Steam Next Fest – The October harvest!

Now with the Steam Next Fest October over and done for, I’m here to present you with a couple of demos that were damn good. In other words, games to look forward to in the future. I will list them here in no particular order. On a side note, I was surprised this month/year (I’m not sure how often these things come online) with how many games managed to capture my attention. I’m sure I missed a couple of good ones too. You only have that many hours per day to game! It seems to me the indie gaming industry is constantly improving, which is good, considering AAA mainstream stuff is a walking shot-to-pieces corpse by now.

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Tank Squad seems to be in financial trouble

Tank Squad is a game I have been looking forward to and talked about on this site before. Recently they released a demo on Steam in part of Steam Next Fest, and with eagerness I downloaded the demo. Well, the game is in a very early stage, and while it shows potential, it’s far from what I expected. On videos and dev-logs, it looked so much more polished. The visuals are pretty poor, the AI seems to be dumb as bricks, but at least the physics seems to be there, somewhat. So, what happened here? One explanation for this is probably what I stumbled upon over on the Steam forum.

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Assassin’s Creed Mirage – Arabian Nights

The only reason I got this game was the promise of the franchise going back to its roots. While that remains true to a certain degree, it’s not the long-lost promise land of Grandpa’s old-school Assassin’s Creed gameplay. It’s mostly a mix between the original games in the series, and the RPG take on it that started with Assassins Creed Origin. I mostly blame this half-hearted attempt on the engine itself, since Assassin’s Creed Mirage shares that with Origin, Odyssey, and Valhalla. It looks pretty, there is no denying that, but everything that involves the player, as in parkour and the combat feels very floaty, just like in those titles. It has much less of a “simulation” approach than the former games which leads to the setting feeling less grounded and realistic. More on that down below.

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Twin Peaks: Into the Night Impressions

Now this is a treat. A game based on the TV series Twin Peaks with a PS1 graphic style made in the vein of old survival horror games to boot. Boy, oh boy. Twin Peaks: Into the Night is an excellent demonstration of what could become something great in the future. However, as I see it there is one big complication attached here. I’m not talking about the production itself, but the licensing since the game doesn’t only borrow ideas from Twin Peaks, it is Twin Peaks! So, unless the developer Blue Rose Team plans to release the full game as something free, I don’t see how this could get made – yet stranger things have happened.

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister [User Campaign] Morrows Deep – Lizard Revenge

Welcome to another review of Artyoan’s three-part campaign series for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. This time we talk about Morrows Deep, and much like its predecessor it’s a campaign with a heavy focus on combat. However, the writing is much better than in Forsaken Isle, and overall, the story has an improved flow comparably. Locations also make much more of a logical sense in the world – like enemy placements and the environments in general.

Morrows Deep is a 1-15 level campaign, and while the four-man version is the standard way of playing the campaign, I went for the six-man version this time around. In Forsaken Isle, I felt a lack of companions and interesting combat combinations that come with that. So, I thought why not give the six-man version a go? I can’t say I regret my decision. The added party members change the dynamic of the group and make for a much more enjoyable experience. It also allows for experimentation with different classes since you can afford to go outside your personal preference, something the four-man version lacks. You don’t have to worry about balance issues, as Artyoan has designed this version specifically for an increased party. Essentially, engagements have a ton more enemy units trying to claw your eyes out (and probably eat them).

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