I wish Steam didn’t do Next Fest during October, but I managed to squeeze it in somehow! It’s become a bit of a tradition for myself and WesleyWhale to participate in Steam Next Fest which typically takes place 3 times a year, and each time we’ve always found a small selection of great games to add to our ever-growing wishlists.
Here’s a quick insight if you don’t already know. Steam Next Fest is a week long event where hundreds of developers share demos for their upcoming games for anyone with a Steam account to download and play for free! This is the best opportunity to discover some new games and show your support to the developers whilst they continue to work on their beloved projects. These festivals usually run 3 times a year in February, June and October with this particular event running from Monday the 9th of October until the Monday the 16th of October.
Once again, we chose another 12 demos to try throughout the week, but we did things a little differently this time. Since the majority of games I wanted to try weren’t to Wesley’s tastes, I played half of these by myself before playing the remaining 6 with Wesley. Personally, I don’t think the festival was as good this time around, but I still managed to find a few titles that I’m excited for!
We used our previous writing format for ease of reading and we also included our brief thoughts individually as to whether we’d be interested in the full game or not. Please take note that we use 3/5 as an average score, but everything else should be pretty self explanatory. The demos are listed with the games I played by myself first, followed by the games we played together. The games are listed in no particular order and not by favouritism, but if you are curious as to which games we liked the most, our top 3 games are listed at the end of the post!
A Date with Death
Developer/Publisher: Two and a Half Studios
Release Date: Q4 2023
Demo Play Time: 60 mins
Visual Novel / Dating Sim / Comedy
Fight against & romance the one hunting for your soul in A Date with Death, a romance chat simulator where you date(?) the Grim Reaper himself. Create your own character, decorate your apartment, and chat away with the charming yet dangerous Grim Reaper through text and video calls.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 The art style was pretty but it could’ve been a little more detailed in places. Despite that, the character expressions were excellent and added so much personality to the game. The layout of the chatroom was easy to read and I absolutely LOVED the nods to Two and a Half Studios’ and Cats on a Lilypad Studios’ other games in the form of ads in the bottom corner – such a great touch!
Audio: 4/5 I had a real soft spot for the lo-fi music used throughout the game. There were enough tracks to keep the music from getting tired, but I would love to hear even more in the full version and I’d quite easily give the soundtrack a 5/5 as it fit perfectly. The thing bringing my score down was that I would’ve absolutely loved to hear Grim Reaper’s voice during the video calls rather than just more text. That really would’ve been the cherry on the cake!
Gameplay: 4/5 As a visual novel, it’s pretty standard gameplay-wise in regards to just clicking on text replies, however, there were a fair few choices that were all filled with plenty of personality. I didn’t quite understand the purpose of the chat box during calls since the “speech” is also logged in text, but it wasn’t like it was a bother, just kind of unnecessary. The amount of customisation surprised me with a pretty in-depth character creator, bedroom designer and you can even change your icon and username later on to make it even more personal.
Enjoyment: 5/5 I’ve adored all of the games I’ve played by Two and a Half Studios so far so I already knew I was going to love A Date with Death from the moment it was announced. The demo really pulled me in though thanks to the banter between the MC and Grim Reaper and I had such an enjoyable hour experiencing the first part of the game.
Potential: 4/5 There are a few other chat room style games out there already, but I think A Date with Death has enough going for it to set it apart from the rest, although I am expecting it to be quite short without much replay value. The customisation was a big plus in my books though.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: YES! I’ve always been impressed by Two and a Half Studios’ games so I can’t wait for the full version to release!
Concealed
Developer: CASCHA GAMES / Publisher: Neverland Entertainment
Release Date: Coming Soon
Demo Play Time: 60 mins
Visual Novel / Horror / Stylised
As the first official work of the “Parallel” series, “Concealed” told a story about the mysterious disappearance of some students in “帝英灵” high school. Is it some supernatural powers behind all of this? Facing abundant plot branches and diverse story-driven gameplay, you may need to choose wisely.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 The manga aesthetic of this game gave it its identity and was the main reason I was drawn to it in the first place. The panels are well laid out with some nice subtle animations and/or effects to add to the atmosphere, and the text box was in-keeping with the style. The monochrome colour scheme helped set the mood for the horror themes too.
