Come check out a bunch of games and play some demos!
The Steam Game Festival has returned with a Summer Edition! This time around, it looks like it is a bit more organized than before and a lot more games are participating. Like a few months ago, The Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition sets out to introduce games its playerbase may or may not know of by showcasing them from June 16 to June 22. Like before, you’ll be able to play available demos and watch broadcasts that range from AMAs to playing the game live. One major change is that instead of having one page, all the games are categorized by genre, with each having their own tab. So if you’re just interested in platformers, you can just look at platformers rather than having everything else thrown in. Which is especially important considering that you can see which games are the most wishlisted.
Instead of having 50+ demos available, the estimated amount of demos available this time around is 150+. Wow! Due to the sheer amount of demos available, I’ll randomly grab a handful of demos from each genre:
- Ring of Pain
Blends elements of roguelike/roguelite dungeon crawlers with turn-based card game where levels are generated by a ring of cards. - Hello Guest
A stealth thriller where you take the night shift at your amusement park security guard job where a creature (with “advanced. self-learning AI”) lurks in the shadows.
- Lore Finder
Play as a paranormal investigator searching a New England mansion for your missing father in this 2D metroidvania. - Gravewood High
A stealth horror game set in high school where you try to get out of the school before you’re caught by the Teacher.
- Gloomwood
Inspired by immersive sims and survival horror games in the late 90s and early 2000s, this stealth horror FPS follows your mysterious abduction to a twisted Victorian metropolis. - Pendragon
A turn-based strategy game where the narrative is affected by your moves and story twists opens new gameplay opportunities as you try to rally the Knights of the Round Table. - Forgotten Fields
Play as a struggling author who has travelling back to his childhood home one last time. - Grounded
Play in a world where you have been shrunk to the size of an ant and see if you (and some friends) can survive the dangers that come with it. - Inmost
Explore and escape a hauntingly beautiful world with three playable characters that share an interconnected story but each have their own gameplay styles. - Retro Machine
Play as a little robot on a journey to unravel the mysteries of his world that was long forgotten by the humans that used to live there. - Fights in Tight Spaces
A stylish blend of deck-building, turn-based tactics, and animated fight sequences based on classic action movie settings.
- Snowtopia
Take on the challenge of building the ideal ski resort and keeping the need of your skiers satisfied. - Magin: The Rat Project Stories
Combines elements of narrative driven adventure RPGs and deck-building card games to build a nonlinear plot and game mechanics that are attached to the world. - Kine
A 3D puzzle game about three machines aspiring to be musicians and finally find their big break. - The Wild at Heart
Two precocious kids flees their hardships into a mysterious hidden realm where magical creatures have lost their way. - Spiritfarer
A cozy management game where you play as a ferrymaster to the deceased.
- Garden Story
Play as a newly appointed village guardian exploring the world to help those around you. - Freshly Frosted
Solve puzzles in an adorable donut factory by assembling conveyor belts to guide donuts to the needed stations. - Mars Horizon
Lead a major space agency, build rockets, and guide humanity to Mars in this strategy sim game. - Griefhelm
A tactical dueling game with lethal medieval weaponry in fast-paced duels. - Neurodeck
Explore the subconscious of your character, learn about their past, and defeat their phobia in this deck-building game. - Shores Unknown
A low-poly turn-based tactical RPG where you build up a team of mercenaries to journey beyond a wall of fog known as the Murk. - Traveller’s Rest
Play as an innkeeper dedicated to transforming a run down inn into a bustling inn. - Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands
Get ready to participate in a deadly battle of the bands where entrants can attack others with music. - Ostranauts
A noir spaceship life sim where you need to manage your dysfunctional crew and ship while hopefully keeping debt collectors at bay.
- Time Loader
Play as a small, time-travelling robot sent to alter past events so a tragic childhood accident can be reversed.
- Outrider Mako
Play as Mako during her quest to seek out and deliver deliverables in a top-down 2D action game.
- Superliminal
A mind-bending first-person puzzler where you explore a surreal world filled with puzzles based on the ambiguity of depth and perspective. - Recompile
Take control of a semi-sapient program and escape deletion in this metroidvania inspired hacking adventure. - Genesis Noir
A noir adventure spanning time and space that starts at The Big Bang as you search for a way to save your love.
- Neon Abyss
A frantic roguelike action-platformer where you run and gun your way through the abyss. - Vigil: The Longest Nights
Play as Leila as she battles through the longest night and try to uncover the truth behind the eternal darkness. - 30XX
Takes place a thousand years after 20XX in a world irreversibly changed by the advent of the Synthetic Mind in this roguelike action platformer. - Unbound: Worlds Apart
Explore a beautifully hand-crafted metroidvanian world by conjuring magic portals that gives you unique abilities. - Kaze and the Wild Masks
Play as Kaze set to find the Wild Masks to unleash the powers of legendary guardians in hopes to save her friend in this 90s inspired platformer. - Drink Glurp More
A wacky physics sportish hot seat party game where you play as aliens copying Earth’s summer games. Though, they’re not as accurate as they would hope. - Aeolis Tournament
Use the power of the wind to compete in various games of the Storm Championship in this chaotic 8 player action party game. - Skatebird
If you ever wanted to be a bird that’s amazing at skateboarding, well your dream is finally coming true. - Rustler (Grand Theft Horse)
Become a medieval thug in this open world action game. - Kung Fu Kickball
A competitive team based fighting sports game where the best kickballer wins.
- Daemmerlight
A short visual experience that sets out to deal with the theme of powerlessness in a surreal nightmare realm. - Gorsd
Uncover the truth of the Gorsd and discover a world filled with challenges in intense arena combat. - Anathema
A love letter to classic action platformer series such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Ghosts n’ Goblins. - Faith: The Unholy Trinity
Play as a young priest struggling against your weakening faith, demons, and insane cultists in this pixel horror game. - Slender Threads
A point and click thriller where unseen forces binded the fate of a traveling salesman to a peculiar town he has recently arrived in.
- Crimson Spires
An otome style visual novel where a ring of deadly towers has trapped you in a small mining town with conspiracy theorists, vampires, and a serial killer.
- For the People
An acute social novel with strategic elements where you take control of a newly appointed mayor.
- Lovesick Darlings
A grounded emotional story about a close group of friends growing up and trying to understand their own feelings as well as others. - The Dreamwalkers
A visual novel and 2D point and click adventure hybrid where you can project yourself into the world of dreams. - Perfect Gold
A coming of age yuri visual novel about two former friends escaping detention so they can make it to the Sunflower Festival.
- …And many more!
Remember that the Game Festival will end on June 22 at 10am PDT/1pm EDT. I’m sure there are some games that are offering their demos for a limited time and I know that feeling of just missing it. So check out the Steam Game Festival hub and browse through it to see if there are any games that peek your interest and any demos that you want to try out. If you don’t have the time, you can always download the demos in advance and play them when you do.
