Steam's "Fest" events are a way to get more eyes on upcoming titles; today, we're going to be looking at the Space Exploration Fest that is currently running, September 2nd to the 9th. Whether these games take place on a far-off planet or actually in space, we'll set forth to adventure, accumulate knowledge and resources, and perhaps run into the slightest hint of danger. Hopefully some will make their way onto your Wishlist - and mine - in the near future.

Remember you have until Monday (September 9th) to play what you can!

These are presented in alphabetical order.

Dark Sky

Release Date: September 24, 2024
Developed by: Ganymede Games
Published by: Midwest Games

I am of two minds regarding the presented demo for Dark Sky, a turn-based deckbuilding RPG. A tailored scenario with the base characters against some enemies, you're given the opportunity to choose premade decks and learn how to play the game by messing around. That can be kind of fun, learning via experimentation with no stakes, and it makes the demo replayable too I suppose...but it doesn't show off the game's story at all. The mechanics of the battles, sure, but the characters don't talk during combat, and the actual deckbuilding aspects are left to the imagination. And given what Dark Sky is supposed to be, I would consider that to be one of the main priorities of the game, so not seeing even a glimpse of it is disappointing.

As for the gameplay itself, the battle reminded me of Marvel's Midnight Suns, actually, except played out on a 2D grid. Each of the characters have their own crafted deck, which are then shuffled together to form your main battle deck. Much like MMS you're told up-front what each enemy will do, so you can plan accordingly. It also has the "Redraw" system, so if you don't like your options you can toss a card to get a new one from the deck. I wouldn't consider this a bad thing by any means, as Midnight Suns' strategy combat was the best part of that game - after I recognized the connection, I started doing drastically better in the demo.

The player can theoretically tool the decks to work in sync, such as creating Reactions when different status effects are mixed on an enemy. This is ultimately what I did without even realizing it, providing Static from one character and Poison from another, which when combined made enemies Sick and dealt more damage. This kinda left my third guy - a creator of shields and clones - to sit there not doing as much, but when you can play only a couple cards each turn, and there're three people looking to participate, these things happen. He'd get his time in the sun eventually, I assume.

Dark Sky might live-or-die based on its deckbuilding and story, and unfortunately those were not available to sample. But the battles harken back to a game I really enjoyed, so in the end I left the demo with a good opinion.

DRAKE

Release Date:  "Coming soon"
Developed by: solarsuit.games
Published by: solarsuit.games

Before I begin...is the game called "DRAKE", or "Drake Frontier"? The Steam page and trailer seem confused on that point. While seemingly minor, it did put me in a wary state...which was earned in hindsight, as something feels off about Drake. The demo has you tasked with accessing a facility in the middle of a sandstorm, littered with enemy bugs, to retrieve a Resonance Core, which is presumably a piece of some mysterious "artifact".

From the start, you pick a character which follows one of three archetypes: a sharpshooter, a technician, or a negotiator. Perfectly fine in theory, but narrowly defining your character from the outset leaves little room for nuance; I ended up doing all three things anyway, so at least picking sharpshooter meant I could engage in combat if necessary. I think the game wants to be a top-down Fallout In Space, but I found it to be very hollow overall. Or at least, simplistic to the point of boredom.

Combat consisted of clicking on the bugs before they could get in my face (and stun-lock me), with the occasional R button to reload. If I became injured, I just had to wait it out...a mechanic I thought we had moved past from ages ago (unless you're Call of Duty, I guess). Hacking is pressing WASD keys in the right order. Talking/negotiating was about the only interesting bit, with options reliant on my background choice and what I chose to do inside the facility. Because I turned on the outside turrets (just in case, I figured), I ended the potential conflict before it could happen...then shot the backstabber dead anyway, as punishment for her hubris. Seemed appropriate considering I was playing the archetype described as someone who prefers to act instead of think.

Ultimately, I was very disappointed with Drake. There's little to draw you in, and there's a slight tinge of "wrongness" with it. Maybe it was the lady's dialogue: I don't know if it was an AI doing the voice-acting or not, but she certainly sounded stilted in that way to make me question things. Either-way, the demo did a poor job of selling the action or the RPG mechanics in this "action RPG".

EVERSPACE 2

Release Date: April 6th, 2023
Developed by: ROCKFISH Games
Published by: ROCKFISH Games

I actually already have Everspace 2 on my Steam Wishlist, after a coworker here at OutofGames recommended it to me. I played the demo early last year, and really enjoyed the experience; I have since reinstalled the demo to get a refresher for this piece. You play as Adam, a clone soldier/pilot who is hiding his identity now that clones have been outlawed...although there is more to the story than even your own playable character is letting on. The title is pretty much "Diablo in space": not on some alien world, mind you, but literally in space, flying around as a spacefighter. You go on quests, tool your ship with new equipment you loot along the way, and can create a variety of builds to suit your needs or particular style of play.

Having never played a game of this design before - except, like, ship battles in the classic Star Wars Battlefront II - I couldn't tell you the ins and outs of how well it functions compared to other titles. That said, from my experience the ship flies great and gameplay is a blast. There's nothing quite like pew-pew-ing your way through a space battle, doing all manner of rolls, strafes, and boosts to avoid enemy fire whilst dishing out some hurt of your own. I'd wager this is the kind of game where, by the end of things, you'll think yourself a slick pilot, having mastered your ship to the fullest. An experience that makes you feel like a badass when you're pulling it off well, becoming so cocky that Han Solo has to speak up and rein in your ego.

