<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2025/06/10/5f4880e9/Steam%20Next%20Fest%20header.jpg" width="800" height="450" alt="Best Demos Steam Next Fest June 2025 PC Gaming Game Informer List Round Up" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-body-default" /></p> <p>Though we’re all still recovering from the recent onslaught of summer showcases and all the announcements that came with them, it’s time for another Steam Next Fest. Like every fest before it, there are hundreds (probably thousands) of great games to check out free demos for, most of them indies, too. We’re doing our best to wade through these demos and check out games we’re excited for, ones to watch, and ones we had never heard of before playing during Steam Next Fest.</p><p>Below, we have a selection of the best Steam Next Fest demos we’ve played so far, and as the week rolls on, we’ll continue to update it with new games we want to surface to our readers. The current Steam Next Fest started yesterday, Monday, June 9, and will run through Monday, June 16, so keep this page bookmarked as we’ll be updating it daily with demos you need to check out. <br> </p> Cast n Chill Developer: Wombat Brawler Developer Wombat Brawler’s idle fishing game, Cast n Chill, has been on my radar since last month’s excellent Six One Indie Showcase. It’s a gorgeous pixel-art fishing game that’s less about objectives (though there are some) and more about enjoying the great outdoors, the serenity of water, great company in the form of man’s best friend, and the sport of fishing. It’s a simple game – move your boat to where you want to fish, cast your line, and reel in a fish when you land one. Fishing itself is basic, but it mixes well with the relaxed nature of Cast n Chill. Finding a spot to fish is about the types of fish you’re after (and adding them to your fishing log), but more than that, it’s about finding a beautiful place to drop a lure and chill. There are plenty of different species of fish, lures, rods, and boats, each with some fun backwoods country descriptions, and coins to collect to buy additional fishing licenses. Those licenses allow you to boat further throughout the game’s beautiful landscape, unlocking more fish to catch. Cast n Chill is, as the name implies, chill, and Wombat Brawler knows this. There’s even an Idle Mode, which lets you keep it open and running beautifully in the background. – Wesley LeBlancCheck out the demo and wishlist here. Morsels Developer: Furcula This top-down, twin-stick roguelike is a delightfully weird fusion of The Binding of Issac, Spelunky, and Pokémon. You play as a little mouse who can turn into Morsels, odd little creatures like a grub, pile of dung, or sunflower with abilities to help you fight back against oppressive cats. Play as a Morsel enough and it'll evolve, but if you level one up too much, it dies. Morsels also don't share health, so there are simultaneously different sets of abilities and numbers of lives. You can have up to three Morsels in your roster at once, so it's an interesting balancing act to swap between them to get a strategic team. After making it to the end and defeating the first boss, I can't wait to play the full game and collect as many weird guys as I can get my hands on. – Charles HarteCheck out the demo and wishlist here. Metal Eden Developer: Reikon Games Reikon Games describes Metal Eden as an “adrenaline-rush sci-fi FPS,” and that’s right on the money. It reminds me of Ghostrunner, but there’s no katana here – just guns. As you advance to the objective, you dodge, jetpack, punch, and shoot through enemies in slick cyberpunk industrialist hallways. There’s wall-running, ziplines, and all the other movement tech you expect in a fast-paced FPS. While enemies are dispersed throughout each level, combat primarily happens in wave-based arenas, where you must utilize your surroundings, enemy cores you can explode, and skill cooldown management to survive. Metal Eden is tough – I played on Normal, the easiest option, and died several times in the demo’s hour of content – but definitely a game to keep an eye on if you’re into stylish futuristic shooters. – Wesley LeBlancCheck out the demo and wishlist here. Davy x Jones Developer: Parasight I was shocked that I hadn’t yet heard of Davey X Jones as the games industry’s self-proclaimed number-one pirate aficionado. After roughly 40 minutes with the Davy x Jones demo available during Steam Next Fest, I’m excited to see what the final product looks like, though cautious as well. In Davy x Jones, you play as a beheaded Davy Jones, betrayed by pirate lords across the seven seas and their leader, Edward Teach aka Blackbeard. It’s Teach who is responsible for you not having a head, but fortunately, your lifeless body discovers this head once more and together, this unlikely duo heads off on a quest for revenge. I like that Davy’s soulless body grunts his name repeatedly, while Davy's floating skull