My favorite Steam Next Fest February 2026 demos – Part 1

Maybe I went a little overboard this Next Fest. The event’s dates coincided perfectly with my move to the new house, and since I haven’t felt like picking up (longer) games as I settle down, thanks to these demos I still managed to get my gaming fix.

If you’re reading this and wondering what’s Steam Next Fest: it is a week-long event that happens 3 times per year, where participating unreleased games publish a free demo for players to try out. It is a way for developers to advertise their upcoming titles, get feedback and increase their number of wishlists. After that week, developers can choose to either keep or remove their demos from the Steam storefront.

In order to be able to write my thoughts on the demos I liked the most without making the post too long, I decided to split this roundup in two parts – the second one is coming next week. If any of these games is interesting to you, make sure to check out its page and wishlist – it helps the developers a lot! Without further ado, let’s dive in.

1. inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories

I played the inKONBINI demo in November, not during Next Fest, but I wanted to include it in this post since it’s a release I’m really looking forward to this year.

I’m a fan of games that combine management/simulation mechanics with an overarching story and I felt that inKONBINI hit the perfect spot there, if the demo was a good indicative of the full game experience. I enjoyed stocking the shelves – it was quite easy to do so – and the chill night shift vibes working at the convenience store. It’s this different pace that sets the game apart from other shop management sims that typically focus on efficiency and managing the customer rush.

Plus, this was that kind of demo with perfect length. It let me get a taste for the gameplay and story while leaving me wanting more.

2. The Eternal Life of Goldman

The Eternal Life of Goldman is not the type of game I would gravitate towards when picking out my demos, so I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to try it.

You start out this platformer/metroidvania game quite literally parachuting into an archipelago with chaos ensuing all around, without much explanation. Not that it was needed anyway, since the scenario makes you curious to start exploring and figuring things out. You are simply “armed” with a cane, that you can use to hold on into certain objects and bounce off from creatures.

The art of this game is absolutely stunning, with beautifully crafted 2D animations and scenarios layered to create depth. The level of challenge was perfect for me – as someone that prefers the exploration and puzzles aspects in this sort of game rather than precision platforming or high stakes.

3. Wax Heads

One more demo that made me press that wishlist button right away, Wax Heads is a point-and-click game where you recommend records to customers (with different gameplay elements here and there). I loved the hand-drawn 2D art, it reminded me a lot of Scott Pilgrim and I dare say it’s a direct reference to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s art.

Now I’ll be honest with you. I don’t always play demos until I hit the wall, even when I’m enjoying my time with the game. Sometimes I play it until I feel I’ve seen enough, and sometimes I end up quitting early if I decide I’ll be getting the game and don’t want to get too spoiled. And with Wax Heads, I experienced the latter. I recommended a few records, chatted with my shop co-workers, rearranged a bulletin board. After playing for about 30 minutes, I was sold.

4. Scritchy Scratchy

Scritchy Scratchy was a game that got me curious from the moment I found its Steam page in the Next Fest list. There’s just something about games that add a twist to mundane things that draws me in. In this case, the scratch cards.

Important to call out that this one is a gambling simulator, so if this is a genre you prefer to stay away from, feel free to skip to the next game.

Here you start with a boring day job, then you get the opportunity to gamble your way through scratching cards. The more you scratch, the more money you collect, the more “advanced” types of cards you unlock, different upgrades and so on. For example, you can get an auto-scratch machine to reduce your manual labor.

Something I really liked is how the game gives you accessibility options so it’s easier to do the scratching movement (for example, you can turn on an option to scratch by hovering, not having to drag the cursor all the time). I thought I might get bored once the novelty factor wore off and the repetitiveness weighed in, but I played almost 2 hours of this demo and honestly could play it more.

5. Sledding Game

I’ve been following Sledding Game for a few months now and I was so happy when I saw the demo was going back live during Next Fest, since I missed my chance to try it out earlier (before it got removed from the store).

This is an online co-op game where, well, you sled with friends. There aren’t objectives, really, although you do collect points that you can exchange for things in the game (think accessories for your character or items to place in the world). You can race down the mountain together, or do snowball fights.

Speaking of your character, you’re basically a frog with a bum. The game is silly like that.

By the way, I played this one with friends from the Good Game Lobby community, and we had a blast together. Here’s the Discord link if you want to join!

I hope you enjoyed reading this roundup with my thoughts about these demos! Next week I’ll be covering 5 more of my favorites (or maybe 6, if I can’t shorten my list…)

Have you discovered any fun games during Next Fest? I’d love to hear about them.

-Luna