Steam Next Fest October 2025 is Live — Here Are the Best Demos to Check Out

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were smack dab in the middle of June for the last Steam Next Fest, but here we are again, facing down the monumental task of trying to tackle as many exciting new demos as we can before the event comes to a close on Monday, October 20. The October 2025 Steam Next Fest kicked off this past Monday and features plenty of incredible demos for some of the most promising upcoming games. We downloaded over 40 titles to try across a wide variety of genres, and the following 15 games had the best demos that we played as part of this most current iteration of the Steam Next Fest.

• Release Date — November 11, 2025
• Developer — Alawar
• Publisher — Alawar
• Genre — Roguelike, Tower Defense, Mining

Kicking things off is Wall World 2, which, even having never played the original Wall World, immediately hooked me with its premise. You take control of a wall-crawling mech aptly named the "Spider", stopping periodically at different caves along the way to delve inside and mine for resources. You'll occasionally need to bring those resources back to the Spider to upgrade your jetpack-wearing miner, while also fending off incoming alien invasions in short-but-sweet tower defense sections. Wall World 2's demo did a great job underscoring it as one of the handful of roguelikes I'm eagerly anticipating for November.

• Release Date — TBA 2026
• Developer — The Game Bakers
• Publisher — The Game Bakers
• Genre — Adventure, Simulation

Even with having had my eye on Cairn for the better part of a year, going hands-on with the game as part of Steam Next Fest left me floored. Cairn is, on the surface, a hybrid between an atmospheric, narrative-driven adventure game and a climbing simulator, but its controls and mechanics related to that climbing aspect are perhaps the best approximation of mountain climbing ever seen in a video game. Each press of a button moves one of the main character's four limbs, with players able to freely aim where they place them and then use one button to grip and pull up to the next viable hold. It's deceptively simple and underpinned by some impressively realistic physics, and I simply can't wait to experience more of it when it launches next year.

• Release Date — TBA
• Developer — Malformation Games
• Publisher — Kwalee
• Genre — Survival Horror

Compared to previous Steam Next Fests, there were surprisingly few survival horror titles on offer (surprising, given that it's October). But one of the few new demos that was available is arguably one of the most promising upcoming games in the genre, Ground Zero. Ground Zero uses a PS1 aesthetic for its visuals and its gameplay is undoubtedly built on the foundation of the original Resident Evil trilogy, but its science fiction story learns more toward something like Blue Stinger, Deep Fear, or even The Thing compared to most other indie survival horror titles. Gameplay is also incredibly polished so far, with the only real sticking point being a slightly floaty aiming system that can lead to wasting precious ammo.

• Release Date — TBA 2026
• Developer — Unfrozen
• Publisher — Hooded Horse
• Genre — Turn-Based Tactics, Strategy, 4X

If you were to ask me what the most fun I had during the Steam Next Fest was, I'd be inclined to say it was from playing Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era. The upcoming prequel to the legendary Heroes of Might and Magic series currently has an incredible demo available as part of Steam Next Fest, and it's doing some heavy lifting to show that this latest entry in the storied franchise is the comeback fans have been waiting for and a perfect follow-up to the series' peak of HoMM III. You can expect the classic blend of 4X strategy and turn-based tactical battling in its gameplay, but Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era feels like a bold new step forward for the series thanks to how polished its visuals and presentation are.

• Release Date — TBA
• Developer — Rock Square Thunder
• Publisher — Broken Mirror Games
• Genre — Survival Horror

One of the other great survival horror demos during this current Steam Next Fest was for I Hate This Place, which is slated to arrive at some point in Q4 before the end of 2025. Based on the horror comic of the same name, I Hate This Place emphasizes the "survival" half of survival horror in its gameplay, with a much greater emphasis on resource collecting and crafting than you might imagine. Thankfully, that twist works, adding some freshness into its gameplay that helps it stand out from other upcoming survival horror games inspired by the genre's classics. It's also worth noting that I Hate This Place's visuals, voice acting, and writing are all superb.

