A week long celebration of upcoming unreleased games called Next Fest just ended. 3 times every year it brings us demos, behind the scenes looks and a ton of developer livestreams and interviews for hundreds of games that haven't released yet.
With so many games it can be hard to know which ones you should be keeping an eye out for and thankfully this list that just dropped can at the very least give us a glimpse at what games have stolen the attention of our fellow gamers.
Here’s my top 15 games from the Steam Next Fest list!
(click any of the banner images to be linked to the games steam page) (If you want to see the full list of 50 click the Next Fest banner at the top)
Pacific Drive
I know. A game like this at the bottom of my list. Doesn't seem right since it has everything I would normally want in a game. Exploration, a story, management elements, driving sim, what more is there to ask for? We’ll, your correct.
I cheated here. I put this one on the top because if someone doesn't make it through the entire list I wanted them to at the very least see this game here. So check it out. It looks amazing.
Dread Dawn
This gives me ProjectZomboid vibes but in a faster paced more story driven environment.
This is an open world zombie survival sandbox game where you play as a student trying to survive with other classmates and survivors as you wait for rescue. You get to explore a massive open world city, collecting resources, meeting other survivors, while building up the defenses of your home camp.
It's got a lot of survival aspects like farming, animals, and trying not to die.
Shapez2
I almost didn't add this one. I sort of enjoyed the original Shapez game. But it felt like there was no purpose to doing things in the game. I'm a little more intrigued with the second because it feels a little more free form with its 3D appearance and new height levels for conveyor belts. Plus in a few of the screenshots it shows limitations to your build space with different platforms connecting to each other. I hope that adds some interesting management aspects to moving the various shapes around in it.
Millennia
I love strategy games and especially love 4x strategy games. And the UI at the very least appears to be heavily inspired by the likes of Civilization. I hope it also delivers that solid of an experience when its finished.
Millennia is a 4x turn-based Strategy game where you create your own nation across 10,000 years of history, experiencing different timelines in every playthrough as you help to shape the world around you.
Pepper Grinder
I don’t normally play games like this but it's fast paced nature reminds me of Celeste. Especially with its smaller looking areas and the item collection. Drilling through the sand speeds up your characters movement and it allows for you to throw yourself out of the ground to reach areas otherwise not accessible. It looks like it makes for a fun and fast paced 2D platformer. This is the kind of game where it would be mesmerizing to watch someone really good at the game play through it.
Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown
I’m a little worried when games call themselves complex city builders. Because that typically means 1 of 2 things. It’s not balanced well and over complex. Or it’s got a lot of things to manage and can be easy for everything to fall apart quickly late game.
But either way, learning how the systems come together and constructing a functioning settlement is always a lot of fun so it’s often worth the pain and time investment that these games require.
What peaks most of my curiosity for this game is its 4x inspired world map, the AI villages and kingdoms, and the idea of multiplayer. Multiplayer along in a game like this can be the make or break. I haven't tried the demo for this yet but I'm cautiously optimistic. At first glance it reminds me of Banished but the more I learn about it it feels more like an Age of Empires Colony sim. So I’ll let you know my thoughts when I try it out.
TerraTech
TerraTech brings another unique take on the basbuilding sandbox genre. This time where you drive around as a fully customizable vehicle.
TerraTech is a PVE survival game with car customization that look straight out of Robocraft where every block and part is customizable and interchangeable. No 2 player vehicles will be the same. I also like the idea of exploring and collecting resources with up to 3 other friends.
Soulmask
Here comes another survival sandbox building game. But I can’t complain too much since I love the genre. At first glance it appears to be a big open world multiplayer experience similar to something like Conan Exiles, but that is far from the case.
Soulmask is a singleplayer take on the genre where you lead and grow a tribe with loyal companions and family members. Your people can farm, patrol, produce things, and so much more. The steam page even boasts about its AI capabilities when it comes to the people that inhabit your tribe. You'll be able to build all sorts of crazy things and your tribe members will have apparently no problem navigating it and completing the tasks you give them.
