SUMMER NEXT FEST 2025 - Don't Miss These Cool Games!

The glorious time of Summer STEAM NEXT FEST is upon us! You know what that means - a demos galore, a whole cornucopia of amazing games to try and sate our appetites for great experiences. This also means that for the coming days, you can expect a fresh DEMO DIVE with three insights into the games I tried, because I downloaded 20+ Demos to try out. And thanks to a free week off work, I have more than ample time to try them all, too! And so, without further ado, let's jump into the first batch of colorful titles.

ISLANDERS: NEW SHORES

I was super excited about playing this demo. I am a rather big fan of the original ISLANDERS - it's a game that offers this unparalleled soothing experience, while still giving a bit of head-scratching conundrums to fidget with. However, the original formula was rather rudimentary, spread thin on a bagel, much like the portion of hotel butter served in a small plastic container. I am happy to report that the demo flexes its newfound content and displays some additional layers of mechanics to tantalize us with!

First, the boons. Now and then, you will gain a random bonus modifier that can be a unique building or some little twist on the core mechanic. Those are a fantastic addition to spice up the gameplay of placing buildings down to score big. My favorite so far from the demo was the cancellation of negative points from placement, letting you double up on crucial bonuses from the same structures. Lovely! However, another significant overhaul occurred with the transition to a new island. See, once you reach a milestone, you are allowed to either milk the score up on your current land... Or start anew on a new island, with a new set of challenges.

In the previous title, it was just, more or less, a fresh reset. Not much new was happening there. But now, whenever you move, you are given a choice of biomes and some unique structure to go with, a centrepiece of your 'build'. It's a great addition, ramping up the difficulty a bit but most of all, making each jump to a new locale feel fresh, all the while granting players some agency. It all feels great, a natural and well-thought-out progression of the formula. Had a blast with the demo and my fingers are itching to get back to it, again and again. Add to that great aesthetic, superb soundscapes, and extremely well-working snapping of buildings to each other,r and bam - new ISLANDERS works like a charm.

STAR BIRDS

I am a fan of kurzgesagt. I enjoy their videos, their presentation, and the whole aesthetic, and heck, learning while watching videos on YouTube is hardly the worst way to burn time while on YouTube, right? And so, when the team behind it announced they were cooking a game with their cutesy, flat-design birbs, it was quickly set on my watch and wishlist. Now the time has come to try it out in the demo form and...

It's 'my first FACTORIO'. At least, that's how I see it. The style is nice, colorful, and cheerful, but it also renders the user interface, at least to me, a little inscrutable at times. Nothing to stop me from having fun with this logistical challenge, but enough to make my brain itch with minor frustrations. I admit, shamefully, that it took me way too long to figure out how to take down a previously set-up pipe to redraw it. Other than that, though, it is a neat game! The whole idea of creating chains of production across scattered asteroids and diverting proper resources where you need them is hardly new. But here it has a fun twist in the decentralization of the process. Each asteroid offers parts of the whole picture, and so recreating your pipelines as demands of the quests emerge is part of the fun. Makes the game feel more dynamic, responsive - not merely a 'lay it down once' affair to enjoy the peak efficiency.

I also enjoy that it isn't entirely abstract. There's a story here, even if a bit simple and direct, with each bird having its own little personality to shine through. It's not much, but it's a nice addition to keep you invested. On top of that, just completing a level is part of the fun - you can aim to optimize income, grind levels of your station, and reach peak efficiency to score a high score on each stage. A lovely additional level of challenge for completionists. In short? Looking good!

THE ROYAL WRIT

While I stumbled upon this game by sheer accident, it instantly managed to draw my attention thanks to its excellent and unique artstyle. It is a funny blend of cartoonishly whimsical with medieval iconography. Well fitting the zany theme of the game too. We are, after all, a wise and conquering king, who uses sternly written letters - and armies to deliver them! - to conquer opposition in a peculiar deck-builder roguelike romp through the goofy lands of medieval anthro animals.

It takes a lot to shine in a genre so overcrowded as a roguelike deck-builder, and I must say - THE ROYAL WRIT is doing an excellent job standing out. And a unique art style is not even the big part behind that. The whole mechanic is just... peculiar. It takes a solid bit to get used to, because everything here goes against the usual convention. Your deck is tiny. Your cards retain the changes they acquired through battle between rounds, making them feel very alive. Every round, you get your special royal writ cards with various modifiers, often tempting you to NOT use them for monetary gain.

And you do need the gold, because it has all the usual trappings of the genre as well - new units to buy, upgrades to the battlefield itself, and relics to modify your playstyle. The whole shebang, as I like to say. But then, the combat itself rips a bit of BALATRO DNA, as you fight an ever-growing number doing damage via stacking multipliers and raw damage to overcome the healthpool of the 'arena' you are trying to conquer. It's weird. It requires a few runs to get a good feel for the mechanics. It is very fresh and hilariously fun!