LudoNarraCon 2024 kicked off today, marking the beginning of a digital festival dedicated to celebrating narrative-driven games. Whether you’re into new releases or revisiting the old ones, there’s an abundance of titles available to explore and purchase. Alongside discounts, several fresh demos have been released, and we’ve compiled a list of 8 upcoming games that you won’t want to miss before their exclusive demos disappear.
Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall
Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall showcases significant improvements, offers expanded content, and maintains the engaging gameplay mechanics of its predecessor. Take on the role of a King, manage resources, support your loved ones, and make difficult decisions to see you kingdom prosper or fail. Dive into a Slavic-folklore inspired world and deal with a queue of petitioners who will bring trouble, help, or laughter into your throne room. Decide whether to help them with their problems, or conserve resources for more important matters.
Each agent brings a unique and invaluable skill set, alongside their distinctive personalities. While they can aid in resolving courtly matters, be wary—some may stir trouble with personal or romantic entanglements. Follow the agents’ stories, assisting them in resolving complex dilemmas, as you carefully select who will stand by your side in the impending war.
In case you can’t wait for the sequel, Yes, Your Grace is currently available at a 75% discount, priced at only 4,19€. While the specific release date for the sequel is yet to be announced, it’s slated for release sometime this year on Steam.
Nirvana Noir
Like Genesis Noir, Nirvana Noir is a seamless blend of animation and interactivity and is overflowing with unique puzzles and interactions. In a quest to solve these mysteries players will find themselves performing a range of tasks from mounting a legal defence to reconstructing a demolished building and even literally finding skeletons in closets.
You'll solve mysteries to the tune of another amazing jazz-inspired soundtrack that reacts and responds to player actions. Nirvana Noir features both noir and neo-noir influences, as well as music-focused puzzles and interactions. All music and sound design in the game is done by Skillbard, an award-winning London-based team of composers and sound designers who work in film, television, games, sound art, pop music, and sonic branding.
It was during LudoNarraCon that this title got its first demo, and you can already play it today on Steam.
The Horror at Highrook
I have not heard of this game before LudoNarraCon, but I was immediately hooked by its blend of occult card crafting and RPG elements. In the game, we delve into a haunted mansion with a team of investigators, summon dark entities, craft powerful protections, uncover the fate of a missing family, and choose our own path through the darkness.
Plunge into a dark Victorian world, inspired by HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe and Bram Stoker. Investigate a gothic-horror mystery through disturbing letters, fraught conversations and and evocative artwork. Combine characters, items and locations to craft tools, potions and occult rites. Master a deep, nonlinear crafting system as you progress through the story, gaining the strength and insight needed to succeed. Control unique characters from the city’s elite guilds: Mechanist, Plague Doctor, Scholar and Thug, Each with their own skills and perspectives and keep the team safe from Hunger, Injury and Madness.
Currently, Nullpointer Games, the studio behind this game, has not disclosed the release date. However, it’s highly recommended to check out the demo available on Steam.
Hexxen: Hunters
Hexxen: Hunters is an RPG with real-time exploration and tactical turn-based combat, which takes us to a dark alternate history where the fate of the world rests on your shoulders. The goal is to liberate its every corner, and it is important to arm the hunters with a wide range of weapons, from ordinary swords and guns to alchemical preparations and magical devices. With a choice of eight unique hunters to recruit, you'll have plenty of options to consider depending on the mission at hand, whether you're fighting vampires, ghouls and demons or strange cults.
Each hunter comes with their own equipment, as well as specialized skill trees and mechanics that set them apart. All enemies have attack patterns, strengths and weaknesses. With procedurally generated maps for narrative missions, different quests will make every playthrough different. The hamlet you've secured as your base of operations initially lies in a dilapidated state, useless as anything more than a place to rest your party's weary eyes. With enough time and resources invested in its development, it can blossom into a hideout worthy of your group.
Hexxen: Hunters is coming sometime this year for PC via Steam.
Mexico, 1921. A Deep Slumber
This game follows the life of Juan Aguirre, a young photojournalist who will be immersed in the Mexican whirlwind of transformation into modernity. He finds himself in the surreal revolutionary world of art, meets politicians and through his camera discovers why Mexico is not a place for the weak.
Explore up to seven historical locations such as the National Palace, the old Merced Convent and the new Secretariat of Public Education in an impressive visual style inspired by the graphic techniques of Mexican artists. You will have the opportunity to hang out with the most famous Mexican muralists, talk to politicians, writers, poets and even visit the famous Castañeda psychiatric hospital.
Use Juan's in-game camera to take photos, adjusting the depth of field, aperture and zoom to capture your own experience of the city. Through the lens of Juan's camera, you will be able to collect evidence, portray politicians and artists, and thus turn Juan's notebook into a post-revolutionary archive. Look for more than 100 collectibles that can reveal additional historical information like quotes, poems, and even recipes.
This title still doesn't have a specific release date, but that's why it got its first demo during LudoNarraCon on to Steam.
Pine: A Story of Loss
Story of Loss is an interactive and emotional short story told without words, through hand-drawn animations and music. The story follows a woodworker who is grieving the loss of his wife. Now alone at the place where they built a home together, trying to move on. His simple everyday tasks, like tending the garden or preparing wood for the winter, interrupt the memories of the happy times they spent together. Desperately trying to preserve the memory of her, the woodworker records these memories in the beautiful wood carvings he makes.
Interesting puzzles and minigames focused on memories and doing household chores await you. Through the mechanics of wood carving, you will have the opportunity to create beautiful sculptures with the hands of a woodworker, each aiming to revive the memories of a lost love.
Pine: A Story of Loss does not have a specific release date, but you can play the demo version of this game for the first time on Steam.
Wander Stars
Set off on a journey alongside Ringo, a youthful martial arts witch in pursuit of her brother, and Wolfe, a secretive scoundrel seeking to elude his history. Joining forces in an unlikely partnership, these two will embark on a quest for pieces of the legendary Wanderstar map. During the 10-episode anime-inspired adventure, Ringo and Wolfe will have to work together to find answers, atone for their past mistakes, and travel through space in search of their goal.
Trained in the ways of Kiai, a magical form of martial art and the most exciting form of television entertainment in the universe, Ringo can combine words to create customized attacks in intense turn-based battles. As she travels through space, you'll expand Ringo's vocabulary, secure Pep Up bonuses earned through honorable victories, and level up her spiritual power. You'll also encounter and fight a variety of characters such as space pirates, mysterious scoundrels, witches, high school delinquents, talking crows and skilled fighters on your way to achieving mastery in Kiai.
This is a story of mystery, adventure, betrayal, redemption, unlikely allies, twists, surfing capybaras, health-restoring empanadas, forgotten shopping lists, rifts in space and between lovers. Throughout your journey, you'll build a diverse family of colorful characters, each with their own unique traits.
You can play the Wanders Stars demo today on Steam.
The Mermaid Mask
In the dark waters behind a long-abandoned fishing town, the captain of the strangest submarine in the world is found dead. Speculations about his mysterious character vary – some claim he was an immortal time traveler, while others believe he was a vampire, cursed to remain forever hidden beneath the waves. One thing is certain: now it's up to you to find the killer.
The Mermaid's Tongue delivers a witty and visually spectacular detective mystery. Set inside the submarine Mortuga, the game offers nautical beauty along with numerous oddities and secrets. Explore the submarine's suspicious occupants, each with their own voice and hand-drawn animations, and collect clues by solving satisfying puzzles designed to encourage curiosity, experimentation, and that ultimate “aha!” moment of discovery.
If by any chance you were unable to play the demo version of this game, you can do so now on Steam.
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