What's Everyone's Steam Next Fest 2023 Demo Recommendations?

Well, we have one last weekend to try out the demos collated on Steam through its semi-annual Next Fest event. Luckily, this even coincided with a Steam update that made the marketplace marginally easier to use and navigate than the last time it rolled around. Nonetheless, this thread is about the games and the many demos that you can discover therein. Some highlights I have enjoyed are:

The Invincible - An adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s novel of the same name. An incredibly short demo with stunning visuals that sets the scene of this "Atompunk" hard sci-fi game. You explore a few environments and engage with a handful of puzzles that futuristic robots. It's an interesting puzzle adventure game ozzing with atmosphere.

En Garde! - A sword-focused parry-based fighting game. That might sound like a mouthful, but its definitely makes more sense when you play it. It has a cartoony artstyle with a two button combat system that reminds me of Divekick, though you need to navigate 3D environments. Left mouse swings your sword whereas right mouse click, if timed correctly, parries your opponent's moves or attacks. I have to admit, there's some skill with this parry mechanic, but once you get it, it's a lot of fun.

Thronefall - An incredibly simple top-down city builder mixed with light RTS combat. The avatar you control needs to engage with easy to understand C&C base building mechanics while you think about defense and economy projects before setting out to conquer other nearby cities.

Eternights - It's very anime. A lot of people have call this "Persona lite," considering it puts a lot of value on VN dating sim-like relationship building alongside RPG combat, but it really feels like its own thing. The RPG combat is simple and the dating sim parts are much more oriented to the otome crowd at times. The 2D anime cutscenes are nice.

I've barely touched the 20 or so demos I picked up, but I did get around to Sticky Business, which is just a cute little thing about owning a small online sticker sheet printing business. Spirit Swap is on there too, which has had demos in the past. It's still a queer match-3 with awesome character design, which I continue to be very interested in.

Everyone should try Laika: Aged Through Blood.

Trials meets Metroidvania where you can parry bullets by drifting on your bike and need to perform backflips to reload your gun. Combine that with a great art style, soundtrack and a demo that will keep you busy for about 2 hours and it's easily been my highlight of this Next Fest.

It’s pretty on rails, but I really liked Stray Gods. It’s essentially a musical based around Mass Effect dialogue wheels, based on a modern version of Greek mythology. I’d maybe categorize it as a visual novel, but the choices you make change song lyrics. Mileage may vary on if you like these things, but I found it quite charming.

I've never played a House Flipper game but had friends talk about how dangerous those games are because of their ability to become time vacuums. I played the House Flipper 2 demo. I now understand what they mean. It was entrancing to play. It did something to the lizard brain part of my brain that reminds me a lot of games like Power Wash Simulator and Hardspace Shipbreaker.

Finally got some time to play the Little Kitty, Big City demo with my 3 year old. It’s relatively short (basically complete two small quests and do some miscellaneous platforming / mischief), but I like it. It’s kind of what I wanted Stray to be, in that it’s much more free exploration and Untitled Goose Game-y. It’s supposed to come out sometime next year, and I’ll definitely pick it up.

Side note: the meow button in this game was very convincing to my cats, who patrolled the area around the computer for a while after I used it. And the 3 year old really liked the game but that might go without saying.

@tartyron: Stray Gods was pretty cool. I think I liked the concept more than the actual game, but visual novels aren't really my thing.

I mostly played Die by the Blade, which was there for the last Nextfest, but seemed more polished this time around.

I grabbed Lies of P and Viewfinder on my Steam Deck, both run and play great ~ I recommend them both.

I absolutely loved House Flipper! There was something about it that really captivated me. Additionally,

Don Duality is an insane mafia tycoon game with captivating management elements.

Legendary Hoplite reminds me of Plants vs. Zombies but with a unique twist, and Titan Quest has been an exciting journey.

I was also hooked on Mega City Police, especially thanks to its incredible music. Lastly,

Heretics Fork has kept me engaged for hours on end.

Just gave the Laika demo a try and was pretty blown away by it. Incredibly polished and stylish, and the combination of Trials motocross movement and shooting works much better than I expected.