Steam Next Fest is here, and many indie titles have prepared free demo versions, offering players the first look at their games. With hundreds of games to choose from, it can be tough to know where to start, but some titles have really distinct hooks. Here’s what to look out for at Steam Next Fest.
Mexican Ninja – A 2.5D roguelike beat ’em up in Nuevo Tokyo, a city where Narcos and Yakuza have merged into the ruling “Narkuzas” class. Combines old-school Streets of Rage combat with roguelike runs, Spirit Animal skill trees, and “Mexican Jutsus.” From Amber Studio.
Alpha Nomos – A rhythm-action roguelite from RibCage Games. Players control Cello, a puppet wielding instruments as weapons. Attacks must be timed to the beat; hitting off-beat plays wrong notes. Reverb, Flanger, and Delay serve as powerups. The soundtrack reshapes in real time based on performance.
Pixel Washer – A cozy power-washing game from Acclaim and Valadria. Players control Pigxel, a pig blasting grime off 40+ hand-crafted levels (parks, docks, arcades, museums, multiplex theaters). Upgrades, hidden money, and baubles are available. Described as PowerWash Simulator filtered through a 16-bit Sega CD / TurboDuo lens. The demo includes six stages and two washers.
Left Fore Dead: Zombie Battle Golf – A chaotic 2–4 player co-op party game from Maple Taco. Arcade golf set during a zombie apocalypse. Players line up shots across collapsing courses (city, subway, ruined golf course). Zombies react to swings; friends can sabotage each other.
Monkey Bizniz – An online co-op physics game from Starlight Games. Players collect bananas for the Monkey King’s feast and haul a cart from the beach to the mountain summit. Physics-based chaos with cooperative (and blame-shifting) gameplay.