• Release Date — TBA 2025
• Developer — Paper Cult
• Publisher — Paper Cult
• Genre — Action Roguelike, Hack and Slash, Musou

Scottish roguelike Dynasty Warriors. Need I say more? Tears of Metal was one of Steam Next Fest's biggest surprises, cementing itself as one of my most anticipated roguelikes for the remainder of 2025 with its mix of hack-and-slash gameplay and obvious homage to the film Braveheart. More than a gimmick, though, Tears of Metal has it where it counts, with a surprisingly deep combo system tied to its combat, some incredible visuals that are reminiscent of a comic book, and plenty of over-the-top action like you'd expect from any self-respecting musou game. While I didn't get a chance to try it out during my time with it, Tears of Metal also has co-op, which seems like it would make an already great game even better.

• Release Date — November 18, 2025
• Developer — Polygon Bird
• Publisher — Polygon Bird
• Genre — Scrolling Shooter/Shoot 'em Up

Imagine, if you will, that Konami made a shmup during the PS1 era akin to Square's Einhander. Now imagine that it was produced by Hideo Kojima and modeled after Treasure's Radiant Silvergun. That's basically Birdcage in a nutshell, and it's easily both one of the most promising upcoming shmups and one of the best demos that you can play as part of Steam Next Fest. Birdcage already exhibits a level of polish that you would expect from a veteran developer, which makes its place as developer Polygon Bird's debut title all the more impressive. Music, visuals, and controls are all just about perfectly tuned, and Birdcage does right by its Radiant Silvergun inspiration by using it as a starting point for something original rather than outright imitation.

• Release Date — TBA 2025
• Developer — Exordium Games
• Publisher — Daedalic Entertainment
• Genre — Turn-Based Tactics, RPG

It was refreshing to see how well represented both the turn-based tactics and strategy genres were during this Steam Next Fest, and one of the titles in that wheelhouse that stood out the most to me was Bloodgrounds. An ancient Rome-set turn-based tactics RPG where you take on the role of a gladiator who's earned their freedom and sets out to launch an assault against the Emperor, Bloodgrounds is about as close as you'll ever get to "XCOM but in Rome". The turn-based battles are interspersed with a surprisingly addictive base-building and management component that allows you to tailor your gladiators to your liking and spend your hard-earned spoils on new equipment, building upgrades, and more. Plus, the actual turn-based battling is snappy, satisfying, and tightly-paced.

• Release Date — February 2, 2026
• Developer — Nerds Take Over
• Publisher — Nerds Take Over
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Metroidvania, Soulslike

Nerds Take Over's Tearscape made another Steam Next Fest appearance this go around with a reworked demo that once again shows how promising its blend of Bloodborne and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is shaping up to be. Part Metroidvania, part Soulslike, and part Zelda-like, Tearscape almost feels like what Bloodborne would have been if it had been released on the Game Boy Color, and it leans into that aesthetic fully to deliver a game that feels like a long-lost hidden gem from Nintendo's handheld. Between its last demo and its most current build, Tearscape has grown a lot and undergone a lot of polish, which makes its confirmed release date of February 2, 2026, seem all too far away.

• Release Date — TBA
• Developer — RefinedBearGames
• Publisher — Goblinz Publishing
• Genre — Roguelike, Tower Defense

It takes a special kind of tower defense game for it to be able to get its hooks in me, and Repel the Rifts immediately stood out as one such title. Visually, Repel the Rifts bears a striking similarity to the turn-based roguelike classic Into the Breach, but it's far less punishing and difficult. Instead, Repel the Rifts is a great on-ramp to the tower defense genre with a roguelike twist that ramps up in difficulty rather gradually, never really feeling like your units are underpowered or that you're unprepared for the next onslaught, thanks to a steady stream of resources and upgrades that provide a nice power curve. I can already foresee Repel the Rifts being a fantastic fit for the Steam Deck as a must-have roguelike that's great for quick bursts of play.

