Welcome back to another edition of Steam Next Fest! This is the second iteration of the year, and boy was I frantic in trying to clear out space for this mountain of new demos.
A lot has changed since our last outing, courtesy of an interesting curveball. Steam decided to mix things up by feeding us entirely random recommendations before switching over to a personalized algorithm on Wednesday. I’m fascinated to see how this algorithmic shakeup will change what bubbles to the top of our feed, but we’ll dive deeper into that experiment during my post-event roundup next week. You can also expect to see more collaborators in the next article as well, so you definitely don’t want to miss that one. However, today, we are focusing on a pure midweek teaser of curated demos that have completely captured our attention so far.
Before i give my take on the event, i would like to introduce you to my fellow writers here on Substack. Nim and Rowan from The Gaming Companion. I have been following them for a while now, and they are both amazing creators and writers. In fact, if my memory serves me right, writing my roundup of Steam Next Fest February 2026 was the reason I discovered them. So it’s a full circle moment for me to have them directly contribute to this Steam Next Fest article. But let me step aside and let their entry speak for itself.
“Hello! Nim and Rowan from The Gaming Companion here. Between the two of us, we have very different tastes when it comes to games, so our Next Fest demos are mostly on different sides of the spectrum. From warm and cozy to spooky and even plain old horror. Saying that, we both enjoy characters who feel real and have intriguing or memorable stories. Or, sometimes, just simple games you can turn your brain off for.
Here are a few of our favorite demos from the Next Fest so far!:”
Welcome to Elderfield (Nim’s Pick): A hauntingly cozy pixel-art farming RPG laced with dark, Lovecraftian occult mysteries.
The Sinking City 2 (Nim’s Pick): A brutal and atmospheric survival horror sequel that dives deep into a waterlogged, nightmare-infused landscape.
Loot Frog (Rowan’s Pick): A crunchy, fast-paced incremental action bullet hell where smashing pots and hoarding gems feels incredibly addictive.
Chained Beasts (Rowan’s Pick): A wildly chaotic gladiator roguelite where you are literally chained to your friends
This June edition of Next Fest feels beautifully tailored to smaller AA projects and brilliant indie teams. It makes sense for the current landscape; so many monstrous AAA titans have already landed or are hiding away until the holiday season, leaving the floor wide open for smaller games.
If I’m being completely transparent, my personal Steam feed is utterly drowning in space simulators and survival crafting titles right now. Thank you, No Mans Sky and American Truck Simulator; I have been spamming these two games for months now, but maybe lets save that story for another article. I purposefully set out this week to break out of my comfort zone and hunt down games outside my usual gaming preferences. Despite my best efforts, I still ended up in the gravitational orbit of some familiar gaming genres.
Here are some of the standout games you need to download and try:
POLYARIS: A brutal, frostbitten survival experience that tasks you with navigating a frozen, post-apocalyptic wasteland where the environment is just as deadly as the enemies.
Sol One: A hauntingly atmospheric deep-space exploration simulator that nails the terrifying, beautiful isolation of the cosmos.
EMPULSE: A crunchy, physics-defying puzzle platformer where manipulating energy fields feels incredibly snappy and rewarding.
Star Wrath: An intense, surrealist space combat sim that feels like a glorious throwback while delivering modern, chaotic dogfights.
Over the Hill: A meditative, deeply narrative journey that handles its emotional weight with incredible grace and stunning visual poetry.
Slow Roads: The ultimate antidote to high-stress gaming, a psychedelic, endlessly relaxing procedurally generated driving game that is perfect for zoning out.
Farming Camp: A wonderfully tactile and cozy twist on the survival craft genre that forces you to balance resource management with the simple joy of pitching a tent.
Before we dive into the full breakdown of the demos we found, I want to shine a massive spotlight on three specific titles that came to me directly via a series of posts on Threads and Bluesky.
