Hundreds of free demos await you as Steam Next Fest kicks off a full week of fun, all in celebration of upcoming games on Steam.

Spend Steam Next Fest playing as many demos as you want; just don't forget to wishlist your favorites so that you can stay in-the-know with the developers when they officially launch.

Valve/Steam hosts Next Fest three times a year (February, June, October) as a way to give developers from around the world a captive audience for their demos on games they haven't released yet. If you already have a bunch of genres that are your faves, feel free to search that way. BUT we also encourage you to try something new-- check out the video player at the top of the main Next Fest hub for a new sprinkling of demos each day and perhaps discover your NEW favorite genre or theme!

Several developers are hosting livestreams as well, so be sure to check those out.

The October edition of Steam Next Fest is on now through October 20th at 10 a.m. Pacific on Steam!

• Arcana Academy: Build your magic academy in this card realm, recruit students, manage their tasks or classes, perform rituals, and explore a perilous magical world. Faced with the encroachment of the Abyss, can you live up to people's expectations and save the empire from crisis?
• Barkour: BARKOUR is a fast-paced stealth-action platformer where you play as Agent T.H.U.N.D.E.R. - a tail-wagging canine with a knack for parkour, gadgets and barking at villains. Join a secret organization to stop evil schemes in a world full of charming absurdity.
• Bladesong: The ultimate swordmaking game. Forge unique weapons with freeform blade shaping and modular hilts, perfectly balanced to your customers’ needs. Master the art of smithing and uncover the secrets of Eren Keep, a last haven of a dying world – or so they say.
• Blind Descent: Immerse yourself in a new Martian underground adventure with Blind Descent, an open-world survival craft game that unveils the mysteries of the Martian depths. Play solo or with friends as you search for the missing team. Adapt and mutate to survive in this bizarre alien world.
• Bloodgrounds: Bloodgrounds merges tactical turn-based combat with strategic management, RPG and roguelite elements. Forged in the pits of the arena, you fought your way out and now as a wealthy patron you recruit, train, and command your team of hardened Gladiators to glory - or death.
• Bus Bound: Step into the driver’s seat in Bus Bound, the latest title from the creators of Bus Simulator 21. Explore the vibrant city of Emberville in officially licensed buses, and help transform it into a pedestrian-friendly paradise—one stop at a time.
• Carnival Hunt: Carnival Hunt is a asymmetric horror strategy multiplayer game. One player takes on the role of the Carnival Monster, and the other players play as the Bunnies.
• Casting Whispers: Sound is your only hope for survival in this first-person psychological horror game. Investigate the mysteries of an apartment block in 1960s America terrorized by a cosmic horror, as you try to save your lost mentor… and yourself.
• Coffee Talk Tokyo: Coffee Talk Tokyo is the newest instalment of the beloved coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator. It brings the warmth, heart, and delicious drinks from the previous games to an all-new café in Tokyo where humans and yokai alike share their stories.
• Conquest Tactics: Realm of Sin: Conquest Tactics: Realm of Sin is a dark fantasy roguelite with hex-based, turn-based tactical combat. Command your forces, make impactful choices, and navigate a realm consumed by sin—will you restore order or surrender to darkness?
• Crossings: Explore and Fight your way through an ever-changing world in a quest for vengeance and survival in an epic Adventure through the Norse afterlife. Meet fellow lost souls in seamless and wordless VR Co-op as you Block, Dodge, Strike and Power your way through Trolls, Draugr and other dark beings.
• Cut The Grass: Farm Defense Survival: Cutting grass is just the beginning. Explore, gather loot, upgrade your farm and survive night attacks. Fight monsters, defend your base, and last as long as you can in this day-night survival loop!
• Decktamer: Deck-building meets monster catching in this turn-based roguelike. Recruit enemy cards to your party as you dive into the depths of the abyss. Will you kill them or will you tame them?
• Deep Fringe: Deep Fringe is a deep tactical RPG set in a biopunk post-apocalyptic wasteland. Lead powerful factions in turn-based brutal battles, leveraging the strategic use of an interactive environment. Modify or destroy terrain to achieve tactical supremacy. Craft legendary chapters with the level editor.
• Die or Die: Roll the dice and choose how you will die. Die or Die is a top-down shooter roguelite where you run, shoot and dodge enemies to get dice with which to disable threats or unlock abilities. Roll. Die. Repeat.
