I had a lovely time with oceanic pointy-clicky adventure game Panthalassa; MAG was a fantastic protagonist both in terms of narrative and for having a totally sickass design. to use a technical term.

This point and click visual novel is insane... The visual style, setting, story, vibes... oh my its prefect.

Panthalassa is set in an underwater alien world. You play as an Artificial Intelligence trying to uncover the memories of their body's previous owner, who was made by an mysterious, advanced civilization

Experience the world through different user interfaces, where the physical and digital worlds collide. You as "MAG" an autonomous exploratory submarine will find new Aquatic Specimens, catalog them, solve puzzles and organically discover hidden information by searching every nook and cranny of this bizarre digital world.

And the trailer is insane. Its so well done. If you like the retro 90s early 2000s aesthetic please watch it, its just 1 min long.

This is now one of my most awaited games on my wish list. I love the ocean, I love the early 2000s, I love weirdly creepy point and click games and puzzles. This game is everything I have ever wished for, and just based on the demo I know I will LOVE the game.

Day 0/Day 1/Day 2/Day 3/Day 4/Day 5/Day 6

Before I wrap this Next Fest up, some housekeeping. On Day 5, I recommended the game nonogram game Homgard. Turns out I had missed something:

This isn't a full disavowal. The game still has impressive puzzle design. But my recommendation is much less enthusiastic now.

Inquisitor Shepherd

Cosmic Horror Mystery VN.

Life in the theocracy of Vucrium is good. The divine force of crium protects its followers from all illness and lasting injury, people's welfare is taken care of, and crime is practically nonexistent. All it asks for in exchange is worship and obedience to its doctrines.

Of course, that isn't enough for the senseless heretics, who throw away their own lives and the lives of others in defiance of crium. But that is why the holy order of inquisitors exists.

Sherman J Shepherd is a freshly minted inquisitor, sent on his first job. Evidence of possible heretical behavior was reported in the small farming village of Hoshi, so he's been sent undercover to investigate. But he better be careful. Aside from whatever danger might lurk in the village, whenever an inquisitor enter's the supernatural trial space, they're putting their lives on the line as well. Convict or be sacrificed.

But it's all worth it. Crium can be trusted, right?

This might be the Gem of this year's next fest.

Shepherd is a great protagonist. The man is a zealot, and incredibly versed in the law and religious texts (which are the same thing.) He's also incredibly naive in social situations. He thinks his gaudy white and pink street fasion coat is inconspicuous undercover wear, and he's so uptight that he thinks stealing a recipe is still serious theft. This could lead to someone unbearable, but because he has to stay undercover he's just constantly gritting his teeth and making himself the butt of the joke.

He bounces off well against the villagers of Hoshi, a band of weirdos worthy of an Ace Attorney cast. From his tour guide Linari, who is trying to scam him with every step, to the overwhelming village elder Iamol Phobi who will shamelessly use you to try and make Hoshi a tourist hotspot, to Acolyte Sophia Earl-Grey who can barely work up a full sentence, to the cat obsessed saint police chief Jun Simon, to the incredible brain genius olive farmer solely named "Cake."

This game has an amazing naming sense.

Right now, the game's biggest problem is that… it's set up some really good bigger picture mysteries, but the question of "what am I supposed to be figuring out in this very moment" feels vague. You're not investigating a murder, you're investigating a vague concept of Heresy. When you get to the first investigation section, you get a more specific problem to pick at, but it still feels less in the realm of "who and howdunnit" and more of a general "what is even going on?"

There's a gimmick mechanic for the investigation and trials called "Sin Powder." When Shepherd takes it, he supercharges once of his senses in exchange for losing another. The problem is that it visualizes this by filling the screen with REALLY harsh visual effects, to the point where it hurts visibility. Which I guess is ludo-narratively congruent but this is a point where I'd prefer some dissonance.

Despite being a stylistic height, the trial we go through in the demo seems to be the weakest part. It feels less like an interrogation/cross examination and more simple call and response for individual questions. I do like how they completely shut off manual saving when it starts, even if it hurts. It's kind of a shame, but the rest of the package as whole makes up for it.

