Valve's Steam Next Fest is the perfect chaser to a busy week of game reveals from big publishers at E3. It's a smorgasbord of new experiences from small teams available for one short week, meant to generate hype about the next year in independent releases in a wide variety of genres. From traditional fare like first-person shooters and strategy to a lawn-mowing simulator, there's something for every type of PC gamer out there.
Steam Next Fest runs from June 16 to June 22, with live streams from developers and free access to its myriad demos through Steam. The end of the festival will mean the end of access to most demos, but some developers choose to leave their sample accessible as development continues. Even if there's no time to run through a demo immediately, it might be worth a download in case it can be loaded up later. It's also worth noting that many of the demos crafted for events like Steam Next Fest are bespoke experiences different from what appears in the final game. Many creators will even have their characters go meta and acknowledge that they're in a small slice of their own game.
For anyone who doesn't know where to start, here are some standout picks for indies that are poised to make a splash when they're ready for a final release. Hitchhike down the road, slay vampires, and cruise through a synthwave wonderland with the best of the best from Steam Next Fest.
Best Narrative Game Of Steam Next Fest 2021: Road 96
What happens when the storytelling potential of a Telltale game meets with a fully explorable first-person world? That's Road 96, a story-driven adventure game inspired by Tarantino and The Coen Brothers. Players role-play as a hitchhiker trying to escape an oppressive government by crossing the border. They choose whether to hoof it to the next gas station or call up a taxi, and each of those choices generates a new scenario going forward. Dialogue choices play a big role in what happens next, and the stylized characters look real enough to make touch choices hard to make. It's the kind of game where someone might want to simultaneously clear out every possible story option and also find one journey forward and then close the book on the narrative altogether. Developed by Digixart, the creators of Valiant Hearts and the haunting 11-11 Memories Retold, Road 96's distinctive art style draws players in and the engrossing story hooks keep them guessing.
Best FPS Of Steam Next Fest 2021: Severed Steel
For five years, SUPERHOT and its more recent roguelike follow-up were undoubtedly the most innovative shooters many had seen in quite a while, but Severed Steel by Greylock Studio might just have them beat. Combining the bite-size levels from SUPERHOT with complicated objectives, optional slow motion, and destructible environments makes for a fast-paced FPS that rewards precision and chaos in equal measure. The game's one-armed protagonist makes for a clever excuse to keep up SUPERHOT's disposable firearms, and the required sliding and wall-running make navigation just as intense as firefights. It's an interesting take on the gameplay that made SUPERHOT a phenomenon, and the possibilities of building on that foundation so far seem really exciting.
Best Roguelite Of Steam Next Fest 2021: Kingdom Gun
Kingdom Gun from Incredible Two Studios is a side-scrolling roguelike in the vein of the original Risk of Rain, only with a SNES visual style and an Enter the Gungeon sensibility. Considering that Risk of Rain 2 went full 3D (to much success), there's definitely room for Kingdom Gun to shine, and its demo shows a lot of promise. Just a couple of playthroughs produced interesting pickups like a helix rocket launcher that shoots flaming dragon heads and an electricity rifle.
There are also already three separate characters with different abilities and plenty of perk pickups to add to the variety. While the visuals can be a bit all over the place because of this wide variety of pickups, it fits in a game that seems as though it will likely last hours and hours, with considerable evolution from run to run. While some roguelikes can feel limited right off the bat, Kingdom Gun has already captured that sense of discovery where players never know what's up ahead.
Best Platformer Of Steam Next Fest 2021: Tiny Thor
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, which might just be why developer Asylum Square's 16-bit platformer Tiny Thor feels so fresh in the modern age. With a bouncy soundtrack and approachable gameplay, Tiny Thor plays like any number of mascot platformers on the Sega Genesis, but with some of the rough edges sanded off. The main gimmick lets the minuscule marvel throw legendary hammer Mjölnir, which will bounce around the stage. Throwing straight is a great no-nonsense attack, while throwing at an angle lets Thor bank it into trick shots and get off multiple hits against boss monsters. Nothing about Tiny Thor's gem collecting and enemy variety will be surprising to veteran gamers, but the game knows what it is and delivers an experience with a few interesting takes on classic gameplay.
Best Point and Click of Steam Next Fest 2021: The Big Con
The 1990s were a magical time for pastel colors, squiggly lines, and television animation. The Big Con from Mighty Yell and Skybound Games captures this to a T in a point-and-click adventure about a teen con artist trying to save her mom's video store. Travel across the malls and parks of America grabbing dollar bills from unguarded pockets and hanging out with spectral buddy Rad Ghost. The writing and the unexpected humor are on point in this demo, which includes quite a bit of extra dialogue specifically for this sampler. All that and a trailer with Rockapella on the soundtrack make The Big Con a must-play for any Nickelodeon kids out there.
Best Open World of Steam Next Fest 2021: Sable
Taking cues from Journey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Sable is a long-in-development adventure game from Shedworks and Raw Fury that's all about exploring a populated world. Its distinctive art style turned heads when it first debuted in Xbox's E3 2018 showcase and playing the game months from release lives up to that initial glimpse. The developers worked hard to craft the experience so that Sable didn't need a combat system to motivate players. Instead, grand vistas and quests with full dialogue trees drive the need to keep going, but even here there's no overarching narrative to follow. Sable just asks players to visit its world and see the sights, a goal more and more games share as time goes on. With audiovisual design, Sable seems on track to provide something special, and its demo is a must-play for fans of adventure.