I know why you’re here. You know why you’re here. Let’s not waste any time, shall we?
Here are the ones to play from the October 2026 Steam Next Fest.
Quick reminder: don’t forget to wishlist any of the games that you’re interested in. It’s a free way to support the developer ahead of their game’s launch, and you’ll also receive a notification for when the game becomes available (and when it goes on sale).
Navigation
- Prison of Husks
- The Wizard destroying Space and Time
- Inkblood
- Alethra
- All Those Dungeons in Alva’s Head
- Feather’s Edge
- Beastfolk Barber
- Nightbound
- Handshakes: Hands On
- Surfpunk
- The Road of Dust and Sorrow
Prison of Husks
We’ll start off with the demo that I’ve enjoyed playing the most from the current Next Fest: Prison of Husks. I’ve already written a full length Demo Dive covering the particulars, but the abridged version is that Prison of Husks is kind of like a PS1 Dark Souls without traditional leveling. As such, you’ll only increase your stats by finding, and equipping new armor, weapons, and trinkets which are hidden throughout the game’s densely packed levels.
It took me a bit to get with the program, but, once I did, I had a blast combing every inch of the demo looking for secrets. I think my favourite was when I thought I managed to get out-of-bounds, only to happen upon a new weapon. Turns out, the developers wanted me to explore every nook and cranny, which made the whole demo area feel as though it was packed to the gills with content.
If the rest of the game is this meticulously fleshed out then I think Prison of Husks will be an absolute banger to bring in the new year with.
The Wizard destroying Space and Time
Look, I like Sokoban games, OK? There’s a simple depth to logic puzzles built around moving boxes, and I’m continually surprised by what new ideas enterprising developers can squeeze out of this relatively unassuming framework.
Case in point, The Wizard destroying Space and Time (henceforth WDST) takes the classic Sokoban formula, but adds the ability for players to hold a set number of objects in-place whenever they reset the puzzle. As such, puzzles become these mind-blending juggling acts wherein players try to figure out both where something needs to be moved to, and when something needs to be held in place.
It’s all very compelling if you’re the kind of person who enjoys solving a good logic puzzle.
Though, I was left with a bit of additional curiosity upon finishing the demo. The final note from the developer indicated there were secrets hidden throughout WDST’s demo, which…I didn’t find. At all. Now I’m incredibly curious about what all I missed. I guess I’ll have to find out when I play through the full release at some point in the future.
Inkblood
I feel like I need to keep a closer eye on CRITICAL REFLEX. They’re a name I wasn’t very well acquainted with until last year when I played through Mouthwashing, No, I’m Not a Human, and Eclipsium. All of those were excellent in their own right, with the latter getting special mention during my best games of 2025 listicle. As such, you can imagine my excitement upon discovering Inkblood, which is also being published by CRITICAL REFLEX.
As for what Inkblood is, it’s a horror-esque Detective game where you play as an Inquisitor looking into the dealings of a cult who murdered your predecessor. The demo introduces a few of the resources that you’ll have at your disposal including a spyglass that allows the player to peer into, and see echoes from the past. It’s all very compelling, especially if you, like myself, enjoy a spooky mystery.
Though, I think my favourite bit of the whole experience was how you’re able to take pictures of your investigation, and are expected to use said picture when filing your findings. That’s…not really a thing in other Detective games. Usually you’re provided with pictures of all the suspects, and evidence, so there isn’t a need to catalogue any of the information for yourself. As such, I found the whole thing kind of novel, and got a lot more into taking accurate pictures than I’d like to admit.
Alethra
This is another one, like Prison of Husks, that I already covered in a Demo Dive, so you can read that if you want my full impressions.
The express version is thus: what if Balatro, but Yahtzee? Though, Alethra also throws in extraction mechanics to help spice things up. The result is a game where you’ll push your luck by building an ever increasing collection of super-powered dice that travel with you from run-to-run in pursuit of the perfect combo that results in the kind of eye-watering scores that games like this are known for. Or, you’ll lose everything by gambling a little too aggressively.
Seriously, I can’t overstate how different Alethra feels to play thanks to the addition of extraction as a part of its gameplay loop. Give it a looksie for yourself.
All Those Dungeons in Alva’s Head
It’s always a toss up on whether or not I’ll actually enjoy a new RPG enough to play beyond the opening few hours. There’s just…so many common conventions in Role-Playing video games that I don’t personally enjoy, but are considered essential mainstays by the greater population of gamers.