Audio: 4/5 I enjoyed the music and atmospheric sounds included in the demo, but the text flowing noise was super annoying after a while which made me force the text out so I didn’t have to listen to it (which ultimately made me miss a few lines of dialogue by accident). The best way to describe it would be simple, but effective.
Gameplay: 3/5 The game featured minor point and click elements as well as some occasional choice making but it was mostly just reading. The demo content basically just showed our protagonist interacting with her classmates which dragged on a bit too long. This could’ve been more focused, but at the same time it really did make it feel like you were reading a manga.
Enjoyment: 3/5 The English translation was a little wonky in places and I also found a fair few typos which limited my enjoyment of the demo. There wasn’t anything too drastic, just a few sentences that weren’t quite right e.g. “How did they went missing?” which really bugged me as a native English speaker. The demo also seemed to lose track of what story it wanted to tell – first it was about an unsolved case of missing girls, then an suspected ghost in the street, and then an entity in a dark corner. I’m still a bit lost to be honest.
Potential: 3/5 The major issue for me was the English translation. If this is ironed out and the typos are polished, this would already bump it up a notch. I understand that this is actually the second game in the series that’s also based on a Chinese manga, so the formula seems to work and I’m intrigued to see the finished game. I’m always on the look out for good horror visual novels!
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: Yes. Even though I had a few niggles with the game, I loved the art style and I’m interested to find out more!
Little Goody Two Shoes
Developer: AstralShift / Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: 31st Oct 2023
Demo Play Time: 80 mins
Adventure / Horror / Story Rich
Venture into the woods as you play Little Goody Two Shoes, a phantasmagorical horror narrative adventure where all your decisions matter!
Steam Store
Visuals: 5/5 This game is honestly so stunning and the screenshots don’t do it justice. The 90s style anime characters make the game feel nostalgic somehow and the sprites are super cute too! The attention to detail in the scenery brings the whole game to life featuring animated pieces and lighting changes depending on the time of day (the brightness of the day contrasts so well to eerie darkness that the night brings). I don’t think this environment could have been done any better!
Audio: 5/5 I loved the music so much, presenting both cute and eerie themes at the appropriate times. The soundscape was really well done too, adding an extra layer to the already immense atmosphere provided by the visuals.
Gameplay: 4/5 This game has a lot to offer and I think the demo did a pretty decent job of displaying the majority of its features. During the day, our protagonist Elise will find a bunch of quests around town to partake in as well as running errands to earn money (which is cleverly done in the form of mini, arcade style games), hunger/heath to manage and even a dating aspect exclusively with bachelorettes of the town. During the night, Elise has a whole new kind of quest on her hands as she must deal with the evil lurking in the darkness. There’s so much variety!
Enjoyment: 4/5 I lost the whole concept of time while I was playing this demo because I was insanely engrossed. This would’ve easily been a 5/5 if I could’ve finished the demo, but I was seriously struggling to find the last item I needed in a particular section and didn’t have the patience to keep looking for it (I have too many more demos to play).
Potential: 5/5 This game has an amazing balance of both cosy and spooky which is unlike anything else I’ve seen before. There really is so much content packed into this little gem that it makes it so easy to recommend (and an excellent game to release for Hallowe’en)! I can’t wait to explore even more!
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: Yes! I don’t usually enjoy games like this, but I was so invested in the content featured within the demo that I’m considering buying this on release!
The Diary
Developer: HuCang studio / Publisher: IndieArc
Release Date: Q1 2024
Demo Play Time: 30 mins
Story Rich / Casual / Detective
Several diaries gradually reveal the thrilling story of a missing case; after multiple deductions, are the answers in the past or present? With frequent plot twists, you never know which is the truth and which is the unexpected; in a dense fog, time buries the past, but the marks remain.
Steam Store
Visuals: 3/5 Stylish art style with bright colours and the page designs are laid out well to make it really feel like this the the dairy of a person who is into journaling. Sometimes it was a little overwhelming though, and I must admit that I didn’t even read half the text because it just seemed to blend in with the background.
