First Part of My Not Belated Steam Next Fest Oct. 2025 Post
As far as I know, the year is not over.
I downloaded over 30 demos because of the Steam Next Fest, mostly indie games. If you’re surprised that I was able to play all of them before the fest ended, well, I didn’t. Thankfully, none of them were removed after the fest, so I was—and still am—able to play many of these demos. So, I will be letting you know what I thought about dope upcoming games in the following posts.
From Esports management simulator, to unspeakable horrors, this list will cover a variety of genres.
(Note: all pictures were sourced from their respective Steam store page).
Teamfight Manager 2
The world of MOBA Esports, through spreadsheets.
Developer/publisher: Team Samoyed
ETA: 2026
I sunk ten years of my life into League of Legends, and throughout those ten years, I also played numerous Multiplayer Online Battel Arena (MOBAs). So, I thought that my hard-stuck platinum experience meant that I could manage a team. And I was able to manage a team, just not to success.
Teamfight Manager 2 puts you in the role of a manager in charge of an Esports MOBA team. I originally thought that I would simply scout for players and call it a day, but there was a lot to do. Management simulator fans, this could be for you. You start by picked your team by region, each with their own budget, public perception, skilled—or unskilled—players, and so on. Those unskilled players will need to go through training to get better, but you also need allot time to some players to become the face of the team by streaming, or as we in the business like to call, “influencers.” Money doesn’t only come from winning matches.
What I truly enjoyed was the pick/ban phase of the simulator. Each player had their preference on what champion they use, and you can the enemy’s, too. Pick the best for you team, ban the best for enemy. Depending of your difficulty, every so often a patch will be released nerfing, or buffing, champions. After picking and banning, you select what strategy the team will follow, such as telling players to stick to the backline, or to ambush lane when possible.
It was a cool and different experience. I never understood the hype over Football Manager, regardless of how many times a friend of mine streamed it to me, but I think I get it now. Assembling your team and watching them win is fun, and rewarding. But man, when I told them to ambush, and they didn’t, I would lose it. However, it was eye-opening that maybe reaching platinum in LoL wasn’t much, so maybe my coaching wasn’t the best.
BRNO TRANSIT
I love the mundane in media, especially when it’s scary.
I’m a big fan of narrative-driven games, and horror games. This game puts those two things together in the form of turning the lame or mundane into something uncomfortable and unnerving. You minds sort of drifts when you’re just waiting in a dark, subterranean subway.
BRNO TRANSIT is a narrative-driven psychological horror about a trainee metro driver working their first few days in a very sketchy place. The game is a bit absurd in its tone, as it has you clean you shit off the train, and you find two dude in gimp outfits (I think) playing table tennis. Not to mention your boss that records you while you change or the guy flailing their hands behind the desk.
But, even with these odd events, it does carry an earie feeling throughout your venture. There’s uncertainty in everything you do, how to do it, and if it’s even real, as there’s a scene that in the last minute, you wake up. I could see this being a game talking about the consequences of burnout and creepy bosses, but also having very absurd and outlandish ways of conveying that.
UMIGARI
I know it’s a metaphor for something, but I can’t put my finger as to what it is.
Developer/publisher: Chilla’s Art
ETA: TBA
Plenty of horror fishing or fishing games featuring horror elements have been popping out. Seeing Chilla’s Art that taking a stab at it, if you’re aware of their work, you know it’s going to be something different.
UMIGARI is a first-person harpoon fishing game set in Japan, and in the middle of the ocean. With your trusty harpoon, you fish whatever’s swimming in the ocean, and sell it to a guy on isolated islands. But it wouldn’t be a Chilla’s Art game if it didn’t have its odd and gloomy atmosphere.
While the gameplay is pretty standard (fish, sell, upgrade, explore), it’s during the exploration where you encounter weird stuff. The first encounter that I’ll spoil right now happens when you pick up a scared schoolgirl in an island, only for her to jump out randomly. Keep an eye out if you play the demo, unless you don’t want to get creeped out. That old man in that school is a freak and a creep, I swear.
