Steam Next Fest is officially here, and until October 26th hundreds of demos are free to download. That’s a lot of choice, and it’s easy to lose an evening scrolling through festival pages and still miss the best ones.
We’ve dug through them for the rogue games worth your time. Some are cursed fairy tales, others are demon-infested battlefields, one is a restaurant that serves food made from monsters, and another is a deckbuilder set in a ruined ocean. A few have already built up plenty of buzz, and others could be the festival’s biggest surprises.
So clear some space on your hard drive and get ready to die an unreasonable number of times. These are the rogue demos we’d download first.
1. GrimKeep
The fairy tale has gone horribly wrong. A once-thriving city lies beneath a sky that never clears, its streets crawling with twisted creatures and its inhabitants transformed into monstrous shadows of their former selves. At the heart of the corruption sits a princess, although anyone expecting a heroic rescue is in for a nasty surprise. Your mission is to fight your way through the cursed city, reach her castle, and put an end to the nightmare. All you’ve got to help you are a bag of dice and whatever strange treasures you can collect along the way.
Developed by Resolution Games, GrimKeep is a dark fantasy roguelite dice-builder where success depends on creating powerful combinations rather than relying entirely on lucky rolls. Players collect dice with different properties, equip items that react to particular combinations, and develop strategies capable of unleashing enormous damage. Its branching map offers battles, shops, and unexpected encounters, while careful use of healing, defense, and status effects helps keep your heroes alive.
The Steam Next Fest demo features the game’s opening region and three heroes, including one to unlock through play. It’s a promising introduction to a fairy tale where the princess is the problem, not the prize.
2. Hellforged
The expedition has gone badly wrong, the land is crawling with demons, and the few survivors still standing are preparing to venture back into hostile territory. Somewhere among the ruins lie powerful weapons, valuable equipment, and treasures worth risking your life for. The deeper you travel, the greater the rewards become, but there’s a rather important decision waiting at the end of every dangerous encounter. Do you escape with what you’ve collected, or push your luck a little further and risk losing the lot?
Created by Moonpyre, Hellforged combines bullet heaven combat with extraction mechanics, allowing players to decide how much danger they’re willing to face during each expedition. Different character classes, customizable upgrade pools, equipment modifiers, and an extensive talent tree provide opportunities to develop powerful builds, while rifts and dangerous objectives offer tempting rewards for ambitious survivors.
Its demo has been available for a while, but the developers have released a new Steam Next Fest update introducing Yllarion. That makes this an excellent time for newcomers to jump in and for returning players to discover what’s changed. The demons will be delighted to see you again, naturally.
3. Dawn of Defense
The northern lands are burning. An enormous empire has marched into your homeland, crushing settlements, occupying islands, and threatening to erase the last traces of your people’s ancient gods. With the enemy closing in, your remaining warriors gather around the Spiridun, a sacred connection to their ancestors and the final hope of reclaiming what has been lost. Towers must be raised, soldiers rallied, and every scrap of available land defended against an army that seems determined to wipe your tribe from existence.
Developed by 6side Studio, Dawn of Defense combines real-time strategy, tower defense, and roguelite progression in a battle for survival and reconquest. Players construct defenses, command heroes and warriors, and build an economy capable of supporting an increasingly ambitious military campaign. Defending against enemy waves is only half the challenge, as you’ll also lead sieges to capture islands and strongholds, while ancient runestones unlock new powers between attempts.
The developers have prepared a substantial Steam Next Fest demo update, giving players an opportunity to experience the latest improvements. If you enjoy building an impressive defensive line before sending your own army charging into enemy territory, this deserves a place near the top of your list.
4. Ember and Blade
Deep within a realm scarred by demonic corruption, an ancient evil is stirring. The archdemon Asmodeus has spent centuries imprisoned, but the seal holding him captive is weakening, and an enormous army of monsters is gathering in the darkness. Standing against them is a lone demon hunter who has made a rather unusual bargain with an angel: temporary immortality in exchange for confronting the horrors threatening to break free. Death might not be the end of your journey, but that doesn’t mean the demons are going to make things easy.