Audio: 2/5 Featured minimal sound effects such as page turning and some of the mini games had their own sound effects / musical jingles too, but that was about it. Although the sound effects suited the environment of the game, it felt kind of empty at times.
Gameplay: 2/5 The gameplay consists of very basic puzzles and mini games such as pinball, or playing music notes in a sequence. Completing the page’s request meant you could move on. It was pretty basic, and I hope the game features more of a challenge in later stages.
Enjoyment: 2/5 The puzzles were far too simple and I thought there would be more searching involved to find answers rather than “drag this here”, “zoom in here”, “look at the character’s expressions so you can cheat the mental maths” etc. I kind of zoned out a bit during the first stage of the game, so when the second stage (the real part of the game) began, I didn’t really know what was happening.
Potential: 3/5 I can see what the game was trying to do and the second stage made so much more sense, but the first part was too dull and simple to capture my full attention. The synopsis made it out to be more of a mystery than the demo showed, but it is early days and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next in the story.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: No. I can see what they were trying to do with this, but unfortunately it didn’t really gel with me.
Candlelight: Lament
Developer: 正方形劳伦斯 / Publisher: Gamera Games
Release Date: To be announced
Demo Play Time: 35 mins
Mystery / Point & Click / Lovecraftian
Ed broke the curfew to visit his friends in order to find out the truth of his granddaughter’s disappearance, but the truth was far more terrible than he thought.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 This game surely has a style about it thanks to it’s hand-painted, black and white art style. The animations are great and gives the game character. Everything was pretty easy to see and the text was easy to read.
Audio: 4/5 The demo featured some high quality sound effects and some atmospheric noises to really capture the environment. The soundscape really suited the style of the game and greatly impacted the atmosphere.
Gameplay: 3/5 It’s as though this game wants to be a point & click, but it’s also trying not to be at the same time. I would’ve much preferred to walk using the mouse like your average point & click than have to used WASD, but everything functioned as it should and even included some short puzzles.
Enjoyment: 2/5 From what the demo showcased, I was a bit confused as to what was happening. There were so many location changes and minimal dialogue which wasn’t enough to explain the seemingly complex plot. The puzzles also required a fair amount of backtracking, and sometimes you needed to re-initiate a conversation with the person you were just talking to in order to unlock new dialogue options to progress.
Potential: 3/5 I love the style of the game, but I’m afraid I couldn’t follow the story very well. It seems as though there’s a bigger picture to the disappearance of our protagonist’s granddaughter, but unfortunately the demo didn’t make me want to hang around to find out.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: No. I enjoyed playing the demo, but it didn’t grab me enough to want to find out more.
Royal Order
Developer: Nifty Visuals / Publisher: Nifty Productions
Release Date: Coming Soon
Demo Play Time: 90 mins
Visual Novel / Management / Dating Sim
Intrigue, betrayal, deaths! A LGBT+ survival Raising Simulation in a high-fantasy royal court setting with RPG elements. *This game is an indirect sequel to our Visual Novel “Royal Alchemist”. The story takes place in the same world, but follows a different cast. Both games can be played separately from each other.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 I really like the way this game looks. The anime art style is super pretty, the text boxes and overall design make things easy to read as well as fitting in with the historical-fantasy theme. Due to the RPG elements, there’s actually a lot of different menus to look at and the way it was presented made it pretty easy to follow.
Audio: 2/5 The demo wasn’t voiced despite the characters mouths moving, and I doubt the full release will have voices either. The music was okay, but nothing special and there were only basic sound effects included.
Gameplay: 3/5 Aside from the standard visual novel choice making, this game also includes RPG elements and time management. I thought it was really cool how your answers reflected on your character’s personality rather than purely contribute to who’s route you’ll end up on and it was also interesting to discover that certain actions favour certain groups of people more than others. Stat raising was also a big feature and having high enough levels in certain types of magic lead to different outcomes during events, as well as providing access to side quests.
Enjoyment: 3/5 This demo was pretty long and I didn’t have time to play it all the way to the end, but I felt like a I got a fairly accurate representation of what what it’s all about. There were so many characters (even though only 3 of them were dateable), plenty of lore, and the management aspect of the game adds extra interactivity. Since this is an (indirect) sequel, I couldn’t help but feel like I would have gotten more out of it if I’d played Royal Alchemist first.
