Steam Next Fest is back next week offering sneak peaks at new indie games

Valve has revealed that its Steam Next Fest: February 2022 Edition is kicking off next week. This celebration of unreleased games will run from February 21-28, allowing everyone to try demos for hundreds of games before their release. In a nice touch, you’ll be able to share your thoughts on said demos with the people who made them. Alongside the eye-popping amount of playable demos, Valve will also be releasing a schedule of live streams and developer AMAs throughout Next Fest, giving players a chance to catch up with their favorite devs.

If the idea of wading through literally hundreds of demos sounds like an anxiety attack waiting to happen, don’t worry – we have earmarked a few games that might be worth checking out. First up is the Nintendo Direct starring racoon sim, Trash Panda, then we have 3D visual novel The Wreck, from the creators of Bury Me, My Love, shout out to the old school-looking RTS Line War, and who could forget the intriguing-looking kaiju brawler, GigaBash. Four game recommendations out of 300? Don’t say we don’t spoil you.

This month’s February shenanigans follows in the footsteps of October’s jam-packed edition of Steam Next Fest. With the last iteration of the digital event offering up a frankly ludicrous 700+ games to try, Valve’s Steam games festival rebrand is slowly becoming a notable event in the gaming calendar. If next week’s Next Fest follows the same format, Valve will also help to curate some of its favourites, grouping games by genre in order to help you find demos that complement your gaming palette. Either way, there will be a wide array of games shown, so you can be sure that there will be something for everyone throughout the week-long gaming extravaganza. Will all the glitz and glamour be enough to tear millions of players away from the seemingly life-consuming Lost Ark? That remains to be seen, but either way - we’re sure Amazon's buckling servers will appreciate the distraction.

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Eager to get involved? Steam Next Fest: February 2022 Edition starts the festivities at 6PM UK time, 10 am PT and 1pm ET next Monday.

For now here's our pick of the best free Steam games to enjoy for less

Tom is a freelance journalist and former PR with over five years worth of experience across copy-writing, on-camera presenting, and journalism.

Named one of the UK games industry’s rising stars by Gamesindustry.biz, Tom has been published by world-leading outlets such as: Fandom, The Guardian, NME, Ars Technica, GamesRadar, Engadget, IGN, Techradar, Red Bull, and EDGE.