Developed by LINE Games, Ember and Blade combines survivors-like combat with elaborate boss encounters and a dark fantasy storyline. Players battle through enormous swarms of enemies, collect celestial blessings, and develop different combinations of powers as they prepare to face increasingly dangerous opponents. Its emphasis on challenging, Souls-inspired bosses adds another layer to the familiar bullet heaven formula, demanding more than simply collecting upgrades and waiting for everything to die.
The hand-drawn visual style gives its supernatural world plenty of atmosphere, while the promise of powerful builds and demanding combat makes this one of the action-focused demos worth investigating first.
5. Outcast Tales
Civilization has collapsed, the wasteland is crawling with raiders and mutants, and your chances of surviving the journey ahead depend on a group of people who might not even like each other. Every member of your traveling party has their own personality, opinions, and ideas about how problems should be solved. One might prefer talking their way out of trouble, another could devise an elaborate plan, while a third is already reaching for their weapon. Keeping everyone alive is difficult enough without having to worry about the arguments breaking out around the campfire.
Created by Hardlane Studio, Outcast Tales is a tactical roguelite RPG where character personalities influence both combat and the decisions you make throughout your adventure. Players assemble a squad of survivors, combine classes with different personality types, and navigate branching events that can develop in unexpected directions. Relationships between characters evolve as they travel together, while turn-based battles reward clever positioning and the use of complementary abilities.
With mutants, robots, and desert raiders waiting to complicate every expedition, there’s plenty of room for your carefully assembled team to get itself into trouble. Its full release is listed for October 26, making Next Fest an opportunity to get acquainted with this dysfunctional little family before launch.
6. Killwright
A ruined medieval world stretches before you, its haunted forests and towering gothic cathedrals filled with warriors who would happily see you dead. The fighting is brutal, the enemies are relentless, and even a moment’s hesitation could leave you lying in a pool of your own blood. Yet there’s a strange advantage hidden within the chaos. Time your defense perfectly, and the world slows around you, giving you a precious opportunity to turn a desperate struggle into an absolutely devastating counterattack.
Developed by Hollow Chapel Studios, Killwright is a first-person melee roguelite built around precision, momentum, and aggressive sword combat. Perfectly timed parries and dodges activate Tempo, temporarily slowing enemies while allowing you to continue fighting at full speed. Different playable Killwrights bring their own weapons and abilities, while perks and equipment discovered during runs allow you to develop increasingly lethal combinations.
You can slash, kick, disarm opponents, throw weapons, and use the environment to your advantage, with branching routes introducing different risks and rewards. For players who enjoy fast, demanding combat where every successful parry feels like a personal victory, this could be one of the festival’s more satisfying discoveries.
7. Food Devils
The world has ended, monsters are roaming the wilderness, and you’ve somehow found yourself running one of the last restaurants still open for business. The ingredients are unusual, the customers are desperate, and the local wildlife has become an essential part of the menu. Fortunately, there are adventurers willing to venture into dangerous territory to collect fresh supplies. You’ll just need to feed them, recruit them, and possibly arrange a few supernatural contracts before sending them out to hunt down tomorrow’s dinner.
Developed by Studio Daimon, Food Devils combines tactical roguelite combat with restaurant management and a generous helping of supernatural mischief. Players recruit human adventurers, assemble parties alongside powerful Food Devils, and explore procedurally generated expeditions to gather ingredients from defeated monsters. Back at the restaurant, those ingredients become dishes that attract new customers and help strengthen your growing operation. Different character classes, randomized adventurer attributes, and Devil Contracts provide opportunities to experiment with party combinations, while relationships with the five Food Devils add another dimension to the adventure.
A new demo was announced for Next Fest ahead of its planned November launch, making this a tasty choice for anyone who enjoys their tactical RPGs with a side of questionable cuisine.
