8 Games From The June's Steam Next Fest To Wishlist
From a base building adventure to a horror leaking into reality, here are 8 games you should look into.
A lot of amazing game demos were released during the June’s Steam Next Fest, and gamers were able to enjoy a snippet of what is to come in the near or upcoming future. These are some of the games that caught my attention:
The Alters
Work together with your clones named “Alters,” each with their own memories and personalities, to successfully manage the facility with the hopes of escaping a dangerous planet.
Developer: 11 bit studios | 11 bit studios Twitter
Publisher: 11 bit studios
You’re Jan Dolski, an Ally Corp builder who was sent with a team of professionals by the large corporation to extract Rapidium, a valuable and rare mineral capable of speeding up organic growth; after being the only one of your team to survive the landing, now you’re tasked with mining Rapidium and surviving long enough to escape the planet.
The Alters is a sci-fi adventure game that mixes adventure, as you roam around the planet searching for resources, and survival, you have to manage hunger, oxygen, and energy, as well as a base-builder, as you expand your base by adding different facilities, as well as building outside structures and connecting them to the base to retrieve useful resources.
The game’s narrative use of Rapidum and “Alters” is eye-catching and allows players to learn and understand the uniqueness and impact of choices in Dolski’s life. The player creates an Alter by using Rapidium and modifying Dolski’s “Life Path,” which is a strand of life-altering events that took place throughout his life; branching off that path creates a new Dolski. Gameplaywise, it creates a Dolski who became a mechanic, but narrative-wise, it creates a Dolski who stood up to his alcoholic father.
But even if they’re your clone, they aren’t always on your side. The player has to win over the alter by using memories they both share, bonding with themselves, and creating a deeper understanding between each other.
Elation For The WonderBox 6000
Explore a gloomy landscape populated by Claymation people as you venture to obtain your true source of happiness: Elation For The Wonder Box 6000.
Developer: Digital Tchotchkes | Digital Tchotchkes Twitter
Publisher: Digital Tchotchkes
Control a character who is obsessed with “Elation For The Wonder Box 6000,” a game that, in his opinion, surpasses everything else in the arts. He repeatedly posts on forums about this game, how it’s the peak of entertainment and makes everything else obsolete, and he does this so much that he is threatened by people and then banned from his go-to forum.
Through the game’s first-person perspective, the player experiences the disregard the protagonist’s own home, which is littered with empty cans, and mold in the bathtub that he lets grow as he has grown fond of. As the player walks around the house and prompts his response to certain items, it’s easy to decipher that the protagonist isn’t well.
The game’s atmosphere is captivating, with the faint white noise that constantly runs in the background, the odd Claymation designs, the character's voices when they speak, and the protagonist’s inner thoughts make for a great, though probably gloomy, time.
Hollowbody
Stranded inside an area closed off after a collapse caused by an infection occurred, battle through nightmarish horrors that lurk to find your partner.
Developer: Headware Games | Headware Games Twitter
Publisher: Headware Games
You’re Mica, an unlicensed black-market shipper in search of her partner Sasha, who had only left her a note telling her that she took the job, as the sleepless nights were eating her up, but reassures Mica that she’s not going there to die, and that she’ll be back. That was 12 days ago.
This survival horror game that pays homage to early 2000s horror games, using fixed camera angels that will occasional switch to third person perspective, limiting resources, fighting enemies in tight space, and has a surprisingly smooth and snappy combat.
The game’s dystopian sci-fi setting is enriched by the area the player roams, while the protagonist drives a hovercar with a navigation system, the overall atmosphere of the game is dirty, broken, and abandoned. The exclusion zone seems removed from the general population, as well as everyone else who lived in it, and as the player reads notes scattered around the place, they can see how the inhabitants were treated till the end.
Angeline Era
“Bumpslash” into your enemies and shoot them with your submachine gun as you venture through a fantasy world divided by a conflict between Fae and Angels.
Developer: Melos Han-Tani and Marina Kittaka | Han-Tani's Twitter, Kittaka's Twitter
Publisher: Analgesic Productions | Analgesic Productions' Twitter
You’re Tets Kinoshita, a man venturing through the country of Era after he received a vision from an angel. The country is divided by an ongoing conflict between the Fae, who have lost their home in the Otherworld, and the Angels, who have fallen from the sky and lost their memories.
The game’s simple 3D PS1-like graphics shine in a fantasy setting, as each piece of the environment successfully encapsulates an early era. The art style is matched by its wacky enemies and characters, such as fish that shoot lasers or exploding turnips.
