Steam Next Fest demos, a Virtual Boy-inspired shooter and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As ever, we've got some new releases and news of upcoming
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As ever, we've got some new releases and news of upcoming games to share with you. However, it's Steam Next Fest time, so there are literally thousands of fresh game demos to jump into. One of the main aims of Steam Next Fest is to help players discover interesting games. However, soon after my eyes met the endless ream of demos, decision paralysis once again set in — all while I silently cursed whoever at Valve decided to run this edition of Next Fest during the World Cup group stage. As such, I opted to focus on demos for games I was already looking forward to. Screenbound has been at the tippy top of my wishlist for a while. This is a "5D" platformer in which you're controlling a character in a 3D world and a version of them on a 2D Game Boy-style system (aka a Qboy) simultaneously.
It's such a cool idea and I mostly enjoyed the execution of it in the demo. By default, the Qboy sits at the bottom of the screen in the center, making precise platforming in the 3D sphere tough, though you can temporarily move the device out of the way as needed. Also, I did not realize beforehand that the Qboy is also a companion. Its chattering quickly became very annoying. I really hope that's less of an issue in the full game, which is out on September 10. A lot of folks have sworn off Crazy Taxi: World Tour after it emerged Sega used generative AI in the development process and I don't blame them one bit. If you've still got hunger for some chaotic driving action, though, you might want to check out the Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?! demo. I'll spare you the details of the wild, anime-inspired concept for now, and just say that I've had a blast with this so far.
It's fast-paced and funny, a real jolt of energy. I absolutely recommend trying the demo ahead of the full game arriving at the end of July. I found the Backyard Baseball demo cute. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to read and hit an array of wacky pitches. I also liked the demo for Kick, a slice-of-life game in which a young soccer fan dribbles a ball on the way to class while avoiding obstacles. It took me a little while to get to grips with the controls and learn how to flick the ball over pedestrians, but once I got into a flow, I was able to enjoy the demo and its lovely art direction more. I'd love to see speedrunners tackle this eventually. My favorite Steam Next Fest demo that I've tried so far is for Virtue and a Sledgehammer, which I initially covered last week. This is kind of a walking sim in which you search your hometown for your sister.
The BriefWire