That said, All Those Dungeons in Alva’s Head seems like it might be one of the elusive RPGs that I actually enjoy enough to finish. The demo starts strong with combat that really grabbed my attention. It’s grid based, and uses a shared action-point system for both movement, and attacking. This is a brilliant revision over your typical AP system since it allows for a little more flexibility, and strategic depth than what’s normally on offer. For example, you can burn all of your actions on movement, or attacking instead of being forced to use a little of both. It’s a small change, but it gives the player more meaningful options, which, I’d argue, is a net positive.
That would’ve already been enough for me, but the game also features friendly fire. This puts even more emphasis on positioning than you’d normally find in these kinds of grid-based Tactics titles. This is especially true because several of the attacks (both your’s and the enemy’s) have Area of Effect properties, so being mindful of your position is extra important.
Though, I will say I wasn’t as taken with the writing in the demo. That’s more a case of me being left with too many questions, so I was a little bit lost. Your mileage may vary though, and I’m sure the full game will have a lot more space to allow the narrative to breathe.
Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing how both the mechanics, and story evolve over the course of the full release of All Those Dungeons in Alva’s Head, which is slated for release next week on the 30th of October.
Feather’s Edge
Y’all remember the 2018 game Dandara? If not, that’s partly my fault. I never covered it here because I played it before I started my Month in Review series where I basically provide mini-reviews for everything that I’ve been playing.
That aside, Dandara features one of the most unique movement styles that I’ve ever seen in a game. That is, you jump from surface to surface, and are always standing upright regardless of where you land. In this way, you sort of ping-pong through a level by bounding across the walls, and ceiling instead of hopping along the ground like you would in a traditional Platformer.
I bring this up because Feather’s Edge has the exact same style of movement. Though, your jump also doubles as an attack, which radically changes how you’re meant to manoeuvre through the environment. In essence, Feather’s Edge is a game wherein you’ll fly around the screen with absolute precision as you cleave through the opposition.
That already would’ve been enough to get the thumbs up from me given how good Feather’s Edge felt to play. However, the demo was also jam-packed with challenge rooms that helped to highlight exactly how compelling this movement system is while in motion. Seriously, this is one of those games where you kind of need to try it to fully understand the appeal. Once everything clicks into place though: euphoria.
Beastfolk Barber
I am still in disbelief at how good the demo for Beastfolk Barber was. My bias painted this one, so I assumed it’d be your run-of-the-mill furry game. Instead, I was met with some genuinely compelling writing and world-building, so much so that the hour I spent with the demo flew by. That is to say, Beastfolk Barber completely hooked me in much the same way as a good novel would. Frankly, I can’t think of higher praise for a game’s writing than that.
Honestly, the whole thing kind of reminded me of 2016’s VA-11 Hall-A with how expertly it introduces players to its world, and subtly ties the themes of the game to problems, and questions that we experience in our day-to-day lives.
That said, the comparison to VA-11 Hall-A goes a little deeper because Beastfolk Barber also sprinkles little bits of interactivity between conversations. Namely, you’ll be choosing the hairstyle of your client, so you need to listen to, and carefully parse their request in order to keep them happy.
Having to puzzle through this hairstyle minigame was exactly as involved as it needed to be, and I really appreciated how there were options that actively garnered a negative response from some of the clients. I’m all for a cozy experience, but I’m of the belief that you also need friction to accentuate the cozy, and Beastfolk Barber has that in spades.
Honestly, were it not for Prison of Husks, I think Beastfolk Barber might’ve been my favourite demo of the whole Next Fest. It was a pleasant surprise, and I think a lot of other folks are going to enjoy it too.
Nightbound
Like Beastfolk Barber, Nightbound was another surprise for me from the October ‘26 Next Fest. Namely because I wasn’t expecting the Tactics game about surviving the apocalypse to also be a Romance. I mean…fair play, but that wasn’t on my bingo card when I booted up the demo for Nightbound.
That said, I sit squarely in the center of the Venn Diagram for Romance, Horror, and Tactics, so I really enjoyed everything Nightbound was putting out.
Frankly, the character writing alone has an earnestness to it that seldom other games manage when tackling this kind of subject matter. As a quick example for what I mean, you can help build the bond between the playable characters, Jun and Loren, by having Jun water Loren’s plants, and feed her cat. That’s everyday “I love and appreciate you” kind of stuff instead of the love bombing that most Romance stories are built upon. And I am absolutely here for it.
Though, I think that the whole package is really held together by the Tactics side of Nightbound. The demo only really hits its stride in this regard during the third and final night, but I loved how much I was rewarded for leveraging careful positioning. You do so much more damage when you actively plan ahead of your foes, which is the only way to keep your head above water while fighting the infected hordes that bombard you throughout the night.
Handshakes: Hands On
Yes – another Sokoban game. If you don’t like it then you can make your own list!