8. Topdeck Automat
Humanity has lost the war. Alien invaders have conquered Earth, destroyed its defenses, and left the planet under their control. Yet among the ruins, an unlikely resistance movement is beginning to take shape. Office assistants, vending machines, printers, and other harmless worker robots have been overlooked by the invaders, giving them the perfect opportunity to fight back. Reprogrammed for combat and armed with whatever technology they can scavenge, these mechanical underdogs are preparing to reclaim their home. The aliens probably weren’t expecting the office printer to lead the rebellion.
Created by Ludokultur, Topdeck Automat is a roguelike deckbuilder and auto-battler where your cards are printed automatically during combat. Players assemble decks from more than 200 cards, customize their effects, and combine them with over 100 passive modules to create elaborate chains of attacks and abilities. As the printer determines the order in which cards appear, building a reliable combat engine requires careful planning and a willingness to experiment with unusual combinations.
The planned full game also features 30 unlockable characters, numerous enemies and bosses, and randomized weather effects that can change how battles unfold. Its free demo is a good opportunity to discover whether your tactical genius is enough to turn a humble office machine into humanity’s greatest weapon.
9. Bless You Again
A labyrinth has appeared in the middle of a forest, nobody knows where it came from, and somewhere in its depths lies the Philosopher’s Stone. Most people would take the hint and keep walking. Lily, a magical girl with a staff and a lot of nerve, walks straight in.
Developed by Gino Inc., Bless You Again is a 3D action roguelite with a cel-shaded anime look. Combat flows between melee combos and magic. Physical strikes build mana, which Lily spends on high-damage spells. She is joined by spirit companions: four elemental characters (Water, Fire, Wind and Earth) round out a roster of five, each with their own playstyle. Along the way you collect Blessings, enhancements that range from simple stat boosts to rarer effects that change how combat works. The synergies between them let you build your own combos. The labyrinth has five dungeons whose layouts change every time you enter, and each run leaves Lily stronger for the next attempt.
The Next Fest demo covers the first dungeon, the Corridor of Guidance, and lets you reach its final floor as either Lily or the additional protagonist Yoru. It’s one of the more colourful picks on this list, and a good one if you like your roguelites fast and stylish.
10. Fathom Reach
The ocean is ruined, the surface is out of reach, and the only way to find anything worth keeping is to dive. The deeper you go, the better the loot gets, and the more it costs you to leave it behind. Every chamber ends with the same question…Do you head home with what you’ve got, or push your luck one more time?
Developed by independent studio Feldsparc, Fathom Reach is a turn-based roguelike deckbuilder built around push-your-luck exploration. You craft and upgrade a deck from 220 cards across four factions, with build themes such as armour, corrosion, drones and marked targets. Dive modules change how your cards work together. You can descend in Open Descent, take on Endless Descent, or try the shared Daily Signal. Back at base, you set up gun-coral, traps and a Pressure-Heart to defend it while you’re away. You can also raid other players’ bases with your own deck (these asynchronous raids need an internet connection).
An enhanced demo is available during Next Fest, a few weeks before the full game launches on Steam on 3 November. If you like deckbuilders that make you sweat over every decision, this should be near the top of your download list.
Your Next Obsession Is Only a Download Away
Ten games, ten very different adventures, and plenty of festival still to go. Whether you’re drawn to the cursed fairy tales of GrimKeep, the wasteland expeditions of Outcast Tales, the anime-styled dungeon runs of Bless You Again or the deep-sea gambles of Fathom Reach, there’s something here to fill your download queue.
That’s the beauty of Next Fest. You can start the day commanding an army against an invading empire, spend the afternoon hunting monsters for restaurant ingredients, and finish the evening diving into a ruined ocean with nothing but a deck of cards. Steam Next Fest runs until October 26, so there’s still time to try something unfamiliar and wishlist the games you’d love to see succeed.
Which rogue demo are you downloading first? Have you found something brilliant that deserves a place on our list? Let us know in the comments.