Next Fest Report: October 2026

This time, I planned to try something different. I wrote short comments for all 31 demos I played. However, I’ll still highlight a few that are especially worth checking out at the beginning: Onikura, Far Far West, Gambonanza, Wanderburg, and Lost and Found Co.

Denshattack

The game looks cool, but playing it doesn’t feel as same as watching it. You control a train instead of a skateboarder, dealing with sequences of QTE events while trying to perform tricks. The concept is interesting, but the gameplay feel doesn’t quite match the visual hype.

Onikura

Basically Hollow Knight with a heavy focus on parrying. The parry feedback feels extremely good and integrates well with the core combat system. The boss in the demo is simple, with several gimmicks, so it’s not very hard as long as you react properly to each pattern. Some systems feel underused, though — for example, the teleport knife. I can imagine it being useful in platforming sections, but it’s hard to make it practical in boss fights. Maybe future bosses will require it.

BOOST VECTOR EX

Crazy UI. Stylish. So good — I’m genuinely learning from it. The downside of such artistic UI is that the UX can suffer. I often wasn’t sure what I was supposed to press, though I believe this can be improved in the future. The gameplay is difficult but interesting. It’s a racing game where each acceleration crystal on the track can only be collected once, yet there are three laps. That forces route planning for each lap and prevents players from repeating the same path every time.

Antivirus Survivors 2003 Professional

A really interesting “Survivors” setting, but it’s hard to understand. Mechanics are named to fit the theme, which means players need multiple interactions to understand what’s happening. The setting carries the experience, but the gameplay itself lacks depth. I got bored after about 10 minutes.

Port Authority

An interesting concept but lacking depth. You plan shipping routes carefully, and since paths may overlap later, you constantly need to predict and adjust to avoid collisions. However, that’s basically the entire game — just careful planning. Since you can pause anytime, you could theoretically achieve a perfect run with enough thinking, which isn’t very fun. There’s also no clear goal communicated in the demo.

RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike

The visuals are intriguing and fun, but there’s a fundamental balance problem. Special coins are one-time-use. That means the only real “build” in this roguelike comes from passive abilities, and you mostly adapt to whatever the shop gives you. I don’t like this.

The Loopler

It has potential, but the demo has major balance issues. RNG plays too big a role early on — without good items, losing feels guaranteed. It’s also hard to understand how different parameters affect scoring efficiency. Is refueling better than increasing speed? It’s unclear during the first few runs.

Demon Lord: Just a Block

Basically Crypt of the NecroDancer without rhythm mechanics. If you think carefully, you could theoretically win easily, but it would take a long time. I’m not sure how the developers will address this. The game leans more toward build synergies based on mechanics than pure understanding of mechanics, which could potentially be fun.

Super Meat Boy 3D

Nothing particularly special or fun. The shift to 3D feels fresh at first, but dying due to camera issues is extremely frustrating. The character control doesn’t feel great in 3D either.

Far Far West

A crazily polished demo, with 2,603 overwhelmingly positive reviews on the first day of Next Fest. It plays like a western version of Deep Rock Galactic. Spells feel great, guns feel great, the music is awesome, and gameplay is smooth. There’s a tremendous amount of content for a demo.

Rollick N’ Roll

An interesting action puzzle. At first, you guide a vehicle to the goal — simple enough. But when you control two or three cars simultaneously, the difficulty spikes. It’s great for players who enjoy optimizing time records and experimenting with different strategies.

Truckful

A cool game with good visuals and satisfying truck-driving feedback. It reminds me of Death Stranding, where you plan deliveries between locations. Unfortunately, there’s a serious bug: cargo can glitch out of the truck easily, making the demo unplayable.

Rhythm Animal Café

A Rhythm Heaven-style game with a cute anime furry art style. The minigame visuals are fun, and I like the cozy coffee shop setting where you listen to others’ stories. However, there are many bugs. Sound resets to maximum when switching windows, and input timing feels inconsistent.

Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors

A dungeon crawler by the creator of Vampire Survivors. Is it fun? Not really. It tries to bring the dopamine rush of Vampire Survivors into a DRPG format, but the pacing is too slow. Early synergy options are limited, and heavy reliance on meta progression makes early runs feel pointless — you already know you’ll lose.

Gambonanza

As someone who recently started playing chess, this is incredibly fun. It looks like Balatro, but it’s essentially a chess roguelike. Building unbreakable pieces is satisfying, and item synergies are solid. A retry button would be nice — I blunder often. Balance could use tweaking, but overall it’s a strong demo I really like.

Tow Game

A cool concept in theory, but very hard to get used to. I crashed constantly and struggled with the controls. Maybe I’m just bad at driving in video games.

DiceVaders

From the developers of StarVaders, and you play as the invaders. The idea is interesting, but the mechanics are difficult to follow, and it’s hard to track what’s happening or how to improve your score.

Wanderburg

Extremely fun! It perfectly captures the fantasy of controlling a giant moving castle and attacking enemies. The survivors-like elements reinforce that fantasy and give a strong sense of progression. My only concern is that synergies don’t feel deep yet, and I’m curious how meta progression will work.

Pakinpaks

Starts as a cozy, easy puzzle game. Later, special rules and additional challenges increase difficulty. This is a good way to maintain interest, since the core mechanic is simple and adding object variations alone wouldn’t help much.

Swan Song

A timing-based puzzle game where you guide a swan to its goal. However, there are too few options, so trial and error becomes the main approach easily. There seems to be a story, but in a demo, story alone rarely drives wishlists.

Agrivore: Incremental Farming

A solid incremental game with a satisfying skill tree and visuals. However, mid-to-late demo progression feels flat, even at 3× speed. Power spikes don’t feel impactful enough, and upgrades lack distinction.

How Many Dudes

Based on the classic question: “How many dudes does it take to beat XXX?” Visually satisfying and fun to watch. It’s a solid auto-battler, but some systems feel unimportant, and build formation isn’t very clear. Currently, stacking the strongest unit type seems optimal.

Flock Around

A charming co-op birdwatching concept. Players share bird locations, show photos, and discuss strategies. It has strong educational value and teaches players about different bird species. Character customization is cute, and the co-op mechanics — like scaring birds if you talk too loudly — are well integrated.

The Last Salvage Squad

A first-person game with a cool art style, but nothing groundbreaking. I do like the death animation: the camera pulls back and shows your body collapsing. It explains why weapon is scattered at the start of each level.

DEADLINE DELIVERY

A drifting truck racing game with a great premise — you’re a truck driver with a bomb attached to boost efficiency. The truck is hard to control, but risky maneuvers create real adrenaline. The art style and visual effects support the intensity well.

DAMON and BABY

I’m glad Arc System Works tried something outside fighting games. Sadly, it’s not good. Sound design feels off, gameplay is uninteresting, and much of it feels unpolished. The art style is still strong, though — as expected.

Schrödinger’s Call

In Asia, we call stories that constantly say “you’ll understand later” or “don’t worry about it now” a “Riddler” style — and I’m not a fan. The art style is distinct (though it needs polish), and the premise — the moon falls, everyone dies, and unfinished callers become entities between life and death — is compelling. The demo’s story is decent, but the overly mysterious storytelling frustrates me.

GladiEATers

Pokémon, but cooking. You battle with living food, and their stats depend on how well you perform minigames. The concept is cool, but the minigames feel repetitive. Doing one before every battle would get tiring fast.

STARDUST: Wish of Witch

Incredibly cute and detailed pixel art. The combat is interesting thanks to counter and combo mechanics that reward positioning. However, the card elements feel unnecessary.

REPLACED

Stunning pixel art, lighting, and cinematography. Combat aims for a SIFU-like feel — it works somewhat but needs stronger player feedback and more depth. The demo level itself feels plain.

Lost and Found Co.

This demo wasn’t released during this Next Fest, but I have to mention it. The drawings are adorable and detailed, and the environments are colorful and lively. There are already tons of interactive objects and events in a single area — and you’re telling me there are five environments in the demo? That’s impressive.