Every few months, Valve hosts its Steam Next Fest—a celebration of upcoming indie and AA video games with plenty of downloadable demos to enjoy. You’ll gain firsthand experience playing prospective titles, and developers gain interested eyes and wishlists. But with so many upcoming games to sift through, how do you pick just a handful of demos worth your time? Here’s a look at the best demos from Steam Next Fest in February 2025!
Steam Next Fest Demos We Think Are Worth Your Time
Do you know how hard it was to choose just a handful of two of what we consider to be the best demos from Steam Next Fest for February 2025? It was a long, arduous task that took some serious overthinking on our part because there are hundreds of available demos to try out. Here are the twelve we believe are worth your time:
Gothic Remake
- Title: Gothic Remake
- Release Date: Coming Soon
- Developer: Alkimia Interactive
- Steam
I still fondly remember playing the original Gothic on the family computer in the corner of the dining room all those years ago. But now, I’m an adult. I have my own computer; thankfully, the Gothic 1 Remake is approaching.
In the upcoming remake, which promises to remain faithful to the original, we’ll once more turn to the Valley of the Mines with a hand-crafted open world that reacts to your choices and actions. As before, you’ll encounter detailed quests, NPCs with routines, and more from the 2001 classic, but many of the game’s mechanics and systems were modernized for today’s audiences, like its combat system.
Deliver At All Costs
- Title: Deliver At All Costs
- Release Date: TBA
- Developer: Studio Far Out Games
- Steam
I’m not usually one for top-down titles, but the quirkiness and charm of Deliver At All Costs caught my attention during Steam Next Fest. At first glance, it looks like a simple adventure/puzzle game in which you must deliver packages. It’s not. Deliver At All Costs is more action-oriented, focusing on destruction and over-the-top antics.
Playing as Winston Green, a courier with a temper, you’ll deliver unconventional cargo and packages, no matter the costs. In some cases, this means driving through a diner, bouncing across sandy beaches, and running through police barricades. Let nothing stand in your way!
Solarpunk
- Title: Solarpunk
- Release Date: TBA 2025
- Developer: Cyberwave
- Steam
I can’t even begin to count the number of survival, crafting, or cozy games I’ve played over the years. There’s something so satisfying about the progression of such titles, in which you start from nothing and build up a base and a small empire, right? Solarpunk, an upcoming survival game from developer Cyberwave, promises to expand upon the genre with airships, floating islands, and co-op!
Solarpunk allows for single-player and co-op, resource-gathering, base-building, crafting, and farming, and you can construct your airship and sail it across the skies to unique floating islands that make up the world!
Solasta 2
- Title: Solasta II
- Release Date: TBA
- Developer: Tactical Adventures
- Steam
Following the immense success of titles such as Baldur’s Gate 3, the CRPG genre is blossoming, though it never entirely disappeared over the years. Titles like the original Solasta offered turn-based tactical RPG gameplay, albeit slightly rough. But that’s about to change with Solasta 2, which features a more refined, polished experience from the first game while retaining the overall feel and aesthetic.
In Solasta 2, you’ll gather a small party of four, prepare spells, and defeat monsters as you traverse a Dungeons & Dragons-like environment and setting, complete with tabletop RPG mechanics, like dice rolls. While you have choices regarding how you approach objectives and the environment, your fate lies with the die.
Dagger Directive
- Title: Dagger Directive
- Release Date: TBA
- Developer: Arcane Alpacas
- Steam
The tactical shooter genre is full of bloat. You’ll find all manner of indie, AA, and AAA projects vying for attention. Some of them prove admirable efforts, worth tens of hours of your time. Others? Not so much. Well, the upcoming Dagger Directive from Arcane Alpacas and MicroProse software wants to take you back to an old-school era in which graphics don’t matter, but fun gameplay does.
The tactical FPS will feature three full-length campaigns spanning the Bering Sea, the South Pacific, and Eastern Europe. You’ll choose from various equipment, including iconic submachine guns and assault rifles, all of which feature customization options to suit your playstyle. If you can get past the picture-in-picture scope mechanic, you’ll find it’s an absolutely golden time.
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Monaco 2
- Title: Monaco 2
- Release Date: TBA 2025
- Developer: Pocketwatch Games
- Steam
Many years ago, I would play Monaco late into the night with a small group of friends. It’s been over a decade since those days, but I still fondly remember the frantic, tension-filled sessions. Now, Monaco 2 is nearly out. I need to find a new group of people to play with!
