The best exercise bike is the one you get secondhand. They are the kind of thing people buy and quickly realize they don't use, so Facebook marketplace/Craigslist are flooded with pretty nice models for like 20% of what they cost new
Not enough people here are talking about Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders from the same team that did Lonely Mountains: Downhill. Great little downhill skiing game that you can just vibe to or shoot for a faster time.
My favorite demos from this Next Fest (there's bound to be something for each of you here):
- LURKS WITHIN WALLS: a horror dungeon-crawler with creature designs by Trevor Henderson. Short play, nice and creepy.
- KLETKA: a multiplayer game that borrows from Lethal Company but stands out on its own due to neat mechanics. There's a LOT to play in this demo.
- HYPERBEAT: A rhythm game that mixes Rez with something like Superbeat Xonic.
- ANTONBLAST: A WarioLand-like, which along with Pizza Tower makes me very happy.
- StarVaders: a turn-based roguelite deckbuilder strategy game. (That's right, I wasn't just listing titles in all caps, the ones above are listed as such on Steam.)
- Great God Grove: Perhaps my favorite, and one I've been looking forward to for a while. An adventure where you talk to freaky gods.
- Urban Myth Dissolution Center: Another highly anticipated game on my list; a gorgeous, spooky mystery visual novel.
- Mindcop: A cartoony mystery adventure game with various quirky puzzles to represent you diving into people's minds. Cites Twin Peaks as a main inspiration.
- Heartworm: A PS1-style survival horror that mixes fixed-camera and over-the-shoulder perspectives.
- Tenebris Somnia: A 2D survival horror with fully FMV cutscenes.
- Pine: A Story of Loss: Play this if you enjoyed Florence and can handle tear fests!
- MainFrames: A cute puzzle platformer where you manipulate a PC's UI to guide your little friend.
Bonus rec (since I'm not sure these are part of Steam Next Fest)!
- Mr. Sleepy Man, as well as Orbo's Exodus: Two quirky little games (the latter of which is a sequel) that I've got my eye on and have demos out now.
i see this resties talks about mouthwashing, and it was the first thing to jump to my mind when griffin mentioned spooky games that dont cost $70- ive not played it yet, but ive heard some really great things
just here to share my excitement over the mention of deep red, one of my favorite films since i watched it in a horror movie course in college! have a nice day everyone!
In many episodes, at least one bestie chooses a hill to die on that seems unpopular with the other besties. I once died on the hill of “the mortal kombat novel was better than the movie,” and the repercussions of that statement are still reverberating 15 years later. To the besties, what is the most unpopular or dumbest hill you have died on, and what do you think was the other besties’ most unpopular or dumbest hill? Thanks!
Can I lament with y’all for a moment? I got into silent hill back in middle school over a decade ago. My friends and I would get pizza and play as far as we could before getting scared. I hunted for ways to play all of them with my friends, and now I own most of them. Recently though, I moved into a new city for a job and as I packed to move I went through all my old stuff and noticed that I had put silent hill 3 in the case for silent hill 2. There wasn’t a game in the ps2 at the moment since I was worried about damage during the move. I expected to find silent hill 2 in the case for 3, but when I opened the case for 3, there was ANOTHER copy of silent hill 3. I was baffled. I wondered if I had hallucinated owning silent hill 2. Quickly unpacked the ps2, booted it up and checked the memory, and there was save data for silent hill 2! So clearly I had it at some point?? I also remember playing it so I feel certain I’m not delusional, but that begs the question: where did my copy of silent hill 2 go, and why was it replaced with a copy of 3? I can’t think of a single answer. There’s a spooky mystery for you.
Rivals of Aether 2! It’s the most tempting platform to die-hard melee fans since melee itself and it has original characters which give the game a lot more charm then most modern (IP-driven) platform fighters.
There already was a major tournament hosted with the free demo that came out a few days ago!
A game I really loved but haven't heard y'all mention is Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. It came out right about the same time as Nine Sols (which I did not play) and I think got overlooked because of that. Visually they are very similar, a cute little guy, search-action game, based on Japanese folklore. This game had such bright visuals, smooth platforming, combat with a good hook and the amount of lore is fantastic! At the very least I would expect Russ to really enjoy this one as a big Metroidvania/search action fan.
I'm a big Next Fest head, and I found a few standouts this time around:
1. StarVaders - A roguelike deckbuilder take on Space Invaders where you pilot a mech in grid-based combat. You can get powerful, synergistic builds going early, but you'll need them as the game starts throwing more and varied enemies at you just as quickly. The two character classes in the demo encouraged vastly different playstyles, with mechanics so distinct that they bring to mind the different classes in Slay the Spire.
