Image: TVT Co. Ltd, Ratata Arts & Game Source Entertainment

The train keeps on rollin' - we might be just past a major Steam sale, but we're now in a run-up to the Next Fest, and hundreds of games have launched their demos early to get ahead of the curve. We've covered some of them this week, but there's so many to come after the weekend, on top of the deluge of horror (or otherwise spooky) games scrambling for attention this Halloween.

There's been so much great stuff this week too. Keep in mind that even if 95% of everything is garbage, if you've got 100 games launching in a day, that's still more good stuff than anyone can keep up with. We took a big chunk out of this week's lineup, but here's our usual roundup of everything we didn't have the time to do a deeper dive on.

As usual, demos and updates at the top, and then all the week's other notable bits in alphabetical order. All good? Let's get this weekend started right:

Update: Cleared Hot - The Helicopter Shooter Strikes the Jungle

Cleared Hot has been a real early access hit. An overt tribute to the classic Strike series of arcade helicopter shooters, and trying to be the entire series all at once, just with a little bit less jingoism and a bit more mid-life crisis humor. The initial launch of the game was based on Desert Strike, and the just-released second chapter covers Jungle Strike. The upcoming final episode next year will be a mixture of Urban Strike and the arctic environments from Soviet Strike - can't wait to play the final package..

Out Now: Alice Nation - A world where the cards are EVERYTHING

A full card-based adventure inspired by Alice In Wonderland. Cards on the table represent everything from characters to environments to items to be interacted with, and your cards are your verbs to deal with them, from fighting, searching, taking or giving things to people. It's not a fully original concept (and started life in tabletop gaming), but Alice Nation looks to do a lot of fun things with the concept of an entire card-based world.

Out Now: Allogloom - Perfectly Halloween'y gothic point & clicker

Gorgeously-illustrated gothic point-and-click adventuring full of weird people and weirder monster-folk to chatter with. I got sent an early key for this one but haven't had a chance to dig deeper than the title screen, but from initial reviews are 100% positive and the puzzles look to be a good mixture of classic point-and-click inventory shenanigans and single-screen logic challenges.

Out Now: Beyond These Stars - Colony building on a space-whale

Launched just as this piece was being written, this is the follow-up to 2021's popular colony-builder Before We Leave. Well, the people left, on the back of a giant space whale, and are building a new nomadic civilization aboard it. As well as the usual town-building, you're trying to equip your host-creature to handle trips further and further out into the galaxy, looking for lost technology and mysterious treasures.

Out Now: Burn With Me - Summon demons to solve messy life problems

A narrative card game that looks like almost nothing else, about summoning personal demons for people in need, even if their assistance ends up looking like a curled monkey's paw. Fully voiced and narrated, with each chapter slowly escalating the difficulty, this one isn't a roguelike Forever Game (although there are unlockable Hard Mode challenges), I'm hoping to make some more time for this one soon.

Out Now: Deep Dish Dungeon - Delicious co-op dungeoneering

Yet another game inspired by Delicious In Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi, what you're getting here is a first-person dungeon crawler, playable solo or co-op, where you're expected to gather ingredients as you travel and cook them up into life-sustaining meals. Part survival game, part puzzle-laden immersive sim. Reviews for this one have been middling so far, but there's plenty of people playing.

Out Now: Desolus - Space-warping first-person puzzler with portals

First-person puzzling in a twilit world of ornate gothic architecture, and a focus on navigating between two overlapping Escher-esque world-states through black holes. Some quite clever spatial stuff going on here, and presented in some visually impressive ways. There's only been a handful of reviews for this so far, but they're almost all positive, so hopefully it can find some more traction.

Out Now: Doomed Otaku - Nerd life sim misadventures

An interesting genre-hopping adventure about a shut-in nerdling, trying to get her life back on track while also sinking into obsession with an online game, frantically trying to gather money to pay for a colossal merch order. What appears to start whimsical and playful descends into spooky territory, and the game promises multiple endings as the heroine navigates increasingly unhinged situations with a dwindling amount of Social Points to spend on reality each day.

Out Now: Dupery: A Game Of Solo Deduction - The title says it all

A single-player take on Mafia-style deductive reasoning games. As a private eye, slowly eliminate possibilities to narrow down who the criminals amongst your rogues gallery are, and eventually nail down who the crime syndicate leader is. Light roguelike elements, but for the most part you'll be crunching potential odds in your head as you gather evidence.

Out Now: Frosthaven - The big-box tabletop hit gets smaller and digital

The standalone expansion to the popular Gloomhaven leaves early access today. Originally based on a COLOSSAL tabletop RPG-lite experience where you unlock new content over time by unsealing marked packs of pieces, cards and scenarios. Obviously that's easier to do on PC, and doesn't require tracking hundreds of little pieces, tokens and cards. The v1.0 launch seems to have been a bit premature, judging by user reviews, but that could just be general Steam Depression Index shenanigans at work.

Out Now: Hubert - Living the sheepdog life

This one looks heartwarming, and I'm surprised to see it hasn't sold better. Hubert is a 3D narrative adventure that has you playing as the titular dog. A loyal sheepdog, working with your favorite human and making noises at sheep in order to make them go places. Obviously things gradually get more dramatic as Situations crop up, but this looks to be a solid shaggy dog story.

