NEXT FEST 2025 - Don't Miss EVEN More Cool Games!

A very special edition of NEXT FEST Demo Dive, because today I am looking at games that were submitted to me directly by hard working devs from around the world! Got plenty of recommendations and sifted through part of them - happy to report I found here some great bangers! And TINY GAMING is all about bringing little games to the forefront, trying our best here to give everyone who cooks up some cool bit of gameplay even a bit of coverage because heck - it matters. So without further ado, let's look at some more cool games from Steam NEXT FEST fiesta.

HYPERSLICE

Yo, this is pure fire! When I got a link to this one by the first look I was sort of expecting some variant on NOVA DRIFT (an excellent game, by the way), but what I got instead was a slick, action-packed blood sizzler! Let's get some things first - it is a roguelike with a very standard setup that we all know and love. Start a run, progress through stages, ramp up your power via upgrades, and try to stay alive amidst the increasing havoc on the screen. What makes HYPERSLICE different is how we engage with the flocks of enemy starship shapes - our Body is our weapon. You can dash into both enemy fire and the enemies themselves to push them hard or slice through them using your hyperdrive microjump. Both options have their uses and they will be strictly better in some scenarios and against certain threats.

For example, pushing a mine to make it explode against an enemy swarm is better than slicing through it. But at the same time slicing through a nice conga line of little speedy crafts will be better than bouncing one or two again, even if they can crash into each other from our forceful bump. This would be such a simplistic, and quickly overdone combat, if not for the cleverly crafted enemies with their variety. They all do different things and when they spawn in increasing intensity and numbers, you will start to feel the pressure. Speedy bumpers, chasers, stationary turrets blasting either big, slow projectiles or tiny, but extremely fast sniper shots at you. Shield ships protect the swarm, giant spike balls negate area, and rocket barrages force you to be in constant flight... It's a riot!

And yet, it's a beautiful form of chaos, because the execution here is exceptionally slick! The tunes are energetic, the sound bits crunchy and impactful, and the visual clarity is just stellar. Zero confusion is possible, everything is clear cut and you have full information on the board at every split second, allowing you to make swift decisions knowing, the game isn't trying to bamboozle you into a misstep. Everything has such a lovely polish, from the user interface to the most minute detail of the very rapid gameplay. Add to this Co-Op, Leaderboards and multiple ship bases promised for the full version, and the game is looking up like an excellent prospect for any enthusiast of adrenaline-pumping, brutally quick combat engagements.

DEADLY HEART GAMBIT

What a weirdo game, I love it. I'll admit, that at first, I was very skeptical about this one. I am not a big fan of anime stylings, but the lil cutesy bunny-eared Alice was not exactly the 'antagonist' I was too hyped about. The card game itself is clever, but a little rudimentary and relatively easy to do some solid counting out of the tiny deck to secure victory, over and over again. There is some randomness to it, and sometimes Alice will keep playing cards you will have no response to, forcing the dreadful draws on you - doubly so, if you are almost certain, that the next card is the cursed Joker. Wait, I am racing ahead - let's talk about the premise.

You're some unfortunate shmuck with 3 months left to live. One way or the other, you find yourself facing Alice - a peculiar creature that imitates a human but is a bit of a bored, yet obsessed eldritch being with rather a naive outlook on her desire to obtain a human heart. Yours, to be precise. And not in any kind of cutesy, romantic way, either. And so, the gambling with your time begins - if you lose 3 rounds before you win 3 yourself, you'll lose the bet, seeing your precious time fly away. But of course if you secure your victory, the extra time is added to your lifespan. Simple enough! However, as the game progresses Alice likes to wax lyrical about her experience with humanity and you, in particular. She doesn't want to let you go and raises the stakes... This is an important bit, because the fear that the simple card game will never change much was with me, during the demo. But perish the thought! The knife joined the frame, and bigger bets entered the table. There was a real, hah, edge to it now. And with more changes coming in the following chapters, I bet there's a lot of potential for some proper weird, cosmic wackiness to be mixed into the fray.

One can only hope that the interactions with Alice grow with the gameplay. That we'll learn more about 'her'. That she will reveal her true self, bit by bit. And of course that each progressive stage keeps adding new layers of interaction, keeping the player both on edge, and well-invested in this strange exchange. So far, so good. If you enjoyed INSCRYPTION or BUCKSHOT ROULETTE, this might be another fun take on the 'deal with the unknown via constantly shifting rules' kind of fun.

OLAF THE BOOZER

I never thought of myself as a Sokoban player. It's not that I dislike the genre or anything of the sort just... It's a very self-contained type of a puzzler experience, right? Like, how much inventiveness you can put into a genre about pushing bits and bobs around a grid to find a way out? Probably more than I could imagine, since there are so many titles in this particular field, and sure as heck they can't all be the same to keep players engaged. Unless it's a bit like a Sudoku-style fun, where the enjoyers just want more of the same...?

Anyway, OLAF THE BOOZER surprised me by being able to draw me in. First, there's the premise - you're a professional drunkard, a true master of the craft of inebriation. And after a particularly rowdy night, you wake up with a bit of a blackout in your noggin and lots of damage to the tavern where you and your erstwhile pals had your unruly party. Now it is the time to face reality, and help the tavern keeper by fixing all the damage you've inflicted and find your missing lads to scrounge up the story behind the romp! So yeah, there's narrative here, there's fun and, of course, there are chambers of messed up stuff you need to put back together - turns out you're quite a handyman.

The fun part lies in the system here. It is almost hilariously easy to get stuck, as when you move off a fixed item, in most cases it is unmovable. With the tight corridors of the various rooms and chambers, I got stuck often, facepalming at my lack of foresight. Fortunately, a handly 'redo' button saves me here from constantly restarting the levels. The fun lies that you, technically, don't have to clear the entire level; To wrap it up you just need to step over the few characters in each room, and then bear with the score display showing you how much of an effort you put in. Achieving the golden mug feels good, for sure. So yeah, here I thought I'd never have a blast in this kinda of puzzler, and I am happy to report I was wrong with this assumption. This game IS fun, the old-fashioned fun of clever conundrums, good writing, and a cheeky premise. Check it out!