7 free game demos you need to check out during Steam Next Fest

The last Steam Next Fest event of the year is upon us. Valve holds one of these events every few months on Steam and encourages developers to share demos and early looks at their upcoming PC games. Only indie developers participated initially, but more high-profile studios chipped in recently. That’s only makes it harder to find some of the best games on offer, as hundreds of demos are available.

I played several demos featured in October 2024’s Steam Next Fest ahead of the event, and I want to spotlight my favorites. From strategy RPGs to dumb physics-based platformers, these seven Steam Next Fest demos are worth checking out.

Steam Next Fest: October 2024 Edition begins today and runs until 10 a.m. PT on October 21.

Rogue Labyrinth

A common cliché in a lot of fantasy narratives, like Visions of Mana, is some sort of “World Tree” that’s central to the plot. In Rogue Labyrinth, a colonist billionaire has taken over that tree and turned it into a maze for unlucky contestants to fight their way to. That’s the narrative backdrop of Tea Witch Games’ new game, which is shaping up to be the next action roguelike that captures my attention. I particularly like how enemies turn into projectiles and start bouncing around the room after you kill them. The developers call this “a controlled bullet hell,” but I just like how it gives Rogue Labyrinth a more chaotic feel than many of its similar peers.

Rogue Labyrinth will enter early access on PC in January 2025.

Void Sols

I’ll admit I wasn’t fully on board with the idea of a “minimalist Souslike” when I first spotted Void Sols, but I’ve been enjoying its Steam Next Fest demo more than something more maximalist like Stellar Blade. Earlier this year, Minishoot’ Adventures found a way to make a shoot ’em up feel like a The Legend of Zelda game, and now Void Sols is doing something similar but with the Souslike formula. You’ll be managing stamina as you attack and dodge, fight difficult enemies, and recover your lost “sols” when you die. Everything is made out of basic shapes and colors rather than a detailed fantasy world, though.

Finite Reflection Studios and Modern Wolf’s Void Sols will be released for PC on November 12.

Permafrost

If Frostpunk 2 were a typical survival game rather than a city-builder, it would look like Permafrost. This game from SpaceRocket Games and Toplitz Productions takes place in a postapocalyptic world stuck in perpetual winter. Against a snowy backdrop, you’ll be doing everything you’d expect in a survival game: gathering and hunting for resources you can use to keep yourself alive and build structures. The survival game genre is immensely popular, and I think Permafrost’s unique setting gives it enough edge to stand out. That’s doubly so if the developers can fix some of the game’s rougher edges before launch, like its AI-generated voices.

Permafrost will be released on PC in 2025.

Bonaparte — A Mechanized Revolution

After being intrigued by a hands-off preview in August, I finally got the chance to go hands-on with Bonaparte — A Mechanized Revolution with its Steam Next Fest demo. Everything I thought then still stands: Bonaparte is an approachable alt-history strategy game. The French Revolution is an excellent setting for a strategy game, and Bonaparte’s steampunk and mecha aspects give it a unique flair. It’s part Fire Emblem, part Crusader Kings. Strategy game fans should have Studio Imugi’s debut title on their radar.

Bonaparte — A Mechanized Revolution will enter early access on Steam in the first quarter of 2025.

Watch Out For Goblins!

Games like Goat Simulator, Human: Fall Flat, and Chained Together have popularized a subgenre of comedic platformers that emphasize wonky physics and memorable moments above all else. Watch Out For Goblins! from SQYD.studio is the latest one of those, and I had a fun, dumb time playing through its Steam Next Fest demo. You can actually run pretty fast and have a lot of control after flinging yourself in the air, which makes this a more enjoyable than some of its jokey 3D platforming peers. At the very least, this game will make for some hilarious Twitch streams and YouTube videos.

Watch Out For Goblins! will enter early access on PC sometime in 2025.

Keep Driving

Somehow, the developers at YCJY Games found a way to turn driving into a procedurally generated RPG. Keep Driving’s demo sees a young adult lost while traveling to a friend’s house over the weekend. Players have to manage several different resources and partake in “Road Event” turn-based battles where skills are used to overcome whatever obstacle you’re facing, like a slow tractor being in front of you. Keep Driving feels like a modern reinterpretation of The Oregon Trail’s formula, and I’m excited to see how the full experience plays out.

Keep Driving is in development for PC.

Achilles: Survivor

Vampire Survivors clones have been fairly prominent on the indie scene lately. Of all the ones available at this Steam Next Fest, I’d recommend checking out Achilles: Survivor. It’s technically a spi-off of Achilles: Legends Untold, which came out last year, and is what Vampire Survivors would be like if it were made in Unreal Engine. It has all of the trappings you’d expect from a Vampire Survivors-like, but it makes itself stand out with a building mechanic that lets players build turrets and other objects to help fight off the never-ending horde of enemies. This is some of the best mindless fun you can have this Steam Next Fest.

Achilles: Survivor will launch on PC sometime before the end of the year.