Ah, Steam Next Fest. A smorgasbord of sketchy titles and hentai games. I kid (mostly), it’s also a great way to experience some all-new, new-to-you, or developing titles. Which means this is the perfect time to put in some quick initial sniffs at several MMO and multiplayer games that have been on my radar or just kind of leaped out at me as I was scrolling through.

Now I should point out that this is definitely not an exhaustive or comprehensive list, and I’d be more than happy to know if any of our fine readers have stumbled into some treasure as well. Also none of these blurbs should be taken as impressions pieces in full; these are brief stints in demos collected here to maybe give you something new to discover. Now that we’ve gotten all of those asterisks tapped out, let’s dig in.

Jump Ship

I’m going to start with this one purely because it’s the game I’m the most excited for by far. I’ve been watching this one with keen interest for a while, and the demo has absolutely galvanized my hype. So far, Jump Ship is looking like the kind of co-op sci-fi space game I’ve always wanted.

You may have heard this one referred to as Sea of Thieves in Space, and that’s not entirely off the mark, but it’s a lot more like Void Crew or more appropriately Guns of Icarus insofar as you’re a crew of up to four manning a spacecraft, so you’ve got to have people put out fires, steer the ship, man turrets, and apply repair and shield batteries. Sprinkle in some on-foot FPS objectives and you’ve got a really good time, especially with the right friend group. But it can still be played in small teams or solo too!

Mycopunk

There appear to have been a lot of roguelikes and roguelike shooters cartwheeling around the Next Fest this month, so you’re going to see a few of ’em here. One of these is Mycopunk, an objective-based shooter that involves picking a hero character, selecting a mission, and just basically following the prompted tasks, whether that’s killing foes, restarting infrastructure, or other things.

This game feels… OK. The demo has a few missions to try out, multiplayer seems to work all right, the gunplay felt fine, and the powering up of your character and weapons in-between runs was reasonable. I think the biggest thing that puts me off is the visuals: This game has a very bright palette paired with hard dark outlines and some weird granular filter over everything that makes it challenging to look at, especially for a game as fast-paced as this. Still, if you are looking for some quick-hitting run-and-gun, it’s not too bad.

Terminull Brigade

…or you could run-and-gun roguelike here! Stupid name aside, Terminull Brigade brings some fast and fun gun fights, a whole lot of panache, and hero characters that seem to have some interesting toolkits. The setting and story are a bit throwaway, but then I wasn’t really coming to this one for a deep narrative.

I will say that there are a couple of temport flags waving in the air for me here, such as that weird thing where the voiceover lines don’t match up with the subtitles, or the kind of basic gameplay loop that might lean rather hard on grinding. I will also say that this demo had the least amount of features, with only two characters and one single-player mission. Still, this was way more entertaining than I expected. I think it could be a fun shooter to dip in and out of now and again.

Vindictus: Defying Fate

First off, you should check out Tyler’s more involved peek at this one. It’s going to get way more into things than I will here. However, I will parrot his thoughts regarding the game’s visuals and combat; Vindictus: Defying Fate is gorgeous to behold and has some of the tightest combat I’ve ever enjoyed.

Also, don’t let the Soulslike sub-genre tag totally make you brace. I also agree that this one is much more approachable and entertaining than the chest-thumping idiocy that these kinds of titles seem to encourage. There’s even much better English voice acting than I was expecting. This one went from curiosity to actively interested thanks to this demo, and I even want to check out the “vanilla” Vindictus.

BitCraft

This MMO is basically Pastoral Life Online, at least as far as I’ve experienced in my brief couple of stints with the game. That is to say, it’s very much about gathering and crafting and managing inventory, and it is in absolutely no rush to get anywhere whatsoever. Which is laudatory if you ask me.

Sometimes it’s nice to just be in a sandbox that’s more chilled out, crafting oriented, and filled with bunches of people milling about doing their own chores. Also, the people I’ve interacted with have been pretty friendly. It still feels like early days yet, but those who like less stressful and more measured pacing in an actual sandbox MMORPG diet could do worse if you ask me.

Evercore Heroes: Ascension

This game has taken some twists and turns as our regular readers already know, so I arrived to this demo with a bit of trepidation (and unfortunately without any others to join me in my brief romps, though that’s more a problem of schedule timing than anything). However, I will say – having never played this one in its original state or in prior demo builds – that Evercore Heroes: Ascension feels pretty well put together.

I appreciate how that might read like faint praise, but that really is a big benefit. This game feels extremely tightly built, with some expected MOBA-like combat (WASD supported, thankfully) and some perfectly solid roguelike mechanics. I sort of felt like the game was desperately trying to sell itself at every open possible opportunity, but that aside, this demo was extremely good. It was like if Heroes of the Storm got its own dedicated PvE mode.

Voyagers of Nera

We now move to the survivalbox of the lineup, Voyagers of Nera and… well, I don’t know. This one isn’t a bad game under any circumstances, but it also is really not doing too much to rock the boat too hard in its sub-genre, appearing to mostly lean into its aesthetic and the adventurous call of sailing to multiple islands.

Failing those two big flashy flags, I wasn’t really seeing a lot to stun and endear me here. You gather stuff. You craft stuff. You have to watch hunger and thirst. You have to whack rock monsters to save little spirits in order to upgrade your home base. It’s very serviceable but also a little too much like other contemporaries. I don’t know. It’s fine. I’m curious if anyone else feels similarly.

Starlight Re:Volver

Lastly we come to the final roguelike of the lot, Starlight Re:Volver, or as I like to call it, Hyper Mega Pastel Fighters. Seriously, this game’s color palette is BRIGHT, y’all. It looked at neon, called it an amateur, then cranked up the candy coating dials until the background of Saved By the Bell’s opening title sequence begged for mercy.

Visual assault aside, this one was a pretty good time while also being a very serious challenge. These colors will kick your ass if you’re not careful, and the matchmaking multiplayer was great. Also it has a Watermelon Game minigame in its central hub. Top marks for that. If you can work through the eye melt of the visuals, this game is something to keep tabs on.

So that’s my not-full list of developing and upcoming games. Like I said before, if you’ve unearthed some gems yourself, share them with others. Steam Next Fest is all about the weird and wild discovery, and that’s always best shared with others.

Early access MMOs are a minefield of underdeveloped releases and almost immediate buyer’s remorse. That’s where Massively OP’s Progress Bar comes in: It’s Chris Neal’s monthly look at developing online multiplayer early access games – and whether they’re worth your money and attention.