One minor problem: the quality of the backgrounds is inconsistent. I didn't see any AI warning, and I don't have a good eye for that so I'm not gonna throw accusations. It's a nonzero possibility, but it might also just be multiple artists not lining up, or a placeholder being left in.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the Korean to English translation, but there are occasional stilted wordings and a couple pronoun switch mistakes. Still perfectly readable, but can be improved on.

Finds like this are what make these Next Fest dives worth it.

Qelochia

Lesbian Eldritch Horror VN.

One cosmic horror VN deserves another.

In a very different earth, populated with very different humans, an overwhelming war continues, between the mechanically augmented cybercarcasses lead by the super-intelligence Origin, and the genetically engineered Bloodhearts guided by a neurological hivemind.

Far away from the battlefield, an artic research station releases a distress signal. It had been created to study one of the Bloodheart's Neurophil flesh constructs, but something has gone horribly wrong.

Combing through the database, you find two parallel love stories: One between a part-plant flowerbed researcher and her Cybercarcass bodyguard, and one between the Flesh Constuct and the Monitor AI.

This is a purely linear VN, just moving along points along a timeline to see events unfold. The timeline forks at the very end, but I'm not sure how that'll play out narratively. The demo ends before that.

The narrative is interesting so far. Thematically it's about lonliness and purpose. The human shaped romance has both sides isolating themselves from the world in the base for a grander purpose, but each feeling unfulfilled, and finding rapport in how they both try to fill the gap. It's cute and heartfelt.

The more monstrous romance feels more interesting, though. It's essentially between a torture victim and its jailer. Both assume the other is incapable of life, yet both cling onto the other as their only point of real connection. They recognize each other's powerlessness in the scenario and lick each other's wounds, while going off on philosophical tangents about their different states of "being."

There's a heartache in knowing that this won't end well, and I want to see that heartache through.

Back in the Swamp

Post Apocalypse Point and Click Adventure

In an apocalypse of overgrown nature and giant insects, you are but one of the many soldiers trying to survive in the ruins. When a swarm intercepts and crashes your troop's helicopter, you're the only survivor. Armed with only your wits and whatever you can carry on your back, you must brave the swamp and find some form of safety.

This is an old-school old-school point and click: Zero Dialogue, Click-to-move, inventory puzzles, eerily still environments with limited animation, all that good stuff.

That isn't to say it's without its modern conveniences. While the game's default settings are tuned for the most "accurate" experience of minimal help, you can turn on a setting to highlight clickable areas, and even a setting to alert you if you missed an item. Each screen transfer has an atmospheric swoop of the camera, but you can right click to skip it. You also have a map that can just teleport you to major landmarks.

This convenience stretches to the puzzles, in a way that I'm torn about. When you click a puzzle, a sketchy little drawing of the item needed appears on the top of the screen, hinting you on what you need. On one hand, unless they're clever about the hint, this kind of removes any intuiting on the player's behalf. On the other hand, this removes a good amount of possible moon-logic roadblocks.

The real draw isn't the puzzles though. It's the atmosphere. The game hasn't had any direct-to-player threats yet, but it's willing to play with its insect to an unsettling effect. The sound design is also fantastic, the background music an eerie drone with occasional chittering sounds that kept tricking my brain that I was in danger. A lot of time I was clenching up during the slow pans, wondering if something will be around the corner.

This is a game that's doing a lot with a little.

Ruin: Beast City

Suda 51 Styled Boss Rush.

You are the assassin Adama, hired by the Red Queen. Armed with only a katana and a revolver, you're job is to infiltrate the titular Beast City, bathed in eternal night, and kill the immortals lurking within.

This game is clearly a riff on Killer 7 and No More Heroes, with its cell shading, harsh lighting, focus on stylistic typography, and assassination gauntlet plotline.

The plot is predictably vague right now, but it's riffing heavily on the Epic of Gilgamesh, with the bosses being named after the characters. Oddly enough, the demo already goes through Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and Ishtar. They're kind of the big three of the plot, so I'm wondering if it'll just be deeper and deeper cuts from here.

