Steam Next Fest is live, so here are some demos you should check out

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It’s time again for the Steam Next Fest. Developers are putting demos for their games up on Valve’s PC platform, so players can try them out to see what’s on the way for the year and beyond.

Each year, a flood of demos hits the storefront. Steam’s preset categories have been helpful so far, but sometimes, you just want a list of interesting curiosities to check out.

Well, that’s what I’m here for. I’ve been taking a browse through this year’s selection, picking out a bunch of demos that catch my eye. I’ll preface this by saying I haven’t played all of them, much less every demo available for the festival. But I picked out a few that really took me by surprise, have been on my radar for a while, or seem like they’re worthy of general public interest.

The festival’s running for seven days, from Feb. 21 through 28, with dozens of demos available. If you want to sift for yourself, you can find the landing page and categories here. Otherwise, here are some of my picks for what to check out.

Developer: Angel Matrix

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

This is one of the headliners of the festival, and it shows up ready to party. I wrote down some longer thoughts on Neon White‘s speedrunning battle for heaven and hell, but this is definitely one to make time for. You’ll be surprised how fast the hours slip by.

Steam link

Developer: Stray Fawn Studio

Publisher: Stray Fawn Studio

If you’ve ever wanted a city builder with a tinge of Xenoblade Chronicles to it, The Wandering Village is here. You have to manage the wants and needs of a tribe living on the back of a massive beast, who you should probably also attend to. Resource and space management make this a pretty compelling builder that kept me up quite a while.

Steam link

Developer