And so, we unwind and meander off into the weekend. The Next Fest is back on firm footing, now the majority of the AI sludge has been power-washed away by Valve's algorithms, revealing (yet again) that nobody is playing the slop for free, let alone buying it. Keep an eye on our demo roundup over the weekend, which I'll be updating with stuff as I find stuff to recommend, with little to no machine-generated stuff in sight!

As is the usual case for big Steam events, PC releases slow down a bit, so thankfully we've got a manageable pile of stuff for the end-of-week roundup here! As always, here's everything we wanted to cover in depth this week, but didn't have the time or space to dedicate to it. But because we don't like to miss anything, here's a paragraph on each.

As usual, demos and updates at the top, and then all the week's other notable launches in alphabetical order. And so it goes:

Update: Starship Troopers - Extermination - New bugs and refreshed training

While not talked about very much, Starship Troopers: Extermination remains a popular co-op shooter, and is still receiving big content updates. Today's adds a new enemy type (the gliding Hoppers), a new training mission to help get players ready to die, plus a bunch of new cosmetic goodies so you can make a pretty corpse while you're doing your part.

Out Now: A Sister's Journey - Celeste-styled pixel metroidvania

A challenging pixel platformer, loosely inspired by both Celeste and Metroid. Gorgeous visuals and a nice atmosphere. Initial reviews are pretty mixed, citing bugs and excessive difficulty, as well as a few players who consider a lack of diagonal aiming to be a design failing. The first two groups I can perhaps understand, but less so on the third.

Out Now: ASPIS - Alt-Soviet 1980s super-science survival horror

Launched during writing this very roundup. A slick-looking mixture of first-person narrative adventure and survival horror evasion/combat, set in an alt-history Soviet super-science research facility. It looks ambitious for a solo dev project, although there's a hefty AI content disclosure on the store page, so I'll probably be skipping on this one.

Out Now: Baron - Turkey's first GTA/Max Payne

Bearing the dubious honor of being "Turkey's first open-world action/adventure game", this early access debut looks a bit rough and stiff (and the trailer chugs along at sub-30fps, which is never a good sign), but it's nice to see more countries branching out into flashier game development. Initial user reviews are pretty rough, as you'd expect, but hopefully this one can be polished up in early access.

Out Now: Bloomtale - Flower arranging, as cozy as you'd expect

Originally Kickstarter-funded, launching this evening into early access. A very easygoing flower shop managing game, with you picking blooms and arranging bouquets on demand for customers. There's been a demo around for a while with a nearly-perfect user score, and while I don't think this'll be the next Dressmaker breakout hit, I can see it pleasing its audience.

Out Now: Demetium 2 - A Nintendo DS horror FPS returns to PC

The Nintendo DS was never a handheld built with high-end 3D graphics in mind, but that never stopped developers for taking some wild swings, like the Demetium duology of Silent Hill-esque horror FPS titles. Dementium 2 had previously seen a PC release, but it was a very wonky remake that few seemed to enjoy. This new version is a far more authentic remaster, coming from the original developers, and so far, people seem quite happy with it. Good on them. Plus, it seems people who got the janky HD version previously get the new version free. Double good!

Out Now: Demons' Night Fever - Villainous comedy strategy RPG

A Disgaea-eseque tactical RPG about being bad guys of all stripes. Currently catching a lot of review flak from people who are upset that the localization features modern slang. The mechanical twist is that as well as your handful of controllable characters, you have a swarm of expendable minions that you can sacrifice to explode them, swap places with them on the board, or otherwise abuse and manipulate. And story-wise, each chapter you play as a different genre of villain, from super Sentai to magical girls to dark fantasy. Curious to see how reviews for this one shake out.

Out Now: Escape From Playtime - Co-op Poppy's Playtime spinoff

Mascot horror and casual co-op action continue to go hand-in-hand. This time it's a spinoff from the surprisingly good Poppy's Playtime, and also a shameless riff on the Lethal Company/REPO formula. Players are cute little plush critters, trying to escape an evil toy factory, solving puzzles and cashing in items looted from around the environments. Of course, you're being stalked by an assortment of murderous mascots, each with their own behaviors. User reviews so far are numerous but middling.