The combat is melee focused. You don't have much by way of combos or advanced techniques here, just an attack, a parry, and an i-frame dodge. The gun seems mostly there for a special counter when the enemy does a special unblockable attack, which feels like it's a missed opportunity. If you're going to give me a reload button, give me more reason to empty my clip.

Both you and your enemies attacks have a good amount of magnetization to them, so it's hard to dodge things by just spacing them out, which is mildly disappointing. You'll instead be either trying to get the rhythm to parry whole strings or bailing out with the dodge button. That isn't to say there's nothing here. The bosses so far had a mix of delayed attacks, unblockables, and roll catches. It's going to be a bit of trial and error to get each enemy's attack patterns down, but you can refill your health by attacking and absorbing enemy blood.

Some minor issues so far: First, the tell for unblockables is a red flash. Which is… hard to see mid combo when blood is flying everywhere. There's an audio cue too, so it's not a total loss. And you could argue it's a way to force the player to not overextend their attacks.

Second: The demo is somewhat bad at tutorializing. I say the demo because Gilgamesh has a 4th wall breaking "this is the demo isn't it? let me quickly run you through the controls" bit of dialogue. He says to watch for a red flash in the eyes to use the gun counter… but their eyes are already red? So I was wondering what counted as a "flash." It says that LB is the block/parry button, so I assumed that it was "hold to block, tap in time to parry." No, you need to time the parry for every attack, and you hold it after to block heavy attacks. Clarifications I assume will be ironed out in the final release.

Third… Ishtar has a diagetic vocal theme abut herself playing over the speakers as you do her fight. Which is both fun characterization and a stylish touch I normally love. The problem is… it's not great? Or at the very least, not to my taste.

Swan Song

Emotional Mechanical Puzzle.

Your name is Edith Vogelsang. Your father was a carpenter named Tristan Vogelsang. Your mother was a pianist named Amber Vogelsang. At some point, you find a musical puzzle box made by your father. Inside it is a letter. He admits a part of himself hopes you never find it. How he's ashamed he wasn't a bigger part of her life. How "her" leaving left a hole of grief so big "I could not see you waiting on the other side." And a statement of intent:

"I hope this box brings you some insight into why I acted the way I did. Not as an excuse. Just as an explanation. Your dad, Tristan"

Heads up, this is a cancer story, about a family falling apart after the mother dies from breast cancer. I feel like that's something you should know if that sort of thing hits you hard. It hit me hard.

Hard to do puzzles while misty eyed.

The puzzle is a simple programming one. Each puzzle has a wooden duck that will take a step between each beat. There are multiple platforms and mechanical obstacles on its path, each marked with a color. Place notes to move/activate them, and get the duck to the end point.

The game has a really gentle difficulty curve. At first it's just simple timing puzzles, getting the player used to the note progression. It then starts to add different shaped note sets, limting how you can arrange the notes and forcing certain progressions. The third area adds little wooden popgun hunters, who will fire when their color is hit and knock the duck over.

In between levels you'll get letters, photos, and memorabilia from the Vogelsangs' history. Mostly the latter two. And this team knows how to launch a gut punch while using minimal words.

Wish it was a bit harder, but I feel like the puzzles are less there to stupify and more there to give you space to sit in the atmosphere and implications of the plot.

Alright. Lets move on to something lighter.

Rollin Rascal

Sonic Speed 3d Platformer.

Rollin Rascal is a project that tries to pick up where the Sonic Adventure games left off. You play a cheeky little guy (a rascal if you will) going fast and fighting evil robots. That isn't to say the game is trying to be a straight clone. There's a lot of improvements ont he formula, small and large.

The biggest is the expansion of the spindash. What was just a means to build up speed quickly in sonic has become an entire second moveset. Hold down left trigger to go into ball mode, which allows you to go faster on downhill slopes. You can charge a spindash in midair which will launch the moment you touch the ground, and you have a straight down bouce, which can be used to hurl yourself forward depending on the angle of your landing spot. In your main form, aside from the homing dash, you also get a divekick for when you want to speed to the ground without losing too much momentum.

