Is there truly anything better than getting wrapped up in a blanket and finding something cute and cozy to play? Yes, I know it’s June, and no, that won’t stop me. Steam Next Fest is a celebration of upcoming games and sees hundreds of developers releasing limited-time demos on Valve’s platform.
Steam also hosts a bunch of developer livestreams, giving teams the chance to discuss their games and show off secrets you might not discover for yourself. For June’s Next Fest, I decided to find the most adorable among the ranks.
Steam Next Fest kicked off on June 19 and will end on June 26. That means there’s a whole lot of cute to discover in not a lot of time. What makes a game cute, though? For me, it’s bright, animated graphics, a comfy and whimsical soundtrack, gameplay that isn’t too taxing but still brings satisfaction … and there are extra points for adorable animals. I found it difficult to whittle my selection down to just a few to talk about, but in the end, I’ve got some gems to shine a spotlight on.
Dicefolk
Dicefolk is, perhaps obviously, a dice-based roguelike. There’s a healthy dose of sketch-based lore to ease you into just why you’re traveling around with a bunch of dice and tiny monsters, but it’s never weighed down by its narrative. It tasks you with stopping small monsters called chimeras from destroying the fictional lands of Salem through a series of dice battles.
As you enter a battle, there are a few things to understand. The chimeras on each team facing one another are called the leaders of their team, and they’re the ones taking the turn. You have the option to rotate left, right, or randomly to swap leaders. White dice let you command your team, while dark dice allow you to command the opposition. You can end your turn when all enemy dice, or moves, are used up. The dice then reset, and the other team will take their turn. Eliminating each chimera on the opposing team leads to victory, then you can collect your loot, which includes equipment such as armor, shields, tokens for healing, and more.
The music is jovial, determined, and wonderful, and on more than one occasion I let a screen sit static for much longer than needed in order to fit in some extended vibing time. As you navigate the map, which has set routes blocked by battles, much like Slay the Spire, you come across varied encounters. Chimera shrines house potential new additions to your team, but be careful to study the stats – you can only recruit once per region, and if you reject a chimera, they will become unavailable for recruitment full-stop. The shop is pretty self-explanatory; it sells items that can provide buffs to your team.
Boss battles are where your skill truly gets to shine through, and while the demo only extends to one boss fight, I felt like I still had enough time to get some strong items and buffs for my characters. Dicefolk’s roguelike nature is what will keep me coming back, and the adorable art style and whimsical atmosphere make it an all-around joy to behold.
Moonstone Island
Moonstone Island has had demos featured during previous Steam Next Fests, but this time around the developer has set it in Fall to give a different seasonal taste. Perhaps one of the longest demos available, Moonstone Island generously gives you 14 in-game days to experience everything the island has to offer.
You’ll set off on a mission to become an alchemist but quickly crashland your flying broomstick (yes, really). You’re then rescued by the warm and friendly Ossono, the tavern manager, who gives you a place to stay and encourages you to set up your alchemy tent. Among the frowned-upon activities in your new career as an alchemist is forming an army of spirits to overthrow a government… so there goes my plan.
There’s plenty on offer, and your handy in-game journal will keep you on the right track with quests set by the other islanders to help you expand your experience. Head down the mines to gather stone, copper, and iron ore, then craft a furnace to turn those into ingots. There’s an adorable romance system built in too, though I must admit I’ve turned into a serial dater in the hopes of uncovering the stories of each islander.
Moonstone Island also features a baffling battle system, which I didn’t manage to get too much time with. It seems an almost redundant addition to the game’s already healthy amount of content, and I’m not sure I’d miss it if it was gone.
There are a few frustrating moments, the first of which I encountered during my attempts to enter a dungeon. Finding the dungeon was easy enough, but I’m then tasked with awakening the tree inside it, and I still don’t have a clue how. As a guides editor, this both excites and terrifies me – if I can’t do it, who can? I’m probably missing something obvious, but make sure to check back on PCGamesN for the guide when I figure it out!
Overall, this Stardew Valley-like island builder with a mystical twist had me fully enraptured from start to finish, and I’m going to be losing many hours of my life to it when the full release rolls around later this year.
Sticky Business
Sticky Business has potentially my favorite name of all on this list. As a new entrepreneur setting up a sticker-making business, you will have the opportunity to create your own stickers from scratch, print them efficiently, and fulfill orders. It sounds incredibly basic, and the concept truly is, but some of the stories that begin to unfold are so heartwarming and beautiful.
