Time played: 20m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell yes

Some of the most frenetic combat I've ever experienced. I absolutely love the mix of rolling platformer and twin stick shooter. This is a game made for me, inject this shit straight into my veins

Time played: 48m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell yes

roguelite deckbuilders are extremely my shit and this one builds off of systems of games like Slay the Spire and Monster Train, adding interesting ship combat mechanics, environmental elements like asteroids that block damage either way, and limited movement. It's all in a really nice pixel art style as well, will be scooping this when it comes out in full

Time played: 3.6h
HYPE GOING IN: Very interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Hell yes

Look, Deep Rock Galactic is one of my favorite online multiplayer games to play with friends and one of my favorite live service games. The devs do fantastic work listening to their community and acting responsively. This mix of Vampire Survivors esque Bullet Heaven with Deep Rock Galactic piqued my interest, the isometric view with limited light in the trailer looked gorgeous, so when the demo dropped I was eager to give it a go. It really shocked me how much is in this demo, it's surprisingly deep for a limited slice. I love the look of it all, the escalating difficulty curve is nice, the weapons and upgrades are dynamic and well balanced, and the mining mechanic adds a good bit of strategy. Will definitely be picking this one up as well.

Time played: 33m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

The devs for this deserve all the props in the world for somehow making a cinematic climbing game not boring. As someone who doesn't really enjoy most story in games, Jusant succeeds in making a really captivating experience solely through it's climbing mechanics and level design. Interested in trying more when it comes to Game Pass

Time played: 32m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very interested

Wow there's a lot of systems going on here. There's a lot of different resources and crafting, which usually turns me off generally, but mixed in with twin stick gameplay akin to Enter the Gungeon, I could see myself getting sucked into this hard.

Time played: 16m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

Really cool and polished little action roguelite. The pixel art jungle is really stylish and the combat system and upgrades were all well thought out. Will likely return to this demo later

Time played: 34m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Very Interested

A bit jankier than I was expecting but once I got into the groove of it, I had a lot of fun. It's secretly a Vampire Survivors-lite with random upgrade options at each level up with an arcadeboard challenge. Fun stuff - will probably scoop if it's under $10

Time played: 25m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Definitely the coolest looking demo I've played so far, Empty Shell pulls inspiration from games like Signalis and Hotline Miami, with a really stylish top down sort of cc camera look. It was surprisingly difficult, I died a handful of times on Normal difficulty. Readability of environment and enemies left a bit to be desired, especially on the steam deck.

Time played: 23m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

This is a really charming lil soulslike. The level design was really great - with some interesting branching path options. It's a little janky but worth a try. It is coming to gamepass which makes me a little more interested.

Time played: 32m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

I like this spin on Dicey Dungeon but the demo didn't get me as excited as I was hoping for. The UI is incredibly small on Steam Deck and the gameplay loop was just okay.

Time played: 18m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

Very mysterious lil demo. Just oozing with vibes and great art, but at the same time often frustratingly hard to read and obtuse. It's very intentionally slow which is cool, but idk I'm hoping the actual game has more gameplay to it. Still will be keeping an eye on this one

Time played: 31m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Interested

What a cool little beat-em-up. I like the combo mechanics and enemy types here. The story is pretty fun too. Beat-em-ups are a bit hit or miss for me but I could see fans of the genre really digging this.

Time played: 28m
HYPE GOING IN: Very Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

Sadly this one didn't click with me - the 2d motorcycle mechanics feel very trials esque but pairing that with combat felt clunky in my hands

Time played: 15m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

Cute puzzler - the demo was a bit boring for my tastes though

Time played: 14m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

I mean it's pinball. Just traditional pinball. The theming on the Lovecraft and Duke Nukem tables are fun enough.

Time played: 16m
HYPE GOING IN: Interested
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Meh

Felt a little too difficult and bland. The Bloodborne meets Castlevania vibe was nice but the combat itself didn't feel particularly weighty or complex. Also it commits the cardinal sin of 2D platformers of including fall damage. Fall damage is not fun.

Time played: 7m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Not for me

Meh - the battle network esque combat is cool and turning Eden's combat into a fighting game is novel, but the real time fighting grid aspect is a little much for me.

Time played: 9m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Not for me

Another roguelite deckbuilder - this time without proper controller bindings and with incredibly small text and ui elements. I see a glimmer of something cool here, but I didn't have a fun time off the bat so I moved on.

Time played: 4m
HYPE GOING IN: Meh
HYPE AFTER DEMO: Avoid

Look, I barely played this one because it performs like straight doo doo on the Steam Deck. Even on Low graphics settings it was running at 15-20 fps with slowdown. The drifting seemed fun but it was hard to tell with this kind of performance. May be worth a try on a beefy computer but avoid on Steam Deck for the time being.