The way Rascal interacts with enemies is also different. While it's normally faster to just ignore them, the homing dash doesn't directly kill. Instead, Rascal starts to ride it, and you get yet another miniature moveset. It's not expansive, normally one or two actions, but the fact that they do different things and can be routed around is really interesting.

The game also seems to have more granular of a style system than sonic. Doing actions like picking up collectables, breaking boxes, maintaining a high speed, killing enemies, and using more of your moveset generates stars, and keeping the chain of star generation going gives you multipliers. So you can go for pure speed or you could go for score.

The game doesn't seem to be actively judging me yet, though? The place where the results screen feels like it should be is missing. Rascal just poses to an empty half of the screen. It's only in beta though.

Rolling Rascal has a multiplayer mode where players race on circuit courses. I didn't try it, but I was able to access said maps from the time trial menu. Looking at footage of it online, the skill ceiling is really high.

Minor problems: I did occasionally have a "getting clipped into geometry" moment. It's not a softlock, I'm able to slip out quickly, but it kills momentum. The levels are large and multipathed, which is great for both player expression and optimization challenges. Also kinda easy to get yourself turned around. It's not a hard time limit, and if you're going for speed you already know the layout, but mildly annoying.

It's still in beta, but this game is going places.

The Wide Open Sky Is Running out of Catfish

Cozy Melancholic Idle Suika Photography Game. Which is I think a brand new series of words.

You play as a young witch named Jet. You and your mom have lived on the back of a talking catfish for all your life. You only see the ground on visits, and the first time you've spent a significant amount of time there was your first year of college.

It's summer break now, and you went back to live with mom between semesters. Only, shortly into the visit, she left without warning, leaving only notes as an apology. Which is fine. You've spent time up there alone before. It's only later you find out why.

Speaking with the catfish, he says that he can feel himself dying. He doesn't know when, but it's soon. Finding a new home in the air will be difficult. He hasn't seen another catfish in ages. Not only will you lose a family member, but you'll lose your home. She left to figure out what to do next. But your job is simple. The catfish has always loved looking at your photographs. So lets make more while we still can.

The game has a genre-jumping gameplay loop. Take photos of sky fish to generate shells. Feed the shells to the magic fountain to generate colored clouds. Fly through the clouds to turn them into fish in your little suika game in the corner of the screen. Convert your merges into bigger fish worth more shells. Try to get a full collection of photos.

Oddly enough the game seems to have a good amount of potential for secret hunting? Inbetween the photography cycle, you can mess around with the home computer. Aside from chatting with other friends, there's a fake internet you can explore. The options for sites right now are very limited, but I can see this expanding. Similarly, you trigger the flying part of the game by using a magic flute to turn into a flying serpent. You have to manually play the songs using number keys, so I am assuming you'll find more as the game progresses.

Main issues are minor. The mouselook wouldn't work properly until I unplugged my controller. I couldn't change the screen resolution, but bits of the top and bottom of the screen were being cut off by my ultrawide monitor. The serpent controls are awkward, but it's not timed or asking for precision, so it isn't a huge deal.

I can see this being a really pleasant time.

Panthalassa

Aquapunk Frutiger Aero Point and Click Adventure.

You play as Magellan, an advanced AI meant to pilot a deep sea exploration drone. You awake from a crash, both software and literal, and find yourself in an unknown alien world. You're aided by a nearby AI, Tetra, who is somehow both incredibly more advanced than you, yet also knows next to nothing. Now sharing a mind, you two must explore the world and figure out how/if you can return back home.

At its core, this is a game about old blobby computer interfaces: the kind that hadn't figured out standardized UI yet and played with aesthetics over functionality. You're in an alien place, so most of the puzzle is just figuring out not just what to do with these systems, but how they work in the first place. So it's hard to talk about the puzzle and gameplay design without feeling like I'm spoiling something.

