5 Best Steam Next Fest Demos

It’s that time of the year again! The latest edition of the Steam Next Fest is finally here, bringing many demos for exciting upcoming games.

It’s easy to get lost when there are so many games currently available, especially considering how some quality stuff sometimes gets swept under the rug, which is why we’ve personally picked out five great titles for you to try out.

Below you can find our top five picks for the current Steam Next Fest, which is running from February 24 until March 3, 2025, enjoy!

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is an upcoming roguelike viewed from the perspective of three different characters, the tiger samurai Taketora, the oni emissary Sara, and false god Shigure.

Taketora, Sara and Shigure all have completely different movesets and playstyles, as well as their own stories, which converge as they seek a mysterious Nine-tailed fox demon. It’s also surprising just how much story content Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade has, featuring a lot of dialogue and story beats that are different for every playable character.

The demo gives us full access to the game’s three playable characters, as well as their meta upgrades and different unlockable weapons, all of which have different mechanics. We also get to see how runs are structured, making our way through three different levels, each one punctuated by a boss fight at the end.

Featuring an engaging story and very polished hack-and-slash combat, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is definitely a title to keep an eye out for. Check out its demo right here.

Roots Devour

Korean-developed horror game Roots Devour is a unique take on the roguelike deckbuilder formula, putting players in the shoes of an eldritch creature who takes over an entire forest and its creatures.

Roots Devour is a unique deckbuilder thanks to its elements of real-time strategy. Players have dwindling resources and a constant need for blood, which requires quick and precise movements. One wrong step and your entire root system can crumble, turning predator into prey.

The game really manages to put us in the shoes of this malefic creature with its sound design and vivid descriptions of the horrible things we do. Humans struggle while their corpses are taken over by thorny roots, while defenseless animals can only squeal as their blood is slowly drained from them, giving the game a really gnarly presentation.

Players can take over mankind one corpse at a time in the Roots Devour demo, which gives us some pretty good insight into the gameplay and meta upgrade system of this Lovecraftian experience.

Tempest Tower

Defeat never-ending waves of creepers with the help of your trusty broom in the base-building tower defense Tempest Tower.

In Tempest Tower, players have to fight against an ominous fog that is engulfing the world. To do that, the player must set various lines of defense to protect a massive machine that will wipe out these evil aliens for good.

Tempest Tower is more active than your average tower defense game, having players constantly moving around to micromanage all of their stations while also mopping up goop that stops your turrets from working or saving creatures that upgrade your machinery.

There’s a big element of planning and positioning that forces players to think about enemy routes carefully, since certain machines are only powered by wind currents. It’s both fun and exasperating to juggle so many things at once while also making sure all stations are powered, creating a hectic but entertaining tower defense experience.

Tempest Tower does a lot with its simple systems and manages to give players a much higher degree of control over enemy waves than your average tower defense game does, standing out amongst a genre that most of the time relies on just watching things happen on their own. You can find its demo right here.

Total Chaos

Try to decipher madness from reality in the never-ending nightmares of Total Chaos.

Total Chaos is an immersive survival horror game where players explore Fort Oasis, an abandoned mining facility that now houses unspeakable horrors. Players must make their way through the fort’s shifting ruins while dealing with scarce resources and terrifying monsters.

The current demo gives us a taste of the game’s immersive environment design, featuring a heavy atmosphere that constantly keeps players on edge, equal parts claustrophobic and oppressive. The graphics also really help sell the idea you are exploring a real place, blurring the lines between fiction and reality at points with the amount of detail found.

Total Chaos constantly plays around with your perception of reality, by never fully letting the player know what’s real and what isn’t. At some points you are haunted by horrific visions, while at other points the situation becomes very real, something you are almost never prepared for.

Trigger Happy Interactive is flexing their game design muscles by showing us just how much range they have, moving from the ultra fast-paced movement shooter Turbo Overkill into an incredibly immersive survival horror experience without missing a beat. You can find the demo for Total Chaos right here.

Neon Inferno

Neon Inferno is a run and gun shooter where players move through bright levels as the pair of mafiosos Angelo Morano and Mariana Vitti, taking down anyone who gets between them and their target.

The player’s main goal is to take down the NYPD and Yakuza while moving through a cyberpunk version of New York City. Hack and slash your way through enemies, even turning their bullets against them with a well-timed parry, all for the sake of expanding your crime syndicate’s reach.

Neon Inferno‘s main gimmick is its use dual lanes, meaning that enemies can show up both in the foreground and background, making it so players always have to keep track of two playing areas at once.

The demo gives us access to a full run and gun level, as well as a motorcycle section that ends in a boss fight. Neon Inferno is incredibly tight and fun to play, capturing every single aspect of the genre perfectly and going further beyond with some of its unique ideas. The game also supports full co-op gameplay, meaning you can move through the demo with a friend right here.