Welcome back, dear reader. Have you been having the best time with Steam Next Fest in the build-up to Halloween? I sure hope so, as it seems that every second game on October’s iteration is a horror, survival horror or psychological horror. Horror, horror everywhere and not a Silent Hills in sight. Probably still too soon to be making PT or Silent Hills-related jokes.
Moving on swiftly, we here at Finger Guns have been continuing our momentous stride through the Next Fest, with ten more games we’d recommend you dig out your mouse and keyboard for. There are still a few days left to go for the demo festival we all know and love, so you should have time to squeeze these titles into your busy week.
Blast Head
Blast Head doesn’t waste any time letting you know exactly what kind of time you’re in for. While your avatar may look like a marshmallow, they ain’t no light and fluffy friend to aliens. Whisk up your hammer and start cleaving through foes left, right, centre and everywhere else. Inspired by Vampire Survivors, Blast Head is all about carnage-creating special abilities and hordes of enemies to utterly devastate.
Level up your passive and active skills, and you’ll be having a… blast. After upgrading my meteor special, I was literally witnessing the cataclysm of the entire planet cascade around me. Blast Head is an unabashed experience of frenetic and fast-paced action that’s all about spectacle and the sheer thrill of a destructive run. Have a crack at it yourself and see just how much of a swirling tornado you can be.
Blast Head will be unleashing hell on Steam in Q4 of 2025. It’s being developed by Basement Rift and published by Vixa Games.
Don’t Feed The Cat
If you have a cat, and it’s anything like mine, then you’ll know of the feral abominations that arise around feeding times. The mere thought of not satiating our feline friends is enough to earn the ire of a thousand vengeful spirits. Naturally, it checks out that that very idea would be ripe for a horror-themed game, wouldn’t it? Don’t Feed The Cat at your own risk, or do feed the cat, also at your own risk. Cats are complicated.
In this one, you’ll walk around a small apartment, water your plants, and notice that from 12am-6am, a little cat will appear. You can feed it, but you probably shouldn’t. Observe as the environment descends into madness, one night after another. Really though, aren’t you more scared of the ravenous demon that awaits you if you don’t feed it? Despite the in-game nights taking too long for my liking, Don’t Feed The Cat has an interesting foundation.
Don’t Feed The Cat will be silently purring its way onto Steam in Q2 of 2026. It’s being developed and published by LbGamess.
Go Slimey Go!
As I bounced my way through an increasingly adrenaline-inducing level, breezing away from a cascading wave of doom, I had a sudden realisation. I was having an absolute whale of a time in a 2D Sonic-esque precision platformer. This is uncharted territory, folks. Go Slimey Go! is just such a quirky and charming side-scrolling time, it’s hard not to fall in love with its care-free tone and easy-going jazzy music.
Don’t let the spritely aesthetic and deliriously chirpy tone fool you into thinking this platformer won’t rake you over the coals if you’re not on your A game, however. I died more than a few times just in the first level, never mind the fourth of this delectably challenging demo. Granted, I’m not much of a patient platforming player, but it put my spatial navigation skills and reaction times to the test. Had a smile on my face the whole time though, and isn’t that what it’s all about?
Go Slimey Go! will be bouncing onto Steam in November 2025. It’s being developed and published by Tembac and Chabby.
Huntsman
“That can **** all the way off, into a volcano, on a superheated planet in another multiverse” is roughly how I imagine fellow Finger Gunner Rossko will react to seeing this entry. You know what’s worse than demons, murderers, evil incarnates, the terror of loneliness and everything in between? Spiders. Humanity’s eternal enemy and a biologically pre-coded “absolutely ****ing not” trait the majority of us have.
Booting up Huntsman was therefore an exercise of self-mental brutalisation. But boy, does it work as a horror game. You’re inside a giant spider-infested research station, and you’ll need to navigate the various areas to unlock doors, restore power, and ultimately escape with some semblance of your sanity. The spiders are literally giant, or glowing, or both. Whatever time you spend in this game, it’ll be too much. One thing’s for certain, though – it’ll have legs.
Huntsman will be creepy crawling onto Steam in November 2025. It’s being developed by OnTheHouse Studios and published by Ten Image Publishing.
Journey To The Void
Journey To The Void is straight-up addicting. Rogue-like deckbuilding where you’re always on the defensive, relying on three categories of cards and the luck of the Irish, that said, cards can attack the right squares your foes approach from. Rocking plenty of depth but with an easy and accessible entry point, I can foresee this title eating up plenty of my free time.
Not content with just being fun to play, however, Journey To The Void is a visual treat, with a colourful and vibrant visual style to complement the strategy. I’ve played a plethora of deckbuilders and rogue-likes in my time, and they’re always popular genres during Next Fest, but I’m pleased to report that this stands out amongst the crowd as one to keep on your radar.
Journey To The Void will be venturing onto Steam in January 2026. It’s being developed by Runeheads and published by Anotherindie.
