Here's a quick rundown of what I've tried out thus far.
Great
Ultros - Absolutely oozing with style and polish, and the soundtrack is pretty incredible too. It's also one of the increasingly rare Metroidvania games that's willing to let you get a little confused and lost, and that really fits with the way this game immerses you in its weird trippy aesthetic. I immediately pre-ordered after playing this demo.
Pepper Grinder - Smooth gameplay that manages to feel as good as it looks in the GIFs. Great sketchy pixel art style too.
Good
Berserk Boy - A solid indie Mega Man with some nice pixel art and a very satisfying dash attack.
Arco - A very cool "simultaneous turn-based" strategy game with a nice chunky pixel art style. The gameplay is very reminiscent of last year's Phantom Brigade, as well as similar predecessors like Frozen Cortex, where you have a planning phase where you can see what the enemies are going to do and can plan your actions and then an action phase where you see your plan play out.
Mid
Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse - In much the same way that Palworld is a knock-off survival game version of Pokemon, this is a knock-off survival game version of Hollow Knight from the same developer. That said, this is completely lacking the immediate allure of Palworld. It might end up being OK as there are some decent ideas in here, but right now, this feels like a bit too much of an unpolished mess to actually enjoy.
Lightyear Frontier - It's yet another stick and rock game, this time with chill vibes and a mech. It's already quite well polished at this point, a month ahead of its Early Access launch, so this does seem poised to break through and connect with a subset of the survival game fans looking for a relaxed experience.
Realm of Ink - The performance was so bad in the initial tutorial section that I almost immediately quit, but once you're past that, this is a nice looking and not half bad Chinese Hades clone. It still needs a lot of work and polish, but there is a nugget of a potentially satisfying roguelike experience in here.
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