming the netcode works, this is a slam dunk that our game group will be getting a lot of fun from.

5: Sorry We’re Closed

Queer horror intensifies in this mashup of colorful Suda 51 aesthetics and Silent Hill. Your character has a not so secret admirer in the form of a very tall demon, and their influence pulls her into far darker versions of the world around her. Combat is a bit more interesting than its genre contemporaries, allowing you to weaponize your investigative third eye to spot enemy weak points for more damage but only at close range.

4: Tactical Breach Wizards

I’m so very glad this game is good. Running turn based SWAT ops with bump stock magic wands and explosive runes is as fun as it deserves to be, but it’s elevated even further by some of the most consistently funny writing I’ve seen a game deliver in ages. There was barely a scene that didn’t at least get a chuckle out of me, and barely a fight that didn’t legitimately present a satisfying puzzle. I’m so excited to finally get my hands on this.

3: Bullet: Surge

I was always going to be excited for a digital interpretation of one of my favorite real time board games, and this one’s excellent. It does have some issues, notably in how it communicates info to the player, but that fades quickly once you’re fully in frantic puzzle mode. The changes from the original game only serve to intensify its gameplay in ways that the physical version couldn’t have achieved. Having two distinct versions of a favorite is all good by me!

2: The Big Catch: Tacklebox

Modern platforms have been an incredibly mixed bag. A lot of folks love the likes of Corn Kidz 64 and Cavern of Dreams, but they didn’t really do it for me. The Big Catch is the game I wanted. Heavy fall speed, no double jump, slick animations, tight platforming, and incredible potential for movement. As I understand it this is only a bespoke map created for Kickstarter backers that was released after the fact, and the full game will be even larger, which blows my mind. It reminds me of a lot of things I like, especially from the 6th generation of consoles, but it manages to feel completely distinct in the best way.

1: Demonschool

As I was working through this season’s crop of demos I saved Demonschool for last, partially out of anticipation, partially out of fear that it wouldn’t live up to its pitch. I’m pleased to say that it has exceeded every expectation I had for it. Charming characters and creepy visuals aside (though don’t get me wrong both are excellent), it’s the impeccable combat system that hooked me to the point where I finished the demo wanting nothing more than to continue. It’s not often you see a tactics game so incredibly confident in itself that it’s able to distill character kits to their vital essence and still demand serious strategy. I loved my time with this and fully intend to play it day 1. Let’s get spooky.