The Hub of Reid Harris Cooper

The latest SteamNext Fest winds down today October 20th. I did not play all the demos I planned as life got in the way (death, mainteance, other general life stuff), but after every demo I dropped unfiltered thoughts into a Notepad and now I share them with you.

Cult of Blood: Cut scenes with no moving mouths, bad voice acting and then… TANK controls. Probably great for someone, not me.

Midnight Saturn: A really good teaser for the pixel science fiction mystery point and click.

Devil Jam: Amazing art, but I had zero clue what I was doing and I tried twice.

Light Odyssey: Promising but the demo throws you into boss battle with a very short tutorial. It’s a minimalistic Shadow of the Colossus which can be fun, but you also must have patience and really good hand/eye coordination for.

The Dark Rites of Arkham: Pixel art alternate history supernatural point and click. the short puzzles, writing and premise presented in the demo have me curious, but the demo is also very short and ends basically before you get to do much.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion: We only get Arcade mode, but we do get two boss fights and learn how multiple characters play and they’re all different enough to make this old school brawler also feel new school.

Big Hops: Adorable art but horrible platform design, very easy to get lost. I somehow brought myself back to the start of a section instead of moving forward. The demo broke twice. I want to love this and can’t.

Kambulin: Great pixel art, but in 2025 I have no patience for a NEW game that can only work with keyboard and has you read long text

The Last Case of John Morley: A very strong demo that gives you the graphics, gameplay, story, music, sound and voice acting which are all wonderful to what seems mostly an interactive first person mystery Victorian story with puzzles based on observation and thought (although one could strongarm the one in the demo, solving it by actually reading the clues was very satisfying).

Baptise: Great graphics, excellent jump scare but way too short to compel me. Also having to go back to the Main Menu and sit through credits again just to close out? Intrigued, but not sold.

Super Chillers-The Chat Room: Excellent pixel art and good voice acting. The puzzles while easy to solve feel weird as there is no internal story logic to why you would some of the stuff. There’s nothing telling you to check a certain area story wise giving it this random feel. The ending also was so abrupt it’s impossible to know where the game is going, which I guess is okay but again lack of internal logic to why you would do b to solve a without c hinting that is the path other than the only options available feels like this needs polish before being released. Interested though.

My Little Puppy: An extremely long and satisfying demo. This upcoming puzzle platformer has charming art, plenty of dogs, and a feel of simple yet also complicated, zen but with a bit of difficulty. Definitely one I want to keep playing. (Be aware that the developers did not get a certain process signed/paid the extra $$$ for actual access to so Microsoft may block the exe at first)

Marcella Moon-The Phantom of Harvest Grove: I turned this off right away. Between the dialog of someone falling off a horse and breaking their leg and the response being “anyone hurt?”, followed by the worst walk cycle I’ve seen in forever and the absolutely “that is not a real person, even if they were a cartoon” of Elliot, I was like, “nope”. Your Mileage May Vary, give it a go, see if you stick around to find out if the game gets better.

Scholar Adventure-Mystery of Silence: Traditional low res pixel horror mystery. Well written, good puzzles, actually logical and linear, a great tease to the full game when available.

A.I.L.A: I’ve been intrigued by this since first hearing about it. Now with the demo behind this tense, confusing, puzzle filled horror? game I’m even more so. I need to know where this is going.

Powerwash Simulator 2: More of the same with more stuff that isn’t the same. Still zen, still good.

A Better World: The concept and gameplay is great, but it also relies heavy on accepting the writing and the choices the writer and/or writers decided your decisions cause. I wasn’t feeling it myself, but you might.

Call of the Golden Valley: Not a fan of the controls or the walk speed, and the demo was really too short to get a full feel, but the voice acting was good and it could be a cool mystery.

MEAL: What? I… what do I do? How? Loading? Loading again? What? Huh?

The Tragedy of Deer Creek: Black and white pixel art, well thought through story telling, game play and puzzles, a real mystery. I did not want to stop playing.

EARTH MUST DIE: Fully animated, infectiously funny, amazing voice cast, from the studio that brought us one of my favorite games Lair of the Clockwork God. This demo was the perfect tease, I want this now. I want a Collector’s Edition.