• Drill Rift: Build and manage a remote drill outpost in this turn-based strategy game. Upgrade strategic machinery and level up your dwarfs. Balance resource management, strategic upgrades, and madness. If you drill too deeply, you may awaken what should not be awakened.
• Constance: Constance is a 2D hand-drawn action adventure featuring a paintbrush-wielding artist, striving to escape from a colorful but decaying inner-world, created by her declining mental health.
• Docked: Return home to Port Wake and rebuild your family business. Docked is a realistic simulator where you operate heavy machinery, restore and develop the port's infrastructure, and manage day-to-day operations to help your port expand and thrive.
• Ember and Blade: Become the immortal hunter and stand against the archdemon Asmodeus. Cut through bullet-hell swarms, clash with Souls-like bosses, and harness celestial blessings that reshape your powers each run. The demons are rising—raise your sword.
• Escape from Ever After: A genre-bending RPG inspired by the classic Paper Mario games! When a greedy megacorp from the real world starts taking over fairytales for their cheap labor, a newly-hired storybook hero must climb the corporate ladder, rally together other disgruntled employees, and fight back!
• Eternal Palace Sakura: Sharpen your blades and step into the Eternal Palace Sakura, a dream labyrinth haunted by restless yokai. Battle through ever-shifting realms in this anime-inspired 3D action roguelite, mastering fluid combat and exploring endless floors of the palace!
• EVERDARK: Undead Apocalypse: Inspired by horror and B-movies from the '80s, Everdark takes us to a city infested with vampires. Armed with stakes, garlic, crosses, holy water, and an arsenal of firearms and melee weapons, we'll fight our way through this shooter that blends classic survival horror with an oppressive atmosphere.
• Everwind: Everwind is a novel take on RPG and Sandbox Survival genre in First-Person-Perspective. Embark on the adventure with your friends - Build a base on a flying island-ship, gather resources, craft, loot, and fight while you rise above the clouds to uncover the mysteries of this world!
• Execute: Kill everyone in the world with a guillotine… on a cursed Win98 desktop.
• Exo Rally Championship: Exo Rally Championship is the galaxy’s most dangerous off-road racing event - remote, unexplored, extreme exoplanetary rally. Master a brutally realistic racing simulation and fight for every second gained on your quest to become a champion.
• Fading Serenades: Hike, jump, and climb to traverse the treacherous terrain of the island to help villagers deliver parcels and complete their tasks and requests. Experience a story of vanishing traditions, a missing scientist, and an unfolding mystery. Serenading a quieter life, the island calls!
• Fail Fail Succeed: Puzzle your way through islands, embrace failure, and learn to use it as your most important tool. Pick up orbs and change what you leave behind when you fail. Fail and fail again in order to succeed, and be rewarded with some unconditional love from your puppy, in an otherwise bleak world.
• G-Rebels: An action-packed combat flight sim in a dystopian open world full of intrigue, free exploration and dangerous missions. As part of an elite unit, it is your job to ensure law and order. A secret mission calls everything into question: are you on the right side or part of a conspiracy?
• Guns&Sodas: GUNS&SODAS is a fast-paced rogue-action arcade where legendary sodas, wild guns, and explosive combos collide. Recover the Primal Sodas and unleash chaos with the power of Vending Machines!
• Gate of Memories I&II Remaster: A third-person action RPG that brings to life the world of Gaia from the Anima: Beyond Fantasy RPG table-top books. Explore a deep and multifaceted story where your choices and actions directly impact the journey and decide the fate of the characters.
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is the official prequel hailing back to the origins of the genre-defining, critically acclaimed series of turn-based strategy games. Raise grand armies and wield devastating spells to overcome your foes in both solo and multiplayer.
• Hungry Horrors: A culinary roguelite deckbuilder where you feed monsters instead of fighting them. Prepare traditional dishes and serve Horrors from British and Irish folklore. Match cravings, build combos, and stay alive one turn at a time.
• Huntsman: Trapped inside a spider-infested research facility, Huntsman immerses you in a survival horror experience fueled by arachnophobia. Combining realistic spider behavior with intense tension, Huntsman will test your nerve like never before.
• I Hate This Place: A craft-based, isometric survival horror game with twisted monsters and warped reality. Scavenge and build to survive terrifying days and nights while using stealth and noise to fight enemies that stalk by sound. All styled with bold comic art and an '80s horror vibe.
