For several years, Steam has been organizing all kinds of themed events, to promote certain types of games. We could see pass the horror or the survival. But since yesterday, and until April 22, it is our dear subjective view games which are in the spotlight in the Steam FPS Fest. For the occasion, many developers have prepared a demo, an update, or simply a new trailer, to get people talking about their baby. Here is a small selection of the titles that caught our attention.
The trailers
RetroSpace
Gender : Immersive disco sim
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The developers of the immersive sim RetroSpace, offer us a new trailer to accompany the FPS festival. We are presented with all the advantages of the job of Janitor (janitor), as well as a nice shotgun. The atmosphere still seems so nice. A priori, still no release date has been announced yet. You can add it to your wishlist from its Steam page.
Updates
Vampire Hunters
Gender : Rogue-lite and crowd control
Rogue-lite in early access Vampire Hunterswhich uses the mechanics of Vampire Survivors by adapting it to the FPS and which we really appreciated, continues its early access by regularly publishing major updates. As it happens, this time we are entitled to a new map, 19 new weapons and new enemies. A rather exemplary follow-up. He is actually on sale at -20%, or €7.8.
Contain
Genre: Horror cooperation
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After a catastrophic launch, the developers promised to review their copy. We can't tell you if that will be enough, but at least they are making an effort. In the program, lots of small modifications, adjustments and bug fixes. For example, we can now jump and there are AI improvements. So go see directly the patch note if this interests you. Containstill in early access, is in 50% off promo, just under €15.
Ctrl Alt Ego
Genre: Immersive sim
We're cheating a little, because Ctrl Alt Ego is not part of the festival, and the developer himself indicates that he is not sure if it is an FPS – it is nevertheless in first person view. But an update has just dropped, and we don't talk about it often, so now's the chance. As a reminder, it is an immersive sim in the purest tradition, and it seems to conquer the hearts of everyone who has tried it. For this update, you will have access to a new game +, that is to say the possibility of redoing the game while retaining the improvements from a first run. Small changes have also been made. Ctrl Alt Ego benefit from 40% off, making it just under €12.
Soulslinger: Envoy of Death
Genre: Rogue-lite fast-FPS
We still cheat, but not in the same way with Soulslinger: Envoy of Death, who is indeed part of the selection. On the other hand, its update dates from a few days ago. On the program, new powers, but also a new zone, The Forgotten Graveyardincluding relatively devious new enemies and a new boss, The Countess. This new environment is pretty cool, but it offers a much higher challenge than the rest of the game. Note that an early access preview is currently being written, and that a demo is available. Soulslinger: Envoy of Death East on sale at –30%, or a little less than €13.
RoboQuest
Genre: Rogue-lite with robots
The French developers of friendly RoboQuest prepared the festival, and released their update for the occasion. So here is theArsenal update, which inevitably brings new weapons. But there is also a new resource, to further improve your weapons, a shooting range to practice, a new build, and adjustments. You can find the complete list in the patch note. Roboquest is on sale at –20%, or €20. You can also test the demo to get an opinion.
Beyond Sunset
Genre: Retro-FPS
Early Access Beyond Sunset share a little. Some appreciate the imitation open world and the feeling in combat, but others criticize the sawtooth difficulty and the lack of renewal of the situations. However, the developer is not idle, since he added a prelude – which also serves as a demo – and reworked the AI of the enemies. Other modifications are also listed in the patch notes. Beyond Sunset benefits froma 14% reduction, making it less than €9.
The demos
Cop Bastard
Gender : Retro-FPS
Not much else to say other than it's nice, without revolutionizing anything, and that it lasts 10 minutes. You have nothing to lose by testing it.
Athanasia
Gender : immersive sim
Very inspired by Deus Ex And System Shock 2, Athanasia offers a rather successful retro appearance. The mechanics are familiar, but work very well. Too bad there isn't much feeling with the weapons offered (a knife and a crossbow). It's still worth testing.
