Demo Lightning Round, Steam Next Fest Edition

Steam Next Fest ran this past week. It was a massive event showcasing hundreds of upcoming games, each with a free demo.

I would never ask my gentle readers to try so many games, so I downloaded as many as could and have been playing through them for you! There are way too many to put into one article, though. So this is just the first of a series that will last as long as companies are releasing demos. Or until I’m tired of it!

Our First Demo is: Voidtrain

Voidtrain is a survival game very much in the vein of Subnautica, only you are on a train. In space. Sort of.

You play an engineer that stumbles upon a portal that pulls them into an endless void with tracks inexplicably stretching infinitely forward. You can float free in the void, but you are always tethered to the train. This makes it impossible to lose the train which, considering how many bases in Minecraft I will never be able to find again, is a good thing.

Still, it also means you have a relatively small corridor in which to interact with things. You start with a pushcart that doesn’t move all that fast, and even then I found myself stopping constantly to gather things. Perhaps most people are less concerned with collecting every bit and bob floating around, but I couldn’t stand to miss anything.

I also feel the developers have underutilized the fact their game is set in space. When I saw the name Voidtrain I assumed there would be a need to seal the train and some sort of oxygen mechanic. Maybe there you’d even have to keep warm somehow. But, at least in the demo, there is also no need to worry about air or heat. There are threats in the form of creatures flying about, but, they were minor annoyances at most.

Couple that with the tether and you have a “void” that is remarkably friendly. It feels like a missed opportunity.

A Pretty One, Though.

I will never say no to more Subnautica-esque gameplay, however, and the crafting system is enjoyable. You do spend some time off the train, and the depot I visited in the demo was engaging. It had some minor jumping puzzles as well as an opportunity to upgrade the train.

I was only able to add a bit of room to build on, but it seems there will be new cars you can add, as well as upgrades to the engine like better brakes and maybe even an actual engine.

There is Co-op. I don’t really do that, so I can’t speak to if it’s good, but I imagine zooming along the track with others might be fun. Especially if you were dragging them along behind you.

I did enjoy the loop of the game in general, however, and I do plan to pick it up once it leaves early access. Per their steam page that is set to happen sometime in 2023.

Our Next Demo is: Drift

Drift is a crafting/survival game where you are on the few surviving scraps of an exploded spaceship in space. To get resources you fly around grabbing asteroids and breaking them down. You then use those resources to build your spaceship back up and upgrade your equipment. There is also a creepy and/or cute robot thing that follows you that you can upgrade as well.

The demo restricts what you can research, and that does confine you to the area around the ship remains. Though, to be fair, I gave up quickly on reaching the bigger rocks. The store page makes it clear there are other environments in the main game, but that is all I got to see. Oh, and I don’t really do this, but there is co-op.

The makers of Drift are planning a full release for 2023.

All told it is a pretty interesting start, and it pairs well with Voidtrain. Where Voidtrain is a much prettier experience, this is comparably simple. But Drift has much more freedom than Void does, at least from what I have been able to see.

Both borrow a lot from general crafting tropes, but I’d recommend Voidtrain if you enjoy Subnautica a bit more, and Drift if you are more into Minecraft.

Our Final Demo is: My Museum: Treasure Hunter

That’s right, two space crafting games then a game about running a museum named like a mid-2000s era shovelware game for the DS. Flawless grouping.

My Museum: Treasure Hunter is an immersive sim about running a museum.

Well, that was what I expected it to be. In actual practice, it’s about running a Dremel tool and airbrush over ancient artifacts for profit. Once they’re all shiny you put them out in a display case to gather precious Yelp! reviews. How that leads to profits is beyond me.

I am sure that you are concerned about the moral minefield of modern archaeology. So was I! My biggest concerns going in were, where do you get the artifacts you are displaying? Are they ethically sourced? Were they looted?

No need to grapple with any of that!

Just Go Looting Yourself!

The demo only lets you steal invaluable cultural treasures from Egypt. The expedition was a fairly simple puzzler, but don’t worry, it still involved cleaning things off. The main game seems to have at least two other locations you can plunder as well.

Also, I lied, you can also buy artifacts online from completely anonymous sources. I am sure they were carefully researched beforehand.

Ok, so I’ve given this game a hard time, and I would love to see them address the cultural issues. But as a game it’s fine. If you like other similar sim games or even things like Powerwash Simulator then you might really enjoy My Museum.

Oh, and you get a sledgehammer. Here’s mine stuck in a vent!

The game is set to release in the first quarter of 2023, so this one is right around the corner.

That’s All For Today!

Thanks for reading! What were your favorite demos from Next Fest? Let me know in the comments below!

If you’d like to check out some other early looks, here is a look at Octopath Traveler‘s demo. Or if you are more in the mood for some gab, check out the breakdown of Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode “Entombed” here! Let me know if you liked it, but don’t be too specific because I haven’t even started watching that series yet and I’m terrified of spoilers.