2. POPUCOM - Hear me out on this one: it's It Takes Two by way of Bust-A-Move, made by the developers of the mobile gacha Arknights. You and a co-op partner have to fight and platform your way through levels as a pair of color-swapping characters, shooting enemies with their matching color to take them down. All of this is incredibly polished, with various tools introduced to expand your abilities, clever platforming challenges and collectibles that explore all the gameplay possibilities offered by those tools, and varied enemy and boss designs that force you to use them during combat.
3. Archons - An arena roguelike where you control one character with each analog stick. Enemies don't deal contact damage, which makes it much more manageable to survive even while figuring out the controls. The coolest part is that barring movement, everything in the game happens on a subtle global timer. Your attacks, enemy damage ticks, and more feed into the thumping music in a really satisfying way.
4. Neverlooted Dungeon - A first-person immersive sim dungeon crawler, with a focus on avoiding traps and finding hidden loot. Everything's very tactile, and I had a great time turning the place upside down while exploring, like when I dragged down a bookcase to find the coin purse hidden behind.
___
I also tried out some sequels that hold up to their predecessors:
1. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders - Skiing time trials where you can find and optimize your own route down a mountain - this time with multiplayer.
2. The Rise of the Golden Idol - I couldn't help myself and played the first few chapters on offer. The new art is great, and the new quality of life features are greatly appreciated - especially how solution menus are now popups you can drag around the screen.
3. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - It's just as engrossing as the first title, with pitch-perfect writing, complex characters, and difficult decisions to make. In this one you'll be able to travel from system to system, recruiting new crew members while constantly on the run and trying to make ends meet.
Steam Next Fest faves so far: Ballionaire, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, Wilmot Works It Out, might not be part of Next Fest but has a demo - Night Stones, and above and beyond all else, unsurprisingly great is Windblown.
The best exercise bike is the one you get secondhand. They are the kind of thing people buy and quickly realize they don't use, so Facebook marketplace/Craigslist are flooded with pretty nice models for like 20% of what they cost new
You're so right. Most exercise bikes and treadmills end up as laundry racks in, oh, about 6 months.
Not enough people here are talking about Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders from the same team that did Lonely Mountains: Downhill. Great little downhill skiing game that you can just vibe to or shoot for a faster time.
My favorite demos from this Next Fest (there's bound to be something for each of you here):
- LURKS WITHIN WALLS: a horror dungeon-crawler with creature designs by Trevor Henderson. Short play, nice and creepy.
- KLETKA: a multiplayer game that borrows from Lethal Company but stands out on its own due to neat mechanics. There's a LOT to play in this demo.
- HYPERBEAT: A rhythm game that mixes Rez with something like Superbeat Xonic.
- ANTONBLAST: A WarioLand-like, which along with Pizza Tower makes me very happy.
- StarVaders: a turn-based roguelite deckbuilder strategy game. (That's right, I wasn't just listing titles in all caps, the ones above are listed as such on Steam.)
- Great God Grove: Perhaps my favorite, and one I've been looking forward to for a while. An adventure where you talk to freaky gods.
- Urban Myth Dissolution Center: Another highly anticipated game on my list; a gorgeous, spooky mystery visual novel.
- Mindcop: A cartoony mystery adventure game with various quirky puzzles to represent you diving into people's minds. Cites Twin Peaks as a main inspiration.
- Heartworm: A PS1-style survival horror that mixes fixed-camera and over-the-shoulder perspectives.
- Tenebris Somnia: A 2D survival horror with fully FMV cutscenes.
- Pine: A Story of Loss: Play this if you enjoyed Florence and can handle tear fests!
- MainFrames: A cute puzzle platformer where you manipulate a PC's UI to guide your little friend.
Bonus rec (since I'm not sure these are part of Steam Next Fest)!
- Mr. Sleepy Man, as well as Orbo's Exodus: Two quirky little games (the latter of which is a sequel) that I've got my eye on and have demos out now.
i see this resties talks about mouthwashing, and it was the first thing to jump to my mind when griffin mentioned spooky games that dont cost $70- ive not played it yet, but ive heard some really great things
Rivals 2 demo on steam next fest. Best smash- like there is.
just here to share my excitement over the mention of deep red, one of my favorite films since i watched it in a horror movie course in college! have a nice day everyone!
Hi Besties,
In many episodes, at least one bestie chooses a hill to die on that seems unpopular with the other besties. I once died on the hill of “the mortal kombat novel was better than the movie,” and the repercussions of that statement are still reverberating 15 years later. To the besties, what is the most unpopular or dumbest hill you have died on, and what do you think was the other besties’ most unpopular or dumbest hill? Thanks!