There's a layer of abstract thinking involved. I can see this being frustrating/needing a guide in the future, but right now it's been straightforward enough. I did get stuck once, but a steam discussion forum post gave me the small nudge I needed.

On a story level, I'm mildly intrigued. Mag and Tetra have a good back and forth. It's standatd straight man and wacky one dynamics, but it's still fun, especially when Tetra is able to one-up Mag. The central mystery hasn't really been fleshed out at all, but there's a good stinger near the end.

I feel your enjoyment of the game will rely on vibes, the character writing, and your tolerance for abstract puzzles.

Membrane

Game Boy Horror

Your name is Cam. After 6 years of abscence, out of the blue, you get an message from your sister. She lives in Japan now, in the run down city of Nakaji, and she has something you need to see. The first day you arrive, you have a vivid dream where she tells you to find the Nakaji Oaks building, room 403, before melting into a puddle of flesh, screaming for help. You'd brush it off as simply a dream… but the address is real. And your curiosity can't help itself.

So when I say Game Boy Horror, I'm not just saying "in the aesthetics of the game boy." I mean it is. But the game was made in GBstudio, a game making program whose output is a functioning Game Boy ROM. This is a Game Boy game…mostly. There's some screen glitching/tearing effects overlayed on top that the Game Boy definitely can't do, which probably explains why the Godot logo comes up first on launch.

So how does it do as a horror game under these limitations? Better than expected.

The environment art is incredibly detailed for its limitations, and the sound design is doing a lot of good work. Unnerving droning and clicking noises do a lot to make the space seem off. And when there's so few moving parts, the points where something disappears when it should be there hit harder.

Once it starts throwing threats, it slightly loses some edge, since it's a simple game of running away, but it's smart enough to avoid playing that card too frequently. And the moments where it did fake outs did get a jump out of me.

I'm getting Pulse and Lain vibes from the aesthetics, which seem to be intentional. The dev says the visuals are "inspired by cyberpunk classics and Japanse horror films and games."

Complaints: the walkspeed is slightly too slow. Which makes sense during the chase sequences, but makes the standard adventure game walking around take slightly too long. Had a couple of glitched out screens and a crash...but honestly. This is a game where it's hard to tell which are real versus which are an intentional bit. When you die, you respawn in your hotel room. The intent seems to be to force a walkback but it's always faster to just reload a save.

Still, for any hiccups, this is an incredibly impressive project.

Chasm Shift

Precision Puzzle Platformer.

You play as an unnamed protagonist, dropped dead center into a twisting and labyrinthine megastructure. Are you trying to escape, or go deeper? It's unknown. But whatever drives you forward will send you through a path filled with danger and mystery.

It's another take on the celeste-like precision platformer: great mobility, one hit kills with no real penalty, and obstacle gauntlets that force you to carefully reserve your air actions.

The twist in this one is that it's all once interconnected map, which you gradually get to see more of by unlocking new movement abilities and rearranging the moving platforms and blocks, making a "puzzle box dungeon" in the dev's on words. Which makes you think "wait that sounds like a metroidvania." And that was going to be my first critique. The game presents itself as a metroidvania, but it's actually completely linear. It's just a linear level that's consistently (and impressively) wrapping around itself.

But then I looked at the steam page and… the word "metroidvania" never comes up once. There is a slight disappointment there. I always look forward to the backtrack and map clear. But I can't really claim they're false advertising. There might be some secrets to hunt. There's something that might be a cipher langauge… although it could just be random cool-looking symbols that don't have a real meaning.

On a gameplay level, I do like what they're doing. The game actually starts without you having a jump, and the first upgrade you get is not that but a slide. You have to navigate for a bit without it, which aids a sense of the map evolving with you. Instead of a wall cling you have a singular wall bounce. It doesn't take you far away from the wall and is mostly there to get you up the last inch, but it forces careful routing on when you actually use it. You can't make it up if you launch it too early. Your airdash has a slight up angle to it. On one hand that allows it to act as another pseudo-double jump, on the other hand it turns it into its own liability when faced with tight obstacle courses.