handles all the talking. But the two also amusingly interact with each other, with some nice voice acting too. Everything going on in this world, from the visuals to the storytelling and more, is great and I’m legitimately excited for more. However, I hope the team can use feedback from this demo and the time between now and its unannounced release date for polish. Of course, this is a demo of an in-development game so it naturally could use work, but so far, the first-person gun-and-swordplay feels a little floaty, lacking the weight I’d expect from the scourge of the seas. It’s not optimized well either, but again, it’s a demo, so I won’t hold developer Parasight’s feet to the fire, err, raging seas over this. Nonetheless, Davy x Jones has lots of promise and I look forward to the final release. – Wesley LeBlancCheck out the demo and wishlist here. Into The Grid Developer: Flatline Studios Into The Grid is a run-based deckbuilder set within the virtual grid of a cyberpunk society. After a wedge is driven between a former-netrunner-turned-mother and her daughter, the daughter is driven towards working for a dangerous company. She needs a rescue, so in steps mother. After shaking off the virtual rust in a short tutorial, I played through the game’s first run. In the virtual grid, you interact with various nodes to gain currency, extract new and rare cards, or gain items that can automatically open up new rooms, take down security nodes, and more. As you interact with this virtual grid, though, the security takes notice and sends various sentinel enemies to attack. From here, the isometric view disappears and you’re brought to a first-person combat arena with an enemy before you. To attack, you select cards that are drawn each turn. You can go on the offense to take down enemy integrity (health), use defensive cards to increase your barrier (shield), or utilize special cards that increase your VIM, which determines when you can use Commands. Commands allow you to draw additional cards, add more Clock, which determines how many cards you can use each turn, and more. It was fun synergizing my moves around what Commands I wanted to build toward. The most unique aspect of Into The Grid is that each turn, your hand is wiped and you draw a new set of cards, meaning you must build new strategies every turn. It’s a fun, if stressful, change to the traditional deckbuilder formula and one I so far enjoy. – Wesley LeBlancCheck out the demo and wishlist here.
<p><img loading=”lazy” src=”https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/body_default/public/2025/06/10/5f4880e9/Steam%20Next%20Fest%20header.jpg” width=”800″ height=”450″ alt=”Best Demos Steam Next Fest June 2025 PC Gaming Game Informer List Round Up” typeof=”foaf:Image” class=”image-style-body-default” /></p>
<p>Though we’re all still recovering from the recent onslaught of summer showcases and all the announcements that came with them, it’s time for another Steam Next Fest. Like every fest before it, there are hundreds (probably thousands) of great games to check out free demos for, most of them indies, too. We’re doing our best to wade through these demos and check out games we’re excited for, ones to watch, and ones we had never heard of before playing during Steam Next Fest.</p><p>Below, we have a selection of the best Steam Next Fest demos we’ve played so far, and as the week rolls on, we’ll continue to update it with new games we want to surface to our readers. The current Steam Next Fest started yesterday, Monday, June 9, and will run through Monday, June 16, so keep this page bookmarked as we’ll be updating it daily with demos you need to check out. <br> </p>
Cast n Chill
Developer Wombat Brawler’s idle fishing game, Cast n Chill, has been on my radar since last month’s excellent Six One Indie Showcase. It’s a gorgeous pixel-art fishing game that’s less about objectives (though there are some) and more about enjoying the great outdoors, the serenity of water, great company in the form of man’s best friend, and the sport of fishing. It’s a simple game – move your boat to where you want to fish, cast your line, and reel in a fish when you land one. Fishing itself is basic, but it mixes well with the relaxed nature of Cast n Chill.
Finding a spot to fish is about the types of fish you’re after (and adding them to your fishing log), but more than that, it’s about finding a beautiful place to drop a lure and chill. There are plenty of different species of fish, lures, rods, and boats, each with some fun backwoods country descriptions, and coins to collect to buy additional fishing licenses. Those licenses allow you to boat further throughout the game’s beautiful landscape, unlocking more fish to catch. Cast n Chill is, as the name implies, chill, and Wombat Brawler knows this. There’s even an Idle Mode, which lets you keep it open and running beautifully in the background. – Wesley LeBlanc
Check out the demo and wishlist here.
