STEAM NEXT FEST

Demos hold a lot of memories for people of a certain age - the fabled disk of unreleased treasures stuck to the front of a magazine. Often the only source of new gaming experiences outside of occasional gifts, rare renting opportunities, and negotiated trades amongst friends. For a long while, demos seemed to fall out of favour, but in recent years they have made a comeback, thanks to the easy of access afforded by Steam, and the Next Fest, which regularly shines a light on new and upcoming releases, allowing developers to show of their games to a wide audience. What follows is a list of games I’ve covered from past Next Fests.

(Last updated July 2025)

---

2025

💿HERDLING:

Making strange animals go places.

💿TINY BOOK SHOP:

Cosy capitalist exploits the people of a small seaside town.

💿BEACH INVASION 1915-GALLIPOLI:

Cleansing beaches with bullets.

💿TOWN TO CITY:

Laid back mayoral duties.

💿RUN TAVERNQUEST:

The player is an idiot.

💿WHEEL WORLD:

Breaking the cycle with a fresh new game.

💿FUMES:

Maximum madness.

💿MACHINE MIND:

A scrapheap challenge.

---

2024

💿KEEP DRIVING:

Ferrying a sacred N64 cartridge.

💿ALE ABBEY:

Brewing up some laid-back fun.

💿THE PRECINCT:

Causing maximum collateral damage.

---

2023

💿ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY:

Worth more than a dollar.

---