One of the biggest and hottest demos in Steam Next Fest is a 40-hour slice of this tribal survival game with flashes of a Palworld-style management sim

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Soulmask lets you recruit tribesmen for manual labor purposes

Tribesmen fight a big tiger in a screenshot from Soulmask
(Image credit: Qooland Games)

Steam Next Fest is back for another round of non-stop demos, including one survival game with more in common with Palworld than just its genre. 

Soulmask is a tribal-themed survival sandbox game that follows in Valheim or Palworld's footsteps: you gather materials, craft impossibly large bases, and slowly become an apex predator in a world filled with big beasties. There are also some magical fantasy elements and a beautiful open world, but the star attraction is how you recruit tribespeople.

For those who want to assemble a factory line of workers à la Palworld - minus the guns and cutesy creatures and forced labor - Soulmask has a similar system up its sleeve. Recruiting tribespeople with your titular mask lets you command them to farm, produce resources, or patrol as you wish. "A groundbreaking automated process allows you to play the role of a mature tribal leader, without the hassle of daily management trivialities," reads the storefront description.

Even more interestingly, the different tribesfolk have distinct personalities and abilities, meaning they're more than just manual labor goons. "They are skilled in different weapons and excel in various production crafts," the storefront continues. It seems like you can even lead your tribal army into grand, epic battles if the trailer above is any indication. 

According to the developers, Soulmask's early access launch is "drawing closer," though there's no solid date yet. For now, you can trial the beautiful world and interesting tribe recruitment systems in the free demo on Steam, which apparently contains up to 40 hours of things to see and do. 

Steam Next Fest is full of other cool game demos, including psychedelic platformers that might destroy your heartstrings and absolutely gorgeous city builders set in the post-apocalypse. 

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.