Next Fest October 24 Roundup #2

Escape the cold and madness, fight like a samurai, fly like a bird, and stop the sheep from crushing you! Ten more demos to try during Next Fest.

Steam Next Fest October is in full swing and will run for a week until next Monday. Many of the demos are only available this week, partly because it takes effort to maintain a demo while you're still making the full game. Sometimes, the demo listing might disappear but the demo will still work if you previously installed it—a good reason to install demos even if you don't get to play them this week.

Please enjoy the Tuesday edition of AIIG's Next Fest roundup, with two more still ahead. On Friday, all email subscribers will get a list of all the games considered for these articles. If you are not yet an AIIG subscriber, sign up for free!

AIIG's impressions are based on gameplay footage and descriptions, not playing the demos, and experiences may vary. There may be bugs or undercooked ingredients. But in a festival with thousands of games, these selections help you find a few gems to wishlist before Next Fest ends next Monday.

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Permafrost (Steam link)

Survival games tend to lean more towards tropics and temperate zones, though a few try to tame the most unforgiving of extreme weather: severe snow and cold. Permafrost is set in a near future where a cataclysm has left our planet in a state of perpetual winter. Prepare to survive by exploring, scavenging, gathering, hunting, and fighting. Along the way, you'll craft equipment, build bases, and get several people to join through multiplayer. It's everything you'd expect from a game like this, delivered impressively in the novelty of an arctic hell.

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Warlord: Awaji (Steam link)

March onto medieval Japan's battlefields, using swords, spears, and poles to dispatch the enemy in brutal first-person combat. Thankfully, you're not alone and command the troops following you in battle. Vanquish your foes, then travel around the island of Awaji, recruiting, upgrading, and promoting your troops and building bases to help conquer this vast and dynamic open world. The demo only showcases the game's combat (which is bloody and visceral), but it looks impressive. Warlord: Awaji is the developer's second game in the series (after Warlord: Britannia) and much more ambitious.

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Wrekless (Steam link)

Skateboarding games go all the way back to 1986. But things changed completely in 1999 with Tony Hawk Pro Skater and, later, 2007's Skate. Skateboarding games left the top-down world and became a new breed of 3D platformer. They were visceral, very entertaining, fun to play with many moves to learn, and satisfying to master. Now we arrive at Wrekless, a massive online game (up to 50 skaters in a session) by former Tony Hawk developers, where players can do crazy tricks, build skateparks in real-time, unlock tons of cosmetics, and easily record and share their best tricks.

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The Stone of Madness (Steam link)

Imprisoned in a horrific 18th-century Monastery that doubles as a madhouse and inquisition jailhouse, five people decide to pool their resources and escape. You direct their actions in the real-time stealth and tactics game, The Stone of Madness. Use their respective abilities and circumstances to cast spells, assassinate targets, distract enemies, stun evil spirits, and explore hard-to-reach areas. The illustrative art style looks as great from an isometric vantage point as the detailed character animations, breathing life into a grim world where even the characters' sanity is in peril.

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WHAT THE PAK?! (Steam link)

Get ready to go crazy in rush-based party gameplay with up to nine other players in the suitably capitalised WHAT THE PAK?! It's the kind of game where you want to shout the name: a fast-paced party game with many different minigames tackling different physical challenges. Avoid being squashed or standing on a crumbling tile. Outsmart your opponents while racing through obstacle courses. Play tag with a bomb, handing it off before it explodes, or carry the crown and avoid other players trying to take it from you. These are all staples of fun party games—add some cute characters, and you've got a fun-looking game.

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Wool at the Gates (Steam link)

The sheep are coming! Are you prepared? Defend your base from the woolly hordes in Wool at the Gates, an action strategy game with bits of tower defence and arcade fighting. You can float around as a giant eyeball, giving orders to your troops and creating defences. But you can also become a battlefield character, fighting the vicious livestock head-on with your auto-battling forces. It looks simple, though the game promises a lot of strategic depth, such as combining unit classes to create new and more powerful units. Run your economy, build defences, and see if you can repel the sheep's onslaught.

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The Precinct (Steam link)

There is considerable hype behind The Precinct, a double-A game that evokes memories of the classic Grand Theft Auto games and conjures the spirit of Eighties-era "neon-noir" cop movies. Try to uphold the law in a city teetering on the lawless. Play as a rookie cop, taking on criminals and cleaning up the streets in a sandbox world with scripted and generated missions, including investigations, car chases, and shootouts. Excitement has been building for this game since the first trailer dropped, and now a demo is finally available. Time to lay down the law!

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The Spirit of the Samurai (Steam link)

Evil is ravaging the lands around a medieval Japanese village, and the samurai Takeshi is killed while defending his village. But supernatural forces bring him back and imbue him with the means to fight an undead army and a slew of monsters from Japanese mythology, such as the spider-like Jorogumo and the evil spirits called Yokais. But The Spirit of the Samurai is more than a simple side-scrolling brawler. Play one of three characters, using custom combos and a variety of weapons such as spears, swords, and bows. Visually, the game looks stunning and uses stop-motion animation that gives it a unique look and feel. Beat your enemies, build your stats, and fight your way to the castle of the enemy Oni behind the chaos.

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Lofi Aquarium (Steam link)

The lo-fi phenomenon of non-intrusive atmospheric mixes has helped countless people study and work. Now they can use it to play games, too! Lofi Aquarium is a focus tool with game elements. Represented as a mystical aquarium, your fish will grow as you work. Set and complete timers to get rewards that help you grow fish faster and unlock new varieties, and you can name your growing spawn of aquatic pets, decorate their home, and sell them to buy other fish—all while listening to a soothing lo-fi soundtrack. There's not much more to it, but this can be a fun focus tool for gamers who need to get things done.

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Sparrow (Steam link)

Many horror games lock players in a dark and spooky building, but not many also give them the ability to fly. In a sea of creepy games at Next Fest, Sparrow easily stands out with its novel concept. Rather than a person, you play as a tiny bird stuck in a dark and dangerous place. Use your size and master the skill of flying to escape predators and monsters, uncovering the mystery of the game while you try to find a way out. Can you survive with only the power of your wings?

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