5 Awesome Steam Next Fest Demos You Can Play Early
Full Steam ahead!
Hey everyone!
It’s that time again: Steam Next Fest is upon us.
Next Fest is a week-long digital event where thousands of game demos are either released or updated with new content on Steam. It’s an incredibly valuable way for developers to get their games in front of players and build buzz, and, of course, for players to try before they buy.
However, by my current count via the press preview page, there are almost 5,000 demos in this Summer event alone. Yikes!
That’s a lot of games (perhaps too many) for one week-long festival, so this issue and next week’s will focus on the ones I think you should prioritize trying ASAP. Luckily, many developers set their demos live early, meaning we get to dig in before Next Fest kicks off in earnest on June 15th.
Here are my five picks that you can jump into right now.
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Burn-9
Ever played Metal Gear Solid and wanted to be the man in the chair instead of the man under the cardboard box?
Burn-9 is that game.
After a black-ops mission to the Antarctic goes wrong, you must command the only remaining survivor to the end by feeding her intel and support from afar. Your callous commanding officers couldn’t care less about her, so it’s up to you to toe the line between following orders and keeping your asset alive.
Metal Gear fans will find a lot to love with this one, especially its music, which I’ve been humming all day since playing the demo.
Fellow Traveller
A spy thriller where you’re not the spy. Safe behind your screen, guide the last survivor of an elite black-ops team in a desperate attempt to salvage a mission gone horribly wrong. Caught between military command and your agent, information is your greatest weapon.
TOEM 2
The original TOEM is a rare game that I platinumed on PlayStation 5 back in 2021, and I've been eager for its follow-up ever since.
TOEM 2 is more of the same, and that’s exactly what I want. The gameplay loop is simple: walk around, meet characters, and take photos of whatever they ask to complete puzzles. There’s a comforting quality to the game, from its bubbly, quirky cast to the charming art style. The act of filling up my journal with pictures and stamps satisfies the person in me who swears she’ll get into scrapbooking if only she had the time or materials.
Something We Made, popagenda
Step back into the shoes of a curious photographer and set off on a brand new adventure all about uncovering hidden details, helping friends along the way, and documenting the world’s little wonders in TOEM 2, the sequel to the acclaimed TOEM.
Memoirium
Memoirium may not be as difficult as the souls-likes it takes ample inspiration from, but it will still feel familiar to those who have dabbled in those games.
Leaning into the dreamy, unexplainable nature of those narratives, Memoirium is a soulslike that takes place in the land of dreams. This means that developer GoldenGratus can toy with multiple settings, enemies, and even… room decorating? Whatever, it works.
I’m not sure which game brought back the retro PlayStation art style (Signalis? Bloodborne PSX?), but I love that so many are adopting it.
GoldenGratus, Outersloth
Traverse a chaotic and crumbling realm of dreams composed of liminal spaces. Adapt to the world’s odd rules as a Dreamer, and defy others like you to escape the strange and eclectic subconscious landscape.
Penguin Colony
The title Penguin Colony may make you think of a pleasant David Attenborough documentary, but the game couldn't be any more different. Play as penguins in the Antarctic and follow the humans who have been called there by an ancient being, because, yes, it's a reimagining of Lovecraft, baby!
Swim, slide, and waddle around the snow and ice, and watch the humans as they begin to lose their minds. I adore the feeling of the movement as you speed down tundras, hop up steps, and dive into ice-cold water, but also the seamless switching from one penguin to another to progress through otherwise blocked paths.
Most of all, I am loving how developer Origame Digital (Umurangi Generation) plays with stillness. The Antarctic setting is terrifying for two reasons: either there is something utterly dreadful out there, or it’s empty. Penguin Colony tells its story via brief interruptions from Lenval Brown (Disco Elysium), but the sparing commentary leaves plenty of space for your own nightmares to seep in and take hold.
ORIGAME DIGITAL
Narrative adventure game based on H.P Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. Swim, Slide and Explore open ended levels as multiple penguin types with different abilities and challenges.
Object Impermanence
Going all the way back to high school Psychology lessons: object permanence is the understanding that things continue to exist, even if you can't see them. Developer Slugware has taken that concept and turned it into a really cool puzzle game that, dare I say it, reminds me of playing Portal for the first time.
In Object Impermanence, certain elements of the environment cease to exist if you're not looking directly at them, creating delicious layered puzzles that will be very pleasing if you're a fan of Superliminal, Maquette, and The Talos Principle like I am.
Fun little behind-the-scenes from LFG here: this newsletter was supposed to go out first thing this morning, but I held off until this demo was live. And I was right to do so!!
Slugware
A first person puzzle game where your vision defines reality, and only the things you can see exist. Learn and master the strange behaviours of objects outside your vision. Traverse the ancient structures of a world forgotten by the universe.
Next Fest runs until June 22nd, so I'll have some more recommendations in next week's newsletter, then normal service shall resume (or rather, begin)! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the recommendations so far.
I've been digging through my inbox, and there are so many good games to come, and I can't wait to tell you all about them. If you're a game developer and would like to get your game on my radar, click the button below.
Enjoy your gaming, see you next week!