Here are the games I played during Steam NextFest and what I thought about them. They're (very roughly) compiled in order of when I played them. I purposefully left out games that didn't speak to me because it seems exceptionally mean-hearted to go out of your way to talk about a demo for an incomplete game with negative reviews. All of the games on this list will remain on my Wishlist.

Wanderberg

Wanderburg is basically Mortal Engines crossed with Vampire Survivors, which is an incredible hook and concept for a game. The level loadout (which only allowed a single choice for the demo) was reminiscent of Thronefall both in terms of the UI and also in terms of the roughly 1 million (mostly locked) selection options. During the gameplay, I couldn't quite get the hang of avoiding archers and also hoovering up other smaller towns. The art wasn't quite as polished as I hoped for, but that could be a demo thing.

Gunboat God

Gunboat God was recommended to me by a YouTube list, and I'll be honest I did not expect to like it. That style of mildly auto of control 2d rail shooter is not within my wheelhouse in terms of skill. But the theme of an alligator upgrading your gunboat while rouhgly 1 million birds attack you is heckin' fun. Oh also I absolutely loved having levels...

Order Automatica

Order Automatica is a cute occult themed autobattler. It's kinda interesting because the runs aren't a long adventure with branching paths, just like a single enemy that you need to beat 9 times while upgrading your deck. The fact that it gets rid of a lot of the meta progression engaged me, especially in a time when so many games seem to think they must add all of these things under punishment of depth.

The two best games of the Fest for me so far are Titanium Court and Australia Did It.

I don't exactly know how to describe either of these games, which is probably a good sign. They both have the confidence to try to weave experiences by combining ideas instead of sitting completely within genre convention.

Titanium Court is a match 3 autobattler with a sharp narrative on top of it. The art feels very pop-y but also manages to read well on a screen. The first thought that popped into my head was Dicey Dungeons, probably for the stage theme, but also for the narrative confidence! I will be slamming this game the second it comes out.

Australia Did It is a combo of Into the Breach (but in reverse?) where you're trying to defend a train station on a grid from oncoming bugs by merging and creating different units. Once you beat a level you hop in the train and it becomes a rails based survivor like riding through a wasteland. I honestly still don't fully understand the limits of the game, on whether or not to pump out units versus maintaining energy levels, but I also suspect that's part of the experience. Excited for more!

Trading Card Inspector

Trading Card Inspector is Papers Please but for card games. It's really cute and I love the idea but I really struggled with the interface to figure out the calculations. It seems like this is the intent of the game, but it's also a lot of overhead for my brain to get further even with the excellent tongue-in-cheek vibe.

Gambonanza

Gambonanza, which Hotcyder called Speed Chess meets Balatro. I actually incredibly dig the vibe and art style. The biggest downside is that when your pieces get captured during the game you lose them forever... which feels weird because it kinda makes it more about the economic aspect of buying new pieces than anything else. Which maybe I just need to get down with, but still feels weird tbh.

SOKOGRAM

Sokogram is definitely a game made for me ™️. It's a nonogram game combined with Sokoban and a cute pixel art style. That's it, that's the entire game. It manages to use the "player has to move through the board" to create meaningful challenges without the game getting repetitive or too much guess and check. SO EXCITED TO PLAY THE WHOLE THING

Walk The Frog

I found this one incredibly charming. Carto vibes but 2d-platformer and probably a little bit more straightforward. Definitely for kids but I really liked it. It's a puzzle game about arranging tiles on a 2d world so you can move a frog along from point A to B. The writing is incredibly charming and it feels like a fun adventure.

Phonopolis

The newest Amanita design. The art is just absolutely incredible. It manages to combine charm, thoughtfulness, and playfulness into a succinct and coherent package. The point and click adventure parts of the demo were toyetic while still having enough structure to feel surmountable.Really excited for this one.

Black Jacket

The new trend seems to be Blackjack roguelikes. From my couple of playthroughs it seems to have a much more consistent them than the other big Blackjack Rougelike I've played... Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers. Some of the tweaks were kinda interesting like the game ending when you run out of money, instead of being "about" winning an individual hand or taking damage. Also the whole exiting the underworld theme seems to still have legs. How long will that last?

Goblin Vyke

Someone finally took the Moonlighter vibe and experimented with more ideas. The general concepts feel like they could almost be a genre in their own right and I'm excited to see more games take it on. and turned it into a platformer and experimented with some more ideas. It's a stealth game about creeping into dungeons to find loot to sell. It seems like a neat idea. I'm not entirely sold on the "evil mask" plotline though...

Map Map

A puzzle game about cartography. Very very puzzly, but really cute and neat. Definitely brought back memories of the one time in elementary school we had to map out the school as a team for a class project. Seems fun.

DRFT

Wasn't fully my vibe, though I can't tell if I didn't fully understand the instructions. The setup and art style seem incredible though. You're a car that can't stop moving forward in a Survivorslike style game. The added catch that you shoot automatically and you're invincible when you drift. Great art style, neat ideas, not entirely sold on the execution.

Battlestar Galactica Shattered Hopes

Roguelike RTS, which BSG seems pretty perfectly suited for. Really loved the writing, plot development, and the challenges of each level. Brings me back to my childhood days playing Battle For Middle Earth. Excited to get back to this one.

Beyond Words

Yet another Balatro-like game with spelling which normally I would bounce right off of. But... it's designed by the makers of GoldenEye and TimeSplitters, so it's got a pretty good design history and it shows. You're playing on a scrabble board, which means there's a neat tactical element to the wordplay in addition to just "make best word". Gets at the "feels like I'm playing Scrabble" with additional challenges vibe.