It’s easy to feel like the current gaming landscape is completely saturated with co-op extraction shooters and roguelike deck-builders. Fortunately, the annual February Steam Next Fest proves that creativity in the indie scene is still thriving. The week-long showcase offers thousands of downloadable demos, allowing players to dig through the storefront and find hidden gems.
If you missed the showcase, don’t worry! We sifted through the noise to bring you the five most interesting and unique titles from this year’s event.
1. Titanium Court
This highly anticipated title is already nominated for four awards at this year’s Independent Games Festival (IGF). Titanium Court is a ridiculously clever strategy match-three puzzler wrapped in highly stylized pixel art and surreal humor.
- The Gameplay: You must move terrain tiles around to protect your castle from invading rival armies. Water tiles block enemy soldiers entirely, while hills slow their advance.
- Resource Management: Matching tiles allows you to gather essential resources like stone and food to acquire military units.
- The Hook: Once your landscape is built, an automated battle sequence begins. Many players are already comparing its addictive, genre-mashing nature to the massive hit Balatro.
2. Shutter Story
Horror fans have been spoiled recently, and Frostwood Interactive’s Shutter Story is a massive standout. It channels the genuinely tense and unsettling energy of the cult-classic Australian horror film Lake Mungo.
- The Plot: You play as a keen amateur photographer helping your best friend, Eli, who is convinced his family is being actively haunted.
- The Mechanics: Players utilize an in-game software called SpectralAware to study family photos and home videos. You must carefully tweak exposure and contrast to find terrifying apparitions lurking in the background.
3. Don’t Panic! It’s Just Turbulence
If you loved the chaotic, communication-heavy gameplay of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Harmonia Games has your next obsession. Don’t Panic! It’s Just Turbulence is a hysterical, panic-inducing co-op flight sim puzzler.
- The Setup: One player acts as the pilot while the other plays the air traffic controller. Together, you must safely land an aircraft.
- The Catch: All the cockpit controls and displays must be manually decrypted before they function. Neither player has the complete set of answers, leading to frantic arguments over blaring alarms as you try to avoid crashing into a mountain.
4. Outbound
For gamers looking for a much more relaxed experience, Square Glade Games offers Outbound. Set in a breezy, post-human utopia, this camper van survival adventure was one of the most downloaded demos during Next Fest.
- Cozy Survival: Unlike traditional survival games, there is zero peril here. You simply enjoy a gentle sense of exploration and discovery.
- The Progression: Drive your electric vehicle through rolling rural landscapes, gather resources, craft tools, cook nice meals, and complete peaceful side quests to upgrade your van. It is the perfect quiet escapism.
5. Wanderburg
Finally, if you must have a roguelike, Randwerk’s Wanderburg is the undisputed top pick. It brilliantly crosses the chaotic action of Nuclear Throne with the aesthetic of Howl’s Moving Castle.
- Mobile Fortress: You drive a massive, wheeled castle around procedurally generated battlegrounds.
- Action & Upgrades: Blast enemies with cannons and mortars while gradually upgrading your modular citadel with wild new weapons.
- Monty Python Humor: You simply drive your castle straight over trees and sheep to gather resources, bringing a wonderfully jolly, absurd humor to the constant destruction.
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