Steam Next Fest Early 2025
A new Steam Next Fest is just around the corner. I’ve already had the chance to try out a few demos and would like to briefly introduce you to two games that caught my eye.
FUMEHEAD
FUMEHEAD is mechanically a classic RPG. The battles take place in a 2D side view, similar to Darkest Dungeon, though the art style here is very different. It has a certain retro charm and reminds me more of games like Dragon’s Lair. The demo includes a few battles and the party grows to two people over the course of it, allowing you to see some interactions. There’s a mechanic where each round a different color of skill cards receives a boost. Yes, like in many games of this type, the various skills are represented as cards here too. The demo environment, an old mine, was a bit boring and the story was somewhat confusing, but at just 30 minutes, the demo was simply too short to get a proper impression.
However, it has made me curious enough that I’ll continue to follow the game’s development.
Nitro Express
A 2D Run & Gun game that looks very similar to Metal Slug in screenshots, but is MUCH more complicated. While the anime art style attracted me, in the end I was put off by what I found to be overly complex controls. For example, I really don’t like having to move with the left stick while controlling the weapon with the right stick. What comes easily to me in first- and third-person shooters was almost impossible for me here. Also, by default, crouching is mapped to the left shoulder button, which is very uncomfortable. Additionally, rolling is triggered by crouching plus directional input, but the roll is very short. This becomes annoying when many enemies are approaching and you need to roll through an obstacle with pixel-perfect precision to avoid taking damage. If the demo hadn’t given you ridiculously large amounts of money to buy the strongest weapons with, I probably wouldn’t have made it through the first and only level in the demo.
I hope there will still be significant changes to the controls and that a simplified aiming system will be offered for people like me. The look and presentation still keep me somewhat curious.
