Games

Here's some updated thoughts on the demos I've gotten to:

• Lightyear Frontier was a fairly interesting take on the usual survival-crafter, turning a mech into a toolbox of sorts. It was a pretty limited demo, but had some intriguing mechanics. However, what was hinted at beyond the demo seemed fairly small, but it's unclear how much was just a hint for the demo and how much exists outside of that.

• Ultros was an interesting platformer, but it felt a bit jerky to me. Fantastic visuals, though.

• Pacific Drive was probably my favorite demo of the group. Perhaps a tad more linear than I'd prefer, but the looting and crafting tied with the supernatural atmosphere was very appealing. The demo gave me just enough of a taste to leave me eager for the full game.

• Welcome to Paradize was surprisingly fun. The snarky dialogue isn't super my jam, but the gameplay was fun enough. Interested in what the full game would look like.

• Star Trucker has promise as a somewhat more whimsical Elite: Dangerous style game (with inner-cockpit gameplay to boot!), but the demo is a bit strict, requiring a full restart instead of having saves or checkpoints, so I didn't make it all the way through. Will be keeping my eye on it, though.

• Balatro was a surprisingly appealing game to me as someone who generally finds the deck-builder genre unappealling. Might be keeping this one on my radar as well.

• Pepper Grinder was a pretty entertaining platformer that plays very smoothly for how frantic it can feel at times. Killer title menu music, too, which I hope is indicative of the rest of the game's soundtrack.

• Duck Detective was a playful and cute little deduction game. The dialogue was great, reminding me a bit of the old Sam & Max games, and the aesthetic is pretty great too. Demo was scandalously short, but might pick it up in the future.