Steam’s Next Fest is behind us, marking the end of the traditional ‘E3′ season. While we saw some major announcements at Summer Game Fest and the publishers’ showcases like the Xbox Showcase, for our little niche, Steam Next Fest is where it’s at!
Although Next Fest comes and goes quickly during a very game-busy period, some highlights do stand out. The beautiful thing is that all the games mentioned have playable demos, and some are in the Early Access phase. We’ve already reviewed some of the games from Next Fest that came out on other platforms earlier, like The Gravity Trickster (PS5) and The Fall of Elena Temple (Xbox), so be sure to check out those articles.
Metal Slug Tactics
One of the most prolific games during this Steam Next Fest is Metal Slug Tactics. Who would have ever thought that SNK’s legendary platformer would be revitalized with a tower defense game in the recently released Metal Slug Attack Reloaded and Metal Slug Tactics, which is set for release in the fourth quarter of this year.
Metal Slug Tactics has made a very convincing transition from a side-view 2D to a bird’s-eye view perspective. It has kept the distinctive graphical style intact, along with the animations and little quirks that made the Metal Slug series so recognizable. The gameplay seems very much geared towards Final Fantasy Tactics, with similar play areas and familiar gameplay mechanics.
Powerline Rider
If you’re up for a really hardcore NES-style, methodical platform game, Powerline Rider might be it. Apart from its NES looks, Powerline Rider goes back to basics. First of all, there is no controller support—just the arrow keys (or WASD) and the Enter key. Avoid the birds and other obstacles and collect as many keys as possible. That’s all. No tutorials needed, just straight-up ‘learn-as-you-go’ action, just like back in the 80s and 90s.
Although there are three difficulty levels, the term ‘Easy’ must be taken with a grain of salt, as even the easiest difficulty will make you sweat once you progress far enough. All the birds you encounter have specific characteristics you need to keep in mind and anticipate. Once the game starts combining these enemy types, we guarantee you’ll experience a heart rate peak.
The demo offers you one of the three worlds in the game, and we could see this being interesting for competitive gamers and Twitch streamers.
Victory Heat Rally
This game may not be significant to our US audience, but for European readers Power Drift may cause a warm feeling inside. Well, in that case, good news! Victory Heat Really can almost be considered as a unofficial remaster of Sega’s arcade classic Super Scaler Arcade (and Saturn) racer. And man is it great! Although Victory Heat Rally does not use the Super Scaler tech and just sticks to actual 3D objects to draw the track and it’s surroundings. Other that, Developer Skydevilpalm stuck to the Power Drift formula and made it mad, fast, twisty and a helluva lot of fun.
The demo has unfortunately been pulled of the Steam Store but if your into 90s kart games Victory Heat Rally is a game must wishlist.
Shadow of the Ninja Reborn
Mira and the Legend of the Djinns
Mira and the Legend of the Djinns started off as a Kickstarter campaign that reached its goal and was eventually backed by over 600 supporters. At first glance, Mira might appear to be just another 2D pixel art metroidvania game, but it offers quite a few fun mechanics of its own. Throughout the game, you will discover a total of seven tools that will help you traverse a world inspired by Moroccan culture. Along the way, you’ll add weapons to your arsenal, each bound to one of the Primal Elements: Solar, Celestial, Infernal, and Lunar.
Although the demo shows there is still some work to be done (primarily enemy AI), Mira is starting to shape into a metroidvania that has a very distinct look and sounds amazing!
The Steam Next Fest demo is available on the Mira and the Legend of the Djinns’ Steam page.
Iron Meat
If you want to skip all that backtracking and lever-switching metroidvania crap, you’re better off with Iron Meat. Iron Meat is a pure Contra clone and isn’t shy about it. It adds a truckload of weapon variety and a thrash metal soundtrack to the mix. The Broforce-like pace is instant sensory overload, but it’s so satisfying to mow down hordes of invading enemies at a brisk pace. Expect to die a lot due to the one-hit kills, but Iron Meat is very generous with lives, so you should be able to get better and progress further than you would in Contra.
Check out the demo on Iron Meat’s Steam page.