That said, a lot of what makes Handshakes: Hands On so compelling was already stated when I wrote about WDST earlier in this article. Sokoban is a great framework for logic puzzles, so layering additional mechanics upon it will likely result in a stellar gameplay loop.
In the case of Handshakes, you’re attempting to make the 2 goobers, at either end of the game board, shake hands with one another. They’re only able to extend their arms for a specific number of tiles, so a lot of the puzzling comes down to figuring out exactly how you can rearrange obstacles with your limited movement, while creating an opening that’ll allow for a game winning handshake.
Plus, a few of the levels feature a collectible star, which was basically a self-imposed hard mode. I don’t believe the stars actually do anything, but they do require a completely different, more complex, solution to otherwise straightforward levels, which got all the gears in my brain turning in all the right ways.
It’s all good stuff, and I think that fans of logic puzzles will feel right at home playing through the bevy of different puzzles that are sequestered within Handshakes: Hands On.
Surfpunk
I’ve been trying to think of exactly how I want to describe Surfpunk to y’all and I think the best thing I’ve landed on is thus: Deep Rock Galactic, but with the vibe of Borderlands. That is to say that it’s a colourful, and bombastic 4 player co-op game where you, and your mates try to complete a series of objectives in randomly generated maps. Along the way, you’ll gather loot, and use your ill-gotten gains to upgrade at a shared hub between missions.
That said, there are 2 things that really stood out for me when it came to playing Surfpunk’s demo starting with its use of timers.
I know that timers can be a bit of a boogieman when it comes to video games, but I found their implementation here quite compelling. Basically, the amount of enemies that spawn, and hunt the player down will increase the longer they’re in a mission. So you’re put into a position where you can choose to have an easier time, but walk away with less loot, or opt into a harder version of the mission and reap additional rewards. It’s a fun bit of reframing that I think will work better for folks instead of having a hard set time limit for each mission.
The other stand-out of the demo were the weapons, which I wish I had more time to muck around with before writing this preview. There are 4 different weapon classes, and 2 of them are very unconventional. Like…the one is an anchor that you can hurl around, and the other is a guitar that plays a little like the Hunting Horn from Monster Hunter. That kind of original weapon design is exactly the sort of thing that you need to stand out in this space, and has me keen to dive back into Surfpunk during my personal gaming time.
Now I just need to trick a few of my friends into playing it with me…
The Road of Dust and Sorrow
Finally, we’re going to close things out with another Horror game: The Road of Dust and Sorrow. Of the different Horror stuff I’ve covered today, this is the most traditional. Combat is slow, ammo is limited, and you can be attacked while rummaging through your inventory. It’s the kind of thing that I think will immediately speak to existing fans of conventional Survival Horror like your Resident Evils, or Silent Hills.
That said, the thing that really drew me into the demo was how the story was starting to unfold. The player character, Katherine, is very obviously morally dubious. In the demo alone, she commits to a handful of actions that…I’m not going to spoil here, but she’s not a good person. As such, I’m very curious to see how the story will unfold as I’m fairly certain this will be a “bad things happen to bad people” narrative, and I’m very into the idea of that right now.
Plus, the pixel art is just gorgeous. I mean…look at it. That’s some frankly insane levels of detail, and the whole thing is still completely readable despite the attention to detail throughout.
The other notable thing about The Road of Dust and Sorrow was how combat worked. Normally, you want to aim for headshots in these kinds of games to conserve ammo. Unfortunately, some enemies will guard their head until they’ve closed the distance specifically so that you can’t score a headshot from afar. As such, there were several instances throughout the demo where I had to let zombies walk me down while I waited for the perfect opportunity to strike, which made combat feel a lot much more tense than it would’ve otherwise.
Full marks across the board, and I’m keen to see how this one shakes out when it launches later this year.
And with that, I’m out of recommendations. As with last time, I wanted to get this article out sooner in the week because Next Fest recommendations strictly perform better when they’re on-time. Heck, if I was good at this then I’d have published my article as soon as the Next Fest started. However, I would’ve missed featuring some of the games that I’ve highlighted above, so that won’t do.
Also, thank you to every single developer who reached out ahead of, or during the current Next Fest. I tried to reply to everyone (sorry if I missed your email). There were…a lot of emails. A frankly overwhelming number if I’m being honest. Regardless, I still appreciate being notified about your games as it made going through the thousands of available demos a little bit easier.
As always, I’d like to close out by asking which demos you folks reading at home have played, and enjoyed. Let me know down in the comments if you’re so inclined because there’s always 1 or 2 games that I end up finding after the fact that really resonates with me in much the same way as the other games that I’ve captured here.
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