Highlights
- Steam Next Fest allows both big and small developers to showcase their upcoming games and offers fans the opportunity to test them out for free.
- The demos and games featured in this article are expected to be released in 2024, but it's uncertain whether they will launch on consoles as well.
- Each game mentioned has its own unique gameplay and art style, offering a range of experiences for players to look forward to.
Steam has always been good about promoting indie games on the platform. One could argue that the platform is too big, as there are seemingly hundreds of games being uploaded every second. It can be a bit hard to sift through, but that’s why events like Steam Next Fest are cool.
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It allows both big and small developers to share their upcoming games. It also enables fans to test out games for free, just like game journalists and streamers get to do daily. Of the hundreds uploaded to Steam Next Fest this year, these are the demos and games to look forward to in 2024. They are all, obviously, coming to Steam, but whether they will launch on consoles too has yet to be determined.
10 Aeruta
Baking Foxes With Whips
- Developer: FromDawn
- Publisher: GRAVITY GAME ARISE
- Estimated Release Date: “Coming Soon”
Aeruta is a roguelike starring a kitsune, a fox girl, named Chaya. Players will venture into biomes that unlock through the story, gathering materials to upgrade Chaya and the town permanently.
Besides the whipping of enemies in dungeons, there is a shopkeeper aspect to the game as well. In the demo, players can bake goods and sell them for profit in a mini-game. The dynamic is very reminiscent of Moonlighter, another roguelike with a shopkeeper angle.
9 #Blud
School-Based Zelda
- Developer: Exit 73 Studios
- Publisher: Humble Games
- Estimated Release Date: 2024
#Blud is a Zelda-style top-down action game. This one stars Becky and a bunch of school kids who get roped into a plot involving vampires and other monsters attacking their school, although everyone seems pretty cool with all of these shenanigans.
The animation style looks a lot like a cartoon that would have aired on Cartoon Network in the mid-2000s, and it's a big reason why this game is now on the radar besides the solid gameplay loop.
8 Crow Country
Resident Evil Meets Final Fantasy 7
- Developer/Publisher: SFB Games
- Estimated Release Date: 2024
Crow Country is a throwback to PS1-based Resident Evil games as this is also a retro horror game. The early polygonal style is reminiscent of Final Fantasy 7 as well, with Cloud’s Popeye-looking arms being the only thing missing.
Players turn up in an old amusement park that looks wildly creepy and unkempt. The heroine, Mara, soon discovers it is filled with zombies, monsters, puzzles, and everything one would want in a retro throwback horror game with this art style.
7 Crypt Custodian
A Cat-Based Zelda
- Developer/Publisher: Kyle Thompson
- Estimated Release Date: 2024
Crypt Custodian finds a cat in the afterlife, now in an anthropomorphic form. Upon finding a broom, Pluto (the cat) goes to town knocking over vases, defeating dusty enemies, and exploring a top-down world.
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These enemies drop dirt that can be converted into upgrades or items. The demo is quite extensive, allowing players to test out several key features and explore to their heart’s content in a relatively bug-free build.
6 Death Of A Wish
Minimalistic Anime Action
- Developer: melessthanthree
- Publisher: Syndicate Atomic LLC.
- Estimated Release Date: March 11, 2024
Death of a Wish has one of the most unique art styles of the bunch. It looks like everything was quickly scribbled onto the page. It’s kind of like when anime characters explode and the artists draw a lot of scribbles to emphasize chaos. Dragon Ball Z is one anime that comes to mind.
Besides hectic action, this demo showcases that there will be an emphasis on inner drama. From the writing to the art, it looks like a wild ride.
5 Diceomancer
Fighting Geese With Cards
- Developer: Ultra Piggy Studio
- Publisher: Gamera Games
- Estimated Release Date: TBA
Diceomancer is a roguelike, but one fought with cards. Players will set up their elements before venturing out on a branching map filled with fights, gathering spots, merchants, and so much more. The game's unique dice roll mechanic makes it really stand out, where players can take a dice roll and apply it to any number in the game. The enemy's health, their own damage, anything.
Battles are turn-based with players manually having to flick their deck at enemies, featuring creatures from wild-looking wolves to plain old birds. It’s hard to play with a controller or even on the Steam Deck because it is all mouse-based, but maybe the final build of the game will be more flexible.
4 Mullet Madjack
Doom Plus 80s OVAs
- Developer: HAMMER95
- Publisher: Epopeia Games
- Estimated Release Date: “Coming Soon”
Mullet Madjack is a first-person shooter at its core, along with a roguelike. Players only have a set amount of time before they will die, which counts down on an accompanying phone clock.
Players will have to kill to stay alive or rack up bonuses in the environment. It’s kind of like the movie Crank with Jason Statham if it were an anime OVA made in the 80s, which is incredibly high praise.
3 Never Grave
The Sorting Hat’s Adventure
- Developer: Frontside 180
- Publisher: Pocketpair
- Estimated Release Date: Q1 2024
Never Grave begins with a witch’s hat falling down a deep well. This hat is the hero, able to possess a young girl seemingly dead in this dungeon. Players can detach themselves from this girl whenever they want to venture into crevices and then magically spawn that girl wherever they end up.
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It looks like a Metroidvania initially, but it is actually a roguelike. It will be interesting to see if the final game will include other characters that this, hat can possess, like an evil Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey.
2 Pepper Grinder
Drill Dozer Reborn As Sonic
- Developer: Ahr Ech
- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Estimated Release Date: 2024
Pepper Grinder has had a lot of players excited ever since the game was showcased during a Nintendo Direct. It feels like an homage to Drill Dozer, which was a Game Boy Advance platformer starring a girl in a mech that could drill.
There’s no mech in Pepper Grinder, but there is plenty of drilling via a hand crank. It can be quite fast, almost as if the developers were inspired by the Sonic series as well.
1 Terra Memoria
An Homage To Classic Turn-Based RPGs
- Developer: La Moutarde
- Publisher: Dear Villagers
- Estimated Release Date: “Coming Soon”
Terra Memoria looks like a missing RPG from the PS1 era. It uses sprites very well, and the backgrounds are well-defined too. It’s a turn-based game revolving mostly around magic, in the demo at least, with turn order playing a big role.
Players can see where a certain spell will place them in the timeline, and can plan their turns accordingly. Elements also play a big role, as players can break through defenses with certain attacks. Terra Memoria looks like it could be the next Chained Echoes or Sea of Stars.
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