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Unmissable Steam Next Fest Indie Demos

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Just when you thought you might be able to take a breath after all the summertime excitement, another tentpole event has arrived: Steam Next Fest. So save your breath because there are heaps of indies ready to take it away. It can feel a smidge overwhelming trying to pick out which to begin with when there are thousands of demos to choose from. But hopefully, the list below will help you wade into the rising tide and enjoy the indie surf.

Play as the Sovereign of a magical tower in this story-rich, Round Table management RPG. Recruit eccentric Knights, assign quests and balance egos whilst carving out your kingdom’s destiny. If destiny doesn’t go your way, keep turning back time, uncover secrets and rewrite fate again and again.

A time loop metroidbrainia where time is your best resource and secrets are your only upgrades. You’re the last of the Weavers, a remnant of a ruined society trapped in a glitching time loop. Explore what remains. Uncover the mystery. Perfect the loop.

Virtue? That’s for suckers. But fame? Priceless. Assemble unruly bastards into a mercenary squad and build your legend through reckless adventuring, bloody fights, lucrative looting, and dirty dealings. Choose your battles, and your allies, in this irreverent open-world tactical RPG.

The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest (TASQ) is a parody/homage platformer set in a dark 8-bit world. Your vampire-hunting rival robbed you of fame by killing Count Dracula first! Reclaim your glory by resurrecting Dracula piece by piece and slaying the dark count yourself!

HEAVYDELIC is a 2D Slavic Synthpunk Platformer broadcasting on dead frequencies. Synthetic psychedelia, comic art, VHS tapes, analog ruins & robots resurrected from Slavic mythology. Every asset is manually drawn by Eniac. Signal lost. Game found.

Rebuild a community one bottle at a time in this tiny delivery adventure with your pet cow Milki. Gather resources and upgrade your barn, then bike along dirt paths, breezy meadows, and seaside cliffs to bring fresh milk back to the sleepy countryside.

Capy Castaway is a cozy exploration adventure where a capybara pup and a clever crow solve puzzles, help lost animals, and explore a mysterious island after a devastating flood. Play solo or with a friend in this relaxing narrative adventure about curiosity, friendship, and finding your way home.

Roguecraft is a casual yet challenging turn-based roguelike, crafted for fans of classic dungeon crawlers and inspired by Lovecraftian horror. Explore procedurally generated dungeons with mysterious potions, scary chickens, and secret rooms waiting to be discovered!

Engineer the marble run of your dreams. No need to get it perfect – just release your marbles and let the good times roll.

Orcs don’t die: THEY RAGE! Embody their Warchief and lead them out of misery in this brutish strategy game with base-building, where one Orc outburst can turn victory into disaster. Forge bonds between units, shape their personalities, and unleash their true potential both in and out of battle.

Nurture your farm by day and defend your haul of crops from the thieving Trash Panda Posse at night. This farming and tower defense roguelite challenges you to grow powerful and symbiotic defenses to battle tough critters and rebuild your hometown one haul at a time!

In Colorbound, color is more than just hue. As Anku, an Aymara boy with a unique gift, you’ll harness the power of color to shape the environment itself, uncovering hidden paths to navigate challenging and complex puzzles.

Echoes of Mystralia is an action-heavy spellcrafting ARPG roguelite, where rapid combat meets deep customization. Craft your own spells, unlock new combinations, fight epic bosses, and discover a narrative-rich world that never plays the same twice.

The Tanuki Festival is just a month away, and the shrine is in disrepair. Follow Pon, a well meaning, if a bit lazy Tanuki with a part-time job at the Post Office, as he works to restore the shrine before summer ends. Deliver packages, make friends, and get the shrine ready for the big festival!

Slap stickers onto your cards and beat the score counter with astronomical multipliers in this roguelite deckbuilder! Collect snacks and Monstraks game-changers, flex your style, and crush Sticker Wizard’s challenges!

Woodo feels like a 3D coloring book you can touch, a relaxing puzzle-tale told through handcrafted wooden dioramas. A toy for those who never forgot how to be a child.

A solo collectible card game with the soul of a classic JRPG. Embark on replayable dungeon runs with deceptively deep, two-choice card combat. Draft items for your backpack, master chain attacks, and even crack a few card packs…then save the world from eternal darkness!

Meet the Merlies, a tiny birds community trying to find harmony in a cute post-apocalyptic world filled with the remains of a long forgotten civilization. Gather your birdies, explore this wild world with your tiny bird squad and complete your village out of collected scraps!

Blue Ridge Hunting is a co-op horror game set in the Appalachian Mountains. Solo or with friends, investigate, document, and hunt cryptids based on real sightings, legends, and eerie phenomena from the region. Are you brave enough to uncover the truth?

Build an army of aliens to invade Earth in DiceVaders, the roguelike dice game set in the same universe as StarVaders! SCORE BIG and DESTROY humanity!

Burn With Me is a story-centric deckbuilder filled with cozy dread and occultic mysteries. In order to summon a Personal Demon you’ll master inventive gameplay with position-based synergies, and permanently burn your cards and your soul.

