Here's another 15 demos worth checking out in Steam Next Fest - October 2026

21 Oct 2026 at 8:09 am UTC | Last updated: 21 Oct 2026 at 8:14 am UTC
By Liam Squires-Hand

With the increasing amount of slop on Steam, you may need just a bit of help to sift through it to find something special to play.

Steam Next Fest - October 2026 edition is sadly rammed full of very clear low-effort slop games, they're everywhere. It's pretty east to spot them too thanks to the AI warning browser plugin, along with certain types of Steam images looking the same.

Instead of shying away from trying more demos in Next Fest, I've rounded up another selection across a broad range of genres that may be worth your time. That's on top of the initial list, and the Native Linux picks already done.

Here's my picks:

HELL-A

An online co-op horror action game. Enter the bureaucratic Hell and prove your worth through the Seven Deadly Sins. Master physics, combine magic, and face the trials together or turn on your friends. Maybe they hold you back?

The Peg Mines

The Peg Mines is a pachinko incremental game about mining for ore using a deck of crafted balls. Mine for ore, craft new balls, and manage your arsenal as you delve into the mines!

Medium Rare

Eat people and conserve ammo as you hike to the top of a mountain where a human meat factory is about to process your kidnapped wife in this turn based survival dungeon crawler.

Palisade

Command territory directly in a real time strategy game with no squads to micromanage. Expand borders, connect supply roads, and break enemy lines. Includes five historical campaigns, Skirmish, a built in map editor, and online multiplayer for up to eight players.

Fleshgrinder

Fleshgrinder is an isometric post-apocalyptic Action-RPG. Take on the desperate mission to stop the Fleshgrinder from causing planetary extinction by harvesting the infected population. Loot, equip and level up your characters, interact with npcs in a persistent world filled with quests and danger.

Portentum

The cryptid deck-building auto battler. Hunt for broken combos with cryptids like Bigfoot, Jimothy, Nessie, and the Chupacabra. If somebody's uncle saw it in the woods in 1973, there's a good chance it's a card in Portentum.

Heart Harvest: A Detective Game

Passionate murders. Ripped out hearts. And something crawling within the walls. Find clues, gather the evidence and connect the dots in this point and click detective thriller game. Solve each murder and uncover the horror linking them all..

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered

The ultimate Godzilla arena brawler is back, completely remastered. Choose your monster and battle it out with a range of brutal attacks through recreated cities and other locations. Face off against your friends and foes in local co-op or new online multiplayer.

The House Before

You wake up as a House. Your bones are pipes and tunnels. Your organs are a labyrinth of caves. The House Before is a narrative body horror adventure where you play as a monstrous structure filled with strange creatures.

The Recipe for Life. A Journey Through Silent Apocalypses

Travel across a quietly dying world in your RV, helping people with suicidal thoughts. Dive into the icebergs of their trauma and decide whether each of them deserves salvation — and whether you deserve it too.

Beyond The Frame

Beyond The Frame is an immersive horror game set in the liminal dreamscapes of an 11-year-old child. The deeper you explore, the more the anxieties of your subconscious mind creep into the dream. Will you be brave enough to face them?

Goodnight, B

Goodnight, B is a single-player 2D puzzle-platformer about a little girl struggling with nightmares. Rotate and place sections of each level to complete them. Explore weird, dream-like environments, meet wacky friends, and find secrets to help B discover the ominous truth behind her nightmares!

Brownie's Adventure: The Final Resolution

An incompetent wizard is tasked with stopping a recently awakened evil entity that just so happens to be trapped inside a (deeply suspiciously heavy) spoon. What follows is a sprawling, absurd 1990s-style point-and-click comedy adventure across bizarre fantasy realms and also North Derbyshire.

Red Echoes: Berlin

Berlin 1918. Amidst the turmoil of the Great War, the fires of revolution burn. With the German Kaiser's reign rapidly coming to an end, lead a group of socialist revolutionaries and attempt to change the course of history. Will you succeed and bring about a better tomorrow?

Tiles of Grimmwoods

Every tile you place in this strategic roguelike deck-builder shapes the story of lost kids trying to escape the twisted depths of the Grimmwoods. Outsmart lurking creatures, lay down paths with powerful items, and upgrade your deck to survive a forest that shifts with every step.

Remember - most demos have their own Steam pages now, if you really enjoyed a game, leave it a review to bump it up a bit.

See everything on Steam.

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