16 Steam Next Fest Demos You Need To Play Before They're Gone
Steam Next Fest is back with thousands of free demos. From tactical reverse bullet hells to stunning hand-drawn Metroidvanias, we've sifted through the noise to bring you the 16 must-play titles of the February 2026 edition before they disappear.
Every few months, Steam decides to ruin my sleep schedule by dropping thousands of free demos in my lap. It is the best kind of problem to have. The February 2026 edition of Steam Next Fest is currently live, and the sheer volume of "Upcoming" titles can be paralyzing. I’ve spent the last few days sifting through the noise, dodging the generic clones, and finding the games that actually do something different.
If you don't have time to browse 3,000 store pages, don't worry—I did it for you. Here is everything you need to know and the 16 demos that are worth your bandwidth.
What is Steam Next Fest?
If you aren't familiar, Steam Next Fest is Valve's massive, multi-day digital festival celebrating upcoming PC games. Think of it as a week-long digital convention. Developers put up free playable slices of their upcoming games, often hosting livestreams and Q&As directly on their store pages. It’s the best way to fill your Wishlist with future hits.
- Dates: Monday, February 23 – Monday, March 2, 2026
- Ends: 10:00 PM GST (Dubai time)
- Note: Once the festival ends, the vast majority of these demos are deactivated and removed from the store, so you only have a few days to try them.
1. The Eternal Life of Goldman
This is a platformer for people who miss traditional animation. There is no skeletal rigging or AI here—every frame is hand-drawn. It’s a challenging, precise platformer based on ancient fables, and it looks like a playable cartoon. The controls are tight, which is essential for a game this demanding. I was blown away by the boss designs; they are massive, detailed, and animated with incredible fluidity. It’s a love letter to the 16-bit era but with modern technology.
The Highlight: The demo is generous, offering a solid 90 minutes of content to really sink your teeth into.
2. Akatori
This is a side-scrolling action game with a unique hook: you wield a magical staff that is both your weapon and your movement tool. You can throw it, jump off it, and use it to flip the world around you. The "Kung Fu parkour" flow is incredibly satisfying once you master it. It creates this beautiful rhythm of combat and movement that makes you feel incredibly cool. I really enjoyed how the staff mechanics are integrated into every part of the game, not just the fighting.
The Highlight: The demo is meaty—expect about 45 minutes of gameplay, which is plenty of time to get hooked.
3. Esoteric Ebb
Think Disco Elysium, but you’re a cleric in a D&D campaign who might be the worst cleric ever. It’s an isometric RPG focused on dialogue, skill checks, and political intrigue rather than just combat. It’s funny, smart, and very non-linear. I loved the writing here; it perfectly captures the chaos of a tabletop session gone wrong. You have to roll dice for almost everything, which leads to some hilarious failures and unexpected successes.
The Highlight: Your progress in the demo carries over to the full game, so you aren't wasting your time investing in the story now.
4. Titanium Court
This game defies genre in the best way possible. It is a surreal blend of Match-3 puzzle mechanics and Tower Defense strategy, wrapped in a roguelike structure where every run is different. You play on a grid where matching terrain tiles builds up your defenses against waves of abstract enemies. It sounds chaotic on paper, but in practice, it flows with a weird, hypnotic logic. I found myself losing track of time just trying to optimize my grid layout. The vibe is incredibly distinct—it feels like a fever dream mixed with a hardcore strategy game.
The Highlight: The "just one more turn" factor here is dangerous; don't start this if you have a meeting in ten minutes.
5. Windrose
This game is trending hard right now, and for good reason. It’s an open-world pirate survival game, but it borrows its combat weight from the "Souls" genre—meaning fights are deliberate, punishing, and require careful timing rather than button mashing. You can sail, customize your ship, and explore islands, but when you land, you have to be on your toes. It feels like a grown-up version of the pirate games we’re used to, with a much higher skill ceiling.
The Highlight: It supports co-op, so you can drag your friends into the high seas with you, which makes the survival elements much more fun.
6. Australia Did It
This is easily the wildest concept of the festival. Marketed as a "tactical reverse bullet hell," it comes from industry veteran Rami Ismail (Nuclear Throne) and the folks at Aesthetician Labs. The premise is delightfully absurd: the Atlantic Ocean has been drained, and you are escorting a train across the dry seabed. The gameplay loop is fascinating because it splits your brain in two. When the train stops, it’s a strategic tower defense game where you merge units to create new soldiers. But when the train moves, it flips into real-time chaos where your custom squad mows down thousands of enemies. It’s chaotic, loud, and incredibly smart.
The Highlight: The unit-merging system reportedly supports over 1,500 combinations, so get ready to theory-craft your perfect squad.
7. Fallen Tear: The Ascension
If you grew up loving vanilla Vanillaware games or high-end anime, you need to look at this immediately. It is a sprawling 2D action-RPG that leans heavily into that classic "Metroidvania" style of exploration—meaning you'll be backtracking through a massive, interconnected map as you unlock new powers to reach previously impossible areas. The difference here is the sheer quality of the hand-drawn animation. The combat is aerial and fast, letting you juggle enemies with a mix of melee and magic in a way that feels incredibly fluid. It’s rare to see a game look this good in motion.