Morsels
This top-down, twin-stick roguelike is a delightfully weird fusion of The Binding of Issac, Spelunky, and Pokémon. You play as a little mouse who can turn into Morsels, odd little creatures like a grub, pile of dung, or sunflower with abilities to help you fight back against oppressive cats. Play as a Morsel enough and it’ll evolve, but if you level one up too much, it dies. Morsels also don’t share health, so there are simultaneously different sets of abilities and numbers of lives. You can have up to three Morsels in your roster at once, so it’s an interesting balancing act to swap between them to get a strategic team. After making it to the end and defeating the first boss, I can’t wait to play the full game and collect as many weird guys as I can get my hands on. – Charles Harte
Check out the demo and wishlist here.
Metal Eden
Reikon Games describes Metal Eden as an “adrenaline-rush sci-fi FPS,” and that’s right on the money. It reminds me of Ghostrunner, but there’s no katana here – just guns. As you advance to the objective, you dodge, jetpack, punch, and shoot through enemies in slick cyberpunk industrialist hallways. There’s wall-running, ziplines, and all the other movement tech you expect in a fast-paced FPS. While enemies are dispersed throughout each level, combat primarily happens in wave-based arenas, where you must utilize your surroundings, enemy cores you can explode, and skill cooldown management to survive. Metal Eden is tough – I played on Normal, the easiest option, and died several times in the demo’s hour of content – but definitely a game to keep an eye on if you’re into stylish futuristic shooters. – Wesley LeBlanc
Check out the demo and wishlist here.
Davy x Jones
I was shocked that I hadn’t yet heard of Davey X Jones as the games industry’s self-proclaimed number-one pirate aficionado. After roughly 40 minutes with the Davy x Jones demo available during Steam Next Fest, I’m excited to see what the final product looks like, though cautious as well. In Davy x Jones, you play as a beheaded Davy Jones, betrayed by pirate lords across the seven seas and their leader, Edward Teach aka Blackbeard. It’s Teach who is responsible for you not having a head, but fortunately, your lifeless body discovers this head once more and together, this unlikely duo heads off on a quest for revenge.
I like that Davy’s soulless body grunts his name repeatedly, while Davy’s floating skull handles all the talking. But the two also amusingly interact with each other, with some nice voice acting too. Everything going on in this world, from the visuals to the storytelling and more, is great and I’m legitimately excited for more. However, I hope the team can use feedback from this demo and the time between now and its unannounced release date for polish. Of course, this is a demo of an in-development game so it naturally could use work, but so far, the first-person gun-and-swordplay feels a little floaty, lacking the weight I’d expect from the scourge of the seas. It’s not optimized well either, but again, it’s a demo, so I won’t hold developer Parasight’s feet to the fire, err, raging seas over this. Nonetheless, Davy x Jones has lots of promise and I look forward to the final release. – Wesley LeBlanc
Check out the demo and wishlist here.
Into The Grid
Into The Grid is a run-based deckbuilder set within the virtual grid of a cyberpunk society. After a wedge is driven between a former-netrunner-turned-mother and her daughter, the daughter is driven towards working for a dangerous company. She needs a rescue, so in steps mother. After shaking off the virtual rust in a short tutorial, I played through the game’s first run. In the virtual grid, you interact with various nodes to gain currency, extract new and rare cards, or gain items that can automatically open up new rooms, take down security nodes, and more. As you interact with this virtual grid, though, the security takes notice and sends various sentinel enemies to attack.
From here, the isometric view disappears and you’re brought to a first-person combat arena with an enemy before you. To attack, you select cards that are drawn each turn. You can go on the offense to take down enemy integrity (health), use defensive cards to increase your barrier (shield), or utilize special cards that increase your VIM, which determines when you can use Commands. Commands allow you to draw additional cards, add more Clock, which determines how many cards you can use each turn, and more. It was fun synergizing my moves around what Commands I wanted to build toward. The most unique aspect of Into The Grid is that each turn, your hand is wiped and you draw a new set of cards, meaning you must build new strategies every turn. It’s a fun, if stressful, change to the traditional deckbuilder formula and one I so far enjoy. – Wesley LeBlanc
Check out the demo and wishlist here.
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