Stately Citizen Journalism

#5158

Spent maybe an hour trying a few Next Fest demos yesterday:

  • Morsels: What if Binding of Isaac were cute? Game has promise; graphics were a bit unclear on my Steam Deck.

  • BALL x PIT: Stylish brick-breaking game with roguelite elements from Kenny Sun, who’s made some of my favorite mobile games (Twinfold, Peak’s Edge). The “bricks” are skeletal enemies who attack in a variety of ways as they approach. No-doubt day 1 purchase for me.

  • Star Birds: New game from Dorfromantik devs Toukana Interactive, in which you build cutesy bases and mine resources on cutesy asteroids as you progress through a cutesy solar system with a cutesy group of cutesy birds. Did I mention the game is “cutesy”? I like it anyway, as I think the graphics hide some real depth.

  • NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound: Brought back great memories of dying quickly and repeatedly in the original NES Ninja Gaiden game. Will probably ignore my decaying reflexes and buy the full version when it comes out anyway.

7 Likes
#5159

I checked out Ball x Pit’s page yesterday and made a note to check the demo this week, it looks interesting for sure.

1 Like
#5160

If anyone tries the new Apple Games app, give us some impressions and let us know if it’s worth looking at.

3 Likes
#5161

cough cough I’m married to Devolver’s producer on Ball x Pit.

So take it with a grain of salt or not, but I love that game.

6 Likes
#5162

Ball x pit certainly has my attention. Delightfully chaotic.

Star birds does look like it has potential. Im not a huge fan of production chain games, but theyve put enough of their own twist on this that I might be interested

And of course Mr President for anyone who likes solo board games that are infamously too large for pretty much every table irl

3 Likes
#5163

Couple others I’ve played the demos for and enjoyed that I didn’t see mentioned.

4 Likes
#5164

Void War seems like a much darker Faster Than Light. Any FTL like game is of interest in my view. But I mainly game on mobile these days so I hope they port it there.

1 Like
#5165

It has some heavy Warhammer 40k Inspiration as well…I kinda like it :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#5166

Asia expansion has just been released for Wingspan.

3 Likes
#5167

The newest Meteorfall game is out. I’ll pick it up soon.

2 Likes
#5168

Ark Nova just released on iOS.

7 Likes
#5169

Here’s my review of Wingspan Asia.

Thanks to @kennfusion for helping me test out the Duet mode!

http://dudetakeyourturn.ca/2025/06/23/winging-your-way-through-asian-skies-wingspan-asia-expansion-app-review/

4 Likes
#5170

Good review and echos my sentiments. I really like Duet mode, I think it adds a fun and interesting new strategic layer to the 2 player game.

2 Likes
#5171

Kingdomino is out on iOS.

3 Likes
#5172

Based on the app description it’s real time only?

#5173

Tried it on android. Only half translated and buggy. Couldn’t start a game vs AI. Waited a bit for an online game, no opponents showed up and it seemed real time only.
Deleted and asked for a refund.

Started a game at BGA, which tiles now have the same texture as in the new app. Perhaps it finds opponents from BGA?? New tiles are less appealing and more difficult to see, so changed them back to the old look.

Edit. And a bunch of in-app purchases, like skins for your castle…

2 Likes
#5174

Well that’s a shame. It’s been sitting in the “coming soon” section for so long that you’d think they’d have ironed out issues.

Thanks for the warning.

#5175

I know the whole roguelike deck building genre is becoming extremely oversaturated, but I still get distracted by any new one because the genre fits so well with my gaming lifestyle. Anyways, a new game just dropped on iOS called Lost in Fantaland and while I haven’t played it, it certainly looks intriguing.

From the screenshots, the game seems to give you an isometric battlefield like with Into the Breach. It actually looks a lot like Tyrant’s Blessing, including the artwork. But it seems you play battles as a quasi-SRPG, but everything it done via your deck. On top of all that, the game is premium at $4, and I didn’t see any IAP. I am going to wait for some initial impressions from the App Store, but I’m certainly intrigued.

1 Like
#5176

From my time with both on Steam, Fantaland and Tyrant are both fairly similar and, unless lying, the Fantaland dev states right there in the description, this is a premium app with no ad or iap shenanigans.

1 Like
#5177

Bought it - hope to play on an upcoming plane trip!