The latest Steam Next Fest began this week, showcasing a wide range of upcoming titles. And as has become a trend, publishing platform indie.io has several titles featured. To celebrate, it has launched a campaign called Next Fest Party that will run from October 13–20 and includes free demos for 12 different games.
The games come from a variety of different developers in a variety of different genres, so we figured we’d give you a rundown of everything that’s available. Below you’ll find brief descriptions of each game, with each title linked to its free demos so you can try them for yourself.
Monsters and Me
This 2D top-down roguelite shooter is chaotic, silly, and a bit gross (well, as gross as a 2D game can be). Your city has been overrun with slime mutants who have one goal in mind: ripping your face off. The natural reaction should be to prevent that, so you’ll need to upgrade your weapons and special abilities to fend off the horde. The demo drops you into the game’s first level, and you just need to survive as long as you can. Simple, right?
Kriophobia
Kriophobia also challenges you to survive, but in a VERY different way. You play as Anna, a geophysicist who’s trapped in a frozen Soviet bunker … and something else is down there with you. This is classic psychological horror, perfect for spooky season and for players who don’t want their hands held. Combat is tense and difficult, to the point it’s sometimes best avoided altogether. The demo is a standalone section of the game’s second chapter, where you’ll have to contend with the cold, mysterious abominations, and Anna’s traumatic past.
Plagun
This pixel shooter is a bullet-hell roguelike set in a post-apocalyptic kingdom where an attempted cure for death resulted in an all-consuming plague instead. You were a doctor before this event, but now you must use cursed masks and plague-infused weapons to deal with escalating waves of enemies. The demo is a vertical slice that will give you a sense of the game’s fast pace and let you experiment with different cursed masks and power-ups.
Dwarf Delve
It’s time to pick up your Battlemallet, go delving into mines, and try to safely make it out with as many riches as you can in this first-person extraction roguelite. The mines are randomly generated, so no two trips are the same. You’ll need to craft items like support beams and ladders to traverse dangerous areas, as well as utilize lanterns and floodlights to see in the darkness. Once you’ve grabbed your loot, you’ll need to be wary of traps and other dangers on your way back to safety.
Heistfest
Do you like stealing stuff and then causing untold destruction throughout the city as you try to make your escape while an escalating police force chases you? Well, great news. That’s the premise of the aptly named Heistfest. You’ll speed your way through hand-drawn environments, and things will get more intense the longer you evade capture. And if you think that means just adding some more cop cars and maybe some guns, think again. You’ll have to deal with spike traps, helicopters, paratroopers, tanks, and full-on airstrikes. Chaos and fun are more important than realism anyway. The demo is a vertical slice that gives you a sense of the core gameplay loop: rob a bank, spark a police chase, and see how long you can survive as public enemy #1.
Locked in My Darkness 2: The Room
It’s Halloween time, so of course there can’t just be one scary game on this list. This one is a psychological horror walking sim focused on atmosphere, exploration, and puzzle solving. You play as Yuki Tachibana, a Japanese high school student who recently moved into a new apartment with her family. Something sinister awakens within the walls of their new home, warping reality and dredging up sins of the past. With flashlight in hand, you’ll uncover notes, solve environmental puzzles, and reveal the secrets of Yuki’s family.
Nullstar: Solus
You are Solus, a scavenger drone sent to salvage the nullstar from a dying world. But there’s only one goal that really matters in this game: be faster. You’ll need to master the flying mechanics, thrusters, and momentum to make it through levels as quickly as possible. Those levels are high-risk, high-reward, and you’ll need to stay on your toes to deal with everything they can throw at you.
Air Hares
You probably haven’t seen a bullet hell quite like this one. In Air Hares, your main goal isn’t shooting enemies out of the sky; it’s using your plane to seed and water crops to save the starving people of the barren Winrose Warren. But your feathered foes in the Gale Gang want to stop you, so you’ll need to dodge, jab, and ram them to send them packing and get back to your important work.
Binary Golf
Miniature golf gets a chaotic overhaul in Binary Golf, where you use your golf ball to eliminate targets until the final one becomes the hole you need to get your ball into. But this isn’t just any old mini golf course. You can jump over hazards, teleport across courses, and phase through objects to pull off trick shots. The demo includes the game’s first two episodes, which will teach you the ropes before pitting you against a boss to test what you’ve learned.
The Cascadier
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a roguelike deckbuilder collided with a magical coin-pusher machine, The Cascadier has your answer, and it’s gloriously chaotic.
Each run has you charging coins with elemental powers from your deck and dropping them into dazzling, pinball-like cabinets that erupt in chain reactions if you drop your coin just right. You’ll be guided by Fortuna, the trickster goddess of luck, and her envious brother Theodan as you chase divine rewards.
Each round starts with ten coins to drop and your deck of earned abilities. Like any good coin pusher, you’ll scoop up coins mid-round and play them back in to keep your score and ticket count climbing. Run out, and the round’s over, so make every toss count. Hit your score goal to move on, then choose new powersets to add to your growing deck and mix things up in the next run. You’ll spend your hard-earned tickets on upgrading Trinkets that grant new abilities and permanent boosts. The demo lets you try the first cabinet, a lush, nature-themed machine that hints at the elemental powers each new board will bring.
Elemental Brawl
A multiplayer party game, Elemental Brawl tasks you with beating up your friends with the power of the elements. Each round begins with everyone only being able to punch and kick, but as time goes on, random elemental orbs will drop. Collecting them grants you powers related to that element, and you can combine elements as the round continues. And the maps aren’t static, you can use your elements to burn them, freeze them, turn puddles into steam traps, and more. It’s all about coming up with creative ways to eliminate your opponents.
Chowdown Kitty
A puzzle game with simple yet addictive gameplay, Chowdown Kitty presents you with a board filled with cat treats. Connect matching treats in a string of three or more, and those treats get pulled out and put in a food bowl for a cat. The more treats you manage to string together, the higher your score gets and the happier the cat gets.
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