Steam Next Fest Has Begun, With Numerous Demos Available To Play

There’s a reason why Steam is one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world today. Sure, even with the various “PC specs” you need to get to play certain titles, it doesn’t take away from the fact that Steam has legions of games for you to try out and play, and it’s adding new things all the time. Thus, no matter what kind of gamer you are or what genres you like to play, the service has something for you. Just as important, there are events like Steam Next Fest, which open up the floodgates to let you play demos of big-name and indie titles to see if you might want to get them for real!

“Steam Next Fest is a week-long celebration featuring hundreds of FREE playable demos as well as developer livestreams and chats,” the team noted on its Steam page for the event.

It might seem too good to be true, but it’s not. To help prove this, the Steam Next Fest trailer highlights many big and small titles that you can try out! Check it out below:

There are many games shown in that video, and some of them we’ve covered in the various lists we’ve made here on GameRanx.

Easily, the biggest one shown is Dune Awakening, which is a title that aims to be one of the grandest titles in gaming history in its scale, scope, player interaction, and how player actions affect the world. Based on the legendary books and recent movies, the game will put you on the planet Arrakis, and you’ll have to make a name for yourself, whatever you decide that name to be. You can join one of the legendary houses of the universe, or you could side with the people of Arrakis to drive out the invaders and reclaim the world for its rightful, native people.

With so much to do in the game, it’ll be curious to see how far the demo goes. A game like this truly benefits from a demo, as it allows players to truly get ingrained in a title versus just seeing things through a trailer and hoping it plays as well as it looks.

Again, this is only one of many demos for games that you can try out. Plus, there will be all kinds of “fests” on Steam throughout the rest of the year and going into 2026! So, you’ll want to pay attention to see what becomes available next.