All-told I really enjoy Everspace 2, and eventually I'll get around to buying it one of these days. Being only $20 at the moment, it might be sooner than I expect!

Galactic Glitch

Release Date: July 15th, 2024 (Early Access)
Developed by: Crunchy Leaf Games
Published by: Crunchy Leaf Games

Galactic Glitch is a twin-stick roguelike shooter, with a heavy focus on gameplay physics. You pilot a ship through what's left of the universe (or is it a simulation?), directed by a mysterious digital-lady named Siren. You've been created as a means to help her find a way to escape, so don't let her down!

As you explore the cosmos you'll dash, blast, pew-pew, and or chuck things at enemy ships, the latter being endlessly entertaining. There's usually asteroid debris littering the landscape that you can grab and whip at them, but creative minds will toss back enemy missiles...or the enemies themselves! The physics gameplay in-part comes from the little bubble-pockets of the universe that you're fighting in: when you throw an object at the bubble's wall, it'll bounce back into the arena, allowing you to throw stuff at an angle or otherwise do some cool tricks. The game is still in Early Access, so who knows what other neat things you'll be able to accomplish by the time it hits a full release.

The demo was kinda short, ending after the first boss encounter, but I was very much enjoying my time with it. Galactic Glitch has a solid soundtrack from what I've sampled, slick visuals, a decent amount of humor in its item descriptions and Siren's dialogue, and it's just plain fun. Instant addition to the Wishlist for me! 

Luna Abyss

Release Date: "To be announced"
Developed by: Bonsai Collective
Published by: Bonsai Collective

Luna Abyss is a "bullet hell" FPS, where you play as Fawkes, a prisoner trapped in an extremely creepy place with only the guidance of those who may not have your best intentions at heart to lead you on. Waking up in a tomb, you discover yourself in some kind of drone/puppet body, with the voices in your head pushing you forward with the promise of reducing your sentence.

Now, I must clarify that Luna Abyss does not appear to be a horror game in the strictest sense. It is sufficiently unnerving, yes, with graphical effects, noises, and a color scheme of black/white/red combining to freak you out. But that's all atmosphere to what is ultimately still an FPS, there to pull you into the mystery of your situation without necessarily relying on actual scare-tactics. Which is good, because I would have Nope'd out super-duper fast at the slightest instance of a jump-scare.

As for its shooter aspects, the game gets its "bullet hell" styling from the way enemies fire their energy balls at you, with the expectation that'll you dash, jump, crouch, and slide your way past them. There's apparently no such thing as ammo in the Abyss - all weapons are energy-based that can suffer from temporary overheating - so you can hone in and fire away while focusing more attention on damage-avoidance. After I got into the groove of dodging - and remembered the extremely helpful lock-on ability - the gameplay became much smoother and more fun.

Luna Abyss is shaping up to be a really interesting title. I don't usually like games that are creepy, but I was intrigued by what story was teased to consider coming back to it when the full release drops someday. It has the potential to be like Bioshock, which had a similar capacity to unsettle me despite how good the game was beyond that.

Space Scavenger 2

Release Date: "To be announced"
Developed by: Red Cabin Games
Published by: Red Cabin Games

Similar to Galactic Glitch above, Space Scavenger 2 is a twin-stick roguelike shooter, albeit with a different main selling point. In this game, you basically strap whatever you can find onto your ship to make a usable combat vessel for running the "Gauntlet". With a familiar structure for Slay the Spire fans, you'll warp from level to level preparing yourself for the boss at the end, collecting bits and pieces whilst defeating enemies for experience and scanning nearby planets for Science to spend on permanent upgrades between runs.

The main thing I noticed about Space Scavenger 2 is its laid-back atmosphere. The music, the lax nature of bolting on various bits to your ship, the meandering means by-which you venture around hoovering up whatever you find; the game probably doesn't stay relaxing forever, but it definitely doesn't feel as..."demanding" as many other roguelikes I've experienced. All-told it's pretty goofy, really, like when you're swinging a big ol' mace around your ship. As long as you have enough "body" pieces - of which you can acquire more pretty readily - SS2 doesn't care much about the "how" or "why" as-to the ship's functionality making sense. And I guess that's the charm of the game: making do with whatever silly conglomerate you come up with, like forgoing the instructions for a Lego set and just creating whatever you feel inspired to build.

If there was ever such a thing as a "cozy roguelike", this could potentially be it. The Gauntlet's difficulty is customizable, so you can chillax and embrace the silly chaos however you wish. It wasn't really my thing, to be honest, but Space Scavenger 2 was still amusing in its own right.

Conclusion/Final Rankings

Now that you've read through all of the reviews - or if you're just looking for a "TL;DR" - I'll conclude with reordering the games based how much I enjoyed them. Any that found their way onto my Wishlist will be noted with an asterisk as well!

  1. Galactic Glitch*
  2. Everspace 2*
  3. Luna Abyss
  4. Dark Sky
  5. Space Scavenger 2
  6. Drake

And there you have it! Don't forget you have until next Monday (the 9th of September) to play whatever demos tickle your fancy, at least until the next Steam Fest event.

What do you think of these games? Discover any good gems in this month's Space Exploration Fest worth buying? Let us know in the comments below!