Valve is gearing up for Steam’s upcoming Next Fest. These triannual events allow gamers to play free demos, watch livestreams, and chat with the developers of upcoming games. Valve recently revealed the times and dates for the next Steam Next Fest, which runs for one week this October.
Steam’s October 2023 Next Fest
The October 2023 edition of the Steam Next Fest begins at 10 a.m. PT on October 9th and ends on October 16th. Steam hasn’t revealed which games will be there, but Next Fest typically spotlights indie and sub-AAA games. Many of these games are also from first-time or otherwise new studios. This makes Next Fest an excellent way for PC gamers to find out about games that don’t have AAA marketing budgets.
Steam’s last Next Fest was in June and featured highly anticipated games like the upcoming Lies of P. Prominent indie titles include the upcoming turn-based RPG Sea of Stars and the Action-adventure game En Garde. The latter game released yesterday has a “Very Positive” rating on Steam. Previous Next Fest alumni include games like Shadows of Doubt, Oddworld: Soulstorm, and Far: Changing Tides.
During the festival, players can scroll through a list of games and download playable demos. Demos become unplayable after the event, so Steam users must act fast if they see something that interests them. If players like what they see, they can add the game to their Steam Wishlist to get notified when it comes out.
The event page will also feature a list of live streams where gamers can watch developers playing the games they made. Viewers can jump into the live chat to have their questions answered directly by the developers. PC gamers who want notification when Next Fest goes live can sign up on the event page at store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest.