The most appealing part of the game is simple, fun, and active combat which is simply described as bumping into your enemies, which will activate whatever weapon the player is wielding. Whether they’re wielding a staff or a swarf, the damage is dealt swiftly. There are other ways to fight, such as lobbing bombs, but those are limited resources.
The overworld is riddled with secrets, as you are forced to explore each tile and investigate each spot with the press of a button to discover towns, caves, and many other secrets. Before each secret, the player will need to pass through a minigame that will have them dodging vines and striking enemies.
500 Caliber Contractz
Be the coolest and baddest crowdfunded killer who kills the rich and speeds through the landscape with the pull of his sniper rifle’s trigger.
Developer: Bryce Bucher | Bryce Bucher's Twitter
Publisher: Bryce Bucher
You become a contract killer whose aim is on corrupt rich people. From the title of the game, to the description, to the early 2000’s flash animation intro, and early 2000’s video montages in the trailer, the game doesn’t take itself seriously and targets a specific era of the internet, which is even more apparent by the protagonist's chibi emo design. And it’s spot on and immensely funny if you were part of that era.
As the trailer said, it’s Mario 64 with guns, down to the green demon challenge implemented in the game and the triple jump. It’s a momentum-based 3D platformer where you boost yourself through the map by shooting your rifle and can even activate slow motion to execute your target.
Other things can be done on the map besides the green demon challenge, where you have to collect specific coins as you run away from a demon or execute your target, there are also other secrets and tasks around the map, even talking to the people in the level to get background information on the area, how they feel, or funny quips.
Threshold
Serve your country by keeping an important but mysterious train running on top of a mountain where the air is so scarce you can’t even speak.
Developer: Julien Eveillé | Julien Eveillé's Twitter
Publisher: Julien Eveillé
You take on the role of a clerk, who with his co-worker maintains a very important train so it can continue its never-ending passage over the border. With the neat feature of being able to pick the country you belong to, besides flying your flag, it also determines the fate of the Border Post, though it’s a mystery what that could entail.
It’s a first-person, gloomy, and atmospheric game that allows you to explore a harsh environment with secrets that could reveal terrible secrets. There will be mundane tasks to complete while you also manage your breathing, as you can suffocate from the lack of air and will need to carry Air Cans to breath in.
The train is constantly heard in the background, sounds will abruptly occur, and your character will begin to struggle and gasp for air if he’s running out of breath. Everything, though simple, is nerve-wracking and unsettling as more questions are created.
Tormenture
Play an old retro game where you battle monsters, but be wary, that other monsters lurk outside of your TV.
Developer: Croxel Studios | Tormenture's Twitter
Publisher: Billete Cohete | Billete Cohete's Twitter
You play as a child playing an Atari-like game late at night called Tormenture, an adventure game that holds many secrets, some of which might make their way into reality, as before you start playing, there news of missing kids show on your TV. But you’re a child, so what really matters is the game.
This first-person horror game is riddled with puzzles, both outside and inside the game, and a lot of nostalgic toys that, not only can help you, but scare you. The in-game Tormenture has you playing as a yellow block, going through rooms to slay monsters and solve puzzles, while the outside has you drawing the map for the game, going through drawers for manuals, and experiencing horrors.
The game’s synchronous gameplay allows the player to experience horror in two different ways, questioning which is reality and which is simply the game, as the player may hear voices or sounds outside the game, as well as find secrets within the room that puts into question what is going on inside the game.
Blood Typers
Type to move, strike, shoot, and reload through a hunted film studio in this coop survival horror.
Developer: Outer Brain Studios | Outer Brain Studios' Twitter
Publisher: Outer Brain Studios
Players pick one of various film crew workers to play as and try to survive through procedurally generated levels filled with zombies. With darkness covering each corner, and terrifying surprises behind each door, players will need to be quick and accurate with their typing.
This 3D survival horror coop game has a very fun and unique twist, everything is done through typing. From reloading and shooting to moving around and opening doors, the only thing that doesn’t require the player to type a word or letter is locking into an enemy and moving the camera.
Words can be seen around the floor, like its divided by tiles, and you can move from word to word by typing them. When fighting an enemy, the player hits TAB and then has to rapidly type the 3 words, each word counting as a hit and staggering the zombie, giving you extra time to type the next word.
Each hit feels more impactful, as you are typing them into existence, and each step is frightening, as you must hit enter to commit each movement. There’s always a surprising number of enemies behind each door.
Too many games, so Wishlist to remember!
These, of course, aren’t the only games that deserve your attention. There are many upcoming games, and if there are other games you think people should know about, please leave a comment of what game you’re excited for or what you think about the games on this list.