The first Steam Next Fest of the year is live, bringing with it a new glut of trials for notable games, hidden gems, and a good helping of AI slop besides. Let’s help each other sift through that mess and highlight our favorite demos and biggest surprise hits!

Some of the most notable participants this time around include:

• Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors, a fast-paced, dungeon-crawling roguelike deckbuilder from poncle.
• PRAGMATA, Capcom’s sci-fi shooter where you hack into your enemies.
• The Eternal Life of Goldman, a side-scrolling platformer with incredibly detail hand-drawn art.
• Scott Pilgrim EX, Tribute Games’ sequel to the 2010 brawler Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.
• Alabaster Dawn, the next isometric action-adventure from Radical Fish Games, developers of CrossCode.
• Denshattack!, a wild, color-drenched stunt platformer where you chain tricks while operating a train across the Japanese countryside.

A few others that caught …

Imagine spending years making a game just for someone to leak it for clout

Don’t Lose Aggro is a solo project I’ve been working on for the past 2.5 years and today it is going into Steam Next Fest!

As a tank main in MMOs for 20 years, I don’t have the time to commit to raiding or keeping up with content anymore, so I set off to make a game that distills my tanking experience into a fast, single-player action game.

This game is not just a love letter to tanking, but also an attempt at creating a solo environment for those who never tried the role, where they can’t get blamed for a wipe.

Ask me anything about the journey, game development, the challenges in finding the right audience or MMORPGs!

That’s a wrap, thanks for all the questions, see you soon!

We’re a team of 3 making a diving horror game. It’s a bit like if Dave the diver and Darkest Dungeon had a really weird kid they quietly pretend isn’t theirs.

We read every comment, so if something feels off or fun, please tell us!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4321140/DIVE_or_DIE__Children_of_Rain_Demo/

You are being recorded. Each step you take, each weapon trigger you press, each melee swing and each word you say are being monitored. Be wary of your actions, as each of these recordings will be redone by exact replicas of you, soon.

As enemies start swarming you, your task is to keep them at bay. Enemies drop experience which can level up your character, granting a random upgrade out of the many existing ones.

Upgrades will be inherited by your clones. Become too strong and you might struggle to dodge your clones. Stay too weak and the swarm of enemies might become too much to handle.

Don’t do it alone. The game features both coop and versus modes. Imagine the fun of watching and hearing your and your friend’s clones having the argument about stealing that one chest.

Features

• Multiplayer with proximity voice chat + clones that mimic your voice = dumb fun
• Unique environments with various secrets, enemies and loot to discover
• Dozens of weapons to choose from to …

Been working mostly solo on The Maker Way for the last 5 yrs. More than a 1000 players played the demo the last couple of weeks and now it is participating in Steam Next Fest.

The Story: Set in a near-future Arizona where the government banned the use of advanced technologies, you must scavenge for parts, build machines, and bring back technological progress.

Key gameplay mechanics:

• Machine Building: Build rovers, drones, robots, energy production modules and more from an ever increasing library of parts
• Deep Simulation: Manage a simulated energy cycle that reacts to the environment. Solar, wind, and machine configuration affect your power usage
• Open World Exploration: Operate your machines and explore the world to find new parts, mine resources and fight enemy robots
• Base Building: Create bases to be used as server farms, radar outposts, charging stations and storage facilities

Next Fest Demo on the Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1532270/The_Maker_Way

Thanks!

u …

Re-posted because my brain-fart-filled head got the map name wrong. :-)

Buff the renegade just for this guy

Photoshop: ThatARCGuy | Background Image: TopsideFlicks

What do you think? This would be so useful in arc boss fights or unexpected PVP.. carry it around and throw it on the ground when you are getting shot. Kinda like deployable cover but keeps you protected for a short while you can heal or reposition and see where the shots are coming from