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Steam Next Fest is here again for its summer season. Thought we'd be too busy with Summer Game Fest and the Nintendo Switch 2 launch to get involved? Ha! Think again. When a legion of intriguing new experiences are unleashed onto the internet to try for free, you know we can't resist. However, with just over 2500 demos in the mix, it's an awful lot to work through to find the stuff that really appeals to you.
Our Steam Next Fest guide is a great starting place to learn more about downloading the demos. But for now, we've played through heaps of demos to find the ones we really recommend you check out before Steam Next Fest draws to a close. There's lots of good stuff in there, to the point where even narrowing it down to just 20 was hard. And I'm still feeling guilty about the demos I downloaded, but probably won't have time to play on top of this.
Can you have too much of a good thing? I'd argue no – because at the end of the day it's all about the possibilities of what you could have. And I'm here to help you on that journey. Keep following all our coverage for the highlights, but here's our top recommendations for what Steam Next Fest demos should really get downloaded for the weekend.
20. Herdling
Developer: Okomotive
Release date: TBC 2025
Herdling is a bit like a cross between The Last Guardian and Journey, having you assemble a group of cute calicorn critters to herd them safely from the city streets to the mountain home they crave to return to. There's some light puzzling at times in Herdling, which otherwise constantly moves you forward, occasionally pausing to ask you to navigate structures by pushing blocks and other such things. But where it really shines is where you're let loose on the fields, raising your stick to boost your companions while dashing along behind them, the music swelling. This demo is the game's opening, and allows you to experience some of those beats for yourself.
19. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault
Developer: Digital Sun
Release date: TBC 2025
Once again, shopkeeper-adventurer Will finds himself managing a store in Moonlighter 2, with a landlord hungry for cash. Though the world may have changed a bit following the events of the first game's ending, money still makes the world go around. Which means he has to set off on an adventure in order to nab loot that he can then sell. It's up to you how to push expeditions, and what you fill your limited backpack space with. Adding to that is the idea of combination items, meaning even seemingly useless junk can be valuable if kept together. You get a great taste of the initial loop in this introduction to the game!
18. OFF
Developer: Mortis Ghost, Fangamer
Release date: August 15, 2025
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why recommend OFF, a game that came out back in 2008? Well, because this is a loving and faithful remaster/remake that makes it really nice to get stuck into this cult classic. After all, this is the bizarre RPG that inspired Undertale, and that game's creator Toby Fox has even contributed to this new version of OFF. Taking control of The Batter, your mission is simple: purify the world by traveling through its Zones and bashing the heck out of ghouls. Less simple is the world itself, a strange place that gets odder the more you explore it, and, as you'd expect from something that inspired Undertale, spirals out massively from there. The hefty demo includes the whole of Zone 1, so grab your bat and get involved!
17. Baby Steps
Developer: Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy
Release date: September 8, 2025
This laugh-out-loud and wince-worthy physics adventure comes from the mind of Getting Over It creator Bennet Foddy. While Baby Steps is certainly a bit more than just that infamously tough game about ascending, but now in 3D, the similarities are clear whenever you take a disastrous tumble. Playing as Nate, you end up transported to a world of muddy landscapes in which you need to relearn how to move your legs. Cue plenty of muddy faceplanting. This is the kind of game where simply walking up a hill feels almost impossible, and you can lose about 30 minutes of progress in 30 seconds, which is also why we love it.
16. Morsels
Developer: Furcula
Release date: TBC 2025
While this top-down roguelike is full of all sorts of poop, bile, and nasty tooty noises, there's also an edge of cuteness about it. In Morsels, you're thrust into a world where large and visually upsetting creatures rule supreme, but you take control of the smaller critters looking to make a difference – the, well, morsels. Playing a little bit like The Binding of Isaac, if you had recharging shot ammo and could switch characters on the fly (up to three morsels can be recruited and bound to the d-pad at once during a run), this can be a brutal but satisfying chaotic world to master. Just watch out, as some creatures are just too big to defeat – if you see that snake come a-slithering, just run.
