Next Fest June 2025’s Buried Treasures

PC, free

I’m drowning in goodness! Next Fest has once again reached our shores, and good lord, there’s some great stuff washing up. I’m just overwhelmed by how many games I’d never heard of before that I can’t wait to play now. I’ve picked out 10 games here, and have only stopped because otherwise I’d never post this before the event is over.

If one thing has shone through more than anything else, it’s that there are so many incredible pixel artists out there. The work in so many of the games below (and they’re not all pixel games!) is breathtaking. I’m also incredibly thrilled that at least two of the games I’ve found are out as soon as next month, which given how much I was enjoying them is quite the relief.

Obviously, with over 25 billion demos in Next Fest, I’ve seen a bare fraction of what’s out there, but I’ve tried to pick out games I wasn’t aware of before, and those that perhaps aren’t getting coverage elsewhere. (Although I only realised after I finished writing all this that one of them is published by the creature wearing the ill-fitting skin of long-dead Atari.)

Next Fest continues until Monday, 16th July, so there’s a lot of time left for you to plough through the lists to unearth your own discoveries. Please drop names and links in the comments of what you enjoy, to encourage others to find them too. And anything you like the look of, give it a Wishlist – it really helps out the developers.

Broken Relic

Oh my, this is what I’m after. Wonderfully reminiscent of those glory days of the point-and-click adventure in the mid-90s, this has vibes of Simon the Sorcerer, but with all the tiresome smugness removed. The stunning pixel art immediately made me feel that warm, nostalgic safety of teenage years with a new adventure game to play, accompanied by some fantastic voice acting, a fun bunch of simple inventory puzzles to solve, and incredibly importantly, a likeable character to play.

This absolutely hits, and I’m utterly astonished that it’s somehow the work of a single developer, Pablo Morales. There’s a Kickstarter planned for September, and if the full game matches what’s shown in this demo, it’s going to be smashing.

• Sandpenguin
• TBA
• Demo

Bloodrush: Undying Wish

A twin-stick hack-n-slash roguelite, that in many ways feels familiar – you battle all the spawning enemies in an arena, and on success, gain new skills – but at the same time feels chunky and satisfying enough to stand out. Bloodrush gives you a melee weapon, a gun, a dash and a grapple from the very start, and then asks you to combine them intelligently to fight off waves of enemies. Grappling recharges your dashes, melee reloads your gun, and so you need to combine the approaches into a dance of destruction. The pixel graphics are great, the sound effects splendid, and the fresh tactics available on restarts ensure it remains compelling. There’s a good chunk of game in the demo, too.

• Lightmancer Studios / Nuntius Games / Vsoo Games
• 1 July 2025
• Demo

MotionRec

“Oh my god!” were my spoken aloud words when I realised MotionRec‘s conceit. This is the sort of idea that’d get whoops and applause at an indie conference when the crowd realised what developer HANDSUM had thought of. You play a little robot dude, who, with the magic of a tape cassette, can record a period of his movements, and then repeat those movements by playing them back. OK, this is a hard one to communicate, so bear with me. (Or just watch the trailer.)

Say you need to get up and over some spikes, and it’s too high and too far to jump. Right, so you find another part of the level where you can jump up some platforms, then right to the right, and record that movement. Head back to where the spikes are, and now, despite the platforms not being there, you can replay the recorded movement and float up then over the spikes. It’s brilliant.

I wish this had a more memorable name, because I hate the idea of a game this smart getting lost because of it. I mean, Instant Replay – there’s no game called that on Steam. Or Rec It. Or something other than MotionRec. But either way, grab this demo – it’s incredible stuff.

• HANDSUM / PLAYISM
• 2025
• Demo

Pixel P.I.

While the demo begins with an assault of exposition (you’re a private detective called Pixel, in 2089, but you can’t remember anything since 2087 and your computer has been wiped, and you’ve got a robot assistant you don’t know, and you hate robots, and you used to work for the police, and and and and and), once you get to start solving a case this all clicks into place. The game works by “decrypting” information from police interviews, and then finding contradictions in interviewee’s statements by matching statements to clues. The decryption is performed by typing in naturally worded questions about the case, trying to find questions the detectives originally asked in the interviews. So you can type things in your own words, and if you hit the right elements, this unlocks new statements and clues. It’s neat! And it doesn’t appear to be using any sort of crummy AI to achieve it.

• Crischu
• 2025
• Demo

Mighty 1990

This is an interesting approach to an old-school adventure. Despite its peculiar monochrome design, its presentation suggests early LucasArts, except rather than clicking about on the screen, everything here is done on the bottom half. You click on the verbs, then on the names of objects depicted above. This is for everything from looking around a room to combining inventory objects.

The story is barking mad: you begin creating a character based on yourself, but then start playing someone entirely different, and there are strong hints this meta-narrative is going to play an important part. What’s more interesting here is how much the game reacts to your choices. I first played as a 47-year-old, and the writing acknowledged that I’d remember 1990. A second time I said I was 10, and after trying to put me off playing, the script entirely changed to talk about how I’d learned of the era. You also pick stats and a class, and this determines how you’re able to solve puzzles.

