It's that most demoful time of the year! Another Next Fest descends upon Steam, accompanied by OVER EIGHT THOUSAND demos. Trailers and streams are all well and good, but nothing quite beats getting a little hands-on time with a game you're excited for, or finding something you didn't know you needed.

Throughout this week, we'll be updating this page with all the demos we've tried and really think you should too. Each one is a recommendation, and we're actively avoiding lazy AI-generated content whenever possible. Plus, we've already got a bunch to start with, as so many developers decided to get ahead of the crush and drop their demos early, so, let's get nibbling on this buffet of gaming snacks:

Moadra PC

Technically not a Next Fest demo, but still getting a mention here because this one is SLICK... and slimy, and gooey. It's also very good. Feeling like a Giger-esque mutation of Metroid Dread, the movement here is great, the graphics (which are 3D but look like fancy 2D pre-rendered art) are gorgeously icky, and the freeform character upgrades give this one a few interesting mechanical twists.

Puppy Truck PC

  • Genre: Adorable 3D sandbox platformer
  • Full Release Date: "Coming Soon"
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

One I've been watching since the very first prototypes featuring a scampering puppy/truck hybrid running and rolling around in abstract grey-box test rooms. Now the Puppy Truck is free to stretch its legs (suspension?) in a very freeform sandbox demo level, letting you scamper, air-dash and wall-run your way around in any direction you please. This one feels great to move around in, which is the foundation of any classic 3D platformer, and the level design is coherent despite being very open so far. Check it.

JOHN GLEEP PC

  • Genre: Arcade mash-up casino management peggle Balatro-like?????
  • Full Release Date: 11 Nov, 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

This one's just weird, in the best possible way. It's complicated enough to run an illicit mobile casino, abducting people to become peggle-like balls bouncing through your various tables, but once you start cluttering up your UI with profit-maximizing minigames (or just distractions) it becomes utter brain-melting chaos. It'd be frustrating if it wasn't so consistently funny, with some great writing on top of the sight gags.

ReBlade: The Death Spiral PC

  • Genre: Parry-heavy character action roguelite
  • Full Release Date: To Be Announced
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

Chinese indie outfit ChillyRoom have bounced from genre to genre, art-style to art-style for years. With ReBlade, they're aiming higher. Some stiff UI aside, this could easily pass for a AAA production, or close to it. It's a Hades-esque hack n' slash action roguelite but with a lot of notes cribbed from Sekiro. Enemies tend to attack in long chains that you can rhythmically parry, breaking their stance and letting you style on them with an instant kill. Plus, the setting (a cyberized version of Chinese mythology) is cool as hell too.

Life Blood PC

  • Genre: King's Souls? Dark Field? One of them
  • Full Release Date: "Coming Soon"
  • Extended coverage: None yet

Yet another solo developer taking a wild swing at the King's Field/Dark Souls crown and hitting shockingly close to the mark. This demo is still deep in development, with major mechanical reworks happening for the Next Fest build, but the looping and many-routed explorable level design is on point, and the combat is snappy and reactive, with color-coded Dodge, Parry and Magic attacks that you can negate with the right counter. Not as flashy as some of the competitors, but VERY solid for a solo project.

Home Paige PC

  • Genre: Sonic-style 3D momentum platformer
  • Full Release Date: "Coming Soon"
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

Extremely slick Sonic-inspired platforming set in a world of Little Computer People. Paige and her friend Oliver want to explore outside of the recycle bin they live, so it's off to run, jump and bounce off aerial enemies. The demo features the whole prologue area and a movement playground to practice in, plus a handful of really charmingly animated cutscenes.

The House Before PC

  • Genre: Existential body horror nightmare
  • Full Release Date: 3 Nov, 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

A short demo for what's set to be a short game, but this is an unsettling little nightmare unlike any other. Existential body horror, where you wake up to discover that you are a house. A house with a history, and inhabitants, and very few normal ways of interacting with the physical world. The UI changes as often as the art style does, and none of it feels quite right, which means it's doing its job very well.

Annalynn MD PC

  • Genre: Dr. Mario with a revolving circular playfield
  • Full Release Date: Q2 2027
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

A fun, literal spin on Doctor Mario, adding some interesting new mechanics to an old puzzle formula. The playfield is a looping test-tube, and between rounds you have to choose new medication with advantages and side-effects that change how you'll be puzzling through it. The demo sadly lacks versus multiplayer, but has a good chunk of gameplay to chew on until launch.

Elta: Defy All Gods - PC

  • Genre: Third-person action adventure brawler
  • Full Release Date: 2 Feb, 2027
  • Extended coverage: Round-up mention

A spectacular fusion of the new God Of War games (high-spectacle up-close brawling combat) and Metroid Prime (metroidy progression and platforming), all held together with a gorgeous art-style. Through a combination of smart texture work and shader magic, everything here looks like hand-drawn watercolor concept art. A hell of a step up for relatively fresh indie outfit Afterburner Studios after their debut game, the action roguelike Dreamscaper.

Knuckle Paradise PC

  • Genre: Isometric character action
  • Full Release Date: Q2 2027
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

I love me a good arcade brawler, and Knuckle Paradise has the feel alright. Still a bit on the fence about the high isometric viewpoint (it's sometimes easy for those little character sprites to get lost in the noise), but it does make for some fun high aerial combos, with your chicken partner on call for combo extenders and assist attacks. The story is also extremely silly so far.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered PC

  • Genre: Kaiju Fighting/Wrestling
  • Full release date: 3 Nov, 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

They call it a remaster, but this is closer to a full ground-up remake. Whatever it is, it's great stuff. Destroy All Monsters Melee is still one of the best kaiju brawlers ever, and secretly might be one of the best arcade wrestling games in general. It really does look and feel like a classic Godzilla game (echoing the rubber suit era) should. Weighty, responsive, and smashing your way through the city as the military helplessly tries to break up your kaiju rumble is a joy.

