"Steam Next Fest, the week-long demo festival held multiple times per year, is a great way to find your next favorite PC games, at least if you're willing to sift through page after page of obnoxious AI-generated slop. With growing numbers of participants competing for attention with the mountain of great games already out in the wild, it's harder than ever to find the diamonds in the rough."
"In Gunny Ascend, you're a character stuck on the familiar screen of a falling block puzzle, arranging pieces by hand to earn a high score and escape the dangerous miasma rising from below. Single blocks fall one at a time from the top, only showing the outline of their full shape once you grab them. You can them rotate them before placing them by hand, forming full lines to increase your score and chucking falling bombs away to prevent them from destroying your hard work."
"Between rounds, you earn bonuses and new abilities to help in increasingly difficult levels, culimating in unique boss fights. Bullet hell shooters can be a tough sell if you're not already a fan, with their bewildering, screen-filling hail of projectiles making them look nearly impenetrable."
Steam Next Fest is a week-long demo festival that showcases numerous upcoming and indie PC games, making discovery difficult amid a flood of low-quality, AI-generated entries and high competition for attention. Curated selections can reveal under-the-radar demos worth trying. Gunny Ascend blends roguelike progression with falling-block puzzle mechanics: players place single-outline blocks, rotate them, form lines, jettison bombs, earn bonuses and abilities between rounds, and face escalating levels culminating in unique boss fights. Bullet hell experience Birdcage equips players with varied weapons including spread shots, slowing focused barrages, and a destructive beam sword, demanding skillful use despite intimidating projectile patterns.
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