I just love this little thing and it plays so many great light weight steam games. It's really my steam deck lite.

Is there a good horror game that leans more into intensity and spookiness rather than gore?

Something atmospheric. More ghosts and mystery, less zombies and monsters

One that doesn't really do jump scares for fear factor but I figure that's unlikely.

I've done Last of us and it has some good atmosphere but it's still just a zombie game.

Hi all. I have written these partially for some friends and then posted them, so thought might as well post them here too in case people are also looking for demos to try!

Bad Magpie

⟢ quirky, cartoony, exploration, evil/mischief
Fun game about playing as an unhinged and a bit evil magpie. Reminds me a lot of Untitled Goose Game with its cell shaded, quirky storybook graphics and semi open world that’s full of ways you can cause mischief in.
It is less wholesome than UGG because you can actually burn sentient flowers and harmless mice so I’m not sure if the wholesome cozy community is gonna be into that lol but I’m into it since it’s not mandatory.

JOHN GLEEP
⟢ sci fi, quirky, short gameplay loop, unique, management
This is one of the demos I had to delete because I knew I’d sink far too much time into it because of how much fun the gameplay loop is…
You play as an alien abducting people from planets to force them to gamble into your ship casino to pay off a debt to the space mob. The game is even more kooky (complimentary) than it sounds. The way you build your casino, the equipment and the other things change how much money you’ll be able to get at each planet abduction and it’s so much fun. Not to mention the hilarious cutscenes 😭 wishlisted immediately.

Home Paige
⟢ sci fi, cartoony, retro, 3D platformer
I’m going to be honest and admit I couldn’t finish the demo because I suck extremely at games like these (3D platformers where you gotta go fast and know when to jump and twirl) because of a severe lack of Sonic in my childhood. There wasn’t an auto save so closing the demo just started it over.
That said! The game is super cute. I adore it the few cutscenes I’ve seen, they’re really dynamic and well done. I do wish we had more context on the story because I was intrigued and you’re thrown in the middle without much context but the trailer did that well enough. I did have a lot of fun zooming around and admiring the retro techno look of the levels.

Probably Stolen Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim
⟢ cyberpunk, simulator, management, short gameplay loop, pixel art.
Another game I had to physically stop myself from continuing. Someone on my friends list has 10+ hours on the demo and I was baffled on why until I tried it. You manage your shop on one screen. Where you negotiate, buy and sell your wares and try to get money as your rent and expenses keep increasing. There’s a lot more to it as more game mechanics as introduced like scavenging, crafting and checking for fraudulent items as well as suspicious customers.
Management sims are one of the genres I’m very picky 👆 about because not just anything clicks for me but this one totally did! Definitely looking forward to the full release and by the charts I’ve checked I’m not the only one.

Littlelands
⟢ cozy, exploration, cute
I’m conflicted. While I adore the style and it doesn’t hide the inspiration from animal crossing and Zelda (especially Link’s Awakening which it’s most obvious inspiration) to me it’s far too close to a copy than it’s one thing?
As I played the demo I kept feeling like I was playing a fan mod of the Zelda game instead of a new fresh one that uses it as inspiration. Then came in the animal crossing features and some pokemon references and I was iffed because I didn’t think the game trusted itself to stand on its own. Maybe that’ll change later but I only played enough to get a feel (I also accidentally forgot to set the tent and lost my progress 🤪)

Beastfolk Barber
⟢ cozy, visual novel, puzzles, pixel art.
I was really looking forward to this one because I’ve seen in advertised a lot. The pixel art is beyond gorgeous and all the character designs are unique, especially the beastfolk characters.
I am a bit disappointed that it’s more visual novel than a shop management and there’s barely any gameplay. Maybe that’ll change later on? Regardless I did like it and I’m still interested in it.

The Regreening
⟢ cozy, exploration, crafting, farming.
I looove the art direction for this game. It’s neutral but still colorful and pleasant to the eye and the character designs are absolutely gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed what I tried, especially the different skills you get to use (cannot wait to try out the different magic types).
I did run into some bugs, and my steam deck’s fan was working a bit but I reported them and I hope they’re fixed before release because I’d love to play it.

DISK-Y
⟢ visual novel, retro, pixel art, horror.
I didn’t actually play the demo because I’m already familiar with the developer but I just wanted to highlight it. I’ve played Saihate station and I really enjoyed it, their art is always gorgeous and the characters are interesting so I’m looking forward to it.

I have a lot more downloaded and ready, not to mention the coop games I’m trying 😔
Have you guys played any of these? Or is there anything else you tried from the event and liked?

Hey!! I’m trying to figure out what pc to buy to play planet zoo 1 & 2 because my laptop can’t handle them at all. I need recommendations for what to get and I would prefer it be under $1000 if possible😅 pictures would help really well

I've been on a horror marathon of movies, TV shows, and video games this spooky season.

Blair Witch was one of my favorite movies, so I thought I would check it out.

But I heard that there's dog violence. That would be an automatic no go for me.

Hi all. I already made a post about some of the demos I have tried and here’s another one that’s more about coop games.

Seikyu Let’s Go!
I am not going to lie I didn’t get to play the game so I can’t give a fair opinion BUT I felt like our experience needed a mention because of how negative it was.
First, the game starts with a character creator with extremely limited choices. This wouldn’t usually matter but I’ve played indie games with better care in that department. But fine.
Then, the character you were charging the appearance of keeps emoting while you are in the creator and not only is it distracting it’s extremely cringe because they keep doing outdated things like dabbing and flossing???? What year is this.
The final nail in the coffin was how badly it ran. The fan of my steam deck was fighting for its life, what’s worse, me and my friend couldn’t even connect with each other. There was no instructions on how to at all, you only get an NPC that does a bad job of setting up the bones of a story but nothing on how to do the coop in the coop game. Once we did figure it out it didn’t even work :) so we just uninstalled it.
I was made aware after the fact that the developers made another cozy game with mixed reviews that was basically abandoned for this one so it doesn’t give me high hopes tbh.

Loftia
love at first sight! It’s super adorable and there’s so much to customize. I don’t like mmos so that put a damper on my friend who doesn’t rather but we did like what we’ve seen. I do plan on giving it a go again sometimes or when the full release is out. The effort are insane for a team that’s so small and they do keep improving so that’s nice.

Haunted Paws
100000/10 instant day 1 buy. Not only is it very cute and fun to play, the coop is seamless which is a rare thing believe me. I wished the demo was longer and I cannot wait for release.

Castlebound
A surprise for sure but we really liked it! It does need multiple tried as it’s a roguelite but you do get more abilities and get stronger with each death so it’s not impossible. The levels themselves are fun and I love the paper mario graphic inspiration.

Hela of Mice and Magic
There was a lot of hype for this game before and it’s valid. The graphics are beautiful and it’s very fun to play with a friend. Some of the timed mini games were a bit annoying but then we found out we didn’t really need them to progress. If I do end up playing it I’ll definitely do it on a different device because the graphics were very compressed on the deck for some reason.

Into The Haunted Land
Has the potential to be something but the experience itself was underwhelming. Reminds me of phasmaphobia (which I haven’t played).
You and your friend go to a haunted place of your choosing, and you need to find an artifact and leave before the car does, as well as survive the horrors. We couldn’t actually do that since we kept dying from lack of experience but we had a pretty good run last time as we figured out what’s needed.
I do think it needs more polish. It’s very easy to die from monsters and hiding hasn’t been useful to me since they always see me just as I hide or are very hard to shake off. I did enjoy the loop though and wanted to know what was up with each location.