The cooperative-centric sequel focuses on a new cast of characters, eight playable characters with unique abilities and playstyles. If you’re playing solo, you can swap between characters to help you overcome challenges within the environment. Thankfully, you can play your heist thoroughly using Blueprint Mode, which provides an architectural layout of the zone you’re about to infiltrate, allowing you to plot your route to your score!
CyberTaxi: Lunatic Nights
- Title: CyberTaxi: Lunatic Nights
- Release Date: Q1 2025
- Developer: Hed Media Games
- Steam
I’ll be honest: this little demo is currently a mixed bag. Fans are torn between it being a thrilling adventure with plenty of unique and memorable moments and complete garbage that isn’t worth your time. I fall into the former camp. CyberTaxi: Lunatic Nights features a dystopian cyberpunk city where you drive a taxi with bells and whistles adorning the dash and windshield.
The unique combination of a taxi-driving simulator with a delivery system, mission mechanics, weapons and armor to upgrade your vehicle, full customization over your car, on-foot action, a mood meter, loot mechanics, and more make for a compelling indie title. But is it a master of none?
Total Chaos
- Title: Total Chaos
- Release Date: Coming Soon
- Developer: Trigger Happy Interactive
- Steam
What do you get when you combine a terrifying and abandoned fort with creatures that tend to scramble at you on all fours? I’m urinating all over my office floor, that’s what. Total Chaos is a survival horror game focusing on first-person action via firearms and handcrafted weapons that you’ll assemble by scooping up scraps and junk in the environment.
First and foremost, Total Chaos is positively brutal. It’s a first-person horror with visceral combat in which you feel every hit, every ounce of adrenaline coursing through your veins as you race through the hallways in search of safety.
Night is Coming
- Title: Night is Coming
- Release Date: Q1 2025
- Developer: Wild Forest Studio
- Steam
I’m sorry; we haven’t featured nearly enough strategy games on this list yet. So, to change that, let’s explore Night is Coming. It’s a survival strategy game from developer Wild Forest Studio, in which you build a settlement in a world overrun by Slavic mythology and horrors. If you’re unprepared for what comes at night, your colonists won’t survive until morning.
Like most colony sim and base-building games, you’ll scrounge for resources from within the environment, chopping down trees for wood and mining rocks for stone so that you may construct defenses, homes, and production facilities. But the key here is that you’re on a time limit, as nightfall is rapidly approaching, as are the monsters within. I highly recommend you train more than enough warriors—an entire squad more than you think you need.
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RoadCraft
- Title: RoadCraft
- Release Date: May 20, 2025
- Developer: Saber Interactive
- Steam
Do you want to be the key member of a response team that helps rebuild infrastructure after a natural disaster? You know, I never thought about entertaining such a role until I saw the first trailer for RoadCraft. Developer Saber Interactive most certainly has experience with realistic and, occasionally, infuriating vehicle mechanics and simulation in hazardous environments, what with SnowRunner and Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game.
Instead of sliding through the snow without traction, RoadCraft asks you to utilize specialized equipment and vehicles to clear debris, rebuild bridges, lay foundations, and construct additional roads through disaster zones. As you work, you’ll complete contracts, earning money to purchase additional equipment, like cranes, lift containers, and vehicles.
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days
- Title: Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days
- Release Date: Q2 2025
- Developer: PikPok
- Steam
To many, the zombie survival genre is played out. It’s bland, boring, bothersome. But to me, it’s a familiar staple that will never grow old. It’s like a comforting meal that I never tire of having on my plate. But there’s nothing wrong with mixing up the mechanics of the genre, and that’s precisely what developer PikPok intends to accomplish with Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days.
In this side-scrolling zombie survival title, you’ll lead a group of survivors seeking safety while scavenging for supplies and, on occasion, fighting the undead. The unique perspective means you must be wary of a zombie’s line of sight, as some tend to hang around the background of the local scenery.
Tales of Seikyu
- Title: Tales of Seikyu
- Release Date: TBA 2025
- Developer: ACE Entertainment
- Steam
It feels far too rare to experience a farming sim game from an Eastern perspective, but with Tales of Seikyu, developer ACE Entertainment intends to introduce the world to the Yokai. You’ll manage a farm, explore the magical world, and meet islanders, many of whom you can romance in time!
Like most games in the farming sim/cozy genre, Tales of Seikyu allows you to find a soulmate among fourteen romanceable partners. Still, more importantly, you can focus on farming, fishing, mining, crafting, cooking, and leveling up an array of skills to make your magical Yokai powers more potent in fights and exploration!
What’s your favorite title from Steam’s Next Fest demo extravaganza? Let us know in the comments below!
Of course, there are many titles we couldn’t mention here due to time constraints. For instance, Sugardew Island is coming soon, and its demo is available now to play!