Clean moldy messes as a brave food hero! Equip your high-pressure spray, choose the right nozzle, and clear away sticky messes in this cozy, arcade-style fridge-cleaning adventure.

Step back into the shoes of a curious photographer and set off on a brand new adventure all about uncovering hidden details, helping friends along the way, and documenting the world’s little wonders in TOEM 2, the sequel to the acclaimed TOEM.

Entropy is a tactical turn-based RPG inspired by classic JRPGs. Assemble your party of mercenaries and forge your own path towards an expedition into hell to stop the demonic incursion. Choices you make along the way will determine the fate of your world.

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skywardshadow
21 hours ago
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Pixygarden English Patch Ver. 1.1

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The quirky and obscure space colonization game for the PS1 is now available in English! Pixy Garden is a simulation game where the player has to raise a group of 7 fairies (known as Pixy in this...
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skywardshadow
1 day ago
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English translation of Armored Trooper Votoms

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An English translation patch has been released for Soukou Kihei Votoms / Armored Trooper Votoms on PlayStation 2. The patch targets the Japanese release, SLPS_258.27, version VER = 1.01 / NTSC, and...
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skywardshadow
52 days ago
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Manga May – Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

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Welcome back one and all to my yearly spotlight feature known as Manga May. It’s a pretty straight forward concept. I pick a few manga titles to highlight during this month, and post some neat reviews about what I’ve read. This year I selected one longer series (this one), an mid-length series, and one complete in a volume.

Of course, I had to start with one of the longer manga I’ve read (and reviewed) in awhile: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. It’s been on my radar for several years, so now that the full deluxe edition of the manga has published, I have no excuses. Not to mention that the majority of the volumes were available via my library, so it was easy to start.

It’s the end of the world, sort of. There seems to have been some sort of environmental disaster, and humanity is on the decline. Yet, for Hatsuseno Alpha – an android and namesake of the small cafe on the outskirts of Yokohama, it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Her owner is away indefinitely, so she’s in charge of the cafe where the customers are few and far between. This doesn’t dissuade her in the slightest though, whenever someone does come through the door she greets them immediately and with a smile. When she’s not in the cafe, Alpha explores with her trusty camera in hand, and goes the distance on her scooter.

For me, while this series is clearly set in the future: it’s the retro futuristic art and ideas that sold me. There’s something so charming about even just the cover art. The muted pastel color pallet that never overwhelms the eyes, just merely draws you in. The subtle detailing of the backgrounds, dreamy but with just one thing off about them. Alpha and friends in the foreground, with the most charming or contemplative expressions. The mere idea that at the end of the world, there’s still a tiny cafe on the outskirts of town with coffee beans and all, is both so absurd but feels so right.

There is something so compelling about the mundane nature of the series. Even at the end of the world, someone runs a cafe, a gasoline stand, or a delivery service. Alpha and company tend to reflect on the changes that occur, one day at a time, reminisce on what was, and have a quiet acceptance of said change. The story, despite this lack of action, continues on at a reasonable pace. It progresses as quickly as you read it. Stopping and starting the series, preferably with a physical copy, is highly recommended in my experience.

If you’re looking for more substance, there is some to be found. Mostly at the larger question of who exactly is Alpha’s owner anyway? As well as the musings, observations, and small investigations of Kokone as the story progresses. These are less concrete questions and ideas to be answered, but more things to ponder outside of your reading experience. They aren’t overwhelming in nature or tone, but give it some nice textures to break up the Alpha dominated narrative.

I’m personally a huge fan of Ashinano Hitoshi’s art style. There’s such a great consistency in his character designs. They blend together seamlessly, even the androids, to create a really harmonious work. The detailing in backgrounds and items is superb as well. There’s such a sense that even the newest items have wear and tear from practical use in them. The world truly does feel lived in, even at times worn out, but still remains a beautiful place worth exploring.

Overall, I highly recommend this series if you get the chance. It really does warm up your soul after a long day, and it’s not so narrative driven that you need to commit to reading it all in one go. You can come and go as you please, and you’ll rarely lose many details. I think the experience, as I mentioned before, works best when you have a physical copy as well. I believe Alpha would feel the same. Be sure to pour yourself a cup of something warm before reading.

As always, I still have two more manga to showcase. Those will come a later in the month, and will be admittedly shorter in terms of chapter count, but not in terms of impact. Be sure to support your libraries this month as well, even just walking through the door and staring at the shelves for five minutes means a lot!


“That’s all”.





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skywardshadow
59 days ago
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It turns out Diablo 4 does have a secret Cow Level — here’s how to find it

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One of the longstanding traditions in the Diablo franchise has been the Secret Cow Level — or, to use its proper name in Diablo 2, the Moo Moo Farm. The idea of a cow level originated with the very first Diablo game, where a rumor spread that if you clicked on a cow enough times, you’d...
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skywardshadow
61 days ago
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The Urge

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https://www.oglaf.com/urge/

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skywardshadow
65 days ago
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