Potential: 4/5 The features the demo displayed sets a great example of what to expect from this game. Having a semi-customisable protagonist (choose your pronouns, name, and pick from 2 character designs) makes this game more inclusive without affecting the story or active love interests (2 male, 1 female). The Steam page also states that the game will feature multiple endings (including deaths – assuming to be “game overs”) and 60 weeks of in-game time.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: Yes. I liked how the stat raising worked, but I think I’d like to play Royal Alchemist first though.
Anomaly Agent
Developer/Publisher: Phew Phew Games
Release Date: Coming Soon
Demo Play Time: 40 mins
Side Scroller / Beat ’em Up / Comedy
ANOMALY AGENT is a cyberpunk action-platformer featuring fluid combat, a time-bending story, quirky characters and a catchy synthwave soundtrack! Punch or shoot through mobs of enemies, impact the story with your choices and stop the anomalies before the world plunges into chaos!
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 Unique style featuring pixel art and really tall, lanky character design. The animations were nice, particularly during combat, and the visuals carried the theme. The portals could’ve looked nicer, but the background art was good and everything was clear to see.
Audio: 4/5 The demo included a synthwave soundtrack which complimented the sci-fi themes and also made it feel a little retro along with the pixel graphics. The sound effects were good too and suited the demo well. Audio cues for enemy attacks would’ve been a nice touch, but it wasn’t really necessary.
Gameplay: 3/5 The gameplay was very basic to start with, but as the demo progressed, combo chains were unlocked which could be used to mix things up a bit. Ranged weapons dropped by enemies could also be temporarily used. The demo showed a small amount of platforming too which I expect will be more present in the full game.
Enjoyment: 4/5 It was obvious the devs wanted this to be a comedy game with the dialogue choices you were presented with. These really contributed to both the style and enjoyment factor of the game, often featuring sarcastic responses, and some choices gave ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ answers that would give you emotional currency to use in the shop. The game was pretty fast paced and the combat was fun in the later stages of the demo due to the combo unlocks and weapons.
Potential: 4/5 The demo provided a great example of what to expect from Anomaly Agent. The concept is pretty wacky, filled with humour and was great fun to play – a solid recipe for a game with strong potential.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: Yes. This demo was a lot of fun and I’d like to see what else the game has to offer.
WesleyWhale: No. It was one of the better demos, but I didn’t find it that engaging.
The Last Faith:
Developer: Kumi Souls Games / Publisher: Playstack
Release Date: 15th Nov 2023
Demo Play Time: 45 mins
Metroidvania / Dark Fantasy / Action
A dark, gothic fusion of metroidvania and soulslike. The Last Faith thrives on merciless and precise combat with a huge range of weapons, firearms, and custom executions at your disposal. Let nothing stand in your way.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 This game is pretty much just a Blasphemous clone with a Bloodborne pixel skin. The demo did actually look really pretty with some great background set-pieces, but there were a lot of dull corridors that appeared to be the same and weren’t all that interesting. The animations were decent and overall it was nice to look at.
Audio: 3/5 The audio did it’s job with some decent sound effects, but overall it wasn’t very memorable.
Gameplay: 3/5 A pretty standard metroidvania featuring all the main features you would typically expect from this genre. Unfortunately, it didn’t control too well with rather sluggish attacks, but the actual platforming was alright and we didn’t find any major issues (aside from the left trigger and right trigger commands being on the wrong sides: left=right, right=left, who’s idea was that?).
Enjoyment: 2/5 Nothing about it was particularly original and it just felt like another bog-standard metroidvania. There were a few weapon and spell pickups throughout the demo but it didn’t really change the way it played. The demo crashed once as well, and since there was no save feature, we had to start right from the beginning again which was really quite irritating.
Potential: 4/5 I’m going to give this the benefit of the doubt as I don’t think the demo showed off enough of what this game has to offer. Going by the screenshots on the Steam Store page, The Last Faith looks great and I think fans of both dark fantasy, souls-like games and metroidvanias will find enjoyment in this.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: No. The Steam page makes this look great, but if I’m going to play a game like this, I’d rather play Blasphemous.
