I was originally planning to write about something else. However, I saw that Steam Next Fest was running and hey, I figured that I should check a few games out with a partner and write about it before it ends. The current iteration of Steam Next Fest ends on the 12th, so consider checking that out if you haven’t already.

Kicking things off, let’s talk about Balatro, which has probably been the most talked about entry within the circles I frequent. Balatro’s by LocalThunk and looks like a simple and normal poker game. Win chips by playing successful hands, reach a certain number of chips to meet the blinds and… wow, those blinds keep getting bigger and bigger, huh?

But fear not: this is poker governed by roguelike elements. You can buy jokers that act as modifiers to the experience that range from simple things like making even-numbered cards pay out more chips and multipliers for playing certain hands to wilder shit like making it so that you only need four cards to form a straight. Besides that, you can buy tarot cards that can modify the deck itself from making certain cards pay out more, or changing a card’s suit to potentially synergize with jokers and make flushes easier. You can also buy cards based on planets (is that a thing?) to improve hand payouts, so you can potentially do something like make a simple two pair pay way more than a four-of-a-kind and whatnot. Unlike real poker, you can readily and easily check the deck to account for possible discards and hands, so feel free to plan as you play without being worrying about getting tossed out of the casino (though, the game forcing you to rely on card counting could be an interesting difficulty modifier for the real gambling-pilled people out there, just saying…)

You’re given two blinds and a boss blind each round. You can skip playing blinds and whatever meta-game growth you could have gotten for playing in exchange for a bonus later on, so there’s gambling present in the progression itself. However, you are required to play the boss blinds and most of them have a modifier that can really throw you for a loop. Special mention to the Cerulean Bell, the final boss of the demo, which forces you to select a card for a hand and forces you to work around that choice unless you managed to rig the deck enough in your favor. This really is probably the closest thing to a real boss battle poker of all things could have.

There’s… really not much to say about Balatro. It’s a poker roguelike, it’s self-explanatory and there isn’t a lot for me to yap about. But it’s poker! It’s easy to learn, people who aren’t roguelike-pilled probably already know how to play, and it’s simple to pick up, play, and get sucked into. The full game actually comes out on the 20th, so if you’re already hooked on the demo, you don’t have to wait too long. Personally, I totally see this joining my rotation of games I casually play.

Though if you still have a taste for some card battling action, I also checked out Diceomancer, by Ultra Piggy Studio. You’re going out on a fishing trip with deckbuilder action, but when a new element outside of cards gets introduced, the universe starts breaking down. Fight with cards – and with dice – in search of some peace!

Card battling is easy to understand. There are attack cards, block cards, and you can see the intentions of enemies to figure out how you can work around it. You get mana every turn and you can change some mana into different types through discarding some cards so you could do different attacks. Seems straightforward.

However, at the end of the tutorial, you’re hit up with a boss that’s impossible to beat. Huge health pools, insane defense, a nutty attack value… But that’s when a friendly NPC girl gives you the game’s unique mechanic: a 1d6 die that can reroll any numerical value on the screen.

You can roll a die as an active or you can roll as a consumable card. You can roll someone’s double digit health down to a single digit number for massive damage or you can roll on an enemy’s powerful attack to something that hurts less if you’re lacking shields. Have no money? You can give yourself money with a roll of the die, because your UI is also a selectable numerical value! Reroll your health? Uh, not sure why you’d want to do that with a 1d6 die, but you could if you want – though from what I’ve seen from screenshots, you could potentially roll way higher in the future.

Outside of the tutorial, you progress on a linear map with branching paths while a purple haze eats up the world behind you. Interestingly, you can actually double back on the map to points that the map had not eaten up yet, which makes progression feel more evocative of FTL than a contemporary like Slay the Spire. As traveling on the map also charges your active die, there’s incentive to doing so besides checking spaces you missed.

To be honest, I was sorta “eh” about the game at first besides its art style, which I think is very pretty. But the moment that dice mechanic was introduced, I was hooked in. I’m really wondering how far Diceomancer’s able to push the titular dice, because I think it’s a neat mechanic that really helps differentiate the game from other deckbuilders out there.

Who invited blud? Oh, right, they’re part of this article, sorry. #BLUD is a game made by Exit 73 Studios. Exit 73 Studios is primarily an animation studio that’s contributed to various ventures like Nickelodeon shows and the OK KO game, and now they’re bouncing into games with their own venture.

You are Becky, a girl who’s just starting high school. She gets into discussions on the game’s version of Twitter, she meets some new kids, she fights vampiric mutations…It’s pretty normal fare for a kid’s adventure. Really, you should think of #BLUD as a playable Saturday night cartoon, which is definitely in Exit 73’s wheelhouse.

Combat is some basic beat em’ up type stuff. Becky swings at enemies with her fists (and a hockey stick, later on) and can do a stronger attack if you strike after a roll. I kinda wish that the roll was a dodge roll that ignored projectiles, but that’s fine. The combat’s serviceable, though it’s nice to look at and I’ll admit that #BLUD’s demo ends with a bang in a pretty good boss fight.

Really, the main draw for me was the flavor text. There are a lot of NPCs to talk to and Becky can take selfies with them, which she’ll post online. Hopping on social media, you also get some additional chatter on most of the notable pictures she takes. Going online is also how you keep track of objectives. Thank you Corey, I WILL #GoToSchool.

Is it weird that the owner of the site just randomly butts into conversations? Yes, but he’s not weird and pathetic, so that makes it better than Twitter. Besides, there’s already a classmate named Elon that’s an annoying tech nerd. And there’s a YouTuber trying to be like Mr. Beast. #BLUD definitely feels like a game that’s going to have commentary on being Online, which makes me wonder if the site owner’s going to end up being a blood sucking vampire.

The animation? Pretty dang good, Exit 73’s really flexing their animation skills here. You might think a few things are overanimated like dialogue portraits that don’t really need to be moving that much, but honestly, it’s pretty tame compared to the likes of John Kricfalusi. Instead, I think the animation finds a nice middle ground between standard cartoons nowadays and the sensibilities of Ren and Stimpy-like animations.

The gameplay needs some more sauce, but maybe you’ll find that the animation adds enough sauce. I found #BLUD to be enjoyable and it got a lot of time out of me, though that’s probably because I spent a lot of time talking to people. However, I think that demonstrates that the game has a strong voice. This wasn’t a game I had my eyes on before (thanks Infomantis <3), but it’s something I’m looking forward to now.