HomeNews
Steam Next Fext 2024’s most popular demos include goblin maid sims, horror shooters and a Chinese game about an unmarried no-liferTruly, a festival of nextness
Truly, a festival of nextness
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Valve
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Valve
Steam Next Fest 2024 has formally ended, we’ve spent a couple of weeks gorging upon demos of all stripes,from oil spill clean-up to dancefloor kendo, and now comes the all-important process of deciding which of those demos Won. Valve have helpfully shareda list of the most played Steam demosduring this latest, gravest round of next festivity, and it covers a reasonable range. I mean, I wasn’t that surprised to see anopen worldsurvivalshooterwith monsters at the top of the ladder - why else would we dedicate a bunch of Best Of features to such things? - but Iamsurprised that number three is a leering parody of neglect. Also, there’s a game about mopping dungeons that appeals strongly to my Dungeon Meshi-watching sensibilities.
The big-bottomed craft-me-bang in question isOnce Human, which cuts you loose upon an Earth infested with Stardust. A world’s worth of Stardust sounds quite enticing, right? Touch of Disney with your wolf-skinning, guvnor? Wrong, Stardust is some kind of horrible endemic lifeform. Consuming water or food contaminated with it will drive you insane. I assume the Stardust plague is also the reason for those towering tentacle bosses you’ll meet when not fishing or building a patio.
Number two on the list isLevel Zero: Extraction, which is kind of PvPGTFOfor squads of three. You are a dudemerc with a fondness for loot, pitting your murdergadgetry against other dudemercs in maps of the Area 51 orBlack Mesapersuasion. You can also play as a perfidious, evolving alien creature equipped (should you choose) with an EMP scream and invisibility. The creature’s key weakness is that it can’t bear light, which sounds like a fun constraint to strategise around. GTFO aside, this reminds me of the wonderful, ill-fated Evolve. The demo is still live at the time of writing if you’re keen.
Some other eye-catchers from the full list:Aloft, a floating island sim featuring wingsuits that reminds me of Bossa’s Worlds Adrift;Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, whichI tried the demo for a while back, and which now looks like a credible alternative toBalatro; and the aforementionedGoblin Cleanup, in which you are a goblin maid labouring to restore and replenish a dungeon before the next bunch of cavalier adventurers swan in and wreck the place. You can read about more Nextival demos over onthe Wishlisted hubwe are pleased to share with the fine folk of Eurogamer and VG247.
