Second batch of highlights

Rotwood: From Klei Entertainment, makers of Don't Starve/Together, a 1-4 player roguelite with artstyle and map traversal similar to Cult of the Lamb. Thankfully, it has deeper combat, with a combo system. The in-run progression felt good with nice synergies for movement and combat abilities. Dodge felt a little off, but it may have been the heavy class I was playing. Did not get to try multiplayer and progression was demo locked. One to watch for sure.

STAND-ALONE: If anyone has played Astral Ascent, the gameplay is similar. The "Skill-Deck Building" system is nearly identical, just without the annoying rotation mechanic so you can use anything at any time. Run progression is short arenas then on to the next area via your ship that contains some type of reward. Presumably with path choices in the full version. The story is sheep vs wolves is some futuristic war-like engagement.

StormEdge: Another roguelite with its own combat system. From what I saw, you only have one attack, but as you combo it, its power grows. They throw in armored enemies that require making it to the last part of your combo to break. The other piece on display in the demo, and what kept my attention, is the necessity of perfect dodges, such that it encourages risky play so far as to bait attacks and dodge them. The demo character created copies of himself on success that attacked with you and broke magic armor. Only complaint with the demo is I really wanted to see one of the other playable characters, but it appeared to require more time than I like to give demos, if it was even possible.

Necrosmith 2: Didn't play the first one, so fresh take. It is a tower defense/RTS light game flow. You raise new soldiers from body parts scavanged and earned throughout play. You can give each soldier different commands such as resource hunting and defending the tower. Different body part combos make different soldier types. And you can take movement control of individual soldiers at will. Could be a fun Deck title for sure.

Chasmal Fear: If I were a fan of slow horror shooters, this one would excite me. It attracted me with: " next-gen FPS action horror game...from the perspective of a body camera." And it delivers on that and the extremely claustrophobic feeling that entails. The field of view this necessitates makes aiming feel odd and I think it may struggle to find a wide audience due to potential nausea some people experience at low fov. But I did enjoy seeing something new-ish and would recommend it to fans of that game style.

Surprise demo of the event so far...

Knights Within: I downloaded this as a joke expecting absolute jank for some lulz. But I promise you this assessment is not a prank. What I got was a surprisingly smooth, fairly polished game with satisfying gunplay and melee combat. It's, no joke, a Helldivers 2/Risk of Rain 2 style co-op, objective-based horde shooter with the ability to extract or push your luck. The aesthetic is knights with guns and Titanfall 2 colored visors. Movement and combat felt really good. I successfully completed my first run after a challenging boss fight. Definitely should be a good time with mates if you enjoy a 3rd person rougelite shooter experience. I bamboozled myself and got a nice surprise and I'll be playing more of it before the event ends in case the demo goes away.