Steam’s seasonal sales might grab the headlines, but they’re far from the only events worth paying attention to. Throughout the year, the platform also runs a series of smaller themed festivals, each built around a specific genre or concept and packed with discounts, demos, and developer livestreams.
The latest is Steam Train Fest, which runs until July 27th. While there’s a huge focus on simulation games, us rogue fans can also find plenty to explore. From discounted games you can add to your library today, to free demos showcasing some of the most promising train-themed rogues still making their way toward release, here’s what Train Fest has to offer…
Rogue Games You Can Pick Up for Less
Steam Train Fest isn’t short on discounts, and that includes plenty of rogue games. Whether you’re in the mood for strategic deckbuilding, co-op survival, or fast-paced action, there’s something here that’s well worth adding to your library. These are some of the standout rogue games you can currently pick up for less.
Battle Train
Forget quietly shunting freight from one station to another. Battle Train turns railways into an explosive game show where victory comes from laying tracks faster, building the perfect deck, and blasting rival Champions off the rails before they can do the same to you. Every run sends you down branching paths filled with bosses, special events, and new rewards, while swappable train parts and evolving card choices encourage you to experiment with different strategies. It’s a clever combination of deckbuilding, tactical combat, and roguelite progression that feels unlike much else in the genre.
Fogpiercer
Humanity’s future depends on a single train pushing through a deadly fog, but brute force alone won’t get you there. Fogpiercer combines deckbuilding with tactical, turn-based battles where positioning is just as important as the cards in your hand. Enemy vehicles can be pushed into cliffs, crushed beneath your locomotive, or caught in devastating chain reactions, rewarding careful planning over reckless aggression. Between battles, you’ll expand and upgrade your train, unlock new cards through different locomotives and carriages, and chart your own route through a dangerous, branching world.
Choo Choo Survivor
Choo Choo Survivor takes the familiar bullet heaven formula and puts it on the rails, tasking you with driving a train through a zombie-infested wasteland while mowing down endless hordes blocking your escape. Rather than simply choosing upgrades, you’ll also decide how your weapons are arranged across your locomotive, opening up different ways to tackle each run. Unlockable trains, relics, powerful abilities, and an extensive meta progression system ensure there’s always another combination to chase as the zombie threat continues to grow.
Bearicade
One of the coziest games in this year’s Train Fest, Bearicade shrinks the battlefield to a child’s bedroom where a toy train forms the last line of defense around a beloved teddy bear. Instead of placing towers across the map, every weapon rides aboard your train, circling the track while blasting waves of plastic soldiers. Between battles you’ll draft new towers, open toy chests, evolve your defenses, and build powerful synergies, creating a tower defense roguelite that’s every bit as imaginative as its premise.
Rhyolite
If you’d rather tackle Train Fest with friends, Rhyolite offers a very different kind of railway adventure. Supporting up to four-player online co-op, it drops your crew aboard a haunted steampunk train where broken machinery, unpredictable ghost attacks, and constant emergencies demand quick thinking and teamwork. Every run changes thanks to different enemy abilities, curses, and train upgrades, while your ultimate goal remains the same: survive long enough to gather the data needed to capture the ghost train before it overwhelms you.
Upcoming Rogue Games You Can Try for Free
Steam Train Fest isn’t just a chance to save money. It’s also an opportunity to get hands-on with some exciting rogue games before they launch. Alongside playable demos for Fogpiercer and Choo Choo Survivor, several upcoming train-themed rogues are also inviting players aboard, making it easy to sample what’s coming next before deciding which games deserve a place on your wishlist.
Dwarven Rails
If the idea of commanding a heavily armed dwarven train through bug-infested tunnels sounds appealing, Dwarven Rails is well worth downloading the demo for. You’re tasked with protecting the egg of a forge dragon, upgrading your train with new turrets and modifications while blasting through swarms of underground enemies. As the journey continues, your dragon grows stronger, encouraging you to push deeper into the tunnels and experiment with different train layouts to maximize your firepower.
Endless Rails
Endless Rails swaps traditional weapons for a fleet of automated drones, challenging you to escort your train across a monster-filled wasteland one station at a time. Between each stretch of track, you’ll expand your locomotive with new cars, weapons, drone slots, and upgrades, even merging train cars together to unlock additional module slots. With short, action-packed journeys and a permanent upgrade tree carrying progress between runs, its demo offers a great introduction to this fast-paced bullet heaven roguelite.
Railpunk Mayhem
If you’re looking for something a little faster, Railpunk Mayhem combines high-speed roguelike action with train management as you race toward the source of a mysterious chaos. Along the way, you’ll recruit mercenaries with unique abilities, expand your locomotive with specialized wagons, and uncover powerful artifacts that shape every run. Choosing which cities to visit also plays an important role, adding another element of strategy as you build both your train and the crew keeping it on the rails.
Dark Rail
For a much darker take on the theme, Dark Rail combines turn-based management with roguelike progression as you command an Inquisition outpost on the empire’s frontier. Your train is responsible for transporting prisoners, but keeping those shipments moving means hunting heretics, slaying magical beasts, and making increasingly difficult decisions as resources, revolt, and madness spiral out of control. Between expeditions, you’ll develop your inquisitors, unlock permanent upgrades, and decide how far you’re willing to go to keep your city from collapsing.
Ironfront Express
Ironfront Express puts you in command of one of the most heavily armed locomotives you’ll see during Train Fest. Combining bullet hell action with lane defense and roguelite progression, every run revolves around expanding your train one carriage at a time using turrets, drones, weapons, and passive modules. As you fight through waves of corrupted mining machines, you’ll unlock new train cores, experiment with different loadouts, and gradually push deeper toward the rogue AI responsible for the colony’s collapse.
Silky Road
If you’d rather let your train do the fighting, Silky Road takes a more hands-off approach. Combat plays out automatically while you focus on assembling the perfect locomotive, positioning unique carts, managing your resources, and uncovering powerful layout combinations. Every station brings another wave of enemies to overcome, encouraging you to refine your rolling fortress with rare relics and new upgrades as you journey deeper along the mysterious Silk Road.
Final Stop
Steam Train Fest is an unexpectedly good destination for rogue fans this year. Whether you’re looking to expand your collection with discounted games or get an early look at what’s coming next through free demos, there’s plenty here that’s worth exploring before the event pulls out of the station on July 27th.