Steam Next launched: These are the 8 games you should definitely try starting today

Hundreds of free demos from exciting players are available at the regular Steam Next fest. But these 8 are particularly worth checking out

Day after day, numerous games are released on Steam that we can”t and don”t want to try out all of them. However, the Steam Next Fest always offers a good opportunity to play promising titles for free and without obligation, and then to expand the wish list with the best candidates.

Since the selection is still quite large here, too, we have picked out some of the demos that will most likely be worth downloading for you. We”d like to recommend a total of eight games to you, so let”s get started right away!

Boundary

Boundary clearly stands out from its genre colleagues with its unique scenario: You fight in complete weightlessness between satellites and space stations in near-Earth space. In ponderous-looking spacesuits, we compete in classic 5-against-5 battles and float through maps in which there is no up and down.

We have already tried the game and were delighted by the pretty graphics, the great space atmosphere and the many tactical options. Boundary seems to have a lot of potential!

Dark and Darker

Extraction-Shooter was yesterday, now there”s Extraction-RPG: You feel at home in dark dungeons and cold caves, and can hardly wait for the next fight? Then you might feel at home in the dark fantasy world of Dark and Darker . In this dungeon crawler, you choose a classic role, such as barbarian, bard, wizard or ranger, and form a treasure hunting party of three fighters.
You will then fight your way through an underground fortress and penetrate deeper and deeper into the dangerous vaults. Once you have collected enough valuable loot, you must escape alive again, whereby other players can also ambush you. If you die, your treasures are lost. Dark and Darker thus transforms the principle of Tarkov or Hunt into a dungeon crawler!

Darkest Dungeon 2

Darkest Dungeon 2 has been available in Early Access since October 2021, but PC players have only been able to purchase it via the Epic Games Store until now. For the Steam Next Fest, however, you can now also try out a demo of the dark and heavy dungeon crawler via Steam.

 For the Steam Next Fest, you can now try out a demo of the dark and heavy dungeon crawler via Steam.

As in the first part, you lead a group of four fighters through a dark world, fight turn-based battles and endure setbacks – because it is once again a roguelike that takes away your progress if you lose. However, the developers also dare to do a lot of new things, so the relationships between your heroes are more important, and you travel through the hopeless world in a carriage.

Fabledom

A really hustling Settlers alternative could appear in Early Access in a few months with Fabledom and can be tried out now. The building game is not very complex and wants to let you build settlements in a more relaxed way, but the inspiration is still clearly visible.

Fabledom takes you into a fairytale world full of winged pigs, golems and other mythical creatures, and lets you build and beautify a city from scratch, as you are used to doing in building games. You grow food and other goods for your inhabitants, mine resources, and slowly expand your empire. On the procedurally generated maps you will also find NPC peoples with whom you can make friends or wage war.

Meet your Maker

Meet Your Maker is a multiplayer shooter where you will never meet a human opponent. That sounds absurd? In fact, the unusual game is not about competing directly with each other in combat, but about building particularly nasty fortresses that are peppered with deadly traps and guards. Other players are then allowed to loot them if they make it through your deadly labyrinth.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

After delivering an impressive open world last time, the developers want to go back to the beginnings of their series of detective adventures with an elaborate remake Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened . While the master detective usually takes on human evildoers, The Awakened takes a decidedly more sinister approach: Here you must confront a cult of Lovecraft”s deity Cthulhu, who wants to awaken the terrible being and unleash an apocalypse.

It”s too early to tell how well the remake has done in the Unreal Engine, but since Frogware”s Sherlock series already has some excellent games to its credit, the demo is certainly worth a look.

Sons of Valhalla

Another Viking game? But if you already want to wave goodbye in boredom, you should at least read a few more lines. Because despite its less exciting name, Sons of Valhalla already shows a lot of potential to be a good strategy game that tells the story of the warrior Thorald Olavson. He wants to take revenge on a cruel Jarl who burned down his home and kidnapped his lover.

 Despite its less exciting name, the game already shows a lot of potential.

On your quest for revenge, you must build and expand a fortress, gather (or rob) resources and conquer enemy bases. In real-time battles, different troop types, commands and formations provide many tactical options, and despite 2D pixel graphics, the game looks really nice.

System Shock

System Shock made history almost 30 years ago and will soon return with a lavish remake that aims to bring the title up to date but retains the atmosphere of the original. You explore the Citadel space station from the first-person perspective and fight against the evil AI Shodan and her helpers. You use ranged and melee weapons, give your body upgrades and hack the computer systems.

After some back and forth over the graphics style, the remake is now being developed in the Unity engine as originally planned and is scheduled for release as early as March 2023. If you want to understand the fans” fascination, or are one of them yourself, now is your chance to get a non-binding first impression!

Will you try one or even some of the demos? Do you have any tips on which games are definitely worth a look? Feel free to post them in the comments!