I designed several stickers: a bisexual flag with the true icon of all bisexuals – a frog – adorned in the middle, a dinosaur in space, a sheep donut, a non-binary raccoon, and a lesbian whale. Creating the stickers was great fun, but I’m hoping the limited options do expand with the full game’s release.
Heading to the printer, you must effectively position your stickers to get the most revenue per sheet. You can drag and drop them over yourself, but if that feels slightly too tedious for you (as it was for me), simply clicking the sticker will automatically layer them on the sheet in an efficient way. There’s a handy sticky note explaining the cost and potential profit per sheet, which helps you to see that your glorious triple-layer ice cream cone with star fireworks isn’t going to be as cost-effective as you’d hoped. I know, it sounds wonderful, I was as disappointed as you’d expect.
Once you’ve created and printed your stickers, the orders will start rolling in. I might have got a little trigger-happy creating and printing my first stickers, so when an order came in for some I hadn’t gotten around to printing just yet, I was already bankrupt. Oops. No fret though, as instead of completely starting over and losing your glorious designs, the game gives you the option of asking Grandma for some money – cute!
The orders are where my heart began to fill up. Some customers will include notes with their orders, and one particular person explains how your stickers help him to focus at work. As he places his repeat orders, he explains that he doesn’t have an official ADHD diagnosis just yet, but his coworkers have noticed how much more productive he is as he begins to use your stickers to mark important work and set reminders for himself. As a fellow ADHD-haver, I can relate to the need to constantly find coping mechanisms throughout the work day, and by the end of my time with the demo, I wanted to find my fellow neurospicy human and give them a hug.
Sticky Business is a simple concept, but one I could happily spend many joyful hours in, and the cleverly included personal stories and journeys put this game on the same level as Unpacking for me. A great idea executed wonderfully.
Loddlenaut
Loddlenaut is an underwater survival game where you’re tasked with cleaning up and recycling throughout the ocean. There are various safe zones where you don’t need to watch your oxygen intake, and you’ll be happy to hear that when venturing out to other zones, you’ll find kindly placed life rings dotted around, which refill your oxygen supply when you swim through them. During those adventures, you can discover and tame adorable little creatures called Loddles.
The demo allows you to travel to Flotsam Flats to clean up toxic gunk and litter, and within this area, two Loddles are waiting to meet you. There’s plenty to clean up, and it requires tens of refills of your oxygen tank, but it’s still oddly soothing.
Taking your collected recycling to the banks will reward you with gems of plastic, metal, or glass, which you can then use at the crafting machine to make helpful devices to add additional stats to your UI. I chose to create a new life ring to make the swim for fresh oxygen less tedious, as well as a radar that signaled the next spot of pollution for my tiny little flippers to head towards.
Loddlenaut’s pollution clearing did grow a little monotonous, but the endearing art style, simple, twinkling music, and ‘save the planet’ motif kept me hooked.
Paleo Pines
We recently wrote about this Stardew Valley with dinosaurs addition to Steam Next Fest, and I was far too excited to jump into this demo. My dino, Lucky, is an adorable oversized puppy of a creature, who is always enthusiastic about our adventures. Having arrived at Paleo Pines, the locals are surprised to see my rare breed of dinosaur and welcome us both with open arms, being a little bit too keen to set us on quests before we’ve even tidied our own yard.
Shortly into the demo, I’m given a flute and taught how to use it to entice and befriend the local dinosaurs. Building pens for them in my limited garden, I can’t help but feel that promoting the capture of dinosaurs can’t be super beneficial to the local ecosystem, but then I recall that dinosaurs, in reality, died out millions of years ago, so what do I really know?
As it is then, I potter on with my tasks, finding a way to clear a blocked path, and making friends with dinosaurs faster than the locals can cook their Poffin Pies, which are apparently the only thing you need in your arsenal to tame a dinosaur, alongside that flute from earlier.
Paleo Pines is adorable. If I were numbering this list based on cuteness alone, it would take the top spot – but this isn’t a ranked list, cuteness isn’t quantifiable, and you’ll just have to take my word for it.
If you’ve got a spare couple of hours over the next few days, I’d encourage anyone who might be a fan of spending their time going “ooh” and “aww,” to download a few of these demos. You’ll have a wonderful, wholesome time. Maybe you can go and slay some demons in Diablo 4 afterwards … you know, to balance it all out again.