No rush, Haste: Broken Worlds demo is sticking around after Next Fest

Today marks the end of Steam’s February Next Fest, a time where hundreds of demos were available for players to test out upcoming games. One of the most popular and highly reviewed demos was for Haste: Broken Worlds. But will this demo be sticking around now that Next Fest is over? Thankfully, an update from the developers says yes, we will have the demo for a while longer. For a full list of over 60 Steam Next Fest demos, check out this guide that separates them all by genre. At least some of those demos should still be around too!

Will the Haste: Broken Worlds demo be available after Steam Next Fest?

In case you didn’t know, demos on Steam can now have their own page separate from the full game. This means that players can leave reviews specifically of the demo. Not all demos do this, but according to SteamDB, the highest rated Steam Next Fest demo with 93% positive reviews from nearly three-thousand players, is Haste: Broken Worlds from developer Landfall (Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, Clustertruck). Having played this one, I couldn’t agree more.

Related:It's not an April Fool's prank, Haste is out now on Steam

Thankfully, in a post on social media, the developers have shared that the demo for Haste will still be playable for “a couple of more weeks.” While this isn’t specific, it’s good to know that fans of the game won’t be completely cut off now that the Steam event has ended.

Haste is a rogue-lite where the player is outrunning a collapsing world. Dash at breakneck speeds through procedurally generated worlds to reach the portal on the other side. Position your landing on a downward slope to increase your speed and watch out for obstacles like trees, rocks, and occasionally, spinning fountains of lava. Stop at shops to purchase passive and activated upgrades, rest a campfire to heal damage, and try to reach the end. Which I haven’t been able to do yet in the demo.

This game feels highly polished. Not only do the characters and environments feel near complete, but the gameplay feels so good with a controller. Even messing up and not hitting every landing perfectly still feels so satisfying. And the soundtrack is excellent. This is a game to keep an eye on for a future release date. If they just started charging for the demo, people might line up to buy. Fortunately, with the demo sticking around for a while, if you haven’t given it a try yet you still have time.

The full game does not have a release date yet, but if the quality of this demo is any indication into how far along the development process is, they could be close to ready for a final release later this year. The developer’s choice to keep the demo around seems like a good one. As a rogue-lite with procedurally generated worlds, there’s a lot of replayability, and it will keep plenty of fans happy while they wait for news on the full release. Not to mention any new players that discover it in the aftermath of Next Fest.

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

April 1, 2021

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• Overview

• indie games
• demo / trial versions
• Landfall Games
• Steam Games Festival / Steam Next Fest