If you were curious what you should be looking forward to on Steam this year, look no further.

The first Steam Next Fest of the year has come and gone. We spent the whole weekend playing demos and watching developer livestreams all in the name of bringing you the most thorough and well-researched coverage. Here are eight of the best demos we played this fest alongside our (objectively) correct opinions.

Editor’s Pick: Sebastian Galvez

Feywood Wanderers: A grid-based roguelike for the uninitiated (and worn-out veterans)

Developer: Vicente Miranda
Projected release date: Q2 2026

Feywood Wanderers takes a typically obtuse and high-barrier to entry genre and distills it down to a more digestible version of a grid-hopping roguelike more than say, the crunchy ascii graphics of Angband. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no less lethal, but quality of life features such as a stash, meta-progression, and a simplified stat and class system heavily lower the barrier to entry.

Also, instead of being a white guy with brown hair and a sword, you can class change to an orc, which makes you a green guy with brown hair and a sword and tusks.

Developer: Jorge T.V.
Projected release date: 2026

Developed by solo developer Jorge T.V., Lucha Chess takes the autochess formula we’ve all come to know and covers it in a coat of luchador paint straight out of “Mucha Lucha” and “El Tigre.” Like any good wrestling media, the characters here are more like well-muscled superheroes than athletes – one spider themed character quite literally has six arms. While gameplay isn’t the most innovative in an increasingly saturated genre, the art is a blast and the stat system makes for a more relaxed, less crunchy version of autochess. If we’d encountered it at the height of the browser-game era it would’ve only hastened our current autobattler addiction.

Developer: Chris D
Projected release date: Mar. 9, 2026

It’s a shame that out of all the old school dungeon crawlers in existence, the Etrian Odyssey series for the Nintendo DS seems to have left a comparatively shallower mark than its contemporaries. Labyrinth Trailblazer is an exception to the lethal, dungeon-crawling blobber formula, instead featuring playful, anime-inspired sprites and a straightforward JRPG combat system. The game currently has some rough edges, but that’s also part of the charm. For those looking for a change from either the blobber or roguelite RPG formulas, this demo provides a great alternative and an homage to an oft-overlooked DS series.

Developer: Two Trick Pony
Projected release date: Mar. 24, 2026

Not that roguelite deckbuilders aren’t a dime a dozen in any given Next Fest (or just, every yearly indie release slate since Slay the Spire), but Bag of Dreams feels sufficiently different to warrant talking about. Rather than the standard side view combat of the genre, it focuses on a mix of meter management and board control. A bit unintuitive at first – if only due to its distinct rule system – but once it clicks, it’s great. Add to that the “girly game” look that is not only very underserved in the modern games scene but essentially nonexistent in roguelites, and Bag of Dreams makes for a great spin on what has become a very tired, oversaturated genre.

Editor’s Pick: D. Myerscough

ShantyTown: Calming yet chaotic diorama builder

Developer: Erik Rempen
Projected release date: Apr. 16, 2026

ShantyTown takes the same calming, simulation-builder approach as projects like Townscaper, but introduces puzzle elements that elevate the gameplay past mere pastime.

Stacking buildings on top of each other to fill an abandoned subway pipe or surround a lighthouse may seem trivial, and it is, but getting it just right isn’t. When you add in each building’s upgrade requirements — light, utility, and decoration — the limited space of each level, and pure unadulterated aesthetics, you get a vaguely puzzling experience that expertly emulates real world locales like Kowloon City or Slab City.

Plus, the assets are beautifully and reactively rendered. When adding an addition to a building, for example, it reacts to the kind of building you add it to, changing form between houses, bars, cafes, and more. Once you’re done building, the game asks you to frame and take a picture of each stage (the camera controls are pretty good, too), a feature that could lead to the kind of building envy the likes of which we haven’t seen since the height of The Sims 4. 

Take this one at your own pace, take in the atmosphere, then take a picture and send it to me. I’ll definitely be jealous.

Developer: Odd Dreams Digital
Projected release date: May 8, 2026

Listen, as a kid that spent way too much time playing the first stage of Spore, this game was made for me. If you too like dashing, eating, and adding more parts to a little blob, you’re in luck, because Everything is Crab delivers. 

Your build, such that it is, is determined by new parts and abilities gained every so often as you eat your way through the world around you. Choose between options such as “beak,” “chonky,” or “antlers.” You need to pick antlers. Do it for me. After making your first few choices, loadouts become more diverse, leading to runs where you’re playing a large beaked furry mushroom turtle. 

Once your abomination has leveled up enough, denoted by a progress bar at the top of the screen, bosses appear. The first is a cow crab. You should get this demo.

Developer: Evil Raptor
Projected release date: 2026

With a planned release later this year, the Far Far West demo comes complete with a few diverse builds and fantastically fun co-op arena levels. There’s some great humor in the writing and the core gameplay loop is solid, but I found myself frustrated at multiple points. First was when trying to use a gamepad, which Steam swore to me was “mostly supported.” If that means that there’s a 2-3 second latency on the right stick — necessary for every shooter I’ve ever played — then I agree. Further, I don’t think it’s quite balanced for solo play. I was able to kill the arena boss, but making it out alive was another story. 

If you’re comfortable playing on mouse and keyboard, enjoy robot cowboys, or are willing to wait until functioning controller support is added, check this one out. It’s skeleton-shooting, sarsaparilla-swigging fun with friends.

Developer: Secret Plan Games
Projected release date: Coming Soon

Many friendslop games released in the past year lean heavily on the inherent humor of gamer-gamer relationships for most of their appeal. If you don’t have friends to take control of the other low poly models in a given environment, it’s hard to see the appeal over other, more complete solo experiences. 

Flock Around is no different, but it is novel in that it takes the genre staples: proximity chat, cooperative work toward a goal, ridiculous writing, and applies them to the most old man-ass activity on the planet. Birding. We spent over an hour standing on each others heads and frantically whispering (loud talking in proximity chat, predictably, scares away the birds) every time a brightly colored bird fresh out of MS Paint appeared on our screens. It was fantastic.