You didn’t think I’d let Miles have all the fun with the Steam Next Fest demos, did you? What’s great about the team is that we clearly have our own tastes, so my list will be a little different. Hopefully this means that, with our lists combined, you can find some cracking games to excitedly wishlist and anticipate. This is a Next Fest for the spooky season, so expect some horror games here. However, I have tried to go for a bit of everything. On to the list!
Apple Crumble by Happy Broccoli Games
First up on the list is the latest game from Happy Broccoli Games, Apple Crumble. Having played both games from the Duck Detective series, Happy Broccoli Games have quickly become a studio I’ve been keeping an eye on. This time, instead of a cast of anthropomorphic animals, we have a dysfunctional family that all seemingly come with their own baggage. You play as Jess, one of the daughters in the family, who’s coming to visit along with Grandma.
Very quickly, you feel an estrangement amongst the family members, as well as a sense of their quirks. Whilst the main conceit of Apple Crumble is a whodunnit? with the Grandma being the central cause for concern, the demo doesn’t give you that premise on a baking try. Instead, we’re lightly introduced to the game’s mechanics of investigating items and using conversation as a method of deduction. I really like the change in art direction here. The game is in the first-person perspective with the art style being painterly and textured. The demo doesn’t showcase Apple Crumble that great, but I have faith that this will be another great mystery game from the studio.
Apple Crumble will release 3rd December 2026 for PC via Steam. Developed and published by Happy Brocolli Games.
Dig! Dig! Dino! by Dom2D and Fáyer
Originally developed for the Playdate, Dig! Dig! Dino! is now coming to PCs. This is the first demo in a while where I just had to stop myself from playing more, because I knew I had others to get through today. However, I wish I could have dug in a bit more because my time with this was flying. Dig! Dig! Dino! has a basic framework of going out to a dig site, pressing ‘A’ to dig on your selected area of land, and hoping to find something before you run out of stamina.
You start small, finding trash, maybe some coins, but then it balloons to finding gems, dinosaur bones and artefacts as you upgrade your tools. You dig plots of land, drill through rocks, use a radar to find valuables and repeat. I quickly checked myself before I got too sucked in, but the prehistoric bones were shaking like a hypnotic ritual. Bite-sized time to do a level, incredibly easy to pick up and play, a soundtrack I’m currently singing in my head and an adorable 1-bit art style. What’s not to dig about Dig! Dig! Dino!?
Dig! Dig! Dino! will release 18th November 2026 for PC via Steam. Developed by Dom2D and Fáyer, published by Fáyer.
Memoria Wake by Team Crescendo
As far as debuts go, this one by Pittsburgh-based studio Team Crescendo Games is looking to be fairly special. Memoria Wake immediately invokes the isometric metroidvanias that came before it. Tunic, Death’s Door and Crypt Custodian all feel like inspirations ingrained in Memoria Wake.
The demo may not showcase the same finesse as some of the games I’ve just mentioned, but these are demos – iteration and tinkering are a given once the world gets its hands on it. That said, there’s a spark of magic emanating here, and I can’t quite put my finger on what in the hour I spent playing. Waking up in a dream, the masked child known as The Dreamer traverses this fragmented dreamspace with only an umbrella to use in battle.
Combat is sharp, with parry windows being quite strict despite its child-like appearance. The map took a while for me to navigate, but there’s tons of puzzle platforming, secrets to find and collectibles to seek that made roaming the map fairly fun. Don’t sleep on this one, Memoria Wake may be your next favourite isometric metroidvania.
Memoria Wake is coming soon to PC via Steam and Xbox. Developed and published by Team Crescendo
MR. RECORDS by Glee-Cheese Studio
I’m a sucker for a good rhythm game, so having seen and now played MR. RECORDs, I just know this is unequivocally my jam. The studio behind it are no spin chickens when it comes to the genre either, as they also developed the amazing A Musical Story. You can just tell how much the people making it love music, so much so that every track in this game is made by the team – no streamer mode required!
You play as George, an old dog in a new business of selling records from his shopfront. There’s a neat synchronicity to the gameplay as you need to play rhythm-based levels to the music, to then be able to sell it at the shop. Once it’s at the shop, customers will ask for recommendations, and you can make an informed decision based on the description. If you’re successful, you make more money, which you can then use to buy more records.
It’s a simple yet effective loop that had me trying to perfect the music levels on normal and hard, as beating them on both difficulties gives you a money bonus when selling it. All of which then ties to a reverent narrative. The art style is a cool hand-drawn cartoon style, the music selection is eclectic, and the story has me interested.
MR. RECORDS plans to release in Q1 2027 on PC via Steam. Developed by Glee-Cheese Studio, published by Wired Productions and Gamersky Games.
Lelu by jamierowan
With the seeming disappearance of Jamie Rowan’s previous project, Mobspawn, I’m glad to see there’s a project getting a release – under Super Rare Originals no less! Lelu is a love letter to the retro Zeldas whilst taking modern gameplay sensibilities from Metroidvanias like Gato Roboto and Haiku, the Robot. Secret walls to find collectibles, new traversal abilities to overcome previously unbeatable platform puzzles, mechanic-based battles you figure out like puzzles- Lelu has it all.
