Here we go again. Can't say I'm feeling as thrilled as I might be. Could it be they run these a tad too often? Maybe the whole idea of dumping a couple of thousand demos in a big heap on the floor and expecting everyone to pick through them to find everything worth trying, then finish playing it all before the end of the week is a bit much.
Or perhaps it's just that Next Fest is an event that fits more comfortably into the darker evenings and damper days of winter than the bright, light, warm summer months. But maybe that's just me.
Whatever, I did manage to pick my half-dozen demos on Monday evening. I was working yesterday so I had no chance to play any of them but that's okay, I guess. Six demos, six days left. Should be able to get through them all, I'd hope.
First, though, why don't I list them all so we can see what we're looking at? Conscious of how predictable I am, I did make some slight attempt at variety although as usual I haven't even poked my head out of the foxhole of my comfort zone.
I'd give notes on my methodology, if I had one but all I did was look at the Recommended For You banner first, then scroll down the Browse All Titles column until I lost the will to carry on, at which point I regressed to selecting some familiar genres and sub-genres from the drop-down menu.
I think I'd only looked at Point and Click and Turn-Based Strategy titles before I'd filled my quota. Usually I throw in Visual Novel, RPG and a few others but I didn't need them this time. I did check out the eleven demos listed as MMORPGs but most of them didn't seem even remotely like anything I'd include under that heading. I did pick one from that pot and it was the obvious one. I'll start there.
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I'd seen an itemm or two about this one at MassivelyOP so I recognized the name but that was about all. Nothing they've written about it has caught my interest so far.
I had the vague impression it might be some sort of cozy crafting and building game but reading the detailed description on the Store page it seems a lot more combat-focused than that. In fact, based on the screenshots and videos they're sharing there, it would appear to be a game where babies fight monsters. Weird. I guess I'll find out more when I play it. Can't say I'm looking forward to it much.
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Remember Outbound from last time? Here it is again! Let's just hope they remembered to put a game in there this time.
Unfair, I guess, but I have bad feelings towards Outbound thanks to the way it majorly underperformed when I picked it for Wilhelm's Fantasy Critic League. Over The Hill looks slicker and more like a driving game. I like driving games, in theory, although I'm very, very bad at them. At least in this one you're meant to come off the road.
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Now this one does look interesting. Made by people who might possibly know what they're doing for one thing. And right up my street with all the anthropomorphic animals and the heavy twee factor.
The downside is that it's in super-early development. We're not even talking alpha here, just "proof of concept". That means if it's good it'll be a long wait but also it could change out of all recognition by the time it gets here.
On the other hand, if it's bad, I guess it could get better. Acorn cup half-full and all that.
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This could not look more like a classic Point and Click from the '90s. It's even set in the fricken' '90s! Someone obviously looked at Broken Sword and thought "We could do that!" I hope they're right.
This is also an interesting little test-case for AI use, judging by the AI statement at the end of the description. In the previous paragraph, I was about to type "and the graphics look fantastic" when it occurred to me to check if they were hand-drawn or if AI was involved.
It's instructive that it even occurred to me to wonder. It's not a thing I normally think about so something must have triggered in my backbrain. It was the only demo on this list where it even occurred to me to check. And guess what?
AI Generated Content Disclosure
The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:
"Pre-generated AI tools were utilized to create the foundation for the 2D background art, character sprites, and audio. All of these raw assets were then extensively edited, cropped, and manually integrated by hand to ensure they perfectly fit the game's mechanics, atmosphere, and engine requirements."
Now isn't that interesting? Somehow I could just sense it.
The results are excellent so does it matter? It will to some people but if the game is good, will Point and Click fans deprive themselves of the pleasure of playing because of the faint, lingering AI taint? Looking forward to finding out if makes any difference to my enjoyment or appreciation as I'm actually playing rather than just thinking about it.
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I deliberately didn't search for detective games this time. I've played enough demos now to be fairly sure I don't like them nearly as much in practice as I do in theory. I read plenty of detective novels and watch plenty of detective shows but I'm not one of those people who tries to figure out who did it before the reveal and it turns out that having to do all the investigating yourself doesn't feel so much like having fun as like having a really tedious, annoying job to do.
This one appealed to me for the setting more than the detection, anyway. The set-up reminds me of Dead End: Paranormal Park and I just happened to be wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Courtney on the front as I was picking my demos so it felt like a bit of an omen. (Omen might not be the best word to choose when you're talking about things demonic...) Courtney's my favorite demon, by the way. Who's yours?
The gameplay sounds unusual, too. Not sure I've ever conducted a job interview in a game before let alone a whole series of them. Got to be better than interviewing suspects although I wouldn't be surprised if there's some of that in there, too.
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Wild Tactics - "A character-driven turn-based tactical strategy game where planning and positioning decide every fight. Lead a squad of wild agents with shady pasts through high-pressure missions, manage their relationships, and make hard calls that shape every operation in the crime-ridden city of Clawville."
I have to say, this one looks great. More anthropomorphic animals, a 50's neon noir sheen, strong visual design and allegedly a "killer soundtrack" although I'll withhold judgment until I hear it. Gameplay looks solidly X-Com, which is fine with me. I liked the combat in that game. It was everything else I couldn't stand.
And that's the six. I do still have a couple of other demos in hand that I downloaded a while ago and haven't gotten around to playing yet, so I might throw one or two of those in as well. Depends how much I have to say about these six and how much time I have to play.
I might, if I can bring myself to do it, try not to write two thousand world reviews of all of these as though I was reviewing the finished game. Really goes against the grain to keep it short but posts on demos are about the least-popular thing I ever publish here. Even music posts do better. And it does seem a bit like overkill, going into that much detail over a demo that takes maybe half an hour to play. I'd quite like to do what other people do and keep it down to a paragraph or two for each of them
Yeah. We'll see if that happens...
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