15. Hotel Barcelona
Developer: White Owls
Release date: TBC
Hotel Barcelona is the long-awaited collaboration between two gaming legends – Suda 51, known for the likes of Killer7 and No More Heroes, and Swery65, known for Deadly Premonition and The Missing. In this demo, you quickly see the influence of both, taking control of Federal Marshal Justine as she explores a hotel for serial killers while also having another serial killer trapped inside of her who she can fuse with to become a powerful force of justice. Seeking revenge, she'll have to carve through a host of other killers to track down her target, which means slashing through 2D roguelike levels with branching paths that are all parodies of horror movies. With access to the first area, this demo is a great introduction.
14. Hell is Us
Developer: Rogue Factor
Release date: September 4, 2025
It's hard to get a real sense of the "multi-map spanning secrets" promised in Hell is Us from the demo, but it does give you a great taste of just how unique and strange this game is. Hell is Us is set in a fictional civil war in the '90s, where the closed borders hide some bizarre creatures. Thrust into action, combat is a bit soulslike in style – while not being quite as punishing. But it's exploration that's really different, encouraging you to use a compass to get around and not giving you quest markers. You need to take your time and explore your curiosity yourself rather than switch off that part of your brain, and that's refreshing.
13. Holstin
Developer: Sonka
Release date: TBC
Holstin is another game set in the 90s about the horror lurking beneath society. Set in Poland, this inventive pixel art game mixes top-down exploration with over-the-shoulder shooting seamlessly. Looking from above, the camera can be rotated freely – even though it looks 2D. Aim your gun, and it'll seamlessly zoom in. It looks phenomenal in motion and allows you to get up close and personal with some of Holstin's gnarlier designs. Like a cross between Silent Hill and Resident Evil, the horrors are strong even in this demo.
12. Possessor(s)
Developer: Heart Machine
Release date: TBC
If you found Hyper Light Breaker a bit too much of a departure from Hyper Light Drifter, you may prefer what developer Heart Machine is offering here with Possessor(s), which evolves some of the combat philosophies that underpinned that original indie classic in a fresh direction while exploring a brand new world. Side-scrolling action here is set within a ruined and flooded city. Precise platforming meets precise combat, all feeling rewarding when you string together the right moves to clinch a challenge by the skin of your teeth while making it look effortless.
11. Unbeatable
Developer: D-Cell Games
Release date: TBC 2025
Rhythm games don't always need to be more complicated to keep introducing new ideas. Unbeatable makes the most of a simple two-button approach to make each song in this hefty demo feel like a nail-biting brawl. With a top lane and a bottom lane, it's all about juggling incoming enemies as you tap away while also avoiding hazards. There's a lot of depth to be found on the harder difficulties. This demo also gives a taste of the story mode, which sees Beat and her band on the run from a government that's made music illegal, playing their music shows to fight the system. Now that's punk.
10. Dead as Disco
Developer: Brain Jar Games
Release date: TBC
The combat in Batman Arkham was always rhythmic, but Dead as Disco reimagines the approach to 3D brawls as truly set to music. BPM changes the speed of encounters, and the story mode flashes you between setpieces to match the mood of the track. This Dead as Disco demo only briefly allows us to try a single proper level in what's teased to be a Mega Man-like set-up of goons and boss fights. Infinite Disco mode, meanwhile, gives us room to try plenty more tracks in a more simplistic but still flashy environment, and even import our own songs. Disco will never die.
9. No, I'm Not a Human
Developer: Trioskaz
Release date: Q3 2025
No, I'm Not a Human knows when to let its lo-fi grungy textures make you uneasy, and when to revel in the just-as-uncomfortable over-detail of the human body. When something happens to the sun that makes it dangerous to go outside in the day, and Visitors begin emerging from the earth to replicate humans, it's safest to stick together. But that means making sure you only let people into your house who you're sure you can trust. By night, you vet those seeking refuge by knocking at your door, and by day, you talk to the survivors and test them to see if they are really the humans they say they are. This demo gives you a few days to soak in the upsetting vibes.
8. Mina the Hollower
Developer: Yacht Club Games
Release date: October 31, 2025
The Shovel Knight developer can't stop striking the earth, though this time Mina the Hollower takes place from a top-down Game Boy-like perspective rather than being an NES-like 2D platformer. Mina the Hollower riffs on Zelda games made for the hardware, having the adventurous hero explore a Castlevania-style horror-themed world, battling baddies and solving puzzles. The big twist is her Hollower power to, well, burrow, which is just as vital for getting the upper hand on foes as it is in navigating the world itself.
