Steam Next Festrolls around a few times a year, and this June it’s completely jam-packed with a bunch of breakout indies, and a few well-known franchises slipping in, all providing banger demos.
I’ve been taking a look at Next Fest nearly every time it’s around, since I love getting a big sampling platter of new games with fresh ideas and cool concepts that are occasionally really great.
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We’ve got everything from nautical horrors to kicking everything in sight, here.
In this event alone, I played more than 70 games that I thought were pretty neat, and while it was tough to narrow down that list, these are all the games with great ideas that executed them excellently.
I rate these based entirely on my enjoyment and how innovative or fun the game is, so it’s rather full of really cool demos you can try for yourself and have a great time doing so.
11The Also-Rans
Little Favorites
Before we get into the list properly, here are a good handful of games I had quite a bit of fun with, and wanted to give a quick mention, even if they didn’t make the top 10 of my favorites.
10The Gecko Gods
Lizard Zelda
For clarity, I’ve been waiting forThe Gecko Godssince before it was supposedly releasing in 2023, then got promptly delayed for a long while with very few updates, so now that it has a demo, I’m rather elated to finally be playing it.
I was hooked immediately by the concept of exploringZeldadungeons as a cute little lizard, and it delivers on that, making you climb on walls and tongue switches to navigate these crypts.
While you only get a short time with the game,the puzzles feel like they ramp up in complexity just right, going from little switch-pulling sequences to climbing an entire tower and jumping through hoops as you ascend.
It’s adorable, the style is very pretty, and I adore the Gecko getting a yap button that lets you make funny little noises whenever you want. A simple addition, really, but if your single-player game doesn’t have a taunt button, is it even worth playing?
9Star Overdrive
Sonic Hawk
While I don’t particularly care about anything elseStar Overdriveis going for, with theBreath of the Wild-esque story and exploration, it nails one thing so hard I had to include it, that being hoverboarding.
You get togo full Pro Skater around a massive area of alien dunesand hit sick tricks while surfing around at the speed of sound, and that alone is a freeing enough feeling to recommend playing this for at least a few minutes.
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It feels immaculate to trick jump off every hill, spinning the sticks and doing tricks on it, all to land and gain a huge speed boost, and this being the main traversal method makes it a genuinely great game just to mess around with.
The concept of it being an open-world adventure game with this kind of movementis as enticing as Sonic Frontierswas for me, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store and what other pseudo-skateparks we get to roam around in.
8Chordioid: First Breath
Of all strange Rhythm Game genre combos, mixing timing attacks to the beat with the RPG format has been one of my favorite ways to mix things up, andChordioid: First Breathunderstands why it works.
The combat is satisfying, and beating things to death and promptly playingGuitar Heroto defend against the enemy is just an awesome feeling, especially with the banger soundtrack provided.
It hasthe musical stylings of Glass Beach and a song that sounds like it’s riffing off Stardust Speedway Bad Futurefrom the JP Sonic CD soundtrack, both of which feel directed at me, specifically.
During this event, since I play a massive number of games during the week it goes on, I rarely find myself completing demos that are around an hour long, but Chordioid was an exception, as I was enjoying it way too much and couldn’t help but keep going.
7Mina the Hollower
Ratted Out
Of course, the developers ofShovel Knighthad to come out witha brand-new banger that I had backed on Kickstarter for so damn long I nearly forgot it was coming out, that game beingMina the Hollower, which finally has a playable demo.
It’s going after that crisp, limited palette Game Boy Color vibe, but with modern amenities like 60 FPS and widescreen, making the experience feel far smoother than what the old translucent brick would allow.
Just like their previous work, it goesbeyond just being a boring retro tributethat gets stuck in the past and suffers for it, instead being one of the most fun top-down action RPGs I’ve seen, which is notably a very big shift in direction from Shovel Knight.
They knocked it out of the park, and all I want is more, since the demo is admittedly really short and only left me craving more adventure with the adorable mouse and her big ass hammer.
