(Credit: Zain bin Awais; images via Steam)
During the week-long Steam Next Fest, Valve highlights hundreds of cool games coming soon to its huge PC gaming marketplace by offering playable demos. You can browse by genre and features, and add titles to your wishlist for when they eventually debut on Steam. The festival even broadcasts developers sharing details about their work.
Steam Next Fest 2024 runs until October 21. Playing all the demos during that week is impossible. However, here are 11 featured future games that caught our attention. As unfinished titles, they may or may not currently work on Valve's Linux-based Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED handhelds, but that functionality could arrive later. Besides, they're all free, so there's no harm in downloading them.
1. Ballionaire
Ballionaire combines Pachinko's random thrills with a roguelike game's random runs. You won’t win real money, but you'll hit the jackpot playing this fun, physics-driven casual title.
2. Big Boy Boxing
If Nintendo won't make a new Punch-Out!!, indie developers will happily step in to pick up the slack. Big Boy Boxing challenges you to rumble through a boxer gauntlet by studying the pugilists' patterns and making timely strikes.
3. Building Relationships
Romance needs a solid foundation. Building Relationships is an upcoming dating game that explores how creative the genre can be when you don’t rely on mere humans. In it, you play as a house and seduce other buildings while exploring an island.
4. Completely Stretchy
In Completely Stretchy, your character's stretchy, sticky arms and fingers make this unconventional platforming adventure a tactile experience. It's difficult to explain in words, so watch the video above to understand the gameplay.
5. Erenshor
You don’t need a massive player count to enjoy an MMO. Erenshor simulates the classic MMORPG experience for time-conscious solo players via CPU-controlled fellow adventurers.
6. Loco Motive
A dead body appears on a train, and you must find the killer. Loco Motive is a throwback adventure game featuring rich characters, lovely sprite art, and plenty of comedy.
7. Metal Slug Tactics
Metal Slug Tactics is shaping up to be a beautiful blend of classic, arcade-style shooting and modern, tactical gameplay with roguelike elements. Check out our detailed preview of the game's first area before fighting the good fight.
8. Orbo’s Exodus
Orbo’s Exodus is the latest entry in Feverdream Softworks’ series of “surreal 3D platformers.” In it, you must master Orbo’s strange abilities to rocket yourself across levels with speed and finesse.
9. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a retro, Zelda-style adventure game. You play as Pippit and use a yoyo to fight baddies and solve puzzles. Read our hands-on preview for more on this cool string-slinger.
10. Rage of the Dragons Neo
Who needs the Double Dragon license? Billy and Jimmy return in Rage of the Dragons Neo, a cult-classic fighting game. This updated version features eight-player lobbies and rollback netcode for smooth online play.
11. Virballs
Pitched as “Kirby meets Ratchet and Clank,” Virballs is a 3D action-platformer that tasks you with mixing and matching the titular elemental creatures to defeat enemies.
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