• Into The Grid: Become a master hacker in this Cyberpunk Roguelike Deckbuilder. Explore the dangers of cyberspace and fight evil corporations. Build and upgrade a deck of powerful programs. Unlock perks and skills, and unleash digital hell on your enemies. Dive Into The Grid!
• Jester: A Foolish Ritual: A co-op survival horror game set in a dark medieval castle. Play as one of four resurrected knights and work together to find hidden runes, unlock the ritual chamber, and escape before the Jester hunts you down. Teamwork, stealth, and survival are your only hope.
• Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol: Junji Ito Maniac: An Infinite Gaol is a first-person survival horror game inspired by Junji Ito's psychological horror and eerie aesthetics. This work centers on the twisted potential of human nature and fear of the unknown, taking you on a journey of survival where memory and mystery intertwine.
• Joltt - Battle Pillars: A 2D fighting game where every character is a zoner. No close combat! Use each character’s special abilities and unique mechanics to blast your rival off their pillar.
• Just Climb: Dive into Just Climb ! With its wacky characters, hilarious challenges, and an adventure full of surprises at every turn, get ready to experience unforgettable and zany moments!
• Kingdom of Night: Hunt down nightmarish demons and save the town of Miami, AZ in this 80s-themed, isometric action-RPG. With an expansive, interconnected map and open-ended quests, explore freely while unraveling the main story. Kingdom of Night is a unique blend of coming-of-age drama, cosmic horror, and true love.
• Ledgerbound: The world may end, but more importantly: your job is on the line. Step onto the battlefield, befriend (and fall in love with) a ragtag crew of heroes, and go head-to-head against an immortal foe to protect the bureaucratic kingdom you love in this hilarious narrative-driven tactics RPG.
• Mad King Redemption: Mad King Redemption is a unique blend of a traditional beat'em'up game with strong roguelite progression, mixed in a pixelated graphic style in a 2.5D world. Relieve the king from his madness while beating up corrupted enemies, in a fresh way at every run!
• MAELSTROM LEGACY- The Tesla Mystery: The Tesla Mystery is a puzzle-driven adventure game. Join the journey of investigation in a Paris infused with steampunk and Art Nouveau styles. Nikola Tesla, mastermind behind the Science Conference, has vanished under mysterious circumstances.
• Maid of Salvation: Maid of Salvation is an action RPG that features fast-paced and versatile combat. Master your own fighting style with a variety of swords and firearms, and explore a dark world full of secrets.
• MARS: The Last Exodus: Survival is temporary. Legacy is forever. Rule the last colony on Mars in this RTS x Colony Sim. Build domes for colonists as they harvest crops to survive, and command Mech armies against endless Marsect swarms. With hostile enemies and climate threatening your expedition, every choice matters.
• Master of Piece: Embark on a journey with your expedition crew in this Roguelike Deckbuilding, Turn-based Strategy game. Build your deck of mercenaries, find powerful synergies between various traits and relics to fight against outlaws, fanatics, and cultists, and uncover the secrets of the Dragon Orb.
• Mazey Village: Mazey Village is a cozy town-restoring adventure where a tornado scatters homes, villagers, and their precious belongings. Find what was lost in the whirl as you solve mazes, rebuild houses, and fill the village with warmth and life again.
• Menace: Lead a strike force against an alien threat in this turn-based tactical RPG from the developers of Battle Brothers. Answer distress calls across different worlds, train and equip infantry, deploy tanks and mechs, and plan and execute missions in detailed turn-based battles.
• Midnight Horde: Midnight Horde is a gothic horror parkour action game with rogue-lite elements where you battle thousands of enemies. Upgrade weapons, fortify castles and towns to keep darkness at bay.
• Night Swarm: Rise as a young vampire, earn your name, and gather powerful allies. In this survivor-like auto-shooter, battle relentless werewolf hordes, grow your strength, build your pack, and dominate the night.
• NORSE: Oath of Blood: A Turn-Based Tactics game set in Viking-Age Norway. Build a settlement, forge alliances, and fight strategic battles. Manage a community of craftspeople, farmers, and warriors, as you grow strong on your path to vengeance in this story-rich saga.
• On-Together: A virtual co-working game to work, play games and hang out with your friends. Stay connected while you work, then use breaktimes to chat, chill, chew bubblegum and more!
• Opus: Prism Peak: OPUS: Prism Peak is a narrative adventure where you play as a weary photographer stranded in the Dusklands, traveling with a girl who's lost her memories. Together, you'll uncover the mysteries of this land through your camera and find your way home.