The Highlight: The game uses a "Fated Bonds" system where recruiting allies unlocks new skills for both combat and traversal, making exploration feel rewarding rather than just a chore.
8. The Ratline
This is for those who want to use their brain rather than their reflexes. Set in 1971, you play a detective hunting down escaped war criminals living under assumed identities. It’s a "true" deduction game, which means it won’t hold your hand or give you magical waypoints. You have to piece together evidence, analyze documents, and unmask suspects yourself using actual logic. It captures that tense, smoky 70s thriller vibe perfectly, and the satisfaction of correctly identifying a suspect is unmatched.
The Highlight: If you liked The Case of the Golden Idol or Obra Dinn, this scratches that same intellectual itch perfectly.
9. Cathedral: Crow’s Curse
A prequel to the indie hit Cathedral, this is a pixel-art action adventure that leans into "Souls-lite" combat. That means it’s all about parrying, dodging, and learning enemy patterns rather than just hacking away. It features a seamless world that rewards exploration and optional stealth. I appreciated how tight the controls felt—if you die, it’s your fault, not the game’s. It’s a great entry point if you missed the first game.
The Highlight: You don't need to have played the original to understand this; it stands completely on its own as a great action game.
10. Replaced
We’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. It’s a 2.5D sci-fi action platformer set in an alternate 1980s, and it oozes style. The "hi-bit" pixel art aesthetic is stunning, mixing retro character sprites with modern lighting and physics that make the world pop. The combat feels crunchy and desperate—you aren't a superhero, you're fighting for survival. I was immediately sucked into the atmosphere; it feels like playing through a gritty sci-fi movie.
The Highlight: You play as an AI trapped in a human body, which adds a cool narrative layer to the violence.
11. Altered Alma
This is a "Space Opera" adventure set in a cyberpunk version of Barcelona, and it is absolutely gorgeous. It follows that familiar exploration-heavy formula where you upgrade your character to access new areas, but it blends it with fast-paced RPG progression and even some dating sim elements. The pixel art is stunning, featuring neon-soaked streets and massive architectural backdrops that make the world feel lived-in. I loved how "chunky" the movement feels—you really feel the weight of your character as you dash and fight through the city.
The Highlight: The writing comes from the team behind Resident Evil Village and Assassins Creed, so expect a story that punches way above its weight class.
12. Cursed Words
Imagine if Balatro and Scrabble had a baby. This is a roguelike word game where you place letters on a grid to score points, but with a massive twist: you buy "gadgets" and upgrades that break the rules. Suddenly, playing a word with three vowels might trigger an explosion or multiply your score by ten. It takes a familiar concept (spelling words) and completely gamifies it into something addictive and unpredictable. I genuinely couldn't put this down because I wanted to see what crazy combo I could build next.
The Highlight: Just like Balatro, it has that "just one more run" energy that will absolutely destroy your productivity.
13. ZeroSpace
RTS fans, we are finally eating good. This is a cinematic sci-fi real-time strategy game that feels like a spiritual successor to the StarCraft II campaign, but with Mass Effect-style conversations and choices. The production values are sky-high, with cutscenes and voice acting that rival AAA studios. I was surprised by how polished the faction design is—everything feels distinct and balanced. It’s filling a huge void for fans of old-school sci-fi strategy games.
The Highlight: While the campaign is the draw, the demo lets you try the co-op "Galactic Warfare" mode, which is surprisingly robust.
14. Phonopolis
From Amanita Design (the makers of Machinarium), this is a puzzle adventure set in a dystopian city made of cardboard. The art style is breathtaking—it looks like a living stop-motion film running at 12 FPS. The puzzles are integrated into the world perfectly, requiring you to manipulate the environment to break the citizens out of their trance. It’s rare to play something that feels this handcrafted; every screen looks like a piece of art I’d want on my wall.
The Highlight: The atmosphere is unmatched—it manages to be cute and slightly unsettling at the same time.
15. Croak
Sometimes you just want to be a frog. This is a precision platformer where you use your tongue as a grappling hook to fling yourself through levels. It’s fast, bouncy, and full of distinct, hand-drawn charm. The mechanics are simple but mastering the momentum takes skill. It reminded me of the best parts of Celeste or Super Meat Boy, but with a much cuter aesthetic. It’s frustrating in the best possible way.
The Highlight: If you 100% the demo, you apparently get a special role in their Discord, if you care about that sort of bragging right.
16. Insider Trading
Instead of fighting goblins, you’re fighting the stock market. This is a deckbuilder where you play cards to manipulate stock prices, trying to hit financial targets without crashing the market or pricing yourself out. It’s a clever satire of Wall Street greed that plays like a dream. The genius here is that you are constantly balancing risk vs. reward in a way that feels fresh compared to the usual fantasy card games. It’s funny, cynical, and mechanically tight.
The Highlight: The "enemy" here is often your own greed—pushing a stock too high can backfire spectacularly, which is a great mechanic.
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