FAIL.safe: The controls are meh (having controller but it doesn’t work well so you must keyboard/mouse), there’s no skipping dialogue, the graphics aren’t bad, just nothing special, but there’s definitely something here. The control scheme especially for the mechanic and gameplay is actually really not enjoyable but there’s still something here and I hope the final version is much better.

SpongeBob SquarePants – Titans of Ride: The action-platform SpongeBob games have all been that rare really well made game even though it’s for a franchise. Especially in the action platform genre. This new one is just as good if not better from the demo.

This Is Fine! Maximum Cope: I love that KC Green helped on this, but I am just not good at actually hard 2D platformer with combat. I enjoy them but also don’t enjoy how mean they can be.

Rarely do I write a review of a game I for the most part did not enjoy, which means there must have been something about the game I did enjoy. For Cloud Cat’s Land it was the art. The art is infectious, adorable, a pure joy to the eyes. Unfortunately it is the only thing in the game I truly can commend. Confusing writing that did not seem to mesh up or tie up, poorly concieved logic for a point and click that was more point and click till something happens and not knowing why it did and mini-games that felt like coding 101 instead of well concieved. I actually would have NEVER gotten to the end without a walkthrough. The strangest thing is I did have fun, but I was as grumpy as the cats that get grumpy through it cause I would read “combine *** with ****” and go “what?” and honestly be “that worked… why?”. Even when the game went meta and said many of these things were not logical, there was an answer to a puzzle later where the game patted itself on the back for creativity, but it wasn’t… it was just well dumb. Meta joke references to the greatest point and click games like Maniac Mansion which prided itself on “why did that work?” logic does not excuse it, as those games you still understood the logic that got you to the logic that should not work, here it was just surreal to be so. The art though… the art. Also I mean if you like surreal, illogical, and cats? Then it’gos the game for you and the art I posted below only scratches the surface, there is so much more to see and that is worth the $12.34 US + tax or whatever or you can also wait for sales.

🐾 Attention, villains: Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R. has been unleashed!

WARSAW, 26 SEPTEMBER 2025 – Who let the dog out… on a top-secret mission? VARSAV Game Studios, creators of Bee Simulator, return to the world of animal heroes with Barkour, a fast-paced blend of action, stealth, and dog parkour.

The studio proudly unveiled the first gameplay trailer of Barkour and confirmed that a public demo will go live on Steam starting October 2nd, 2025, right on time for Steam Next Fest!
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​Barkour puts you in the paws of Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R., a four-legged special agent equipped with high-tech gadgets, acrobatic agility, and undeniable canine charm. From stealthy infiltration to full-on combat or jaw-dropping parkour runs, every mission gives players the freedom to choose their own approach.

Barkour: Official Gameplay Trailer + Demo Announcement:

Demo Coming October 2nd

Fans won’t have to wait long to experience the action firsthand. On October 2nd, the Barkour demo will become available on Steam, offering the first chance to sniff out missions, test gadgets, and feel the rush of canine parkour.

Barkour puts you in the paws of Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R., a four-legged special agent equipped with high-tech gadgets, acrobatic agility, and undeniable canine charm. From stealthy infiltration to full-on combat or jaw-dropping parkour runs, every mission gives players the freedom to choose their own approach.

Key Features

• A serious agent, and a not-so-serious dog – T.H.U.N.D.E.R. may be a professional agent, but he still wags his tail, flicks his ears, and acts like a real dog at heart.
• Blend stealth, barkour, and combat – no two playthroughs are the same – sneak past enemies, strike hard, or outpace them with agility.
• Hi-tech gadgets galore – from grappling hook to rocket launcher, equip tools worthy of a four-legged T.H.U.N.D.E.R., Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R.
• Diverse worlds to explore – gothic castle, perilous greenhouse, creepy amusement park, secret headquarters, and more. 

For more updates on Barkour, follow the studio on:
​Twitter/X | Bluesky | Discord

I don’t generally “review” a demo and this is less a review and more a recommendation.

Nothing Strange Here is a very zen like 3rd person “point and click” adventure with a camera mechanic for observation and puzzle solving. The demo gives a good flavor of the game and the strangeness that is not there. It’s worth checking out for a good hour and exploring things and get well appetized for the full game.

The living carrots, the family band, your uncle’s pink ties, the overarching mystery and how big can it go? The demo ends at certain point but allows you to go back and try and get all the achievements if you so desire, so it really is a sweet morself of something that feels it can be very big in the end.

You can download the demo here.