6Bits and Bops
Step To The Beat
Even though we’re getting a realRhythm Heavengame for the first time in a long time soon, I honestly have fallen for the adorableBits and Bopsafter seeing it for so long and finally getting to try a demo.
The art is adorable, and I can see the massive amount of time and effort that went into every frame of animation. It’s already one of the best Rhythm Heaven-esque indies I’ve played in a long while, and there are only a couple of games in the demo.
It’s especially satisfying toplay the cute game of taking a picture of a seal bouncing a beach ballafter seeing it a few dozen times on my social media feed, because they’re always on there, and I don’t know how.
I absolutely cannot wait to see where this goes, and even if the bird game’s weird timing confused my brain to high heaven, I have complete trust they’ll make even more bangers to play along with.
Take A Look At Me
If you’ve ever playedPaper Mario: The Origami King, then you already have a grasp on the styleHirogamiis shooting for, but in my opinion, it nails that aesthetic even harder with a strong commitment to paper.
Everything genuinely looks like folded origami, not cheating out on making some things cardboard or random objects, and the ability to fold yourself into new forms as an upgrade is a genius idea for this concept.
Plus, I much more enjoy this style in an open adventure whereyou can watch things get destroyed, unwrapped, and shredded in real-time, as opposed to being thrown into tons of the same turn-based encounters when you’re able to’t level up ever.
The combat feels pretty fun once you get to roll around and slam into everything as an armadillo, and just like a piece of paper, the potential with the folding system is endless, and I’m here for it.
Another combination Rhythm game, this time the genre has been fused with a 3D Beat-Em-Up, which might sound similar toHi-Fi Rush, butDead As Discois far more focused on getting you into a flow state.
You’re constantly being hit from all directions by a gang of dudes, and you need to counter, block, dodge, and hit them all on the beat, which feels inherently satisfying and makes you feel extremely cool.
Even if it’s not that difficult to do, and ends up as a bit of an intense, rhythmic quick time event, it’s one of the most engaging things I’ve played this whole event, making me push past my crippling ADHD and lock in for once.
This is pretty much the definition of a flow state game, something that asks you to focus up and break past any distractions to tear through crowds like it’s nothing, and I adore games that make me feel like I’m plowing through hundreds of enemies at once.
3Word Play
New Addiction
When I wrote areview for Mark Brown’s first gameless than a year ago, I did not expect his next title to beWord Play, a surprisingly cohesive mixture of Balatro and Scrabble, orWordle, if that’s the only word game you read that makes your eyes light up.
You get the rounds, modifiers, upgrades, and consumable items of your typical roguelike deckbuilder, but your goal is to use a big jumble of letters to spell words and score massive points if it’s a long word.
Why is this simplistic word game with a roguelike structure up so high? Put simply, this is the only demo of the lot I came back to multiple times after I’d finished a run of it, and I fear for my productivity once the full release happens.
I typically have enjoyment be my biggest factor in how I rate and think about games, as it’s what’s most pertinent to me, and feels like a rather consistent way to think about any media, and I’d be lying if I said Word Play wasn’t already high up in that factor.
2Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
Cleaned Up
Of course, when making a ranking like this, I feel like I have to recommend games likeNinja Gaiden: Rageboundpretty highly, as not only did I enjoy the hell out of it, but it has some of the best pixel art I’ve ever seen.
This game feels so insanely smooth, it’s hard to describe just through text. You kinda have to see it in action yourself to see how much blood, sweat, and tears must have gone into animating things with this level of detail.
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It’s a portable powerhouse, I’ll have you know.
On top of just looking damn pretty,Ninja Gaiden is incredibly fun, tearing through demons that never stop your momentum, making a perfect non-stop run through each level feel achievable even if you don’t want to grind forever to get it.
It has that vibe that Sonic games or Mega Man does, withthe level design and platforming only being as much of the obstacle as your routing and execution are, and that’s maybe my favorite kind of platformer, so I feel appealed to on a whole other level.
