I made beer with monks and got called "your Maltiness" in this remarkably chill ale-brewing sim, and you can too with its free Steam Next Fest demo

My favorite part of the Steam Next Fest demo for Ale Abbey is when people call me "your Maltiness", and that's saying a lot, because the whole demo is a lot of fun.

Ale Abbey is an upcoming tycoon game with a twist: you're in charge of a brewery run by Catholic monks. When you arrive at your monastery, you're met by its bishop, who tasks you with expanding "our holy brewing mission". Specifically, he wants you to help him build a thriving brewery that'll make your monastery the most popular around. Fortunately, he walks you through that process step-by-step through a number of tutorials, starting with setting up a desk and formulating your first ale recipe. 

At this point, your options are severely limited to just one type of light ale, but you'll eventually be able to brew more than 20 European styles of ale, which you can tweak with various optional ingredients to unlock special attributes. You'll also be able to adjust the price, quantity, quality, and mash temperature of your brews with the goal of keeping your customers happy and your monastery well-funded. Part of that involves knowing when to ship your brews straight to market or store them for aging.

I've only played through the relatively limited demo, but from that experience it doesn't seem Ale Abbey is trying to reinvent the business sim genre. What it does do, it does very, very well though. The art style and animations are adorable, the simulation is deep but approachable, and the writing is hilarious... have I mentioned "your Maltiness"?

In my time with the demo, I gleefully fiddled around with my monastery, rearranging furniture and decorating my living quarters and office while the monks of the monastery worked the brewing stove and fermenter. My first few beers were awful, and as a concession I priced them low enough that my buyers were at least happy for the bargain, but after I invested time in the Research skill tree and learned from my failures navigating the brewing system, I was on my way to a prosperous ale-brewing operation.

Mostly, I just love how darn cute Ale Abbey is. Its depiction of Catholic monasticism is playful but respectful, its characters jaunt around the monastery with a rhythmic bounce in their step, and the whimsical music reminds me of the old Ultima games, which is one of the highest compliments I can give. I play so many games that deal with the bleakest possible themes, especially during the Halloween season, and Ale Abbey is the ideal counterweight to all of that doom and gloom. Would recommend!

And now, a toast to the best simulator games to play right now.