Here’s what we played during the Steam Game Festival
Releasing on January 28, Spirits of Amazonia is essentially a prequel story that will introduce a host of new features to the game: four new legendary quests, a new map that’s separate from the main game’s location, a new type of mushroom, so-called “spike trees”, as well the ability to build balconies onto your home.
The project is a puzzle-adventure game that sports a unique, manhwa-esque visual aesthetic and takes place in a fantasy world inspired by The Wizard of Oz – if that alone wasn’t interesting enough on its own, the game’s storyline actually deals with a time loop, with our unlucky protagonist being forced to relive the same day over and over again.
The Shore places you in the role of a father looking for his missing daughter, and will take you on a cosmic journey during which you’ll encounter forbidden knowledge, mind-bending puzzles and unspeakable, otherworldly entities at every turn that can – and will – test the very limits of your sanity.
Stranded on an Antarctic base and surrounded by sub-zero temperatures, players must find a way to defeat a mysterious alien creature or die trying.
A follow-up to 2017’s 20XX, the project mixes tight, fast-paced action-platforming with the unique characteristics of roguelikes for added replayability – what’s more, it will also support a co-op mode for those wanting to experience the adventure with a friend.
Amnesia: Rebirth starts not entirely unlike its predecessor, although the circumstances surrounding it are quite different. Our protagonist, one Anastasie "Tasi" Trianon, suffers a catastrophic plane crash in the middle of the Algerian desert and wakes up in the wreckage realizing that the rest of the crew is nowhere to be found – what’s more, she also has trouble remembering exactly what happened to them.
The weather is getting chilly, the leaves are turning yellow, and the Steam Game Festival is back – and so are countless intriguing demos waiting for you to try them. Here are our personal picks:
In Vaporum: Lockdown you follow the adventures of Ellie Teller, a scientist just trying to make it out alive from a mechanical tower called Arx Vaporum where all hell seems to have broken loose, with robots, mutated roaches and steampunk zombies attacking everything in sight.
Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, a tale about a man turning into a hideous insect in his own bedroom, is probably one of the most iconic and important literary works of the early 20th century – as such, it comes as no surprise to me that a video game would attempt to use it for inspiration.
What Happened, a psychological horror game from developer Genius Slackers, touches upon a topic that I feel needs more exposure – it tells the story of a disturbed high school student, Stiles, as he struggles with severe depression and anxiety, highlighting his unstable mental health through a series of a surreal, symbolic experiences.