Summer Games Fest: Day One

 I decided to play some of the demos from Steam's Summer Game fest! 

El Paso, Elsewhere

This feels like a low polygon Max Payne, but honestly I think all the trappings are more endearing here than in those AAA games. You have bullet time dives and different gun types, but ultimately Max Payne isn't my kind of game and this doesn't push it far enough into my lane to be super interesting. 

 

Crime O'Clock

I didn't think this would catch my interest at a base description, but the concept was fun enough that I decided to try and it I had a lot of fun! This is a mix of hidden object and spot the difference puzzles. The time element was mostly controlled by the game itself and a little linear, gated by the progression of found objects/people, but overall fun! I struggled to stop playing.

 

Loddlenaut

This is a fun game about cleaning the ocean floor! It's so nice and relaxing to just go and collect trash, recycle it into new things, and it was just an enjoyable loop with its little gadgets. I really wanna see what's there in the full version but I didn't want to get saturated by the demo, so I stopped early rather than see if there's more available. Looking forward to this one!

 

Venba

AAAAA THIS GAME WAS SO MUCH FUN! It was the perfect length. I wanted so much more, but I was considering quitting so I could savor it in the full length version. 

 

This is a game where it's half visual novel about Indian Immigrants and the game section is working out how old recipes are made (from the protagonist's mother's smudged recipe book) which is so satisfying and true to life for trying to piece together recipes you only remember tasting. Ahhhhh I can't wait for it to come out. 

 

Choo Choo Survivor

This was a really fun idle game. My third run I understood well enough to build a train that really cut through and let me level quickly and then had a pleasant stroll through the hordes of zombies (my choo choo killed over 38,000 zombies, the final screen says). Up until that point though the motion through it is pretty harrowing. It was fun! I'd love to play it later and get all the fun roguelite unlockables to see what sorts of fucked up things my train can do. I saw Orbital Strike in there?? Looking forward to it! 

 

Cuisineer
This game was one of those, "it looks pretty samey on paper" types.. I've seen so many cooking games and I've seen the concept of doing little dungeons to get ingredients to cook before, but this game felt exciting and polished with a clear (adorable) sense of aesthetic. I'm going to have a lot of fun with it when it comes out.

Wrap-up
That was a fun day of trying out games! I look forward to checking out the others I downloaded when I get the chance.

Summer Games Fest: Day Two

 Well! I played a lot of games I hadn't heard of before and today was a low wishlist ratio, but the experiment was fun!

Crop Rotation

This one didn't really click with me. It had a good shot; I love card game based management sims! I like games that have that Intense Zachtronics Sim look to them, but this one just didn't do it for me. Something about the way the cards worked together and their bonuses stacked felt obtuse and unintuitive. 

 

Yomi 2

This is a game that mimics fighting games with a card based battle system. I remembered playing Yomi 1 and I remember not playing much of it, but I couldn't remember why. Yomi 2 is a fine reminder. Though the concept is right up my alley, the design of it just doesn't click with me. That is to say, something about comboing cards SHOULD work. And in fact, I played a trading card game called UFC that does that exact thing, but something in that system got it right in a way this just doesn't for me. 

 

Maybe I'll return to this for a deep dive later, take a look at the UFC cards and check it out. Or maybe not! Who can truly say.

 

Heretic's Fork

This is a card based tower defense game about battling lost souls. It's not bad, though I feel like I'd really get more out of the full version. The run-based thing is a little slim for me, even though it does combine the tower defense elements of combining towers for stronger towers, it just feels like I'd get a stronger sense of what's going on here and how it feels if I'd had that element. 

 

Still might try it on sale. 

 

World's Worst Handyman

This was a game I had very little confidence in and that seems to be warranted here. I didn't hate my time with it, but I was bored by the game's sense of humor. The grandma is a streamer and gets mad if you interrupt her, fixing the toilet by smashing it with a plunger. It just ended up being what it looked like on the tin.

 

In Stars And Time

Everything about this turn based rpg looks cute, but I truly wasn't in the mood for a turn based rpg. I love the style and the dialogue seemed a little too cutesy for what I'd want but perhaps that's just how it opens. Might check it out down the line.

 

Jumplight Odyssey

I believe this game is affecting a She-Ra aesthetic with its captain and the actual essence of it is a fairly detailed ship sim. Neither of which were things I really had a taste for and the moment I was ten minutes into the tutorial I realized I was pretty much not going to get a fun experience out of it unless I spent a few hours toying around and that just isn't the mode I'm in right now. Not sure it piqued my interest enough to try again later unless I see something to warrant another look.

 

Luto

WELL. I forgot I downloaded a horror game lmao. Anyway, the atmosphere was reasonably spooky and I liked the general trappings, but I was ALSO not in a place to play a horror game, actually. Look forward to seeing someone else play that one.

 

Stunt Derby

This is a game published by NoClip, a video game documentary company I really like. UInfrotunately this game isn't really my jam. It's a heavily physics based driving game where you have a lot of obstacles that might theoretically train a movie stunt driver, huge piles of boxes, lots of ramps. Ultimately, though, I had the experience of those box car race tracks where it's mostly trigger/accelerator control or else you fall off the track. I suppose to an extent that's most racing games, but the feeling of it bare and constant really turned me off here.

 

Wizard with a Gun

Wow, this was so much more fun than I was expecting. It's an isometric shooter where you are rebuilding the world as it floats above ruins. (There's also a bard with a guitar and a scratchy voice; I'm simply saying there's a lot of Bastion vibes here)

 

You get a gun, which I believe you can upgrade, bullets you can enchant with spells, and a space to rebuild with materials. All of it seems pretty fun, so I'm excited for the full release.