I went on vacation to the mountains this past week and caught the tail end of Steam Nextfest. If anyone doesn’t know what Nextfest is, Nextfest is when demos galore are at the forefront of the Steam store page, and hundreds upon hundreds of demos flood libraries. I took it upon myself to play a bunch of demos at the last possible moment.

This week is SULFUR.

SULFUR is a roguelite first-person shooter from Perfect Random. The game will be released into Early Access on October 28th on Steam.

SULFUR is about a father of a church who had his congregation burned to the ground by a witch. The witch has flown into a seemingly infinite cave, and you want revenge, so you follow in. Kill anything, craft everything, and find the witch.

SULFUR is a pretty standard FPS. You have the bouncy, quick movement and gunplay of a Quake/Unreal game. You are given a katana and a handgun and are immediately sent off into the caves. Once dropped in, the player is able to loot items like food that can be eaten alone or cooked together in a cauldron for a bigger health boost. The combat loop is pretty clear cut: Kill the baddies, and collect the primordial energy for the amulet that talks to you. Rinse and repeat.

The combat is simple and fun, just enough to keep it from getting boring.

There are a few enemy types in the first few levels of the cave: A spear-wielding goblin, a baby goblin (glowing variants), and a ghost that scared the shit out of me. Each enemy has a unique take on combat, making each encounter a learning experience that gives the overall combat a refreshing amount of depth.

If you perish while in the cave, you are spat out near the church, where you can spend money on the usual stuff and items that will help with each run. The player learns that weapons can be upgraded and how weapon degradation works.

Everything is relatively simple, which makes jumping right back in for another run easy.

SULFUR has that cartoony 3D look, while all the enemies are 2D. Lots of colors while out by the church, but when inside the cave, there are lots of grays and blues. I personally like the animations and effects of killing the goblins. You can’t continue to cut them with the katana until they literally become piles of unrecognizable blood and gore.

SULFER has some really dope music going on while you play. It’s got a nice lo-fi playlist that gently bumps along, which kept my head bopping while shooting and cutting baddies down.

SULFUR is the first demo I tried during these last moments of Nextfest, and I have to say that I probably played the best one already. The gunplay is good, while the katana is the most fun to use. The looting for food and resources is a fun addition that makes the player want to explore every nook and cranny for stuff. The art design is smooth and enjoyable to look at, and the soundtrack so far is dope.

SULFUR so far has everything: Guns, witches and killing goblins and I cannot wait until the 28th when it releases into Early Access.