• Release Date — TBA 2025
• Developer — Button Mash
• Publisher — Polden Publishing
• Genre — Typing, Survival

As someone who spends quite a bit of my time typing, I've always had a fondness for titles that build their gameplay loop around that skill. Final Sentence, though, is a clever spin on the classic typing game that transforms it into a white knuckle race to the finish line against other players, where each mistake could literally be your last. In a room meant to evoke a very Cold War-era Soviet aesthetic, you and more than a dozen other players are chained to typewriters with masked soldiers standing guard.

Every three mistakes results in the soldiers playing a round of Russian Roulette with you, adding an extra bullet into the chamber each time. And if you're the first to the finish line and the fastest, most accurate typist in your group? Your reward is watching the soldiers execute your fellow inmates. Final Sentence is bleak, but its gameplay and atmosphere perfectly suit it and make it a multiplayer typing game that's more tense and thrilling than some extraction shooters.

• Release Date — November 24, 2025
• Developer — btf
• Publisher — btf, ByteRockers' Games, Parco Games
• Genre — Metroidvania

We've already been flush with incredible Metroidvania games this year, including finally getting our hands on Hollow Knight: Silksong. But Constance is here to prove that the genre still has plenty of room for expansion in Silksong's wake, with its demo already establishing that Constance has got the sauce. The limited slice of gameplay that's on offer in Constance's demo does a great job illustrating how smooth and precise its movement and platforming are, and its combat is nothing to scoff at, either (though it is worth mentioning that the game seems to have a greater emphasis on the former rather than the latter). And for a game where you take control of a young painter, Constance has some fittingly gorgeous visuals and animations.

• Release Date — TBA
• Developer — Tarsier Studios
• Publisher — THQ Nordic, Amplifier Studios
• Genre — Adventure, Puzzle, Horror

After passing the reins of the franchise to Supermassive Games, Little Nightmares I and II developer Tarsier Studios is back with Reanimal, its first new original puzzle platformer, and it's a surefire must-play for fans of the developer's previous work. Reanimal shares a lot in common with the Little Nightmares games but also dips a toe into Playdead's work on games like Inside and Limbo, with a much greater emphasis on platforming this go around and some intuitive puzzle design that skews more creative than head-scratching. It also happens to be one of the most visually stunning games you can play as part of Steam Next Fest and a suitably creepy experience for the ongoing spooky season.

• Release Date — February 5, 2026
• Developer — Overhype Studios
• Publisher — Hooded Horse
• Genre — Turn-Based Tactics, Strategy

Most players who are fans of turn-based tactics games are probably familiar with developer Overhype Studios for its work on indie classic Battle Brothers, but the studio's next game, Menace, one-ups it in just about every way. Menace successfully blends elements of turn-based strategy and turn-based tactics in a modern military simulation that's equal parts XCOM and Command & Conquer, and the limited amount of the game that's on offer in the Steam Next Fest demo only serves to whet the appetite for the full experience when it launches early next year. Like Battle Brothers, Menace can be tough and unforgiving and features plenty of interlocking systems, but it only becomes more rewarding the more time you put into it.

• Release Date — TBA 2025
• Developer — Friends of Safety
• Publisher — Dangen Entertainment, Game Source Entertainment
• Genre — Action RPG, Survival Horror

Easily the best demo that I played as part of Steam Next Fest, Kingdom of Night is immediately recognizable as something special within just the first few minutes of booting it up. It's billed as a hack-and-slash action RPG, and while there are elements of that in its gameplay, it's surprising how much old-school point-and-click adventure game energy it exudes, which is only exemplified by its pitch-perfect 1980s coming-of-age story and setting. Everything about Kingdom of Night — from its writing and characters to its fantasy horror story and smooth, responsive combat — screams that this game will likely become one of the hall of fame indie titles that we talk about for years to come.