Can I lament with y’all for a moment? I got into silent hill back in middle school over a decade ago. My friends and I would get pizza and play as far as we could before getting scared. I hunted for ways to play all of them with my friends, and now I own most of them. Recently though, I moved into a new city for a job and as I packed to move I went through all my old stuff and noticed that I had put silent hill 3 in the case for silent hill 2. There wasn’t a game in the ps2 at the moment since I was worried about damage during the move. I expected to find silent hill 2 in the case for 3, but when I opened the case for 3, there was ANOTHER copy of silent hill 3. I was baffled. I wondered if I had hallucinated owning silent hill 2. Quickly unpacked the ps2, booted it up and checked the memory, and there was save data for silent hill 2! So clearly I had it at some point?? I also remember playing it so I feel certain I’m not delusional, but that begs the question: where did my copy of silent hill 2 go, and why was it replaced with a copy of 3? I can’t think of a single answer. There’s a spooky mystery for you.
Rivals of Aether 2! It’s the most tempting platform to die-hard melee fans since melee itself and it has original characters which give the game a lot more charm then most modern (IP-driven) platform fighters.
There already was a major tournament hosted with the free demo that came out a few days ago!
A game I really loved but haven't heard y'all mention is Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. It came out right about the same time as Nine Sols (which I did not play) and I think got overlooked because of that. Visually they are very similar, a cute little guy, search-action game, based on Japanese folklore. This game had such bright visuals, smooth platforming, combat with a good hook and the amount of lore is fantastic! At the very least I would expect Russ to really enjoy this one as a big Metroidvania/search action fan.
I'm a big Next Fest head, and I found a few standouts this time around:
1. StarVaders - A roguelike deckbuilder take on Space Invaders where you pilot a mech in grid-based combat. You can get powerful, synergistic builds going early, but you'll need them as the game starts throwing more and varied enemies at you just as quickly. The two character classes in the demo encouraged vastly different playstyles, with mechanics so distinct that they bring to mind the different classes in Slay the Spire.
2. POPUCOM - Hear me out on this one: it's It Takes Two by way of Bust-A-Move, made by the developers of the mobile gacha Arknights. You and a co-op partner have to fight and platform your way through levels as a pair of color-swapping characters, shooting enemies with their matching color to take them down. All of this is incredibly polished, with various tools introduced to expand your abilities, clever platforming challenges and collectibles that explore all the gameplay possibilities offered by those tools, and varied enemy and boss designs that force you to use them during combat.
3. Archons - An arena roguelike where you control one character with each analog stick. Enemies don't deal contact damage, which makes it much more manageable to survive even while figuring out the controls. The coolest part is that barring movement, everything in the game happens on a subtle global timer. Your attacks, enemy damage ticks, and more feed into the thumping music in a really satisfying way.
4. Neverlooted Dungeon - A first-person immersive sim dungeon crawler, with a focus on avoiding traps and finding hidden loot. Everything's very tactile, and I had a great time turning the place upside down while exploring, like when I dragged down a bookcase to find the coin purse hidden behind.
___
I also tried out some sequels that hold up to their predecessors:
1. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders - Skiing time trials where you can find and optimize your own route down a mountain - this time with multiplayer.
2. The Rise of the Golden Idol - I couldn't help myself and played the first few chapters on offer. The new art is great, and the new quality of life features are greatly appreciated - especially how solution menus are now popups you can drag around the screen.
3. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - It's just as engrossing as the first title, with pitch-perfect writing, complex characters, and difficult decisions to make. In this one you'll be able to travel from system to system, recruiting new crew members while constantly on the run and trying to make ends meet.
Highly recommend Keep Driving, it’s a road trip deckbuilder with a full radio of vibey indie rock!
Absolutely second this. Just from playing the demo this game feels really special. Immaculate vibes.
Steam Next Fest faves so far: Ballionaire, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, Wilmot Works It Out, might not be part of Next Fest but has a demo - Night Stones, and above and beyond all else, unsurprisingly great is Windblown.
Silent Hill 2 is my favorite Silent Hill game and remains in my top 10 favorite games since I first played it.
Even at $70, I'll probably grab the remake to play it again, even if the new cutscenes look too clean compared to the original.
Exercise bike time is Yakuza/Like a Dragon time in my house. I've just got Ishin and I'll be all caught up for Pirate Majima!
Random Anime Recommendation: Dan Da Dan.
'ME OH MY!'
The first episode was both an artistic thrill ride and extremely uncomfortable at the same time.
Ghosts, Aliens, Banana
EXTREMELY uncomfortable
For all the Factory Game people Satisfactory came out in 1.0 and Factorio is getting a DLC on 10/21.