Let’s be real, small studios and solo developers have an impossibly steep hill to climb. Not only are they pouring their souls into building something special, but they also have to master the dark art of marketing to actually find their audience. As someone whose day job entails marketing, I know firsthand just how exhausting it can be.
I’ve been quietly working on building our community to help small studios and solo devs get their vital first steps. Even getting a single pair of eyes on a project can change everything. Everyone starts somewhere, and I hope that “somewhere” can be right here in our incredible Substack family. All I ask is that you give them a chance, download their demos, give them a follow, and wishlist their games if you enjoy their work.
HAE Stack: A wonderfully surrealist and mind-bending puzzle experience that completely plays with your perspective.
Revertices: A haunting, gravity-shifting platformer with a stark, gorgeous aesthetic.
Fairy Springs: A gorgeous, meditative cottagecore dream that offers a beautifully gentle rhythm to cleanse your palate.
This is where we get into the nitty-gritty. Below you’ll find the comprehensive breakdowns for our favorite titles
There are so many farming sims out there I’m almost loathe to try another one, but Welcome to Elderfield dragged me in anyway. It’s a cozy horror RPG with romance, friendships, and plenty of mysteries to explore. Think of it like Stardew Valley meets Lovecraftian horror. You manage a farm and solve mysteries for your neigbors along the way, with some interesting monsters and combat thrown in.
As a bonus, the art is completely hand-drawn. It gives Elderfield a gritty feel that makes the game that much spookier.
The demo starts pretty slow and raises some very intriguing questions right from the get-go. I’m not sure who the strange, tentacle-faced cultists are, and I’m honestly not sure I want to find out…
Most of all, I enjoyed how rich the world feels, even for a demo. The characters you meet along the way all have their own personalities and mysteries for you to solve. Whether you help them or not depends on you and affects your relationship with your neighbors.
Not to mention, strange things happen when you sleep. Your fate comes down to a die roll. Which isn’t just figurative. It might just be your end…
If you enjoy farming sims but get tired of outright coziness, Welcome to Elderfield might just give you the spook-factor you’re looking for.
Release Date: Coming Soon
Steam Page: Download
Apparently, I’m a bit behind the times and missed that there was a sequel in the works for The Sinking City. So, when I spotted this one, I had to try it. The Sinking City 2 is a third-person survival horror set in the 1920s and inspired by Lovecraft. To save Faye, the love interest, you explore the very flooded city of Arkham and face some very interesting monsters along the way.
They’re a bit like zombies, actually… Ignoring the Lovecraftian twist, this one reminded me of a blend of Resident Evil and The Last of Us.
World-building and story-wise, I really enjoyed this one. It’s a little clunky in places, admittedly, and I can’t recommend it if you’re squeamish at all. The Eldritch horrors are about as scary as you’d expect, and it’s only increased by the game’s grim atmosphere, but it’s also incredibly gory at times. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
However, if you enjoy action blended with horror, I think this one’s worth trying. I especially enjoyed the puzzles scattered through the levels. No matter how much you might want to hide away from all the monsters, you have to keep exploring to find the solutions to progress.
Release Date: Coming Soon
Steam Page: Download
I’m a big fan of Bullet Heaven games — something about the gradual buildup to annihilating huge swathes of enemies just appeals to me. Loot Frog is a slower entry into this type of game, but it adds a neat twist on the genre.
In Loot Frog, you play as a little frog with the goal of getting as deep into the dungeon as possible. The first few runs you do, you’ll be hitting pots over and over and desperately avoiding enemies (they hit hard in the beginning), but you’ll slowly grow to take them down.
Each dungeon level has 4 sub-levels and a boss room. Through the course of the game, you’ll repeat each of these sub-levels multiple times as you slowly gather gems and coins to upgrade the frog.
It’s not quite as seamless an incremental game as something like Vampire Survivors, and it has a lot more Bullet Hell elements, but it has the appeal of very short runs that add up over time. The early runs take around 15 seconds to complete, which is a nice change from the 30 minute runs of other Bullet Heaven games.
