Steam Next Fest, June 2022

[Redglyph]

Inkulinati is very original, but it's a 2D turn-based combat, the first levels are simply 1D with horizontal positions and later it becomes like a platformer. The view is actually a little awkward because of the zoom and pan that change on each character's turn, but otherwise the presentation is simple, nice and original.

The general idea for each combat is for two drawers to fight by drawing fighters and moving them or making them taking an action. There are typical combat actions and other tactical moves like pushing someone or an object, and so on. For example it's possible to push pieces out of the "page" so they die.

I've only played a little because I'm normally not a big fan of that type of view, but I may be tempted to try and go a little further another day. There's definitely a good tactical feeling to the game. It's quite polished too, but it lacks some QoL features like key remapping and tutorials in some areas.

 

[Redglyph]

The Entropy Centre is another Portal-like game, with a simple and original time rewind mechanics that work on an item, and which can be used to solve puzzles.

The graphics are nice, a little overdone to show off the Unreal Engine. It's very poorly optimized, I stopped playing because it was getting very hot and there's a thread of similar reports. No saving the game either, and I didn't want to restart everything.

Could be promising with 2-3 months of optimization and QoL work.

 

[Redglyph]

I quickly tried Cognition Method, but it's hard-wired to US keyboards only so I left after a few seconds. It's supposed to be a 1st-person-view puzzle inspired by Space Odyssey 2001.

I played a little bit with Para Perspective, which is a clever 3D puzzle game involving MC Escher-like perspective paradoxes. You have to rotate the level so that your little guys can reach their objectives. Very small, light game with a drawing paper-like theme.