SWAPMEAT
Swap meat for your boss, boss.
Developer/publisher: One More Game
Socials: Website | Discord | TikTok | Youtube | BlueSky | Instagram
ETA: ALREADY OUT! $24.99
I’m not entirely sure why, and many people could and will disagree with me, but there’s something about this game’s humor that reminds me of Ratchet and Clank. I don’t know if it’s how the characters move and speak, how non-chalantnly hectic things are normalized, or how poorly I remember those games. Either way, as a person who worked in McDonald’s before, the food industry really is rough.
SWAPMEAT is an outrageous roguelike third-person shooter where your purpose is to get meat for the food company you work for. As described in the game’s store, it really does feel like Risk of Rain 2 with its quickness and combinations you can make through upgrades, and like Helldivers 2 with how open the map it, with side objectives available to score more points. As it is a rogue-like, expect to die a lot, maybe not get what you want each run, but the satisfaction of becoming broken when everything lands.
What’s very cool is the swap mechanic, where each enemy killed has a chance to drop a limb which you can swap with. Swap everything from your head, torso, and legs. Each limbs has their own abilities, like the ninja legs allow you to walk on air after dashing, and the turkey head attracts enemies and blows up afterwards. So, grab a friend and swap your meats!
Don’t Stop, Girlypop!
Don’t. Stop. Moving. Forward.
Developer: Funny Fintan Softworks
Publisher: Kwalee
Socials: Website | Discord | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | BlueSky
ETA: TBA
A little bit of MySpace. A little bit of the early 2000s. A little bit of sass. And a whole lot of shoot bangs.
Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is a movement shooter where you become a faerie fighting off the evil and boring corporates syphoning the love and joy out of people, literally to death. During, from what it seems, the last push, you fail and are shot down, only to be woken up again after much time has passed, and you’re potentially the only one left from the rebellion. Fight in the name of love!
While the game started slow, it picked up the pace once you unlock—or figure out—the main movement technique: jump, dash, and slam. The faster you go, the more you heal and the stronger you become. Not only that, but each weapon is pretty sick, like how the shotgun shoots a ball that, once shot, will spray those bullets everywhere. Also, you’re able to customize your arms and weapons with cute sharks and bows, and also listen to some popping music while you liberate the world.
Final Sentence
I just got the reference on the game’s name and the game itself.
Developer: Button Mash
Socials: Polden Publishing
ETA: Q1 2026
As cool as typing is, specifically writing, there aren’t that many typing games out there. Sure, bangers like Typing of the Dead, Glyphica, Blood Typers and many others exist, but what about more competitive horror typing battle royale games?
Enter Final Sentence, a battle royale typing game with a horror theme, where too many mistakes get a bullet to the brain. You and other players are locked in a large room and are forced to type out a couple of sentences. Three mistakes starts a Russian roulette, and three mistakes after the first one just keeps adding more bullets to the chamber. First one to write out all the sentences win/survives.
I really enjoyed the horror aspect thrown into this, but what’s the funniest part is that there’s voice chat in the game. Imagine typing out a sentence while having random people yell out random words, or hearing people cuss at every mistake they make. It was a very funny and intense game.
The Walking Trade
If you think about it, the trade isn’t walking because you’re stationary.
Developer: Microwave Games
Publisher: PlayWay S.A.
Socials: Discord
ETA: Q1 2026
I had an enjoyable time with Schedule 1, and what I learned the most from that game is that having a simple, solid formula is enough. You don’t need AAA graphics, you don’t need overly complex systems, just a solid loop. And this game could be heading down the same path.
The Walking Trade is a post-apocalyptic store management game, where you provide goods to traveling survivors, and kill the zombies that follow them. You stumble on an abandoned shop, make it your own, and set your own shop. Place the shelves, stock them up with food or weapons you’ll collect from your surroundings, killing the zombies that chase your clients, or sending your employees off to get you your stuff.
