Two roguelike standouts just doubled down on their Steam Next Fest presence, and they’re giving players substantially more to sink their teeth into this time around.
First up we have Montabi, the creature-collector roguelike deckbuilder from Mankibo, now lets you explore two distinct areas instead of one in its updated demo. We covered the launch of this cool new deckbuilder just over a week ago, you can check that out here if you missed it.
The team has layered in quality-of-life improvements including card stickers for customization, tweaked progression systems, fresh events, and the ability to rest and recover at cafes.
Beyond the demo, Mankibo dropped a new bot in the official Discord that lets you capture, train, and battle Montabi against friends, turning the community hub itself into a playable extension of the game.
Echo Weaver, the time-loop metroidvania where time functions as currency and resource, has also reworked multiple levels, beefed up its narrative lore, and overhauled its art direction for the festival. The headline addition is a new time trial feature, and the studio is leveraging that with a speedrun competition that started this week and runs through June 22 at 9am PST.
Winners of the fastest times on each “plinth” will snag Steam keys, with additional keys raffled among participants. Ninja Gaiden world record holder Retro Runner is also streaming the demo on Twitch at 11am PST on Monday, lending credibility and momentum to the event.
For roguelike fans wavering on either title, the expanded demos represent a genuine opportunity to test deeper systems and see whether these design philosophies click. Neither studio is just reheating old content.