Out Now: GemCraft - Legacy Collection - Classic Flash tower defense

While Steam has seen several new Gemcraft games over the past few years, these are the originals. The browser-based flash games that launched many an idly passed hour of tower defense, with heavy number-crunching. The Gemcraft series says it all on the tin. You're constantly drawing from a pool of random magical gems that you can slot into your towers to give them power, or fusing them together to create more efficient or hybrid types, adding an extra layer to the strategy.

Out Now: Lighthouse of Madness - First-person puzzler with crumbling sanity

A Lovecraftian Escape Room-inspired first person puzzler that hasn't racked up many user reviews so far, but the handful are very positive. Some potentially good Halloween gaming, then, asking you to puzzle your way through room after room on a remote island off the coast of Innsmouth. It looks elevated by the potential to take sanity damage as you wander the spooky halls, affecting gameplay.

Out Now: One Piece: Grand Gourmet - Kairosoft management in anime pajamas

Kairosoft have made a name for themselves through a swarm of light, casual management games, although their main platform is mobile. Game Dev Story, Demon Castle Story and the Dungeon Village series, for example. This one's a restaurant management game, based on the mega-popular manga and anime, featuring silly dishes and sillier cartoon pirates as both staff and customers. Reviews are skewing towards positive but it doesn't sound like a major hit either.

Out Now: Star Trek: Outposts Unknown - Rimworld: The Final Frontier

There's so many colony-builder games available now, building on the Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress formula now. The latest is based on classic Star Trek, and by all accounts it's sadly one of the weaker ones, with user reviews complaining about overly simplistic gameplay combined with fiddly micromanagement. Everyone loves the retro Trek aesthetics at least.

Out Now: Tape to Tape - Chaotic ice hockey roguelike

Leaving early access during the writing of this roundup. I've been looking forward to this one for a while. Ice Hockey is a wacky enough sport to begin with, and this looks to elevate it to pure cartoon roguelite excess. No holds barred violence, unusual team-building and a quest to defeat a clan of evil golfers. This one was a big hit already, and the V1.0 update sounds like it adds a little more of everything.

Out Now: Vixen 357 - Mega Drive mech tactics given a second chance

Previously covered by our man Damien over at Time Extension, this is a re-release of a classic mech strategy game that never previously escaped Japan. A huge shame, as it's from the studio behind the excellent Langrisser series, and much more. Now translated to English and available in multiple forms (including a new physical release for the classic console), the Steam version seems the cheapest and easiest way to jump in.

Out Now: Warding Witches - Witchy vertical scrolling shmup

Always nice to see another solid shmup landing, this one with a witchy theme and some very leggy protagonists dominating the side-bar graphics. So far, reviews on this one are very positive (if not numerous) and it looks to do some interesting stuff mechanically, with bullet-slowing auras instead of bombs and customizable character builds for each of the two playable heroines, plus some nice tunes to bop and blast along to.

Out Now: We Were Here Tomorrow - Co-op puzzling with time travel

And lastly, we've got the latest in the long-running We Were Here series. Co-op escape room puzzlers that rely on the players splitting up and communicating to each other via voice, or other mechanics. Perhaps creaking a bit conceptually after Big Walk stormed the scene, and user reviews have been very critical so far. Common complaints involve overly-simplistic puzzles (you'd think things would get brain-busting given the time travel theme) and less atmospheric narrative, as it shifts from haunted castles to sci-fi labs.

And so we welcome the weekend, and perhaps a chance to catch up on some of those demos. Played something great that's launched straight onto your wishlist? Give it a shout-out in the comments below. Steam's algorithms may help sometimes, but in this day and age, you need to rely on fellow humans. Sing the praises of what you love, especially if it was crafted with as much love as you have for it.

Times are tough, but we're tougher still.