Time for brief assessments of the shmup[-adjacent] #SteamNextFest demos I played last night! VARYZNEX verdict: solid horizontal-scrolling shmup by the same dev as KAIKAN, though not as compelling to me as the latter. Scoring focuses on preferring offense over defense and killing stuff fast.

Fireball 2 #SteamNextFest verdict: the latest by RadianGames, matching the dev's pattern of games having a simple premise, playable in short bursts but still fun to come back to. Has a few appreciated visual tweak options. 2P color variant is nearly invisible. Menu currently likes to chug 100% GPU.