WesleyWhale: No. This game wasn’t fun. Despite it having some good points, it was just boring.
Creepy Tale: Some Other Place
Developer/Publisher: Creepy Brothers
Release Date: 2024
Demo Play Time: 25 mins
Point & Click / Adventure / Dark Fantasy
Creepy Tale is a mysterious quest rich in riddles and eerie atmosphere. An autumn morning promised a quiet fishing trip, but events took our hero to “some other place.” Find the way home, uncover loads of secrets, and save everyone that you can.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 Creepy Tale certainly has a unique style with hand-drawn, stop-frame animation that provides a creepy, yet cute aesthetic that suits the game perfectly. The sepia, muted colour palette also compliments the tone of the game and provides plenty of atmosphere.
Audio: 4/5 The music was excellent with a creepy, Hallowe’eny vibe that contributed immensely to the style of the game. The sound effects were fairly simple, yet effective, and the noises the monsters made were actually somehow kind of cute.
Gameplay: 3/5 The point and click gameplay was fairly standard although I think this was designed to be played with a controller in mind. The keyboard controls were a bit strange and you couldn’t use the mouse at all which I thought was very unusual for a PC game. The puzzles weren’t all too challenging, but they were quite different and didn’t become tedious.
Enjoyment: 4/5 The art style and the music really made this game what it is. Despite it being part of a series, I didn’t feel like it was missing anything and could easily be played by itself. Although the puzzles were simple, they were actually quite fun and I feel like the demo gave a great insight into what the game will be like.
Potential: 5/5 Since it’s part of a series with 3 other entries already, Creepy Tale: Some Other Place clearly knows its target audience and the devs have had the time and experience to polish their games – which shows in the quality of the demo.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: Yes. I enjoyed this way more than I thought and I’ll probably take a look at some of the other games in the series.
WesleyWhale: No. I liked the aesthetic and the environment, but the puzzles weren’t up to par.
Ailuri
Developer/Publisher: Vivink Studios
Release Date: Coming Soon
Demo Play Time: 25 mins
2D Platformer / Adventure / Hand-drawn
A hand-drawn, 2D platformer following the breathtaking story of an endangered red panda, named Ailuri. Climb, explore and survive the intricate levels while trying to defeat enemies to restore balance of life in the world.
Steam Store
Visuals: 4/5 The art style and theme is the main selling of this game. The hand-drawn animations and cutscenes were really pretty and definitely gave character to the game. The in-game animations and art design were pretty too with bright colours and good lighting effects.
Audio: 2/5 Some of the music was okay, but there were some pieces that I really didn’t like. The music was heavily relied upon to set the tone of the game, but sometimes this went way over the top which put me off a bit. The sound effects were super simple too and although they were necessary, they didn’t contribute a great deal to the experience.
Gameplay: 2/5 The controls were way too clunky and the combat was so delayed that enemies would damage you before your attack came out. The swing mechanic also didn’t work half the time and I found I had to stand still to get it to work sometimes which killed momentum and made the platforming way more difficult than it should’ve been for such a simple concept.
Enjoyment: 2/5 I really wanted to enjoy this game but the controls made it difficult to do so. I also hated how your health was shown on the entire screen with blur marks which was incredibly distracting and much worse than just showing a health bar on screen.
Potential: 3/5 Despite not enjoying the demo, I think there’s still potential for the game if the platforming is made to be more responsive. Playing as a super cute Red Panda is certainly a selling point! There’s also local co-op play listed on the Steam store page, so that slightly raises its potential in my books!
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: No. I wanted to like this game, but it did not feel good to play.
WesleyWhale: No. If I want to play a platformer, it has to control well. That’s non-negotiable.
Relentless Frontier
Developer: Fission Ogre / Publisher: Hellforge Studios
Release Date: Coming Soon
Demo Play Time: 30 mins
FPS / Retro / Action
Relentless Frontier is a fast paced sci-fi FPS running on the GZDoom Engine, with a strong focus on mobility, strategy, and exploration. Use your Omnistruct to replicate new weapons and abilities to help you traverse the terrain and demolish threats, while escaping from Ross 128-b in one piece.
