It's time for another Steam Next Fest and a whole lot of demos to check out! 😃
So far during this Next Fest eleven demos have popped out at me and have found their way into my library and today I will be looking at three of them.
I was actually going to use this opportunity for my very first gaming video! but unfortunately my audio had other ideas. Apparently I talk very quietly. This is probably why most youtubers are hyperactive and shout at their computers. I will try again.
ANYWAY!
First on the list today is...
I never actually played the first Houseflipper although it is on my Steam Wishlist. It's on special right now actually! But, why buy and play the first one when the second one has a demo going?
At first glance Houseflipper seems like a game that's right up my alley. It's a simulation, I can be creative, sell the house for a profit then buy more houses and do the same thing over and over forevermore!
At second glance, however, I felt restricted and it wasn't because this is just a demo. I tried to destroy things but was unable to because I was only allowed to destroy designated red squares. I could throw garbage into the bin but I couldn't get rid of the shitty wood palings that were scattered across the ground. It took me forever to work out to remove a stupid box from a doorway because for some reason I couldn't simply pick the damned thing up like everything else, no, I had to cover it in a garbage bag before I was able to lift it.
Instead of enjoying myself, I just felt irked. Although that would likely change once I understand the game a bit more, the restriction of things is not what I want in a sandbox. I have a giant mallet in my hands! Let me smash a friggen window.
I decided that I do not want this game. A Houseflipper type game with more freedom, though? That would be fantastic!
Soul Stalker is actually quite fun! It feels a bit like Slay the Spire mixed with your current generic bullet-hell inspired by Vampire Survivors.
Unfortunately it has massive screen tearing and no vsync options. Even setting the fps to match the monitor does nothing.
In Soul Stalker you choose a character (and you can unlock more as you play), choose a starting weapon and a starting perk for the weapon, then go off and kill enemies! The enemies drop coins which you get to use in the shop nearly every second turn where you can buy more weapons to add to your arsenal (a total of four) and a seemingly unlimited amount of trinkets to enhance your build.
Each level lasts maybe 60 seconds and when completed you go to a map where you choose your path on where to go next. After every single fight is a campfire. I feel like those should be fewer. There are minibosses on the map, but not many, I feel like there should be more. And there is a boss at the end of the map... and the one I defeated was insanely easy. More difficulty would be cool.
Overall though I found it very fun and if they can fix the screen tearing issues that would be fantastic. It was truly doing my head in. I shouldn't have to go into my GPU settings to force vsync on a game. Put it in the game's settings. Thanks.
I have not played any of the games in the SteamWorld universe, but the idea of a game that is a mashup of citybuilder, colony sim, and mining operation seemed very appealing.
There is nothing negative to say about this game. I loved every moment I spent in it and when I couldn't progress any further in the demo I closed it and raced to the store page to add it to my wishlist.
In SteamWorld Build the planet has become unstable and you need to dig deep down into the earth's core to uncover long lost technology that will allow us to escape this world and go to a new one. We are the city planner for a bunch of steam-operated robots and need to meet their needs, grow the city, expand the population and the type of robots we attract to the city, and then get a bunch of robots working in the mine for resources and to move forward in the story.
While there is nothing negative to say about this game, I did have one minor complaint and that was the UI. Namely the build-bar at the bottom of the screen. The icons weren't exactly obvious and a lot of the time I had to click multiple categories to find the one that I wanted.
Other than that small complaint though the game is absolutely fantastic and I'm eagerly looking forward to it! I'll definitely be buying this one.
Soul Stalker was an interesting mashup of Slay the Spire and Vampire Survivors. I rather enjoyed it but disliked the lack of vsync.
SteamWorld Build is fantastic and if you have the time you should check out the demo yourself and then chuck it on your own wishlist!
There are eight more games that I want to try out during this Next Fest; see you again soon! 😄
All screenshots in this post area courtesy of me, 