It’s a simple management game that doesn’t overcomplicate any mechanics, at least in the demo. You stock up supplies, set your prices, sell your stuff, and done. What I’m hoping is that there will be more customization when the full game is released, as I know you can paint your walls and set defenses outside. Also, here’s hoping the replace all A.I. generated content.
Mr. Sleepy Man
Can someone tell me if Mr. Sleepy Man is a 60 year old man?
Developer/publisher: Devin Santi
ETA: Q1 2026
Mario 64 has had its very noticeable influence on the indie scene. While I never played A Hat in Time, I know about it because of the internet and that one friend who would mention it once a minute. This is just to say that great games inspire other great games. Also, because I can’t talk about Banjo-Kazooie because I never got through the first level.
Mr. Sleepy Man is a 3D platformer that puts you behind the wheels of the most active sleepy man in existence. I have never seen such a sleepy dude be able to run, dive, glide, and drive the same way this protagonist does. While your main mission in the demo is to get you blanket and pillow to go to sleep, if you’ve ever played Untitled Goose Game, then this section might sound familiar. You are given one line tasks, which will involve you most likely messing with someone or thinking a little bit outside the box.
There’s more to Bedtime Town than Mr. Sleepy Man, the odd characters, and the purple water—the moon with the face is normal. There’s also dope music, and musical numbers! In the demo, there’s a musical section you can play, where you platform in 2D and there’s a guitar hero section. I’m hoping they implement a musical 3D platform level.
The Last Caretaker
What happened to our humanity?
Developer/publisher: Channel37 Ltd
Socials: Website | Discord | BlueSky | Instagram | Twitter | Twitch | TikTok | Youtube
ETA: November 6, 2025
When I saw this game’s name, I knew I had to at least see the trailer. After seeing the trailer, I knew I had to try the game. And so my unending taste testing of survival crafting games continues.
The Last Caretaker is a first-person survival-crafting adventure game where you are a robot reactivating after being left alone in the middle of the ocean to maintain humanity’s remains. Or who knows, maybe there’s a bit more, to that, too. But you’re in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by scraps of stuff, some aggressive robots, and some dead robots. As grim as that may sound, you’re able to drive a boat and into the open sea, and other bases.
From what I gathered from the demo, you have to stay charged up with electricity to keep on with your ventures. This is easily done by finding batteries or connecting yourself to charge up. Because it’s a crafting game, you need to build generators, recycle scraps to build cables to pass electricity into different equipment, and everything else a person who likes adventure and crafting games is familiar with. There’s also a leveling system, allowing to carry more thing, have more juice, and so on. I really enjoy the game’s atmosphere, and the narrative has me super intrigued.
GORE
Content warning: gore ahead.
Developer/publisher: CosmicArcade
ETA: ALREADY OUT! $4.99
I love me some horror. I love me some Lovecraftian horror. I love me some found footage horror. This game promises all three of those.
Gore is a first-person narrative-driven horror game that takes place in the United States mountains. The demo did not offer much, and honestly, I’m hoping the next trailer or demo doesn’t pull punches like the demo did.
Because, from what I saw on the demo, you’re some sort of park or wilderness ranger, and you have to go to a lookout tower. On your way to the tower, you see some clearly outrageous crazy stuff and your character just says that it’s weird or cause by an animal. Eventually, you see the truly whacked out stuff, and the demo is over. Still, hoping it turns out well.
More heading your way soon! Also, lightning round!
I’m working on content for Godbreakers, RV THERE YET?, Sunken Engine, and Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion.
Post have been slow because I now have a job as an adjunct, and I need to write more fiction stories. Sorry, but I’m trying!
I’m also working on something for the other 10 demos I played!
Outlast Trials imposter mode is hype. Wanted to put that out there.
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Mr. Sleepy Man is extremely my shit. Need to play this asap!