Steam Next Fest is back, which means our libraries are about to fill up with demos for games we had never heard of yesterday and cannot stop thinking about today. The October 2026 edition runs from 19–26 October, giving us one week to explore thousands of upcoming PC games without spending a penny.
That is far too many demos for any sensible person to play, so we have done some of the digging for you. Whether you fancy rebuilding a town, delivering post through a mountain wilderness, racing on the ceiling, or throwing a skyscraper at another monster, these are ten of our favourites from Steam Next Fest October 2026.
Emberville starts with an amnesiac hero waking inside Vitromotus, an enormous underground prison where death is apparently more of an inconvenience than a conclusion. From there, it mixes top-down action RPG combat with gathering, crafting, farming, and town building. Rescue the scattered people of Emberville and they will return home, share their skills, and help bring the ruined settlement back to life. The contrast between dangerous dungeon runs and the steady satisfaction of rebuilding gives the demo a compelling rhythm, while melee, ranged, and magical combat leave plenty of room to find your preferred approach.
Dumpster Gang understands that cooperation is at its funniest when everyone involved is a tiny criminal with poor impulse control. Playing alone or with up to three friends, you become a band of raccoons invading homes, raiding farms, stealing anything that is not nailed down, and occasionally discovering that even the nailed-down things deserve a try. Its physics-driven levels let you climb, crawl, throw, smash, and work together to haul oversized loot. Cause too much trouble, and the Exterminator arrives, turning an already messy robbery into a frantic rescue mission. It is chaotic co-op with exactly the right priorities.
GRIP 2: Combat Racing Evolved is built around rocket-powered cars that can flip, cling to almost any surface, and travel at speeds that make ordinary braking feel like a quaint historical practice. The sequel adds a new movement ability called Crank, letting you leap rapidly onto walls and ceilings to dodge hazards, recover from mistakes, or take a much more interesting route through a track. Weapons keep every race suitably hostile, while the Next Fest demo also offers an early look at the level editor. Fast, aggressive, and gleefully unconcerned with gravity, this is combat racing turned all the way up.
Sometimes you want careful systems and delicate storytelling. Sometimes you want Godzilla to pick up a building and throw it at King Ghidorah. This remaster brings Pipeworks Studios’ 2002 arena brawler back with enhanced visuals, gameplay updates, and online multiplayer alongside local battles. The demo lets you choose Godzilla, Gigan, or King Ghidorah, then smash your way through Destruction Mode, four-player local chaos, or online one-on-one matches. It is a gloriously direct test of whether giant monsters improve a fighting game, and the answer remains yes.
The Wolf Among Us remains one of Telltale’s finest stories, and this remaster is an excellent excuse to return to the neon-lit streets of Fabletown. You play as Bigby Wolf, investigating a brutal murder in a hidden community where fairy-tale characters live uneasily alongside the modern world. Conversations, interrogations, and moments of violence all feed into choices that shape how Fabletown sees its sheriff. Updated lighting, animation, and environments give the mystery a modern presentation, while the new black-and-white Noir Mode leans fully into its detective-film roots. The demo offers a tempting first look at a familiar story in sharper clothes.
MAFATE slows things down in the best possible way. Inspired by the real Cirque de Mafate on Réunion Island, this wholesome adventure casts you as a legendary mail carrier hiking between isolated communities, delivering letters and learning the stories of the people who live there. Your companion Luna has somehow been transformed into a magical camera, which makes photography part of both the narrative and exploration. Waiting for the right moment and composing a thoughtful shot is rewarded, and there are adorable creatures called Bibiis hidden across the landscape to find and photograph. It is warm, curious, and happy to let you look around.
Hela: Of Mice & Magic views a wide-open world from a very small perspective. A kindly witch who has long protected the forest is growing ill, so her mouse familiars must venture into the wild, help its inhabitants, and restore the land’s harmony. That means gathering ingredients, brewing potions, solving environmental puzzles, and clambering through landscapes inspired by Northern Sweden. The demo combines a gentle story with playful movement and physics, proving once again that almost everything looks more adventurous when you are only a few inches tall.
Nekome: Nazi Hunter is a much darker proposition. This third-person action game follows Vano Nastasu, a young Romani man hunting the soldiers who murdered his family. Its grindhouse inspiration is clear, but there is more to each encounter than charging into the room. You can study patrol routes, lay traps, improvise weapons, and use stealth to tilt the odds before the fighting begins. Persistent enemy awareness punishes careless attacks, while fear and notoriety systems make surviving soldiers react to your growing reputation. The result is a brutal revenge story where preparation matters almost as much as what happens once everything goes loud.
Warhammer Survivors takes the irresistible bullet-heaven formula and drops it into both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Developed by Auroch Digital in partnership with Warhammer and Vampire Survivors creator poncle, it sends iconic champions into arenas packed with enemies, weapons, upgrades, and increasingly absurd quantities of projectiles. With the full game promising more than 40 playable characters, the demo is a wonderfully efficient way to discover how much screen-filling destruction your favourite champion can survive.
Stronghold 4 returns to the medieval English roots of Firefly Studios’ castle sim, serving as a narrative prequel to the original game. Building a fortress is only part of the job: you also need an economy capable of feeding and equipping its people, defences that can withstand an assault, and a plan for the weather when snow slows crop growth, or rain limits your archers. New castle pieces provide more control over your fortifications, while larger maps give sieges room to become properly dramatic. For anyone who hears “wood needed” in their head without warning, this demo should feel very much like coming home.
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