That’s all enormously intriguing, and while the demo only offers a short hint of what it could mean, it’s enough that by replaying it you’re quickly aware of the variety on offer. Oh, and you go back in time to play a guy in his 40s in 1990, still living with his mum, in order to change something in the past that catastrophically affected the future!

• Chaosmonger Studio
• TBA
• Demo

Öoo

Oh thank goodness. In between what you just read and now, I’ve played maybe 372 demos, all of which were poop. But Öoo has saved me! What a complete treat: a completely original puzzle game (cue “Actually there was Under Flamps on the Amiga 650…”), beautifully presented. In Öoo you play a pink and blue blob (apparently a “bomb caterpillar”) who can move left and right, but for everything else needs to propel itself with bombs. So you place one under you to jump up, or to the left or right to fling yourself in that direction. And that’d be a cute idea if it were it, but it then becomes completely fascinating when you add a second bomb.

The puzzles are about trying to arrange your bombs such that you can reach platforms, dodge spikes, and most importantly of all, find flies to feed frogs that block you path. It was such a pleasure to wrack my brain, try out a technique, and then make a breakthrough. I’m dying to play more now.

• NamaTakahashi / tiny cactus studio / Tsuyomi
• TBA
• Demo

Adventure of Samsara

This is my number one sort of game where I’d love to see a boss skip battle. These superbly animated pixel platformers, with all their chunky combat and spells and gear and progress, love it. The big bosses that don’t feel like the rest of the game, hate it. However, I’m very aware there are many who disagree, and I suspect Adventures of Samsara could prove a popular game among them.

I was properly getting into the demo before I encountered the first boss (who may well be the end of the demo), but I don’t really have the time or mental energy to figure out how I’m supposed to fight it. You perhaps shall feel entirely differently. Either way, this seems like a really decent game, and crucially isn’t a roguelite, but one I suspect I won’t be able to get far into.

• Ilex Games / Atari
• TBA
• Demo

Primal Planet

Featuring astonishing animation and some truly splendid platforming, in Primal Planet‘s demo you’re a caveman, first trying to meet up with your wife and daughter, and then trying to find your village. I’m pleased to report that you’re in no way “rescuing” your wife, who is perfectly capable of looking after herself, and once you team up you’re a far more powerful duo. There’s also a pet dinosaur called Dino (yes, cavemen and dinosaurs together, but worry not, this is the least anachronistic thing you’re going to find here), and of course your daughter, who can charge about on her own, or be carried by you. And it can all be played in co-op.

Soon you’re crafting spears and weapons at campfires, using spears to improvise platforms, upgrading skills to make yourself (or Dino) more mobile, and exploring and battling through the large levels. The demo’s huge! And if the game can continue in this way, this solo developed game could be something truly special. Also, it has the greatest idle animation of all time: stand around near your wife and your family will have a group hug. Damn.

• Seethingswarm / Pretty Soon
• 2025
• Demo

Occlude

You’re always complaining there aren’t enough occult solitaire games, so take notice: Occlude is an occult solitaire game. The card game itself looks a lot like the Klondike variant of solitaire, but has a whole new set of rules, and… no, I’m not going to frustrate you by writing out the rules for a game of patience in words, you can pick those up quickly just by playing the demo. But the important thing is, there’s more going on.

There’s another layer of rules that aren’t explained when you begin, that you need to figure out for yourself. And accompanied by spooky music, and storylines that suggest that for each game you play you’re attempting to get away with a murder, it’s intriguingly odd. Screenshots show there’s a lot more to this game than simply winning a few hands of patience, although even if it were just that, it’s a solid enough tactical game that I’d still be happy! Looking forward to finding out how deep this one goes, and there’s only a month to wait.

• Tributary Games / Pantaloon
• 10 July 2025
• Demo

The Drifter

It’s been a long while since we heard from Powerhoof, who had a hit in 2017 with dungeon crawler Crawl, and then reappeared in 2018 with Regular Human Basketball, but have been quiet ever since. But wow are they reappearing in style. The Drifter, a point-and-click adventure, is bursting with style, and a storyline that has be immediately in.

The drifter himself is a guy called Mick Carter, an Australian guy, living unhoused, who is back in his former town for the first time in five years to attend his mum’s funeral. It’s a place he doesn’t want to be, the place where his ex-wife lives, Sarah, someone who until recently was running a homeless shelter. Something is incredibly wrong in town – displaced people are disappearing, mysterious figures kidnapping them in the night, shooting at others, and as you play the demo, Mick falls victim to them too. And they drown him. And he dies. And then things get even more interesting.

This is so incredibly professional, the art and animation just outstanding, the voice acting perfect, and its interface feels modern, rather than just relying on how PnC adventures are usually done (along with a unique and very smart interface for those playing via controller). I’m so beyond thrilled this is out as soon as next month, because otherwise I might explode while waiting to play more.

• Powerhoof / Dave Lloyd
• 17 July 2025
• Demo

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