Out Now: Legion Was Here - Chamleon spy simulator adventure

On my to-play list for the weekend. Legion Was Here has you playing as the titular Legion, a chameleonic super-spy for hire, able to re-shape their body at will to infiltrate any situation. Assuming you read the dossier and profile properly. A matching face will only get you so far, and most of the game is about navigating conversations using the limited information you have on the character you're disguised as, even if that person is meant to be an alien disguised as a human.

Out Now: No Such Place - STALKER-inspired overhead extraction

Initial reviews suggest this one's a bit wonky still, but there's nothing that can't be patched and refined in this STALKER-inspired solo or co-op extraction shooter. Chunky sprites and a high-angled camera make this one ALMOST overhead-view, and there's so many weird containers to rummage around through in search of treasure. Plus, y'know, reality-warping weirdness and monsters. As you do.

Out Now: Odd Town - Rural French paranoiac immersive sim

One that I was looking forward to this week, but some gnarly launch-day patches have put it on a back burner until the fires get put out. If it gets fixed up though, it might be the most French game ever. An immersive sim about exploring a claustrophobic hillside town and unraveling the weird conspiracy that's keeping you (and your broken-down car) tied up, stealing the tools you need and menacing the locals to get them in line.

Out Now: Ratatan - Marching to the beat of Patapon's drum

Originally Kickstarter-funded and now released in full after a tour through early access, Ratatan is what happens when the creators of classic PSP series Patapon adapt their rhythm RPG combat engine into a roguelike. There's no denying that the art is charming and the marching band music often raises a smile, but the launch-day user reviews have been pretty rough, with the developers announcing that they're hard at work dealing with outstanding bugs and issues with the V1.0 release - might be worth leaving this one another month or two in the oven.

Out Now: ROLLA - A cut o' meaty da-mushy

Like Katamari Damacy without the whimsy, but there's something to be said for playing as an all-consuming, ever-expanding orb of flesh. Squish buildings, get big, crush the military, throw down with kaiju-busting mechs. Goopy, simple reverse-horror fun. Played a little bit of this one before launch, and it's satisfying fun, although perhaps lacks some of Katamari's finer control depth which made that such a classic. Plus, no royal rainbows here - you'll have to look elsewhere for that.

Out Now: Tales of Eternia Remastered - A PS1 classic JRPG returns

A PS1 classic finally given a fresh lick of paint and an upgrade to widescreen presentation without messing too much with the original visuals. The Tales series have always been good, fun, accessible JRPGs with fast-paced action combat engines. Eternia is one of the earlier ones that I've yet to play, so I guess now would be the time to jump in. There's been some wonky remasters released recently, but the initial respond to this one has been very positive.

Out Now: Thank You Bus Driver - Chaotic driving from Double Fine

Double Fine have been in the news a lot recently. First at risk of being shut down by Microsoft, then going independent, then hit by layoffs, then failing to unionize (thanks, Kotaku) and with rising reports of mismanagement. It's been a rollercoaster. A wacky game about trying to keep a bus full of weirdos in line as you haphazardly drive them to their destinations feels downright mundane by comparison. Still, looks fun, but a bit lightweight, and it's out at budget price - £4.50/$5.

Out Now: The Doll Shop - Cozy, romantic horror in rural Japan

Another one that's been flying under the radar, but very well received by those who have tried it so far. A narrative adventure about a young dollmaker, repairing and painting traditional Japanese dolls, while gradually romancing his childhood friend. But there's old secrets in that town, and reality appears to be frayed at the edges a little. One I'm hoping to get round to eventually, and see how it squares away the cozy with the creepy.

Out Now: The Witch's Bakery - Adventures in magical boulangerie

Sometimes a game is just laser targeted at the ultra-cozy crowd. Not my personal vibe, but I can't deny that the art on this narrative life-sim/bakery management game is adorable. Witches, wizards and other modern-day magical creatures abound, and it's your job to make that dough. And knead that dough. And then put the dough in the oven to provide magical Paris with the baguettes, buns and brioche that it demands. And now I'm hungry and want fresh bread too... Dangit.

Out Now: Trash Day - RV There Yet meets REPO, with raccoons

An almost-cynical convergence of co-op, physics-driven multiplayer shenanigans. Up to six players control a swarm of raccoons, the most felonious of animals. Your goal is to navigate the world, grabbing absolutely everything that isn't nailed down and hauling it home via a raccoon-drawn cart. Needless to say, there's bumps in the road, and some areas of road that aren't even road at all. Comedy inherently ensues. As derivative as the ideas, folks are enjoying this one so far, with plenty of players online.

Out Now: Yots - Crunchy PS1-style co-op horror shooter

Delayed at the eleventh hour, but finally out now, albeit in early access right at the time of writing. Yots is an interesting-looking co-op horror shooter. Not quite survival horror resource starvation, and perhaps more in line with the Remnant games (albeit with a crunchy PS1-ish aesthetic), but this one looks solid, and I hope it makes enough for the developers to achieve their vision. Depending on funding and feedback, the final version could take anything between six months to two years.

And once again, we exhale, stretch, and waltz off into the weekend. Think we missed something essential in this roundup? Just want to shout out a demo that you've fallen in love with? We want to hear you beautiful people in the comments below - no judgment. Well, not unless you're mean to people. Then you can get lost.

Be kind, rewind.