If you’re at all a fan of Bullet Heaven games yourself, I recommend this one! It’s cute, well-polished, and achieves that “just one more run” feel that I love in the genre.
Release Date: Coming Soon
Steam Page: Download
Chained Beasts is a roguelite that sees you fighting for your life in the Colosseum. However, the objective isn’t just to survive, you need to entertain the crowd as well. You can do this by throwing weapons at your enemies, throwing pots at your enemies, or even throwing enemies at your enemies!
The more variety of attacks you have, the higher your score is. And how much more fun the game is to play. I enjoyed running around the arena picking up all the different weapons to try out.
Another huge mechanic in this game is the chain. Your character is chained either to a rock or your co-op buddies. Enemies will trip and physically interact with your chain, which you can either use to your advantage or get caught out by. While I didn’t try out co-op for this particular game, I imagine it’s quite fun to co-operate with your friends to use the chain to trip enemies up.
If you’re a fan of roguelites, you’ll probably like this one! The runs are fairly short, so it’s also good to play in small sessions. There’s also a lot of fun to be had coming up with new and interesting ways to take on your opponents.
Release Date: Coming Soon
Steam Page: Download
A narrative simulation puzzle game that turns corporate database surveillance into an interactive dystopia. You assume the role of a newly hired Data Analytics Technical Associate at HAE Technologies Inc, tracking down targets and selling private data to survive the cutthroat corporate ladder.
Players utilize a simulated proprietary OS to cross-reference geolocation history via HAE-EYE, manage workspace assignments in Tasky, and talk to coworkers using HAE Teams
It’s fair to note that this is a chilling exploration of surveillance capitalism and authentic software interfaces. It kind of makes it feel like games such as Papers, Please!, Please Don’t Touch Anything, or Orwell.
Release Date: Coming Soon
Steam Page: Download
A haunting, surreal 2D action side-scroller featuring intense blade combat and striking psychological horror imagery. As one of the last lines of defense against a reality-shattering Polygonal Entity, your duty is to traverse ruined biomes to strike the Heart and reset a doomed timeline.
Players master precise movement across three distinctive, ruined biomes, engaging in six specialized boss encounters while utilizing unique movesets tailored to three playable survivors.
This quirky platformer delivers an exceptional entry point into platformers due to its adjustable difficulty settings. While I feel traditional platformers can occasionally induce fatigue or frustration, the game’s highly distinctive art style and compelling narrative layer provide an engaging anchor. The easy-to-learn controls allow you to focus purely on the tactical timing of jumps and attacks.
Release Date: Q4 2026
Steam Page: Download
A heartwarming, casual 2D adventure game set in a handcrafted woodland ecosystem inspired by rural Scotland. You play as Skye, an eager guardian fairy sent on her very first official seasonal assignment to nurture a peaceful glen and keep its animal residents happy.
Players track down items using a dedicated foraging ledger, solve seasonal environmental requests for ten fully animated critter characters, and utilize tailored mouse-only or controller movement setups.
In my opinion, this cozy experience feels tailor-made for handheld devices, offering a perfect, relaxing late-night session. The narrative is immediately intriguing, populated by colorful characters who reveal deep, engaging lore through regular conversation. While the crisp pixel art style shines and the ground controls feel incredibly smooth, the flying mechanics lack an explicit initial explanation, requiring a brief moment of trial and error to master fluidly.
Release Date: April 24, 2026
Steam Page: Download
This relaxing exploration simulator puts the player behind the wheel of classic off-roaders traversing beautifully minimalist, real-world-inspired terrain. You operate as a lone driver venturing through the golden age of off-roading, navigating untamed biomes like British Columbia’s Emerald Lake to uncover hidden portals and picturesque vistas.
Players manage vehicle repairs with toolkits, tackle technical dirt trails, and adapt to shifting weather and mud deformation, either solo or with up to three friends.
Critics and fans are noting the game feels like a serene fusion of Snow Runner meets the visual stylings of art of rally.
