Although Feb is a shorter month it felt huge with big name titles like Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West dropping, the first Steam Decks getting into the hands of players, and the first Steam Next Fest of 2022 blowing us away with a barrage of excellent demos and the wishlist adds that follow.
But although we’ve had a great month for gaming, many of our friends and family simply aren’t able to celebrate with us as a tragic war has broken out in eastern Europe, and our hearts go out to those affected. I only wish we could do more. 💙💛
Starting off weird and only getting weirder, The Last Oricru takes clear inspiration from the Souls franchise but also builds in a deep, branching narrative full of interesting moral decisions, factions to side with, and has been built with co-op in mind. With a great feeling combat system, big areas to explore full of baddies waiting to jump you at every corner, and a story that will make your head spin, this 2+ hour demo is a great taste of something I can’t wait to get stuck into.
I think I’ve found my favourite genre – blistering fast FPS games based around speedrunning small missions full of enemies using a variety of limited abilities. The need to move so fast but still somehow count your shots and rememebr what you’ve picked up is a form of resource management like no other. Hyperactive economics that sort of gameplay should be called! Not only does Neon White look gorgeous, play cleanly, and feel silky smooth, but it manages to do that whilst making sure to constantly challenge the player and deliver a strange yet alluring narrative.
I’ve had my eye on this since the second I saw an announcement trailer. The unique cheating mechanics piqued my interest even before I know how they’d really work but now, after getting to finally try it for myself, I can safely say my expectations have been shattered. Another game on the list that somehow manages to blend fresh gameplay with a deeply intriguing narrative, gently urging the player on from both fronts making this title a hard one to put down. Learning, mastering, and merging tricks of the chicane arts is done gracefully by forcing the player to think fact, act swiftly, and not to confuse ones hands – a perfect metaphor for the sleight of hand and social manipulation mechanics to be employed. I challenge anyone to play this and not immediately feel the urge to learn a few card tricks for yourself. I have no doubt it will be the most unique game of the year, I can’t wait to see what else it has up its sleeves.
I already told you I’ve found my new favourite genre – “blistering fast FPS games based around speedrunning small missions full of enemies using a variety of limited abilities”. But Warstride takes that even further than Neon White in terms of speed, the skill of making insane headshots, and the never ending race to beat your own score. This is Neon White stripped of the story and pushed to the limit which, in turn, means it also requires the player way beyond their limit to keep up. Calling itself a mix between Doom, Super Meat Boy, and Trackmania – an incredibly apt mash-up comparison – this one will push people to the very edge of whats possible and all wrapped up in a beautiful, hectic, demon-fiilled world of hurt.
Anybody who knows me at all knows I just can’t be bothered with the grind of turn-based RPGs these days. I find there’s way too much down time when I could be having fun playing somehting else and I don’t find that the stories make up for that often enough. Small Saga instead removes the parts I dislike (fighting random battles of the same enemy constantly) by putting the whole thing on narrative rails, meaning that each fight has been hand-crafted. This results in a more strategic, tactical sort of puzzle than the usual ‘tap the attack button until everything is dead’ approach, and I loved it. Not only did this one bring me within an inch of angry tears within about 10 minutes of storytelling but it continued to pull me in with tight combat, a wonderful world full of splendid characters, and a clear end goal in mind – kill the yellow God! Also, IT LOOKS SO CUTE!
Previews
Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef – Demo on Steam
The first Steam Next Fest of 2022 hit us real hard with some incredible demos. Every stream felt like a barrage of wishlist adds!
NOTE: Ratings are basically representative of how much I enjoyed the demo and the likelihood that I’ll come back to the title in the future (or even would liked to have continued playing it right then), with regards to gameplay, quality, and (of course) personal preference to genre, etc. A zero represents that the game is too non-functional to really get a feel for it. It is essentially a non-rating.