Steam Next Fest features nearly 500 idler games, offering a wide selection of demos. The author downloaded 45 demos simultaneously to quickly assess their interest. The festival runs until June 22.
Steam Next Fest has begun, featuring 4,347 game demos available for a week. This number is expected to increase during the event. If a player spends half an hour on each demo, it would take about three months to experience them all. Notable titles include Empulse, an FPS with wall-running and mech-dropping mechanics, and Omen, an isometric spaceship extraction shooter.
This week features the Steam Next Fest, showcasing numerous game demos and playtests. Notable new game releases include:
- Stellaris: Nomads: Introduces migrant civilizations with planet-scale spaceships in a 4X strategy game.
- Day Trade Coach: A stock market trading simulator with a live news feed and professional trading terminal interface.
- Mole: Players pilot a drill guided by whispers from the deceased in a whimsical setting.
- Alaric: A "boomer shooter" with metroidvania design elements.
- Copa City: A football management game set in 2026, focusing on the chaos of fan influx.
- GoblinAmerica: An early access FPS where players embody US presidents to restore order and rewrite history.
- The Last Salvage Squad: Features anime robots battling UFOs.
- A four-dimensional chess game concept.
Additional noteworthy titles include:
- R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos: A remastered collection of turn-based PSP R-Type games.
- The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales: An action-RPG with "2D-HD" graphics by veterans of Octopath Traveller.
- Mech Spa: A nurturing game focused on mechs.
- Mythic Love: Iberian Legends: An otome visual novel exploring Iberian folklore.
- The Quiet Things: An autobiographical narrative addressing childhood trauma.
- Moon River: A short RPG where players navigate a river revealed by moonlight, marking its full release.
The Treehouse team is engaged in various activities, including urban adventures, exploring fungal brains, and artistic projects.
Cozy games are gaining popularity in the gaming industry, highlighted by the recent Wholesome Games Showcase, which featured 37 new cozy game demos. One notable title is Toem 2, a sequel to the original game that involves players using a camera to complete a stamp rally.
Google is introducing game trials on Google Play to allow users to try out paid games before purchasing them. The trials will start on mobile and will eventually be available on PC as well. Additionally, Google is adding new paid indie games and the AI-powered Sidekick feature to select paid games on the platform.
Steam Next Fest features various new game demos inspired by Balatro, including:
1. Gambonanza: A strategic game set on a miniature chessboard where players use chess pieces to battle against the computer, with options to enchant tiles and acquire gambits after mini-matches.
2. Raccoin: A coin pusher arcade game where players drop coins to create chaos and push additional coins into a basket, featuring special coins with unique interactions. It is set to launch on March 31.
3. Coinsweeper: An enhanced version of Minesweeper that allows players to bail out mid-game, offering purchasable items and modifiers for bonuses.
4. Ultrapool: A pool game where players can upgrade and combine pool balls and increase pocket multipliers for higher scores.
5. Rogue Hanafuda: A game using hanafuda cards similar to poker, where players unlock more card plays as they accumulate wealth and can purchase stackable items for bonuses.
6. Capsulitas: A game combining gashapon mechanics where players buy capsules and manage inventory to enhance scoring chances in future rounds.
The Steam Next Fest is currently taking place, offering a week-long celebration of game demos. It features a wide variety of upcoming titles, including:
- Prime Monster: A card-based political roguelike where political leaders are depicted as monsters.
- All Will Rise: A narrative deck-builder focused on seeking justice for a slain god.
- Vampire Crawlers: A card-based dungeon crawler from the creator of Vampire Survivors.
- The Last Gas Station: A game where players control a red panda running a gas station in an electric vehicle-dominated world.
- Windrose: An open-world PvE pirate survival game with "soulslite combat" and sea shanties.
- Tap Tap Loot: An action-packed game featuring a character reminiscent of Bongo Cat.
- Phonopolis: An adventure game from Amanita Design.
- Titanium Court: Highlighted as the "first must-play demo" of the event.
The Steam Next Fest runs until March 2.
The ongoing Steam Next Fest runs until 2 March and features a variety of game demos. One highlighted game is Collector’s Cove, a free demo developed by VoodooDuck, where players manage a floating farm aboard a ship, exploring islands and gathering crops and fish. The demo allows players to grow crops, fish, craft items, and personalize their ship, with the goal of becoming a Named-Collector. Progress made in the demo will carry over to the full game, which includes access to the first seven in-game days. Collector’s Cove is compatible with the Steam Deck. Other demos featured in the event include Romestead, The Witch’s Bakery, and Witchspire.
Steam Next Fest is currently taking place, showcasing a variety of game demos. This year, the focus is on highlighting exciting demos rather than creating a wishlist. Some notable games featured include:
- A game inspired by hiding spiders under cups at holiday parties, which includes power-up cards that are not microtransactions.
- Rise Of Piracy, an early access RTS by MicroProse, where players command a fleet of corsairs and can engage in diplomacy and trading.
- Emberbane, a 2D metroidvania with elemental martial arts elements.
- Reigns: The Witcher, a deck-building narrative game set in the Witcher universe, where players control Dandelion.
- Utawarerumono: ZAN 2, an anime-style hack-and-slash game with base management and humorous elements.
- Spellcasters Chronicles, a 3v3 wizard MOBA from Quantic Dream.
- Tales of Berseria Remastered, a revamped action-RPG from Bamco.
- Snägäri Pinball, a pinball game themed around Finland’s late-night snack kiosks.
- Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom's latest horror installment featuring both third-person and first-person gameplay.
- Arrow World, a sokoban-style game with conveyor belt mechanics.
The RPS team is actively playing Resident Evil Requiem and sharing their experiences.
Cozy gaming is gaining popularity within the PC gaming community, characterized by charming aesthetics and relaxing gameplay. A special section is dedicated to cozy games, highlighting smaller titles. The Steam Next Fest on February 23 will feature many cozy game demos. Notable cozy game picks for February include:
- Reigns: The Witcher: A game that parodies Tinder's swiping mechanics with moral dilemmas faced by Geralt.
- Creature Kitchen: A puzzle game where players cater to whimsical characters through cooking and problem-solving.
- Bento Blocks: A puzzle game focused on slicing and arranging sushi ingredients into lunchboxes, evoking nostalgia.
- Reanimal: A game with horror elements that offers a captivating experience, diverging from typical cozy aesthetics.
