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Dusky Depths – what a pleasant name for a game. It makes me think of sleepy suburban soap operas, slightly worrying brands of shampoo or chocolate, and easy listening radio shows on long-haul train journeys. It doesn’t make me think of getting vapourised by laser beams in an exoplanetary cave system, which is what happened when I gave the demo a try.
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Ubisoft Singapore’s piracy sim Skull And Bones started development in 2013, and during the subsequent decade-and-change it has seemingly collided with every possible reef in the ocean of videogame production, undergoing a series of delays, reboots and staff departures. Perhaps it will take you the same amount of time to sail across it: this is Ubisoft’s “biggest open world” offering, in the words of former creative director Elisabeth Pellen.
I completely forgot about Brotato in our 2023 game of the year voting because I had played so much, so intensely that I had to uninstall it for my own good and try to flush it out my brain. Brotato arrived on Game Pass today, so you too can enjoy creating problems in your life. I might try to pique your interest with caveated comparisons to Vampire Survivors (and previously have), but I’d rather tell you that what hooked me in the wave survival shmup is constant little opportunities to push your luck and skill trying to create advantages. Death or glory. Likely death. But what if glory?
As a monster-collecting, knowingly cynical, base-building survival game, Palworld is officially Not My Thing in at least three different ways. But I do like the Steam Deck, as well as feeling a sense of being vaguely useful. Thus, instead of moaning about holding down a button for 20 seconds to plant some berry seeds, I’ve tested how Palworld adapts to life on Valve’s handheld – and worked out which are the best settings to use with the Deck’s modest hardware.
You know those wee indie games about opening boxes and organising items and assembling furniture and they’re all very cute and colourful and fun and “wholesome”? Miniatures is not one of those games. Oh certainly you will open boxes and organise items and assemble furniture in its Steam Next Fest demo, but it’s not cute or colourful or wholesome. Miniatures is more of a psychological horror game, laden with tension and uncertainty. For such a short demo, it built a great mood, and I’m excited for the full game to come later this year.
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Many a Survivors-like has come and gone over the last couple of years, but Bore Blasters might be the first one that’s really struck a chord with me. Or maybe that should be struck gold, as this mining roguelike is all about collecting little gem-like nuggets while boring deep underground for treasure and fending off all manner of flying eyeballs, bats and other unmentionable horrors with wings. I’ve been playing its Steam Next Fest demo this morning, and my initial impression is that it’s a little bit Dome Keeper, a little bit SteamWorld Dig, and very, very good. Even better, developers 8BitSkull have just announced it’s coming out in full next month.
According to Steam, I’ve spent about 2000 hours playing factory games. Terms like throughput, modularity, and automation are like dog-whistles to me, so when I heard that Shapez 2 was getting a demo for Steam Next Fest this month, I knew my weekend plans were instantly sorted. Well, here we are in the new week. I’ve finished the Shapez 2 demo twice and logged 10 hours into the game. I see conveyor belts of circles and squares behind my eyelids and the reward system of my brain has been well and truly hijacked. The only way I can continue to do my job effectively is by making my job be about Shapez 2. So here I am.
In 2021 I went through a bit of a rally phase with WRC 9, as I discovered the joys of watching people play rally games beautifully. And as much as I enjoyed my brief stints with those semi-realistic rally games, I’ve since longed for more of a blend between a rally-er and a colourful arcade jaunt. For those seeking a similar swinging-the-back-out experience, I’d recommend giving #Drive Rally‘s demo a go. It might not be as colourful as I’d like, but it’s got lovely, errr, dirt feel?
If you’ve been dreaming of a hyper-agile FPS set on the sky islands from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Echo Point Nova could be your jam. It casts you as a space pilot who crashlands on a floating archipelago planet during a research expedition. I’m not sure what you’re researching, exactly, but going by your character’s loadout, it’s the Science of Sick Moves.
The latest haul of Steam Next Fest demos is so vast that I initially missed Tribes 3: Rivals, a game I’ve been cautiously coveting, among them. While this high-speed FPS has been playable in a number of semi-open alpha tests already, trying it out is now as easy as sliding into its Steam page and hitting the big green demo download button.
The demo launch is accompanied by a shiny new trailer, showing more of Rivals’ skiing shenanigans, aurally satisfying airshots, and flag-throwing tricks that I will never, ever be able to successfully pull off in a real match. Also, a confirmation that it’s launching into early access, though there’s no date beyond “soon.”
