Steam Next Fest October 2026 is live now and runs until October 26 at 10am PT. That means a pile of free demos for upcoming PC games and a good excuse to fill your wishlist before the holiday release rush.
How Next Fest works
Every game in the fest has to have a playable demo on Steam, and none of them are out yet. You browse the Next Fest hub, download whatever looks good, and play for free. Developers can stream their demos on a separate livestream tab, but there’s no big official show anymore, so the demos are the main event.
Some studios didn’t wait for the start. Valve opened a press preview on October 8, and a few games pushed their demos out to everyone around then, so you can get a head start on several of the picks below. When the fest wraps on October 26, Valve puts up a recap of the games with the most played demos, which is a handy list if you miss the week.
Six demos we’re grabbing
Emberville. Cygnus Cross’s pixel-art action RPG drops you, memory wiped, into a vast underground prison where death doesn’t last. You fight through strange biomes, rescue trapped villagers and help them rebuild the town of Emberville, with crafting, an estate to decorate and a class system you can swap at any time. The free demo is the game’s Prologue, and your progress carries over when Emberville enters Early Access on October 27. Grab it on Steam.
Frostrail. This is the big one for us. It’s a survival FPS from FakeFish, the studio behind Barotrauma, published by Shiro Games, and your base is a steam-powered train crawling across a frozen, corrupted wasteland. You scavenge, craft, fight off whatever’s out there, and keep upgrading the train so it can keep moving. Play it solo or in co-op. The demo arrived with Next Fest and is only around until October 26, so don’t sleep on it. The full game is listed for Q4 2026.
Keelblade. Formerly known as Triarchy, Digital Confectioners’ pirate action RPG puts you in charge of your own ship with up to six players. You sail between islands, loot them for upgrades, and take on bosses with souls-like combat and magic. The studio promised this would be its biggest demo yet, and it’s playable now ahead of a 2027 release.
ROCKBEASTS. A darkly funny narrative RPG where you manage a ’90s grunge band from garage gigs to stadiums, juggling bookings, egos and a nasty music business. The demo already has two episodes, and a third one lands today for Next Fest. Critical Role is co-publishing, and Matthew Mercer and Sam Riegel have joined the cast as the band’s manager and guitarist. The full game is due in January 2027.
Curse of Resthaven. A single-player narrative roguelite where you govern a cursed island while hunting for your missing niece, mixing interrogations and trading with card-based expeditions. Its expanded demo covers the full six-day loop and every fully voiced townsperson, and your progress carries over to the full game. It’s the closest to launch of the bunch, out October 29.
Inside Job. A co-op prison escape for one to four players where you have to figure out the guards’ schedule and break out together. The demo also includes LAST COUNT, a free-for-all mode for up to 10 players where only one gets out. Inside Job heads into Early Access on November 2.
Before you dive in
Demos are free, so the only real cost is drive space. If something clicks, wishlist it; that’s the easiest way to help a small team get noticed on Steam. We’ll keep an eye on the most played list when the fest wraps on October 26.
For more PC news, check our PC hub.
One week, a stack of free demos, and a frozen train that needs a crew. See you on the tracks.