Selaco
Genre: retro-FPS
Selaco is undoubtedly the most beautiful retro-FPS made under GZDoom, and what's more, it has all the good points: very dynamic movements, great shooting sensations, and lots of little details that bring the universe to life. The previous demo was already very good, and we suspect that it is still the same: early access being planned for May 31, we would be surprised if the developers wasted time on this. So if you haven't done it yet, go for it with your eyes closed. For the others, do it again while waiting for the release!
Echo Point Nova
Genre: Fast-FPS and platform
We weren't really convinced by the previous versions of the demoEcho Point Novadeveloped by the team behind the excellent Severed Steel. The clashes were interesting, but the platform part with large aerial passages had cooled us a little, as did the procedural generation of the environments, which was frankly borderline in terms of artistic direction. This demo might be better, who knows? The game is planned to be cooperative, but not sure if this is already integrated.
Tactical Squad: SWAT Stories
Genre: Co-op tactics
The Wish version of Ready or Not. There's not much more to say, because we don't really see the difference with the playtests from more than six months ago. Tactical Squad: SWAT Stories is animated with ass and the sensations are lousy, so no reason not to prefer the reference in this area.
Steam sheet
Exfile
Genre: Extraction shooter
Say thatExfile is not folichon is an understatement. On the one hand, it's rather ugly, and on the other hand, the gameplay really doesn't present much of interest. It's a kind of sluggish tactical game, with moves that are far from current standards, even among other small independent teams. There's almost no feeling and it feels like everything comes from an asset store. Others manage to do much better with the same material. The game mode in four teams of five players is not very original either. In short, for the moment, we really don't see the point.
Pine Harbor
Genre: Horror
The last time we talked about Pine Harbor, it was in the lousy demos folder of the Steam Neo Fest of October 2023. It was said that it was “a disappointing horror game, with foam weapons and ridiculous monsters”. This new demo is a little better: the weapons are finally effective and offer decent sensations. The enemies also seem less ridiculous. Is it still disappointing? Up to you.
Beyond Hanwell
Genre: Horror
A classic horror game with a very pretty artistic direction. We visit a sort of hospital populated by horrible creatures. Estyaah absolutely hated the demo of Beyond Hanwell, proof that the game is undoubtedly successful for its genre. Apparently there are weapons, but we didn't get that far. On the other hand, it is really optimized with the ass.
Blood Rush
Genre: Retro-FPS Rogue-lite
One of the main problems when developing a single-player game is that it is often difficult to advertise it, even at dedicated events. For Blood Rushthe only developer – French – contacted us by email to tell us about its rogue-lite retro-FPS, which he compares to ULTRAKILL in its mechanics. Aesthetically speaking, it's quite refined, but the artistic direction holds up. Gameplay-wise, it's quite successful, even if the firearms need to be reworked. They lack a huge dose of recoil, and probably also reloading animations to give better sensations. But there is hope, the game is still under development.
Versus Dev
Genre: Mixture of genres
It's been several months since the developer of Versus Dev chat with the nofragés on the NoFrag forum. After a testing session during which we were able to give him feedback, he decided to publish a demo to broaden the panel of players and get more feedback. As for her boyfriend Blood Rush, the hardest part is making yourself known. Even more so when you are also on your own to develop, and you have difficulty categorizing it. The goal here is to make us feel an evolution in the game – in which we are supposed to face the developer –, starting with rather slow gameplay, close to a resident Evilto end with frenetic action at the Serious Sam. It's very intriguing, but it works pretty well mouse in hand. There are some relatively difficult puzzles, the shooting sensations are good, the artistic direction is rather nice… We want to continue, so the main thing is there!
This is our small selection. Obviously there are hundreds more, which you can find here. Don’t hesitate to tell us what interesting things you saw in the comments!
And we're not going to detail them, but many games that have already been released for a while offer promotions, like Weapon 3, Hunt Showdownor Zombalians.
Thanks to Azultain for unearthing some interesting FPS games, after delving into the darkest corners of the Steam FPS Fest.