Steam Store
Visuals: 3/5 The visuals were fairly basic and clearly took inspiration from retro shooters with a 2.5D style and made using the GZ Doom Engine. The enemy design was pretty simple and the muted colour palette didn’t make it stand out enough, as well as some areas being a bit too dark. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong about it, it was just a little dull. The weapons were cool though.
Audio: 3/5 The music featured a heavy metal soundtrack which was pretty cool and suited the style of the game, but since it was quite repetitive, it seemed to get old quite fast. The sound effects also suited their purpose but they were minimal and needed a bit more work.
Gameplay: 3/5 It felt fine to play with no major issues. The main mechanic of the demo was involved Omni Fuel, a resource generated by killing enemies with melee attacks or picked up within the world. This fuel could then be turned into a resource of your choice, the options being health, armour or ammo. This feature was an interesting idea, however, the melee attack could often be awkward to use so it didn’t feel particularly rewarding to kill enemies in this way.
Enjoyment: 2/5 The enemies didn’t really do much and the levels weren’t all that interesting. The map was trying to be open world with separate zones so it was sometimes unclear where you needed to go, and since there was no particular objective either, it could be a real pain trying to navigate which ruined the pacing. Overall, it was just pretty boring.
Potential: 3/5 The demo showed the potential for a decent FPS game, but it still needs some work to make it flow better to make things more fun.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: No. This game wasn’t for me.
WesleyWhale: No. The game felt monotonous and frustrating at times. I couldn’t enjoy it.
Anima Flux
Developer/Publisher: Anima Flux
Release Date: Coming Soon
Demo Play Time: 35 mins
Action / Platformer / Co-op
Anima Flux is a co-op metroidvania with two genetically enhanced soldiers, special agents of a theocratic dictatorial regime. Fight your way through swarms of mutants through a desolate, dystopian space city and save humanity’s last stronghold, if, of course, anyone is still alive…
Steam Store
Visuals: 3/5 The demo was quite blurry, full of tearing and didn’t look great to start with until we messed around with the settings to turn on v-sync and turn off all of the visual effects – now it looks much better! The animations were a little goofy and the screen could get quite messy with all the enemies which made it hard to see their attacks.
Audio: 2/5 The music was okay but quite repetitive. The sound effects were a mixed bag, some were alright and others weren’t, but it was mainly the balance of the audio that stood out as the levels were all over the place. To give it some credit, the story sections of the game did include some voice acting which was a nice touch, but not enough to make up for the awful audio mixing.
Gameplay: 3/5 The gameplay was interesting enough and having local co-op was a huge plus for us. Each character has a normal attack and a few special attacks that could be used when the “special meter” had enough power. This didn’t happen very often though so the combat basically consisted of spamming one button – oh, and one character was ranged only, and the other melee only which was far more frustrating than it should’ve been.
Enjoyment: 2/5 We decided to play this demo purely because it was local co-op, and it unfortunately wasn’t a very good local co-op game. I’m not sure how this would work as a single player game after our experience though.
Potential: 2/5 The game needs a few tweaks to make it fun. It was extremely difficult for the melee character to kill flying enemies and just as difficult for the ranged character to deal with close enemies. I get that the point is to help each other out, but there was no way to even slightly deal with this on your own. The characters needed a small way of dealing with their weaknesses, after all, it’s impossible to help each other out when you can’t even get away from the enemies yourself.
Wishlisted?
Skylar-Mei: No. I came for the local co-op, and it didn’t deliver.
WesleyWhale: No. I didn’t have fun playing the demo.
Skylar-Mei’s Top 3:
3. Concealed
2. Little Goody Two Shoes
1. A Date with Death
WesleyWhale’s Top 3:
3. Relentless Frontier
2. Creepy Tale: Some Other Place
1. Anomaly Agent
That brings us to the end of October’s Steam Next Fest! Although the demos weren’t as strong as they were back in June, we still found some decent titles that we’ll be keeping our eyes on. Once again, thank you so much for reading and let us know if there are any demos you enjoyed playing!
Hope to see you again in February for another Steam Next Fest!
gamergal.exe 
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