Drowning in a sea of Steam demos? We’re here with the recommendations rafter to keep you afloat.
The summer showcase season may be over, but I hope you’ve still got some room left in your brain to saturate with a metric ton of cool-ass games. The latest Steam Next Fest has landed, bringing hundreds of demos, gameplay livestreams and developer chats until June 26.
It’s a great time to dive in and discover something new, or maybe check something out that caught your eye during showcases like Wholesome Games, Day of the Devs or our own PC Gaming Show. With hundreds of demos all vying for your attention, it can be tough to know which games to give your attention and hard drive space to. Thankfully, the team at PC Gamer have delved into a whole bunch of ’em, and here are 16 of our favourites that we think you should check out. Laysara: Summit Kingdom
Developer: Quite OK Games | Release date: 2023 | Steam page
Mollie Taylor: Not enough city builders play around with verticality, but Laysara: Summit Kingdom has you creating entire settlements up various mountain landscapes. I’ve had my eye on this since we showed it off at our PC Gaming Show last year, and the demo doesn’t disappoint. There’s a lot to keep tabs on, but even from the demo’s tutorial, I had a ton of fun strategising to ensure all my workers had plenty of food, activities and spiritual endeavours to keep them happy. Just watch out for the avalanches that threaten to descend on your meticulously built towns. Sticky Business
Developer: Spellgarden Games | Release date: 2023| Steam page
Mollie Taylor: I’m all too guilty of spending hours browsing through Etsy, wishing I was artsy enough to rock an awesome small business. Sticky Business finally lets me realise those dreams in all its cosy pixelated pastel glory. Frankenstein different shapes, images and text together to create stickers, do your best to shove as many as possible on a single sheet to maximise profit and then lovingly package each order with different paper and filling types. It’s a low-pressure management sim bursting with creativity, the perfect game to unwind with after a long day. Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
Developer: Summerfall Studios | Release date: August 3, 2023| Steam page
Mollie Taylor: What if Telltale games were musicals? Stray Gods is a narrative adventure where everyone sings their feelings, and you can change the course of the songs and story by choosing how the main character Grace croons her thoughts. Considering it’s inspired by an episode of one of my favourite TV shows, it’s no surprise I was already engrossed in its half-hour demo. With a gorgeous modern comic book style and a star-studded cast behind it, Stray Gods is hitting all the right notes.Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
Developer: Little Leo Games | Release date: 2023 | Steam page
Robin Valentine: Astrea very much walks in the footsteps of Slay the Spire, but instead of gaining cards and building a deck, you’re creating your own pool of dice. You collect and apply faces to make each dice your own, and then roll them in battle and use your results as your attacks. We’ve been keeping an eye on it since last year, and it’s a really fascinating take on the genre, layering all sorts of interesting strategic decisions over its six-sided cubes. If you like the concept, check out the demo for Tamarak Trail too, which plays with the same idea with some interesting twists of its own. Viewfinder
Developer: Sad Owl Studios | Release date: July 18, 2023 | Steam page
Robin Valentine: This mind-bending puzzle game really has to be seen to be believed. Even if you’re not normally a fan of brain-teasers, the Viewfinder demo is a must-play just to see its space-warping magic tricks in action. Armed with a magic camera, you’re able to take photos, and then place those photos in the world to change the space around you. It’s difficult to convey in words, so check out my extended look at the game, with plenty of gifs and screenshots, if you need convincing. SteamWorld Build
Developer: Thunderful Development| Release date: Coming soon | Steam page
Robin Valentine: SteamWorld Build is a wonderfully layered experience—above ground, it’s a city builder, but your mines take you down into a Dungeon Keeper-like experience below, and keep adding more and more depth as you burrow down through further levels.
