Bless You Again and CityDrill: Two Next Fest Demos I Want to Try

Bless You Again and CityDrill are two Next Fest demos I want to try: one for its striking anime look, the other for an unusual and unexpected premise.

Bless You Again's cel-shaded anime look is striking

Bless You Again is an anime-inspired roguelike in which you play as Lily, a magician and a homunculus, which is a miniature battle mage brought to life by magic. The cel-shaded anime look is striking, and it's enough to make me want to give it a shot.

The question is whether the gameplay measures up. I haven't played it yet, and it looks a little sluggish in the trailer, but I want to give it a chance. A demo is available, so Next Fest is the place to find out.

CityDrill builds a whole city on the back of a giant drill

CityDrill fits the Next Fest spirit of trying out things that are different and unexpected. Imagine a whole city built on the back of a giant drill that delves ever deeper into the ground, mining resources to run the city, to power up the drill and to defend itself from hostiles.

Who knows what the aim of the game is. It's probably just to find safety for your city's residents, and maybe to reach the core of the planet and build some kind of subterranean utopia. The demo is the chance to see how far toward that goal you can get.