Another Steam Next Fest is over, meaning another collection of indie game demos have vanished into the ether. As ever, with so many options at your fingertips, it can be hard to know what to play, but now that the dust has settled, we've collated our Steam Next Fest coverage to point you towards the games we loved that deserve a spot on your wishlist.
I'd be remiss to start anywhere but Dungeonborne, the PvPvE RPG that plays like the second coming of extraction fantasy frontrunner Dark and Darker. Throughout the week, Dungeonborne's presence at the top of pretty much every Next Fest chart spoke to its ability to successfully fill the gap in the market left by its progenitor's continuing absence from Steam. Easily the breakout hit of this festival, it'll be interesting to see if it can maintain that hot streak into a full release in a notoriously tricky genre.
Dungeonborne might have dominated, but that still left plenty of space for other games to infiltrate the Next Fest charts. One of those was Dread Dawn, an open-world zombie survival game that got off to a slow start but built plenty of hype over the week. There's a touch of games like Project Zomboid here, but Dread Dawn is much more interested in its narrative than many survival games, with an element of slice-of-life genre stalwarts like Shaun of the Dead or All of Us Are Dead. It's a slow burn, but likely to keep dedicated fans busy for a long time.
It came as no surprise that among the many, many demos, two genres in particular caught our attention. The Metroidvania is at the peak of its power right now, with the roguelike not far behind; the impossibly colorful Ultros caught our eye with its "prismatic assault on the senses"; the Don't Starve devs have another hit on their hands with co-op roguelike Rotwood; Bore Blasters smelts together Vampire Survivors and Deep Rock Galactic in its mining roguelike; and Palworld developer Pocketpair smashes it all together with a Metroidvania roguelike that wears its Hollow Knight inspiration on its sleeve.
Speaking of Palworld, the ideas that helped make it the first big hit of 2024 are already starting to rear their heads - in Soulmask, you'll lead a tribe through a Stone Age, Valheim-esque world, complete with tribe members who you can set to work, just like Pocketpair's unfortunate Pals. And if you're looking for expansive worlds inspired by the past, then this sequel to one of the first-ever open-world games is one to pay close attention to.
When it comes to any Steam Next Fest, we'd be remiss not to mention the cozy games; this cross between Overcooked and Animal Crossing lets you become a capybara barista; Arco might not be super-cozy, but its gorgeous pixel art is the perfect reason to try out its clever twist on turn-based strategy; one of my own personal highlights was this idle Stardew Valley-style farm sim that plays quietly at the bottom of your screen; while Until Then channels the likes of Life is Strange and 2023 hit A Space for the Unbound. Finally, if you fancy a very particular kind of relaxing game, trucking enthusiasts can blast off with an out-of-this-world take on American Truck Simulator.
Impressively, the list above only features around half the games we managed to write about, and it's an even smaller fraction of the demos we tried, let alone the demos that actually featured in Next Fest. From blockbusters like Stormgate and Homeworld 3, to breakout hits like Poker deckbuilder Balatro and inventory management autobattler Backpack Battles, every Next Fest offers its own seemingly-inexhaustible list of games. The next event drops in June, so if you missed out this time, keep an eye out in the summer.
Alternatively, help us keep an eye out for you with our list of upcoming indie games.