Archrebel Tactics PC

  • Genre: Retro Squad Tactics
  • Full Release Date: TBA
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

A retro-styled tribute to Rebelstar and Laser Squad, the '80s squad tactics games that evolved directly into the X-Com series. This is less of a demo and more of a self-contained, gruelingly tough challenge game, which the developer estimates will take even strategy-savvy players 6-8 hours for their first playthrough, and longer if they want a high score and want to explore all the character building options.

Guns of Eschaton PC

  • Genre: Weird Western Souls-Like FPS
  • Full Release Date: 8 Dec 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

I can promise you've never played an FPS or a Souls-like quite like Guns of Eschaton. Set in a world by (sadly departed) Half-Life 2 and Dishonored artist Viktor Antonov, and with gameplay design by the only person mad enough to adapt Pathologic into a board game. I've never found myself sweating every shot in a shooter before, as you need to ritualistically hit each enemy type in multiple weak-points to put them down, giving this a unique trick-shooting feel. If you'd already tried the demo, you might want to give it another look. It just received a major update with some extra content and progression options.

Ballistic.exe PC

  • Genre: Cursed target shooting simulation
  • Full Release Date: 2027
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

Billing itself as "Like Arma without the fun", there's a surprisingly enjoyable game here, if you're up for the gun equivalent of Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy. Starting with the world's worst airgun, hit targets for money to upgrade piece by piece into something that can fire in a straight line, then start looking for big, weird secrets that take you to beyond the bounds of this unsettlingly simulated firing range.

Iron Bramble PC

  • Genre: Bungee-grappling metroidvania
  • Full Release Date: 2027
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

Another older demo updated just in time for the Next Fest, and sequel to the fantastic Rusted Moss. The age of Man has ended. Magic has returned to the world. You are a VERY bored fairy noble, looking for entertainment, and you've heard that there's a giant metal megastructure that might have some humans left. Hugely explorable and non-linear with tons of secrets, even in the demo, with real depth to the physics-driven movement. Rusted Moss might be a better place to start, though.

Ablahshikar PC

  • Genre: Hardcore roguelike sailing mishap sim
  • Full Release Date: 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

A true oddball experience, but fascinating. In an arabesque science-fantasy world, you are the latest captain to acquire the deed to the doomed ship Ablahshikar. You have zero maritime experience. The game then smash-cuts, booming sound and all, to one of the most intimidating turn-based roguelike interfaces ever seen. For a game set on the ocean, this game has a lot of dry humor. Brutally difficult but beautifully written, fans of Caves of Qud and Sunless Sea might find something special for them here. For most though, this one's a bit much.

Derelikt PC

  • Genre: Retro space horror FPS
  • Full Release Date: 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

Looking and feeling like a long-lost PS1 game, specifically in the style of the very underrated Alien Resurrection. You've been sent to a research station on a mysterious planetoid to look for some missing scientists. Within minutes of arrival, all hell breaks loose and you're plunged into tense resource-management heavy FPS action. Not quite full survival horror, but close to it, as ammo is tight.

Magnavale: Eternal Soul PC

  • Genre: Pure Igavania
  • Full Release Date: TBA
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

There are so many strains of Metroidvania around these days, but surprisingly few are fully committed to replicating the look and feel of Symphony of the Night. Magnavale: Eternal Soul nails it so far, from the segmented enemy sprites, to the slick power-walk animation on your protagonist (a tough purple dragon-lady), and all the crunchy RPG-lite stats and gear that you can chew on. Just good stuff, and much as I loved Bloodstained, this is a more visually coherent experience.

El Paso, Elsewhere 2 PC

  • Genre: Gothic bullet-time third person shooter
  • Full Release Date: TBA
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

The demo might not have the first game's fantastic horror rap soundtrack (at least, not yet), but this is a nice first bite of the sequel to the supernatural breakup ballad shooter. The protagonist has traded in his painkiller addiction for vampirism, so needs to stake enemies to drain them to heal, making for more aggressive combat, even as enemies upgrade to using guns themselves.

Casualties: Unknown PC

  • Genre: Medical caving survival sim
  • Full Release Date: 9 Nov, 2026
  • Extended coverage: Demo hands-on

A brutal physics-driven platform survival roguelike, with survival being nine tenths of the experience. Food and water are just your basic requirements. Every injury needs to be tended to as you would in real life. Clean, disinfect, dress, observe. The demo has almost half of the full game's world and biomes to explore, and one of three playable characters - a good amount to chew on and learn to master before the full game lands soon.

We'll be updating this piece throughout the week. As predicted, the Next Fest page itself on Steam has been updated, now ranking games based on popularity and personal recommendations. While this hasn't entirely eliminated AI content from the front page, it has VASTLY decreased it, proving again that people just aren't playing machine-generated slop. It might clog up visibility briefly, but once you turn the windscreen wipers on, turns out there's just more cool human-made games than you could ever play. So much for AI inevitability, huh?

And of course, the moment the Next fest is over, we're diving straight into the Halloween sale. Prepare yourself, boils and ghouls!