7. Azaran: Islands of the Jinn
Developer: Benji
Release date: TBC
From 2D Zelda to 3D Zelda! Azaran: Islands of the Jinn is a real love letter to that adventuring series on Nintendo 64. Anyone familiar with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will immediately feel the vibes when playing the Azaran demo, right the way down to how Zahn locks on to enemies, or how the camera pans around a dungeon. Almost every design decision here evokes those classic '90s vibes. But, with its Arabian Nights theme, Azaran: Islands of the Jinn also has its own personality that's worth getting to know, and is just fun to play. With most of the opening dungeon to play, this demo is well worth playing for yourself.
6. Ratatan
Developer: TVT, Ratata Arts
Release date: July 24, 2025
This spiritual successor to the Patapon games on PSP made waves on Kickstarter. Ratatan's development team even includes members who worked on the original series. This time around, the rhythm action follows a roguelike structure, seeing your hero Ratatan return to Rataport between each run. Setting out each time with the cobuns in tow, you battle much bigger enemies and need to time strategies to make the most of the catchy soundtrack and take them down. The visual direction is gorgeous, and the music is sublime – the best way to see if this is so catchy it can get its hooks in you is to give it a try for yourself.
5. City of Voices
Developer: Kini Games
Release date: TBC
Loved The Rise of the Golden Idol (like we did in our The Rise of the Golden Idol review) and how that series presents its mysteries? But maybe want something a little less supernatural? Then City of Voices is a demo you really need to check out. Co-developed by one of Golden Idol's writers and designers, with the rest of that team's blessing, this is essentially the same puzzle bones applied to a young girl's coming-of-age tale as she navigates bullying across school and her Acorn scout-like unit. Teasing a more mysterious journey, this demo centers mostly on finding out who bullies are and how they did their deeds, which can be a bit upsetting without any later emotional release. But these conundrums are all very clever and have you make some tough deductions with just the right number of clues. Pay attention to what you're looking at!
4. Consume Me
Developer: Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder
Release date: September 25, 2025
Consume Me has already won several awards before even releasing, and after even a brief look, it's easy to see why. This is a life simulation RPG with fantastic visual design and a very important message about growing up as a teen. Across both traditional life-sim style menus and very satisfyingly clicky minigames, you need to 'balance' the overwhelm of trying to make the most of your teenage years while dealing with a constant checklist of goals and pressure coming from all sides. All the mechanics work together to hammer the message home, but it's best played to really understand what Consume Me is going for, so give it a go!
3. After Inc: Revival
Developer: Ndemic Creations
Release date: June 17, 2025
This sequel to Plague Inc. dares to ask: what happens next? Players caused the disease-ridden apocalypse umpteenth times the first go around, but After Inc: Revival tackles rebuilding after the end of the world instead, a potentially more optimistic angle that's nice to see in the age we're living in. Somewhere between 4X strategy and a city builder, it challenges you to secure resources in order to keep your populace alive as you deal with a harsh world. Which also means having to make difficult decisions including, upsettingly, having to feed dogs to the citizens in order to keep them alive. Can you build a better future?
2. Crescent County
Developer: Electric Saint
Release date: TBC
Hop onto your motorbroom in Crescent County and get ready to do some witchy racing, deliver packages, and hang out with your pals and crushes. What's more to say than that, really? It's all we needed to know to mash that download button like there was no tomorrow. There's so much charm packed into this magical adventure, from the funny (and sometimes irreverent) writing to the lo-fi but colorful visuals. The island is an open world, and it feels like there's plenty of routes that are fun to learn. This demo is a great way to get a feel for things, and decide if broom riding is for you.
1. Prologue: Go Wayback
Developer: PLAYERUNKNOWN Productions
Release date: TBC
We've written about Prologue: Go Wayback before, but we can't resist, well, erm, coming back. Thankfully, accessing the demo doesn't require compass-based navigation, because if this harsh orienteering game is anything to go by, it's something we struggle with. This comes from the PUBG creator, and while it's a far cry from a battle royale – this is a single-player challenge – it has a similar simplicity. All you have to do is reach a weather station. But with few resources and not a lot of information to go on, actually finding it and making it there in one piece is where the challenge lies. Think you can manage it? Well, give it a try then!
For more exciting future releases, check out our guides on all the upcoming indie games and upcoming PC games on the horizon.