Rotwood
A multiplayer hack and slash dungeon crawler by the makers of Don’t Starve and Mark of the Ninja. It looks like a modern take on Castle Crashers with a strong fantasy theme. Do I need to say more? With up to 3 other friends, you'll fight and explore through a labyrinth like maze of dense forest and vegetation with ever increasing challenges and rewards that let you craft all sorts of new weapons and armors for your adventures.
Star Trucker
It’s hard to make a good driving sim game. But to mix driving sim with space? I’m all in.
Jalopy is one of my favorite driving sims because of its casual experience mixed with simple vehicle maintenance.
I haven’t played the demo for Star Trucker yet but I know it has some vehicle management aspects. You have to maintain parts of your truck, deal with climate control in your cabin and hull charge. Things can deteriorate on your truck and maybe affect what your hauling depending on what it is? I don't know for sure it's just speculation. What's most exciting for me is the idea of buying, trading and transporting. Any chance I get to take on the role of a traveling merchant in a video game I'm doing it. Even if this isn't quite the same thing, it's close enough in my books!
Breachway
The first rogue-like I ever put more then a couple hours into was FTL and Breachway feels like a card based version of that. And while it doesnt have the people management, spaceships are cool and I would still love to try it out.
This is a deckbuilding roguelike scifi game where manage upgrades for your ship, generate resources, and battle other space ships in turn-based battles. It promises diverse tactical options so I expect we can approach this game in a large variety of different loadouts and playstyles.
Lightyear Frontier
I’m a sucker for farming in video games. And especially when it's a farming game that promises a peaceful experience. I think it's because these kind of games are typically a 'lets make a profit' simulators. Stardew Valley is the same kind of idea. Farm things to make money to be able to farm things to make more money.
In Lightyear frontier you’re far on the edge of the galaxy farming alien crops, building a homestead, and exploring a new world. And not just by yourself but also with up 3 other friends.
At first I was turned off by the idea of being a mech and working on everything because in a first person game like this I love building things and visually designing the appearance of my home. Even in Stardew Valley I think I've spent more time planning out the paths and fences around my farms then I've actually spent farming them. So I was worried this game wouldn't have any of that. But I was happy to see I also get to spend time making my farm operate well and look great.
Oddsparks
There’s something magical about games like Pikmin or Tinykin or even the Overlord franchise where you command an army of followers to complete various tasks. But this time it’s paired with automation and management mechanics.
Oddsparks is a game about trial and error with a mix of puzzle solving as you build your own assortments of automated machines to produce resources and other various things you need. And you get to do it with the help of your entourage of little creatures. Oh, and did I also mention it’s another one that adds in multiplayer?
Diceomancer
Prepare yourself for another roguelike with an interesting approach from a first person perspective. Which is the first of this style that I've seen.
Here in this deck-building roguelike you get to experience a hand-painted world where a fishing trip’s gone wrong and you’ve not found yourself in a series of dangerous battles. With the strange dice you’ve found you can now change the numbers on any interface. Anything from enemies stats, your own hp, card effects, you name it. You’re dice place you in control. At least with whatever numbers you can roll with them.
Synergy
A city-builder with a calming color pallet and simple art style that blends together to make something feel alien and welcoming.
What interests me about Synergy is its emphasis on living in and respecting this new environment by analyzing plants and other natural elements in order to acquire skills and knowledge to survive here in a sustainable way. I’ve mostly seen approaches like this in rogue-like versions of city builders so I'm excited to experience it in one that appears to be more open ended.
Final Thoughts
This is the first Next Fest I've spent any time with. Until this year I didn't even know it existed. It wasn't until a few months ago that I became interested in these kinds of events and learning more about the games industry. In the past I always thought of them as just something for devs to promote their games and consumers to find games to buy. But once I started diving more into trying to find out what the events were and why they started I've gotten a whole new appreciation for them. So many of these start out from a single person or small group of people that just want to share their love for either the type of games they make or the type of games they love to play.
I want to learn more about gaming in general. So if there's any topics you're also interested in let me know. Same thing with events you get excited for every year. Thanks for reading up to this point and I just want you to know that I appreciate it!
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