Top Steam Next Fest Games: Best New Demos (October 2026)

• Full Release Date: TBA
• Developer: Prophecy Games
• Publisher: Prophecy Games
• Steam Page

Deadzone Rogue 2 is a fast-paced FPS roguelite that puts you in the role of Talon 13-10, battling through a ruined, machine-controlled Earth. Like the first game, each run sees you collecting weapons, augments, and elemental upgrades to create increasingly overpowered builds while fighting your way through hordes of robotic enemies and massive bosses.

Prophecy Games has added new biomes, enemies, bosses, progression systems, and run modifiers, alongside a stronger story focus and a larger cast of characters. One of the biggest additions is drop-in co-op for up to three players, letting friends jump into runs without the commitment of a full campaign session.

While co-op was later added to the first game, my friends and I always found it a bit buggy, or more of an afterthought. Whereas now, the game has different classes to choose from, so you and others can coordinate your abilities and roles, which my friend and I enjoyed a lot more in this demo.

The developers have also talked about expanding combat with new abilities and deeper meta-progression, giving players more ways to shape builds between runs and experiment with different playstyles.

• Full Release Date: October 27, 2026
• Developer: Cygnus Cross
• Publisher: Cygnus Cross
• Steam Page

Emberville is an upcoming action RPG from CohhCarnage and Cygnus Cross, combining dungeon crawling, town rebuilding, and class-based progression. Set within the mysterious Vitromotus, players explore dangerous depths, rescue survivors, and expand the town of Emberville, gradually uncovering the secrets of the world around them.

While the game has tutorials, it also let me experiment around with different combat systems. Instead of being forced into one class for the game, there are plenty of weapon choices to choose from, and you are presented with many of them at the start. Each has their own combos and skill unlocks too.

Hitting Early Access on October 27, 2026, Emberville stands out not only for its blend of exploration, crafting, and combat, but also because CohhCarnage has been directly involved as a game designer, creative director, producer, and co-owner of the project. The result is an ambitious indie RPG that has been years in the making and is finally opening its doors to players later this month.

• Full Release Date: TBA, 2026
• Developer: Games by Malcs
• Publisher: Games by Malcs
• Steam Page

If you played the original Melvor Idle, you'll feel right at home with Melvor Idle 2. The series has always been a love letter to RuneScape, stripping away the running around and focusing purely on the satisfaction of skilling, crafting, combat, and watching numbers go up.

What impressed me most is how Melvor Idle 2 doesn't just feel like more of the same. It expands on the original with new skills, reworked systems, quests, deeper combat, and a much bigger world to progress through.

As someone who sunk an embarrassing number of hours into the first game, I quickly found myself falling into that same "one more task" mentality, always chasing the next unlock or optimization.

If you've ever wished you could enjoy the progression of RuneScape without needing to dedicate an entire evening to it, Melvor Idle 2 feels like it's shaping up to be exactly that.

• Full Release Date: November 10, 2026
• Developer: Auroch Digital
• Publisher: Auroch Digital
• Steam Page

Warhammer Survivors is exactly what it sounds like, a Warhammer-flavored take on the bullet heaven formula popularized by Vampire Survivors.

Playing the demo, I enjoyed the sheer amount of Warhammer fan service, letting you play iconic heroes from both 40K and Age of Sigmar while mowing down huge enemy hordes. Each mode has separate progression, with its own items, characters, enemies and more.

Compared to other survivors-likes, it feels less focused on reinventing the genre and more on delivering a version built specifically for Warhammer fans. If you've already sunk hours into Vampire Survivors, this is shaping up to be a familiar but fun alternative with a lot more chainswords and bolters.

• Full Release Date: TBA
• Developer: XLGAMES
• Publisher: XLGAMES
• Steam Page

ArcheAge Chronicles is an upcoming action MMORPG from XLGAMES, that combines fluid real-time combat, deep character progression, and sandbox open-world exploration. Serving as the next-generation successor to the original 2013 sandbox MMO, the game shifts away from traditional tab-targeting toward a dynamic, weapon-swapping action system built entirely on Unreal Engine 5

While the demo had some wonky PC controls, and the audio was only in Korean, I still enjoyed the character creation, and the different combos of light and heavy attacks between the four different classes, each feature three different weapon types.

• Full Release Date: TBA
• Developer: Light Worm
• Publisher: XD
• Steam Page

Abyssal Lapidary is a gothic workshop management simulator, which combines gemstone crafting, business management, and Lovecraftian horror. The core premise of the game tasks you with appraising raw ores, chipping away waste stone, cutting precise facets of gems, and using them to craft custom jewelry for the eccentric and demanding underworld clients.