• Outlive 25: Build your base, prepare your troops, and face your most epic battle yet in this old-school real-time strategy game. Choose between two factions, test your skills in three epic campaigns and engage in online battles with up to 16 players simultaneously.
• Painkiller: The classic Painkiller series is back! Battle through Purgatory in fast-paced co-op action, wielding infernal weapons against relentless demonic hordes. Condemned for your sins, the Voice of the Creator offers you a chance at redemption. Will you seize it or be lost to darkness?
• Paraside: Duality Unbound: In a fractured world of colliding planes, wield your reality-bending abilities to lead Earth's remnants against cosmic threats. Develop your task force. Explore unknown territories. Manipulate space and minds ingeniously to reignite hope for humanity in this new strategic RPG.
• Pathologic 3: In this psychological horror game, you are a doctor with only 12 days to save a town from a mysterious plague. Make ruthless decisions and diagnose with precision. Shape the town's future and rewrite the past. Hold yourself together while it all falls apart.
• Provoron: When demons leave your head and fill the whole world, all you can do is close your eyes and go forward. Immerse yourself in the atmospheric and moving adventure of white crow Ankou — one of pain, loneliness, and salvation that no one asked for.
• R.I.P.(Reincarnation Insurance Program): In this virus-ravaged, post-apocalyptic world, you will wield the power of infinite resurrection to delve into perilous ruins, gather legendary gear, and draw strength from the gods—growing stronger through endless cycles, until you become a true savior legend.
• Raging Bill: Raging Bill is a TPS sandbox in a mini open world, largely inspired by games like Goat Simulator. It features different gameplay styles (Shooter & Melee Combat, Racing, Exploration, Loot, Bodycam, and more).
• REANIMAL : The creators of Little Nightmares I & II have returned to take you on a darker, more terrifying journey than ever before. In this horror adventure game, a brother & sister go through hell to rescue their missing friends and escape the island that they used to call home.
• Rebel Engine: Rebel Engine mixes the stylish combat of a Hack n' Slash with the speed and gunplay of a '90s FPS in a unique, fast-paced action game. Combine gunshots with melee attacks to create devastating combos! Lead the rebellion against the Concrete megacorporation and liberate all of robot-kind!
• Reincarnation Insurance Program: In this virus-ravaged, post-apocalyptic world, you will wield the power of infinite resurrection to delve into perilous ruins, gather legendary gear, and draw strength from the gods—growing stronger through endless cycles, until you become a true savior legend.
• Restore Your Island: Play a hands-on slice of Restore Your Island: clean, save animals, find easter eggs & treasures, revive the land, play with your dog, and relax by your cozy fireplace.
• Roadside Research: Roadside Research is a 1 to 4 player co-op gas station simulator. Except you’re aliens. And undercover. Do very human things like restocking shelves while preparing for the invasion. Just don’t get caught.
• Ronin Awakening: Ronin Awakening promises players a visually stunning and emotionally charged experience, as they guide Takashi through a breathtaking world steeped in Japanese folklore, facing formidable enemies and forging alliances with divine entities in a quest for redemption and survival.
• Pirates Outlaws 2: Heritage: Pirates Outlaws 2 is a swashbuckling roguelike deckbuilder. Collect & fuse cards, gather powerful relics and adapt your strategy during each run. Become a reputed pirate, loot the Sea Masters, challenge giant creatures and triumph in the great Arena!
• Servant of the Lake: Begin your new job as a servant at the mysterious Vanderboom estate. Solve puzzles, serve the family and uncover their dark alchemical secrets in Servant of the Lake, a new upcoming single-player point-and-click adventure in the Rusty Lake series.
• Scrabdackle: The magical misadventure of a novice wizard thrown (literally) into the unfamiliar world outside. Go on a sprawling hand-drawn adventure with spells to study, bosses to best, and a huge handcrafted world to traverse on the long journey home.
• Shadow of the Road: Shadow of the Road is a story-driven, turn-based RPG where feudal Japan meets magic and machine. Assemble your team from a diverse set of characters and test your skills against yōkai and steampunk contraptions. Carve your own path through an immersive story and change the fate of the Empire.
• Shards of Order: A grim RPG with card-based combat where nothing stays dead. Lead a party of survivors through a world undone by shattered Laws. Restore them and reshape the rules of the game—but be ready to face the consequences.
