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Another edition of Steam Next Fest wrapped up this week, shining a light on dozens of upcoming games that might otherwise be overshadowed by the release of larger games. Like previous iterations of this digital festival, there was a big emphasis not only on discoverability, but also playability, as participating games all had demos to experience.
According to Steam, the biggest and most-played games were spread across a wide variety of genres, with PvPvE dungeon-crawling RPG Dungeonborne rising to the top of the charts. Other highlights in the top 50 most-played demos included Stormgate, an upcoming free-to-play real-time strategy game inspired by classic Blizzard titles. A blend of sci-fi and fantasy, the project is being led by former Blizzard developers Tim Morten and Tim Campbell.
For something more action-packed, there’s Mullet Mad Jack, a love-letter to classic anime where you play as a gun-wielding fusion of humanity and the internet, requiring a dopamine hit every 10 seconds by murdering your way through robot overlords for your adoring masses. It sounds like the plot for Crank 3 when you think about it.
Other intriguing games included Indika, a story-driven adventure set in alt-universe Russia where a young nun sets off on a journey of self-discovery with the devil himself as a traveling companion, and Children of the Sun, a slick sniping game where you’ll bend a single bullet through the grey matter of several cultists. You can see the full list of top 50 games below–or 48 games if we’re being technical–and the majority of these titles still have demos available for you to try out before you commit to purchasing them.
They’ve all been listed below by the number of unique players who tried them out during the weeklong event, and Steam says that a new Next Fest will arrive in June.