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Steam Page: Download
An expansion of the beloved browser-based prototype, this casual driving game offers a cathartic journey through endless, procedurally generated scenery. Free from objectives, timers, or pressure, the only narrative is the open road as you steer a vehicle endlessly toward the distant horizon.
Players configure road types, tweak custom handling physics, and cycle through environmental lighting conditions, with options to engage autopilot to purely appreciate the generative landscapes.
Fans are noting it is a perfectly distilled dose of driving zen, it is Desert Bus meets pure meditation.
Release Date: Coming Soon
Steam Page: Download Or Play Here
This cozy 2D farm management simulator weaves agricultural chores into a lighthearted teen drama set at a summer camp. You step into the boots of young Alessandra as she completes daily chores and builds friendships to claim the prestigious title of Evertree Farmer.
Players coordinate routines with fellow campers, chop wood, eliminate crop pests via timed mini-games, and manage resource outputs to outscore rival teams.
Critics are noting the charming character dynamics and hand-drawn art make it feel like Stardew Valley meets a coming-of-age summer camp story.
Release Date: To Be Announced
Steam Page: Download
A brutal, open-world Arctic survival simulation that pits the player against freezing temperatures, scarce resources, and the haunting isolation of a post-nuclear blast zone. Stranded between Norway and Russia as an engineer who miraculously survived a nuclear detonation, you must uncover the mystery of the empty landscape while fending off predators.
You must meticulously monitor body heat meters, craft tools from scavenged scrap, and navigate melting glaciers using physical skis and boats.
Early testers are noting its unforgiving mechanics and chilling atmosphere make it feel like The Long Dark meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Release Date: May 12, 2026
Steam Page: Download
A grounded, science-driven survival crafter where intense problem-solving is the only thing standing between the player and an oxygen-deprived death. Left behind on the hostile surface of Mars, you must scrape together raw materials to build a pressurized base and eventually construct the rocket that will carry you back to Earth.
Players extract silica and uranium, run raw resources through fabricators, and constantly manage power margins against sudden, visibility-killing dust storms.
Fans are noting the rigorous attention to scientific detail makes it feel like The Martian meets Hardspace: Shipbreaker.
Release Date: July 30, 2026
Steam Page:Download
A blazing-fast 6v6 arena shooter that blends parkour-style traversal with devastating, pilotable mechs. Acting as an elite pilot fighting for dominance in the vertical streets of Freehold, your goal is to lock down objectives and claim heavy mechs to control the match.
The core loop involves chaining wall-runs, firing grappling hooks, and deploying paint bombs to manipulate surfaces before calling down a heavily armed machine to crush the opposition.
Critics are noting the high-octane blend of grappling hooks and heavy metal makes it feel like Titanfall 2 meets The Finals.
Release Date: June 24, 2026
Steam Page: Download
A massively multiplayer space extraction game where bespoke ship design meets the ruthless physics of deep-space combat. Following the destruction of Earth, you act as a lone Wanderer scavenging the outskirts of the solar system for rare materials in a lawless, cutthroat universe.
You construct your ship block-by-block, extract rare DNA from fallen enemies, and calculate zero-g maneuvering while protecting your vessel’s vulnerable core from modular destruction.
Fans are noting the combination of deep block-based customization and high-stakes extraction feels like Escape from Tarkov meets Crossout in space.
Release Date: June 10, 2026
Steam Page: Download
We only have a few days left before these brilliant demos vanish back into the developer vaults, so it is time to strike while the iron is hot. Here is your homework for the weekend:
Download the Demos: Grab at least two or three of the titles above (make sure to grab at least one of the indie Spotlight games!) and give them a spin.
Hit the Wishlist Button: If a demo captures your imagination even a little bit, hit that wishlist button on Steam, it is the most powerful way to support an indie dev and its free.
Sound Off in the Comments: Let Rowan, Nim, and me know what you’re playing! Did the algorithm feed you something weird and wonderful during those first few days?
Happy gaming, friends!
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