• Simon the Sorcerer Origins: Experience a part of chapter 3 of Simon's newest adventure in this demo. To gain more information on the ancient prophecy, Simon needs access to the magical academy. Of course, just waltzing in would be too easy; a grim-looking troll bars entry for anyone but the academy's students.
• Slots & Daggers (Windows, macOS). "A retro-fantasy roguelike inside a slot machine. Steady your blade - and spin!
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide: Prepare to be scared! A clash between the Flying Dutchman and King Neptune has unleashed ghostly mayhem all over Bikini Bottom. In this demo, play the first levels of the game, switch seamlessly between SpongeBob and Patrick and try out Patrick's brand new abilities!
• Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown: Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown is a story-driven survival strategy game in which the fate of the iconic starship is in your hands. Take the helm, manage the ship and resources, and make difficult decisions. Will you be able to bring home the ship and its crew?
• Strategos: Strategos is a real-time tactics wargame set in classical antiquity. Simulate large-scale battles with over 120 factions, and 250+ units, from the ancient world. Create custom battles, or take command of historical ones.
• Swang Song: Swan Song is a cozy and emotional puzzle game where music guides your journey. Use notes of different shapes and sizes to program a music box and solve each puzzle. Help the swan reach the exit as you uncover a touching story of family, loss and grief.
• Sydless: Sydless is a Fast FPS where your only weapon is a deadly bouncing ball. The more you punch it, the faster it gets, becoming a high speed projectile of destruction. You play as Diego, a ‘90s fast-food worker trapped in an anomaly, each door dragging you deeper into warped versions of the restaurant.
• The Beast Is Yet To Come: Unleash your inner beast in The Beast Is Yet To Come — a chaotic 3D action roguelike where you play as a brutal Troll crushing enemy hordes across multiple battlegrounds. Build devastating "punch hell" combos and fight through the storm.
• The Last Caretaker: Save humanity. Sail across a vast ocean world in this first-person survival-crafting adventure. Craft, explore, and battle rogue machines. An atmospheric, open-world adventure where every discovery and upgrade brings you closer to humanity’s rebirth.
• The Oversight Bureau: The Oversight Bureau is a voice-driven narrative adventure game. You are candidate 404, trapped inside C.U.T.E. - a rehabilitation program designed to make you a more “appropriate” member of society. As time ticks away and days blur, escape is the only way to keep your sanity and your voice, 404.
• The House of Hamelin: A deckbuilding roguelite game where you must save Perdita's cat from the horrors of The House of Hamelin! Navigate the ever-changing, twisted hallways and become strong enough to defeat the gruesome creatures that lurk within... if you can.
• The Killing Stone: Beat the Devil at his own game. The Killing Stone is a deckbuilding card battler wrapped in a 17th century folk horror narrative. Clean the sins of a cursed family by bargaining against a series of demons - and outwitting the Devil himself.
• Tides of Tomorrow: From the makers of Road 96, Tides of Tomorrow challenges you to survive the troubled ocean planet of Elynd, as well as the choices made by your friends and favourite streamers.
• Verho - Curse of Faces: Verho, a Dark RPG following the tradition of the King’s Field series, takes place after the catastrophic Era of Solitude, where masks have become the only protection against the Curse of Faces. Travel to the land of Yariv, find the source of this scourge and face its dangers.
• Voidling Bound: Hatch, evolve, and upgrade powerful space creatures in this action-packed sci-fi 3rd person shooter that reinvents the monster taming genre!
• VORON: You are a raven with an important task: guiding lost souls to their new home. In this story-driven adventure, you will master the art of flight, solve puzzles, explore a Norse-inspired open world, uncover dozens of secrets, and try to save the world from the inevitable RAGNAROK!
• Wanted Shadows: Unchained: A survivors-like game where you defeat creatures of the night trying to take over the underworld. Vanquish the invasion, perfect your build, and become purgatory's master.
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II: Fast-paced tactical combat meets strategic management in this sequel to the acclaimed Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. Take control of either the ancient and deathless Necron legions or the techno-religious acolytes of the Omnissiah, with the fate of a world in your hands.
• Whiskerwood: Establish a home for your industrious mice under the oppressive paw of your cat overlords in this city builder featuring complex simulations, intricate production chains, and the age-old rivalry between cat and mouse.
• Winter Burrow: Winter Burrow is a cozy woodland survival game about a mouse returning home to restore their childhood burrow. Explore, gather resources, craft, knit warm sweaters, bake pies and meet the locals.