The third STEAM Game Festival has come to an end and what a journey has it been for the past few summer days! This week-long digital event featured gameplay, livestreams and chats, and AMAs with developers from across the world. From 40 odd demos in their Spring Edition, Steam has upped their roster to over 900 games! And since it was a limited-time event and it’s nigh-impossible to try out every one of them, our crew took the task to heart. Through a series of short articles, each of our writers will be reporting on the top 3 demos they found to be the most fascinating. So without further ado, here are my STEAM Game Festival Takeaways.
UNSOULED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NNdX3T7Ql4
Developer : MeGusta Game
Publisher : PQube Limited
Release date: Autumn 2020
Available on: Microsoft Windows
If Katana Zero and Hyper Light Drifter had a lovechild, the resultant offspring might be something close to Unsouled. Set in an atmospheric yet crumbling world, Unsouled demo on steam has become my new favorite because of its highly-stylized hack’n’slash gameplay with lots of abilities to chain together while keeping the toughness of the enemies up to mark. In fact, I had died a LOT while playing the demo because it requires some real fast reflex to pull up the attack combos at the right moment, allowing you to shred through the enemies without breaking a sweat. Especially the part where I was on an wooden bridge and instead of exploding the bridge, I started chaining my attacks, jumping from enemy to enemy and slicing through them like an undead ninja.
Such breakneck gameplay is possible because even if you’re hit, you can absorb the souls of the fallen enemies to heal up or fill up your soul meter for a powerful, 360 degree explosion. If you can watch over your stamina, Unsouled will be a pure adrenaline rush for you. And adorned in soothing pixel art aesthetic and coupled with a good narrative is enough to click on the ‘Add to wishlist’ button without second thoughts. Fans of indie combat, don’t let go this one!
SHADOWS OF KEPLER
Developer : Infinite Hole
Publisher : Infinite Hole
Release date: February 2021
Available on: Microsoft Windows
One of the worst nightmare that modern pop-culture has imprinted upon us, is being trapped in an abandoned space-station/facility/mansion with something unknowable chasing you. Things get ugly when you don’t have enough weapons to fight back (e.g. Outlast, Soma, Alien: Isolation) but what if you got a laser shotgun that can one-shot scary mutants leaving a smoldering carcass behind, wouldn’t that be awesome? Shadows of Kepler does exactly that. As Sergeant Cooper, you wake up on the spaceship on your entry to planet Kepler. But it doesn’t take long until you realize not everything is not okay. Things are burning, security systems are failing, a part of the ship has exploded, and there’s some dark ooze seeping through the hull. This is until you witness the tentacled mutants reminiscent of the necromorphs from Dead Space.
It’s not long before you find that one-shot, glowing shotgun I mentioned, however, the ammo is extremely scarce. This preserves the ambiance of a space survival horror without making you completely helpless as in Alien: Isolation, or making you go Rambo in an EVA suit similar to Dead Space 3. The inventory system is very similar to Resident Evil 2 Remake’s, with your BPM and Oxygen level showing in the left and the limited inventory slots on the right, where you can inspect or combine items as well. However, it doesn’t pause the game. Absence of waypoints make up for some challenging exploration with danger lurking at every corner. For all you survival-horror fans out there, this one ought to remain in your wishlist!
EVERSPACE 2
Developer : ROCKFISH Games
Publisher : ROCKFISH Games
Release date: TBD
Available on: Microsoft Windows
I suck at flight sims because I have to take into account so many factors like roll, pitch, and yaw. This goes without saying that whenever I see such games, I have flashbacks of the terrible flight mechanics from GTA: San Andreas. So no doubt I was skeptical of Everspace 2 demo considering I haven’t played Everspace yet. But I was wrong cause it’s not a sim, its an arcade flight shooter with some of the intense dog fights you’ll ever witness in space. And these fast-paced zero grav battles can happen anywhere because you’ll be exploring the asteroid fields, the space debris, hidden facilities a lot for loot and probable missions.
Roll, dodge, boost your way while utilizing a wide variety of weapons ranging from lasers, coil guns, auto-canons, homing missiles, EMP blasts, and what not! Not only that, right from the start of the game you’re spoilt for choice with a pretty good roster of ships, each with its own perks and weapons. Since its an arcade shooter, shields and boost energy are regenerative though you’ll have to refill other resources like the secondary weapons or the healing nanites by docking at various trading stations. However, because of the regenerate shield and fluid controls, you’ll seldom run out of health in the midst of a battle, thus keeping you on the edge of aerial warfare at every step. If you like flight shooters like Ace Combat or Star Wars: X-Wing ( and the upcoming Squadrons), don’t miss this one out!
And that marks the end of my demo list. My only regret is not being able to include more games lest you want me to write a book.
In case you missed it, read Sushir’s STEAM Game Festival Takeaway article here.
Watch out for our third Takeaway article tomorrow!
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