Next Fest June 25 Roundup #1

'Tis the week to play demos.

[If you enjoy these roundups and want to throw cash at us, please visit AIIG’s Ko-Fi]

We’ve got a lot of games to show you this week! If you’re not familiar with Steam Next Fest, it’s a demo showcase for upcoming games. Hundreds of games present playable versions to try out—the problem is, which ones to sample?

That’s the purpose of what you’re reading here: ten games worth knowing about. Expect another such newsletter every weekday this week!

NOTE: if you don’t want to receive the Steam Next Fest newsletters, you can disable them at indiegames.substack.com/account.

Happy gaming!*

*AIIG's impressions are based on gameplay footage and descriptions, not playing the demos, and actual experiences may vary.

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Gecko Gods (Steam link)

Explore the ruins of an ancient civilisation as the ultimate all-terrain entity, a gecko! On a quest to save a friend, players explore the world of Gecko Gods, solving puzzles and discovering secrets—a game that is both relaxing and very compelling.

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Neon Inferno (Steam link)

Neon Inferno is a cyberpunk run-and-gun 2D side-scroller rendered in crisp modern pixel art. While it's a throwback to 16-bit era sidescrolling action games, there are plenty of new ideas as well. And yes, it has co-op.

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Tormented Souls 2 (Steam link)

In a quest to save her sister from a disease that defies all science, a woman travels to a remote South American village with links to a lost religious group. Naturally, supernatural horrors lurk about as you explore in classic survival-horror style: slowly and with your nerves turned to 11.

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ALL WILL FALL (Steam link)

Take in people, scavenge for resources, and make tough choices to keep your post-apocalyptic colony going. Then build your vertical settlement in a unique physics system where the wrong choices can send things tumbling down, because All Will Fall.

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UnderMine 2 (Steam link)

The hit underground arcade roguelike UnderMine 2 doubles down, literally, by adding two-player drop-in co-op. That'll help because the action is even more intense. Explore, craft new weapons, and save the world from a demonic war!

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Witchy Business (Steam link)

Serve the people of your village with potions, remedies and curiosities from your little witchcraft shop. Grow ingredients, brew concoctions, collect items that come your way, and reinvest your money into upgrades to become the best Witchy Business in the region!

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Danger in Pompeii (Steam link)

The city of Pompeii is doomed, but you can still escape. To do so, you must explore, solve puzzles, and meet various characters who need your help. Danger in Pompeii is a unique adventure game that places you in a vibrant city with many side quests and much more to discover. Just watch out for that volcano…

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Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile (Steam link)

Fiction's most famous detective (after Holmes, of course) revisits one of his most famous cases in Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile. But this popular story gets a update, setting it in the 1970s and adding a parallel story about another investigator chasing the same villains.

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Casual Sport Series: Badminton (Steam link)

Having previously covered hockey and tennis, this accessible sports series now lets players compete in badminton, the racquet sport where speed and precision are more important than brute power. Play against NPCs or other players in singles and doubles matches.

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Wildgate (Steam link)

Wildgate combines spaceship battles and first-person shooters in an intense PvP package. Create a crew, stock up and upgrade your ship, then take on other fliers in procedurally generated maps with numerous objectives.

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