Screenshot Saturday Featuring Lab Rat, Beacon Pines, More

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Hello, and welcome to another edition of Screenshot Saturday! Back again after another delay, and why is that, you may ask? Well, with the latest Steam Game Festival being last weekend, I wanted to devote a special edition to the games that had the best demos showcased. But I also wanted to be thorough, and get through as many demos as I could, to make sure that what I had was a lineup that could truly say was the best of the lot…and unfortunately, Steam didn’t exactly make browsing for games with new demos easy, thanks to its horrible layout, browsing, and presentation. But I suppose that’s a criticism for another time.

Anyhow, I had hoped to get this done in the middle of last week, but I had another entirely new feature to also finish up, plus a recent development that…well, I’m not one hundred percent sure I can fully disclose what it is yet, but let’s just say there may be a reason for more Screenshot Saturday delays in the coming month. Enough of that vagueness for now, though! Let’s get on with our little showcase of the best games from the latest Steam Game Festival!

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Narita Boy- Well, in my eyes, there was no contest when it came to who had the most tantalizing demo during this latest Steam Game Festival. Amazing action, amazing world, unbelievably amazing pixel art and animation…and what we got to see was only the intro to the game. I absolutely cannot wait to see the later portions like this when the game arrives this Spring, but for know I at least have memories of a top-tier first taste.

Lab Rat- Our own James Cunningham discussed this puzzler and its quirky AI and sense of humor earlier this past week, and those were indeed some of the most entertaining parts of this demo for me as well. Hell, I got a laugh out of the “multiplayer” section here just for giving me Sealab 2021 vibes alone. Plus it helps that the puzzles in general are brilliantly designed as well, so I can’t wait for the rest.

Beacon Pines- This graphic adventure game easily blasted past its Kickstarter campaign goal rather quickly, and after playing the demo, it’s easy to see why. The game may be described as Winnie the Pooh meets Twin Peaks, yet there’s also some Zero Escape in there when it comes to gaining all of the charms/words for these scenarios and their different paths. The end result is a unique and amazing piece of work that I highly recommend checking out.

Echo Generation- Practically every part of what I played here harkens back to different classic RPGs in one way or another, like Earthbound or the Paper Mario games, but the eye-catching style, clever writing, and the setup for an interesting story certainly give it a unique flavor of its own. The demo has popped up twice already, so here’s hoping we can see it again sometime soon…or see the actual launch sometime soon as well, of course.

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Boomerang X- I think I might be horrible at this game, judging by my performance in the demo…and yet I will absolutely love this game wholeheartedly. Granted, this snippet here doesn’t show off the waves of enemies and zippy, extremely fast-paced combat, but trust me when I say that the simple yet amazing gameplay, the high challenge level, and the intense speed will indeed probably have this damn fine game popping up at a Games Done Quick event in the future.

Roguebook- Um…I sort of already wrote well over a thousand words or so as to why this deck-building roguelike game has a ton of potential, so maybe read that instead? I really don’t want to repeat myself in the praise department, after all (also, yes, it is a bit awkward that this is more of a link than a screenshot, but my options were limited here).

Loop Hero- Again, sort of covered this other incredible and unique roguelike game in a larger preview here earlier. You do all read the content I make outside of this feature, right? I kid, though. Plus, we somehow forgot to report on the trailer announcing the game’s March release date, so allow me to remedy that.

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Lunark- Well, as of the time I write this, the demo is indeed still up, meaning you get to still check this possible gem out if you still act fast. A terrific ode to the likes of Flashback with some superb animation and an intriguing world to explore with some fun challenges, it’s a trip that’s definitely worth taking, even if it’s just the start.

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Windjammers 2- Alas, the particular content announced here was not on display in the demo, but we still got to experience some intense and extreme sports action with a gorgeous art style and even more of the incredibly fun gameplay that made the original game a cult hit. Cannot wait to pull off some even more insane super moves sometime soon…

Whisker Squadron- And let’s end with one more game that still has its demo up as I write this (at least for this weekend, so again, act fast). It’s a game that makes you realize that after countless roguelike games that paid homage to the Zelda games, why not try a roguelike Star Fox as well? The result so far is a unique take on the genre with some nice procedurally generated levels, so yeah, keep an eye on this one.

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