GamesRadar+ Picks 10 Steam Next Fest Demos You Should Try
GamesRadar+ rounded up ten playable demos during Valve’s Steam Next Fest—here are the ten you should try now, from Blendo Games’ cat-crewed Skin Deep to a mysterious screenshot-only pick at #10.
1. Skin Deep — GamesRadar+ placed Blendo Games’ Skin Deep at #1 and points straight to its demo; the studio released the game on April 30, 2025 and GamesRadar called it “By far and away the funniest game that I've played during Next Fest.” You play as Nina Pasadena, “an insurance policy made flesh, protecting ships from pirates in deep space,” and, very specifically, the crew are all cats — GamesRadar even insists “it's worth it for the slo-mo 'MEOW' they let out when you rescue them.” A launderette screenshot circulated with the article (a mug reading “who at the cake?”), and GamesRadar included a “Try the demo here” link in its hands-on roundup.
2. Windrose — PC Gamer’s coverage singled Windrose out as a demo that ate players’ time: it’s an open-world pirate-survival title pairing base-building with Black Flag-style seafaring combat and “sea shanties” to boot.
Chris Livingston reported “loving the pirate adventure aspect of it” after “sinking seven hours into the demo,” and PC Gamer noted the demo had “received over 5,400 Steam reviews, 93% of which are positive” and had “landed on over 1 million wishlists.” The developer (Windrose Crew) told players to “please, let us cook more,” a candid ask that underlines how much attention this demo has already pulled during Steam Next Fest.
3. Vampire Crawlers — Poncle’s Vampire Crawlers was flagged by PC Gamer and Reddit as a clever twist on the Vampire Survivors formula, recast as a deck-building dungeon crawler.
Wes Fenlon called it “already seems polished and stuffed with stuff” and praised it as “an approachable on-ramp to deckbuilding synergies and combos,” warning that it’s the sort of demo that prompts “just one more run, right?” That mix of quick kills and emergent combo systems is exactly the kind of bite-sized loop that thrives in a Next Fest demo.
4. Reanimal — Kotaku covered Tarsier Studios’ Reanimal, noting the demo is available even though the release date is listed as TBA; the piece describes a sack-headed boy steering a boat to pull a mask-wearing girl from the sea before reaching dry land.
Kotaku called the demo “extremely atmospheric, but very slow to get going,” adding that “still, persist and you’ll experience this horror-themed adventure for a decent while,” and later summed its affection with: “This is all a glorious piece of batshit crazy animation and gibberish game design, and I adore every second of it.” If you want a demo that leans into unsettling atmosphere and surreal animation, Kotaku’s write-up suggests Reanimal rewards patience.
5. Servant of the Lake — Rusty Lake’s next entry showed up in Kotaku’s Next Fest coverage with a demo that locates players at the Vanderboom house “to be a servant to the family ‘for a single weekend.’” Kotaku places the demo in Rusty Lake continuity — “long-term fans will realize this puts us in the era of the first generation of the Vanderbooms” and near Aldous Vanderboom, who becomes the series’ antagonist Mr.
Crow — and recommends that readers “play every Rusty Lake game in order, building up to next year’s release of this one.” The demo is part of a long-running Lynchian series; if you’re invested in that lore, Kotaku argues you owe it to yourself to follow the through-line.
6. PowerWash Simulator 2 — FuturLab’s PowerWash Simulator 2 demo was singled out by Kotaku as a comforting time-sink with a release date already set for October 23, 2025; Kotaku called it “utterly marvelous,” “more PowerWash Simulator, but slightly prettier and with less clunky controls.” The writer admitted they were “having to force myself to stop playing to write this” because the demo pulls players into “its demonic pressure-washing powers.” If satisfying, compulsive cleanup is your kind of demo, Kotaku’s enthusiasm is a strong signal to give this one a go.
7. Marvel Cosmic Invasion — Tribute Games’ Marvel Cosmic Invasion appears in festival roundups with a listed 2025 release and a demo link noted in Kotaku’s coverage; the fragmentary notes don’t expand on mechanics, but the developer and release-year metadata are explicit.
Given Tribute Games’ arcade pedigree and the fact Kotaku flagged a playable demo, it’s a reasonable pick for anyone chasing bite-sized brawling or deck/arcade hybrids showcased during Next Fest. Treat this entry as a demo to click into directly from Steam to see what the studio is showing off.
8. Gunboat God — YouTuber Reaba 18 placed Gunboat God at #10 in their Top 10 demos video and described it as a roguelike where you steer a gunboat, complete objectives, and upgrade by killing enemies and finishing tasks.
The YouTube transcript highlights mechanical hooks — the gunboat can “jump and dodge,” dive both underwater and above water, and features different objective types and “a little bit of an interesting art style.” Reaba 18 closes the segment with an endorsement: “This is one I will absolutely be keeping [...] right,” signaling it’s worth queuing up if you like compact roguelike loops with movement-expressive controls.
9. Box Knight — Also surfaced by Reaba 18 (placed at #8), Box Knight is a cartoony, 3D office-set brawler where you play a disgruntled employee who can wear a box and swing a plastic stick to survive waves of coworkers.
The YouTuber praised its “sense of humor” and “style of art,” and noted both in-game and meta progression systems alongside safe areas and special attacks. If you’re after a demo with clear comedic tone and upgrade paths that extend beyond a single run, Box Knight’s mixture of silly premise and progression earned a shout from influencers.
10. The King is Watching — GamesRadar+ includes The King is Watching as its #10 pick and supplied a screenshot captioned as a “screenshot of a grid-based village,” but the supplied fragment contains no developer, release date, or descriptive copy beyond that image.
Its placement at #10 in GamesRadar’s curated list is the explicit fact we have to go on: the outlet thought it demo-worthy enough to close their roundup. As the final selection in GamesRadar’s hands-on piece, its inclusion acts as a reminder that Next Fest is as much about surprises and small-studio experiments as it is about the obvious breakout demos.
(Forward-looking note) This set reflects the cross-section GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, Kotaku, YouTube creators and Redditors were hyped about during Valve’s Steam Next Fest demo drop; across Blendo’s cat-crewed comedy, open-world piracy, roguelike sea-faring, and intimate narrative experiments, the festival continued to function as a vivid sampler of what’s coming—so boot Steam, find the demo links GamesRadar and the outlets called out, and let one of these playable experiments take an afternoon or seven.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
