by SmashPad Staff
Welcome to the first Steam Next Fest of the year!
This virtual festival of sorts on Steam has been going on forever, but this year, we’ll cover it in ways we’ve never done before. Over the past couple years, we’ve bolstered our staff a bit to put out more content, and this year throughout every Steam Next Fest event, we’ll bring you hands-on impressions for the games that really speak to us.
Every piece we do as it relates to Steam Next Fest will be published here with both a link to the coverage, its latest trailer, as well as a link to add the game to your wishlist.
The best part about Steam Next Fest is that it isn’t just us. After you consume our content, you can go hop into the demo yourself!
Akatori
“This feels like a demo for a game that still has a lot of work to go before it’s ready for launch, so I hope the developers get the time this demo needs to fulfill its potential.” – Chris Selogy
Armatus
“To put it quite simply, “I want more Armatus. I see the vision, I love the feel, I want to learn more about the lore. How did things come to be in this reality? Is the Sunless Gate truly the way out for the Warrior and the cult-like entity striving for salvation? Hopefully your handler of sorts Zamina, who speaks to you and drip-feeds you information and exposition, has the answers.” – David Rodriguez
Blossom: The Seed of Life
“It’s also the sort of game where you deal with some poor tutorials and slowly figure out how everything works, so you may start a second run in a newly-generated world with all of the knowledge you’ve gained to be more efficient and more capable to build out a better base. This demo being not the final build that will be out in a few weeks, I hope it improves a lot of these smaller details before it is out.” – Chris Selogy
Cleaning Up!
Cleaning and video games can both be therapeutic, and sometimes you can sort of do both at the same time with games like PowerWash Simulator. Cleaning Up! kind of does the same thing with some Overcooked / Tools Up! charm. – Danreb Victorio
Crushed in Time
“Have you ever wished you could interact with a cartoonishly charming world with all the elasticity of Mario’s face from the Super Mario 64 start screen? Then Draw Me A Pixel is where your hands need to reach. Their next game, Crushed In Time, stretches the boundaries of what an adventure game can achieve, all while using a striking, expressive visual style that’s sure to wow the artistically inclined among us.” – David Rodriguez
Fallen Tear: The Ascension
“A new demo just dropped on Tuesday ahead of Steam Next Fest, and I played the heck out of it. I didn’t “finish” it, but I played it enough to know that I want to get down and dirty with the real game once it’s ready.” – Danreb Victorio
inKonbini: One Store. Many Stories
This demo was really something. I didn’t think I could write more than 1,000 words about an experience that only took like 20 minutes, but here we are. As someone who’s a bit of a perfectionist and also spent five years in fashion retail, I can’t help but feel like I could’ve done better. But does any of that actually matter? Did I actually mess up? I want to play the demo again and see if doing anything differently changes anything, but you know what? I’m gonna wait until the game comes out in April on PC, Mac (nice), Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Switch. I’m hoping this is an easy Platinum too–well, as long as I don’t eff it all up again. – Danreb Victorio
Replaced
“There is about 20 minutes or so of gameplay to this demo that is limited to what I assume is an early chunk of the game when you’re introduced to a new character who has a ride to get you out of town that made for a fun end to a great look at the game.” – Chris Selogy
Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!
“If you’re a fan of Helldivers 2 and want to see where that game got a lot of its thematic sauce, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is poised to be the best action-oriented entry point into the franchise and its lore on a PC or console up to now. The game comes out on March 16, but you can play the demo now on Steam and do your part! Defend and reclaim Zegema Beach!” – David Rodriguez
Titanium Court
“I only got a tiny taste of the demo in the video above, but I’m already hooked. The gameplay is delightfully weird, and I can’t wait to be served the full-blown chaos when it releases later this year.” – Chris Selogy
Vampire Crawlers
Vampire Crawlers chokeslams boredom through a glass table. The demo is impressive in its simplicity, but requires a hell of a lot more of you than Vampire Survivors did. In that sense, poncle could be on track to deliver a follow-up worthy of its still budding name and elephantine reputation. – David Rodriguez
Wax Heads
“Wax Heads just hits all the right buttons. It’s also surprisingly emotional with one customer interaction in particular – an ashen-haired widower looking to reconnect with music he and his late husband listened to early on in their relationship – making my lips curl up and eyes water with how sweet it was.” – David Rodriguez