When it comes to Next Fest I'm very much a kid in a sweet shop.
I grew up in an age where if I wanted to decide what I was going to play, it wasn't via a demo disc or a trailer video, it was by going to Toys "R" Us and looking at the 2 or possibly 3 tiny screenshots of a game on the back of a Sega Master System box OR going purely on the cover art. Those days are long gone with some devs giving us demos that showcase hours of content - for free. You can't ask for much more than that.
With the excitement of Next Fest there comes an inevitability of lower quality demos being rushed out just to make the deadline that come with an inherent amount of issues, owing mostly to poor or no optimisation.
However, there are many gems to be found. I downloaded 115 or so, I've worked my way through 50-60 of them, some good, some terrible, some just downright weird. Here's my top picks.
The Edge of Allegoria
If you yearn for the turn based Game Boy Pokemon games of yor then this could be for you. Loaded with cursing, silly humour, turn based battles and is very self admittedly - not for kids.
Graphically it's straight out of the DMG Game Boy years - think Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow. Script wise - maybe not. Maybe if Pokemon games were written by Robot Chicken or something, sure. Plenty of colourful characters, quips and scenarios - including where the wife of an NPC tries to seduce you...
I can't say anymore other than this is a very refreshing take on a retro build and it's well worth your time.
Windblown
From the makers of Dead Cells - which, that in itself was enough for me to get my attention. I adore Dead Cells and whilst this may not be a Dead Cells 2 - it's very evidently got it's roots in it.
A 1-3 player roguelike fills a hole that a lot of roguelike players have been calling out for - co-op. More and more are cropping up particularly with Wizards of Legend 2 and Rotwood, but here is a game that borrows from Dead Cells but looks and plays a bit more like Bastion and the boss fights like those from Death's Door. It's very colourful, some of the music is akin to Risk of Rain 2 in places and whilst the level designs may feel a bit unnecessarily sprawling, the game itself does move at a good pace with a multitude of weapons, buffs and upgrades at your disposal - combine that with playing with up to two friends and you've got yourself a very tantalising roguelike on your hands.
Mother's Sword
One thing that Next Fest probably gives us more of than anything are metroidvanias. It's understandable when it's a tried and tested game formula that just works - if done well.
For all the polished looking metroidvanias out there it's good to see a more stripped back art style that still manages to deliver in terms of a challenge.
Mother's Sword looks and feels a bit like a more stripped back Blasphemous - with the artstyle maybe more akin to things like Hyper Light Drifter. Don't let the simple pixel art fool you though - because what they've done in combat and enemy design is brilliant. The attacks feel weighty, you really have to learn how to parry, but that's made all the harder when every enemy type has different attack patterns/speeds. There's no cookie cutter applied to same attack patterns to different sprites, you're met with enemies with buster swords who whilst slow pack a punch, nimble rogues who make it near impossible to parry both their attacks as they hit you with the ol' one two.
Is this going to be one that gets talked about among the likes of Blasphemous, Hollow Knight et al? I doubt it - but that doesn't mean it's not potentially a very good game. The demo had me wanting more, it's challenging but rewarding in a way that Blasphemous and souls likes are. For once it feels like a metroidvania dev on Next Fest went for substance over style and kudos to them!
Antonblast
It's probably telling that when you've had a game on your wishlist for 2 years but haven't even played a demo of it yet that there's the chance to be disappointed. This demo did not disappoint.
Playing this it was like I had opened a new Mega Drive game and put it in the console for the first time as you're hit with a full on nostalgia kick to the face. It's obnoxious in every way, it's bright, it's flashy and it's loud. The game screens move around at pace like you're playing a Sonic the Hedgehog game on 2.5x speed at times. Maybe that's my eyes getting older and not keeping up the pace but damn, if this game didn't just take the template of 90s MTV/Nickelodeon platformer and knock it out the park.
We don't need remasters of old games to bring back nostalgia if people can make new games like this that give us the same feeling of playing this type of game 30 years ago.
Finally...
I could do a bunch more to this list but I've got some plans to do extra demo coverage in the very near future. All I will say is, take a chance. Don't let the default filtering of Next Fest fool you into thinking those on the first page are the best just because they deem them most popular - dig a little deeper, try them, what's the worst that could happen? You play for 5 minutes and uninstall it - it happens! The flip side is you might just find your next favourite game...
