Jeff's pre-pre-Next Fest demo roundup

This summer’s Steam Next Fest doesn’t start until June 15, but, kind of like how the Christmas season is constantly creeping backward toward Halloween, devs are already trying to get noticed ahead of the oncoming flood of demos. It’s easy to get lost in the chaos and the sheer volume of games during Next Fest, so you really can’t blame them.

I've already gotten a ton of emails announcing demos and it's going to be too hard to keep track by the time we get Next Fest Eve next week. So, let's start little early with a list of a few favorites I’ve found so far.

Demon Bluff

Demon Bluff is a single player social deduction game. Which … just makes it a logic puzzle, I guess. You’re presented with a circle of cards representing villagers and, as you turn over their cards, you’ll get a clue about other villagers. Your job is to find the hidden demons by figuring out which of the cards are lying. I guess Demon Bluff is technically a deckbuilder (ugh) roguelike (double ugh), but the logic puzzle of it all makes it a fun departure from the tropes.

Desktop Explorer

I’ve been talking about (and thinking about) Desktop Explorer since the October Steam Fest last year. It’s a mystery game that takes place on a 90s-era computer. Each level of the mystery is password protected and you’ll have to find the answer by interacting with the files on the computer. You'll need to do things like just reading, resizing windows, opening context menus, and checking metadata for your clues. It’s a creepy mystery with some otherworldly scares that works incredibly well.

The demo is the same demo that’s been out for a while, but Recurring Dream is reheating it ahead of the July 17 launch date.

Normal Golf Game

Normal Golf Game is the next game from Luke Muscat, the designer of Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride. It is nothing like either of those, though. Instead, Luke's first foray into solo game dev is an absurdist golf simulator where you’re trapped at a resort and in debt to a mysterious voice. It’s silly, frustrating, overly complex, and just a really enjoyable, chaotic game.

Shipping Store Simulator 2037

Look, I’ve got a weakness for immersive chore simulators. Are they fun? Hell, I don’t know, but I have dozens of hours sunk into Power Wash Simulator 2 so there must be something there.

Shipping Store Simulator 2037 doesn’t exactly tread any new ground, but it’s a super solid entry in the genre. You’re a robot running a small shop where you have to unlock deliveries, label goods, stock shelves, and check out customers over the course of a chaotic day. And then you take the money you earned to upgrade the shop and the goods you sell. Honestly, you’ve seen it before, but Shipping Store Simulator 2037 has a fun hook with the near-future setting. It’s just detailed and fidgety enough to be extra satisfying without tipping over into tedious.

Silver Pines

Silver Pines is a 2D, Resident Evil-inspired detective game. It’s got super stylized, almost rotoscoped graphics and a really creepy, abandoned town vibe. You play as a private detective on the trail of a missing musician, looking for clues and searching the town where he was last seen. Exploring the locations, you’ll pick up keys and codes to unlock doors to the next area. It’s a solid mechanic that translates surprisingly well to a 2D game.

Also, the town you’re searching is under an evacuation order ahead of a storm. Also also, sometimes dog-sized shadow insects attack you. And then dead bodies start coming back to life.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with Silver Pines, but the solid gameplay and immaculate vibes hooked me fast.

Static Dread: The Submarine

Static Dread: The Lighthouse was a surprise hit for me last year. It’s a super creepy and personal cosmic horror game. The artstyle mixed with the PSX graphics and the constant stream of creepy neighbors just made for a really unique and compelling experience. Not long after it came out, another game in the series(?) was announced. Static Dread: The Submarine continues the same deep-fried, PSX graphics and the cosmic horror setting, but in a more complex game — on the titular submarine, there are fully rendered humans with voice acting and everything.

It's not just you and a radio this time, now you have to manage your crew, fix the submarine's reactor, deal with the enemy subs and/or monsters out in the dark ocean depths, and kind of keep everything running now that the captain has locked himself in a closet.