I did find the game to have many tutorials at first, which does bog it down a lot at the start. Later however, it opens up to being more free-flowing and player-controlled, where you choose how you want to run the business and craft the jewelry.

The game is both cozy and unsettling, where you get into a comfortable rhythm of jewelry crafting, only to then have to encounter to the weird characters and setting of the world.

• Full Release Date: February 2, 2027
• Developer: Afterburner Studios
• Publisher: Focus Entertainment
• Steam Page

Elta: Defy All Gods is an upcoming science-fantasy action-platformer, combining explosive beat-’em-up combat, fluid 3D Metroidvania traversal, and grand god-slaying lore. Set across three vast, corrupted alien worlds, players take control of Victus, a warrior monk sent to rescue and restore the powers of his nomadic civilization's exiled dragon-god.

The core gameplay emphasizes a highly kinetic "free-form" combat loop, seamlessly mixing agile martial arts, hard-hitting combo strings, and devastating magical abilities fueled by an energy gauge that rewards offensive momentum.

Playing as Victus was both fun, and intuitive, with the platforming and combat blending seamlessly. It's rare we get games of this genre anymore, and Afterburner Studios have done a great job here. Can't wait for the full release.

• Full Release Date: October 28, 2026
• Developer: Questing Goose Studio
• Publisher: tinyBuild
• Steam Page

Ever wish you were a one of the sketchy vendors from Cyberpunk 2077? Probably Stolen does just that.

This cyberpunk shopkeeping simulator is set in a dystopian space station, where items are obtained and sold both over and under the table, where the best profit lies in the gray areas of the law.

You start by selling one area of goods, whether it be food, firearms, or hard-to-find clean water, and work your way up to being a booming business, all the while navigating NPC and faction relationships.

• Full Release Date: November 3, 2026
• Developer: Qloud Games
• Publisher: Qloud Games
• Steam Page

A Steam Next Fest wouldn't be complete without a cozy, farming game. Loftia poses to be an MMO, where you all build towards creating a sustainable town through farming and clean energy.

You can work solo, with friends, or random strangers, to farm, craft, explore and create a clean-energy driven city that's set on floating islands in the sky.

My partner and I enjoyed playing this one, especially when getting to create our own characters and decorate the town. Both of us will definitely be giving this one another go on the full release.

• Full Release Date: Q1, 2027
• Developer: Red Dot Games
• Publisher: PlayWay S.A.
• Steam Page

Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 is one of my top played games on Steam, and I'm happy to say that 2027 hits all the marks. The sequel features more immersive designs, higher quality visuals, and more business unlocks to grow your car-fixing empire.

However, the best feature of all compared to the previous two entries, is it features co-op play, so you and your friends can manage the garage together. It was one of my most wished-for features in the previous entries, and I'm loving it here.

You can work together, or do what I did where we had competitions to see who could fix a car the quickest, or mod it to be the best.

The only downside I found with the demo is you don't explore or experiment with any of the tools that repair, customize or clean the cars, so will need to wait for the full release to see how Red Dot Games has evolved those systems since 2021.

• Full Release Date: November 26, 2027
• Developer: Quite OK Games
• Publisher: Quite OK Games
• Steam Page

Many cozy cleaning games exist, but none hit quite as hard as Reshine. The gameplay revolves around cleaning and restoring old objects, with the demo feature a 1700s Spanish compass, a classic coffee grinder, and a 1960s jukebox. You take them apart, clean the rust, polish the metal, and recolor the wood to your desired effect.

My favorite part however, was at the end of each job, you could use a slider to compare the before and after. The cherry on top, was you also received facts on the history and creation of each item.

What makes the game more special though is how the game itself is very cozy. Quite calm music, smooth, slow-moving menus, and even a cute cat to pet all reinforce the calming nature of Reshine. After finishing the demo, it was an immediate add to my wishlist.

• Full Release Date: TBA
• Developer: Wayfinder Studios
• Publisher: Wayfinder Studios, Curve Games
• Steam Page

Wyldheart is another attempt into morphing classic Table Top RPGs into a co-op video game format, and succeeds in many parts. It's a co-op action RPG set in a rustic world, where you explore the Kingdom of Caerwyn, and complete dungeons and enemy encounters along the way.

The unique part is the emphasis that you start off as an average peasant with no special skills, and work your way up into being the hero of the lands, rather than starting off as the chosen one.

My friend chose to specialize exclusively into being a melee dwarf, while I tried to mix and match different parts into my own custom hybrid class.

Both the full game and the demo feature co-op play, where you design unique characters and classes to work together. A must play for anyone who is a DnD fan, or just wants something to explore with friends.