This monochromatic adventure sees you playing the titular Lelu, a clockwork toy eager to escape the confines of its production line. Easier said than done, however, as the evil toymaker sets his other clockwork titans against you as you battle to escape the factory. Like the other games on the list, I was drawn in by its level design, trying to find everything under every nook and cranny. The powers I obtained during the demo were your simple dash and attack, with feels like the bare minimum you start with, but I’m excited what else you’ll learn past that and how it interacts with the clever puzzle design.
Lelu releases 21st January 2027 on PC via Steam, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2. Developed by Jamie Rowan, published by Super Rare Originals and Electric Sheep Games.
I SHALL NAME THE DEAD by Tiago Rech
Probably the most subversive entry on this list, I SHALL NAME THE DEAD is a point-and-click with corruption around every corner. You play as Imaculada, a woman who can commune with the dead, but when the dead have no name, they’re stuck in limbo. It’s Imaculada’s duty to find those names within the cemetery to put the dead to rest. You’re not alone, however, as an entity known as The Worm can interfere and corrupt your dialogue choices, unless you burn a match to cleanse that dialogue option.
The atmosphere is palpable here, and the bold hand-drawn art style is phenomenal. The bright orange and blues, in contrast to create an uncanny realism is so cool. I’m relatively new when it comes to point-and-clicks/interactive fictions, but I SHALL NAME THE DEAD has all the hallmarks to be something beyond the pale. The writing is also compact and effective, and the mystery you’re solving with the dead’s names is alluring. Really interested to see how this one pans out in the full game.
I SHALL NAME THE DEAD is planned to release in 2027 for PC via Steam. Developed by Tiago Rech, Published by DANGEN Entertainment.
My Arms Are Longer Now by Toot Games
An extremely effective demo for My Arms Are Longer Now, I just wish the demo was longer now too. One level of miscreance sells you entirely on what the game is about. You are an arm who’s length knows no bounds as they get into misdemeanours and rob as many things as they can. If England has Thank Goodness You’re Here, Australia is soon to have My Arms Are Longer Now. Toot Games aren’t new to the irreverent goofs of colourful games, as they also worked on Dogpile – a Suika-lite with similar humour.
The controls here are a little janky, and I think they always will be because there’s a decent attention to the arm you control’s physics. I particularly like the commentary during the level. It acts as one person’s account of the crime you commit as you play through the level, distorted and tinny like a crime documentary using audio files from phone calls. Slightly too short of a demo, but it perfectly captures everything the game will offer upon full release. Don’t let this one slip through your gangly fingers.
My Arms Are Longer Now is set to release in 2027 for PC via Steam. Developed by Toot Games, published by Jackbox Games
Late Shift by AstronautCat Studios
Despite the game’s name being about three others in the same decade, Late Shift is very much distinguishable from the bunch. An Exit 8-type experience where you play as a cinema employee walking the same foyer, trapped in a loop. To escape, you have to figure out if there’s an anomaly in that loop and report it. Sometimes it’s obvious, like a literal door into some very Kane Parson’s looking Backrooms, whilst others I missed entirely despite feeling like I was being thorough.
Late Shift uses procedural generation for the loops, so it’s no use remembering patterns and rushing to the finish line. It ups the dread you feel going into each loop, and the atmosphere is tense. Did I have to turn the room light on after a while? Yes. Are there jump scares? Maybe. However, it’s not solely reliant on it, as the aesthetics of the game do more than elicit enough scares.
Late Shift plans to release in 2027 on PC via Steam. Developed and published by AstronautCat Studios.
El Paso, Elsewhere 2 by Strange Scaffold
And last on the list but by no means least, El Paso, Elsewhere 2. Strange Scaffold are becoming quite the game studio, with no one game feeling the same from them. Whilst the previous game was an ode to the OG Max Payne, EPE2 expands on the slo-mo, gunplay and level design to feel more akin to games like DOOM. Quite fitting, really, as it looks like protagonist James Savage is going to hell all over again in the sequel.
This was another quick demo that whisks you straight into the action, but not before you get Savage’s signature off-kilter neo-noir-drenched inner monologue. As far as third-person shooters go, El Paso, Elsewhere 2 has that responsiveness and feedback that you’d want in any game of the genre. Entering slo-mo by diving or initiating it on foot delivers that badass feeling of taking out a few monsters in quick succession – especially when you ping those headshots and PSX-era blood splatters on the environment. TLDR; Strange Scaffold are on the cusp of releasing yet another cool game.
El Paso, Elsewhere 2 is coming soon to PC via Steam. Developed by Strange Scaffold, published by Frosty Pop and Strange Scaffold.
And that’s your lot…
Hopefully we’ve given you some good recommendations for this season’s Steam Next Fest. The best thing to do right now for any games you like the look of is to wishlist them on Steam. It helps with the algorithm so more people can see it, and hopefully our favourite developers can keep on making games. Till next Next Fest.
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