Chinese indie studio Star Chess is working on a city builder with a particularly Chinese twist that takes the Taoist land god to the logical conclusion of a video game: In The Immortal Mayor, you are the local land god, and the more worshippers you attract, the more prestige you gain. It is up to you to ensure the prosperity of the locals, as the more worshippers you attract, the more prestige you gain. To that end, you direct the expansion of the town, including constructing buildings to defend against attacks by wild monsters, using your god-like powers and divine inspiration to direct the town.

It's a game you can demo at Steam Next Fest, a bit of a buried gem, and an Early Access version will be released in July 2021.

It's a great idea, and as your town gains followers, not everyone will worship you at first, but you will gain divine power faster, and as your town grows, you will gain importance in the divine hierarchy. As you make friends with other gods by building temples in your town, placing priests, and offering rare incense, you can use your power for the good of your village. [It's a cool twist on the idea of working as an omniscient "mayor" of a town, which is common in survivalist town planning. You want them to be educated. You want to decorate it divinely because it not only makes people's homes nicer, but it directly demonstrates your benevolence.

By the way, the demo itself seems to crash a lot for some players, but not so much for me. The (Immortal Mayor) demo can be found on Steam, as part of Steam Next Fest, a massive event celebrating upcoming Steam games with demos. We've also compiled a list of 16 of our favorite Steam Next Fest demos, as well as a list of 52 games announced at E3 with demos on Steam.Steam Next Fest ends on June 22, and the demos will also end.