Nook Fall: West Town
Life is often simple and straightforward. The moments of introspection over a cigarette before work. The fleeting feeling of joy from that first sip of a morning coffee. Nook Fall: West Town is all about the small connections we make with others through everyday interactions. The ones we look fondly back on from our own younger days, like dropping into the corner store for a 50p pick-and-mix. Man, I miss those.
Nook Fall: West Town’s demo was charming and lovely in equal measure. It’s a hybrid of a visual novel and interactive spaces. Run your small station shop for customers, get to know the local townsfolk, and breathe in the calming music and atmosphere. I was very pleasantly surprised by this one, and it’s games like this that make Next Fest such a wonderful occasion.
Nook Fall: West Town will be calmly serving itself up on Steam in 2025. It’s being developed by NarraTruth Games and published by Gscores Publishing.
Obfuscation
“The doors, Mason, what do they mean?!” is the best way I can encapsulate Obfuscation. The claustrophobia of Madison or PT melded with mind-melting liminal spaces, constantly interchanging. Your progression is obscure, the solutions to not-so-obvious puzzles are off kilter, and everything is just unnervingly out of place at all times.
What does it all mean? I have no clue, but I have that nagging itch to find out despite the better judgment of my amygdala. 20 minutes of disquieting corridor walking will likely put you on edge, with Obfuscation relying more on atmosphere and tension than traditional jump scares, and it’s all the better for it, in my book.
Obfuscation will be bending the walls on Steam, though a release date is still elusive. It’s being developed and published by mid1224.
Space Hood
Forever sneaking tower defence games into these lists, long may it continue. While the animations and attack graphics need some further work and refinement, Space Hood has the chassis for quite the hard-hitting turret. Build up a variety of towers with different effects, as you may expect, but also ensure to be constructing your base behind the scenes for resources and research. Base building adds an extra layer of depth to this entry, giving it its own unique spin.
You can also venture out on raids every 3 waves for extra resources, manually controlling a tank to explode any would-be convoy of salvageable parts. Like I said at the start, Space Hood could probably do with a little more sprucing up before release, but will I want to be battling the Nova Roma Corporation anyway? You can bet your keister I’ll be doing my part to defend my outpost.
Space Hood will be raiding your wallet when it comes to Steam on December 15th. It’s being developed and published by General Gibbon.
The Oversight Bureau
Are you a loser, or a loner? Tough choices abound in The Oversight Bureau. Having deliberated on this for some time, I was then assessed by Dr Eliza to be “a mess”. My self-esteem has never felt quite this uplifted. A narrative puzzler that finds you, candidate 404 (error definitely found), being “rehabilitated” by a mysterious and autocratic bureau of AI voices, preaching the virtues of obedience and predictability.
The caveat? You respond through voice. It’s genuinely quite impressive how the game adjusts to your silences, off-the-wall answers or just general belligerence. Filled with moral dilemmas and cooperation with robotic buddies to solve environmental puzzles, this demo had me hooked. The Matrix-esque set-up and plot are intriguing, and the voice prompting is more than just a gimmick. What a treat this one is.
The Oversight Bureau will be demanding compliance via Steam, though you’re not worthy to know a release date yet. It’s being developed and published by Iconic Interactive.
Towers Heritage
As the great Jose Mourinho once said: “This is football Towers Heritage”. I’m sure that’s the quote, no doubt. A more fantasy entry into the tower defence genre, Towers Heritage is all about huge crowds of enemies and a ludicrous number of towers you can throw up. On the second mission, I might as well have had the infantry, cavalry, reinforcements and backup army all fit and firing ice spells and arrows galore.
The demo for this one has about six levels available, and while it’s a bit visually rough around the edges, similar to Space Hood, it’s just a damn good time racking up thousands of gold coins and splurging on dozens of cannons to eviscerate armies. I’m pretty sure the upgrade trees were locked off during the demo, too, so lord knows what mayhem will ensue in the full version. Two tower defence games almost in a row, must be my list.
Towers Heritage will be cannoning onto Steam November 7th. It’s being developed and published by Vollkornbrott.
How’s that for running the gauntlet of genres? Mysterious moral puzzlers, homely nostalgic visual novels, charming 2D platformers, and a game about massive **** off huntsman spiders. The Steam Next Fest delivers variety, if nothing else. Personally, I’ve been having a superb time ripping through as many demos as I can cram into my free time. I hope you’ve been basking in the carnival of fun and avalanche of horror games in time for spooky season, too.
As per usual, if you’ve seen or played anything you like the look of, make sure to wishlist, drop the developers a supportive message, or give them a shoutout on whatever platforms or word of mouth you can. It makes a world of difference to the indie scene, and you may be part of keeping that creative spark alive that culminates in a wonderful video game.
Fear not, however, for we already have a part three post under construction. We’re just shy of the halfway point for October Next Fest, so we’d be remiss to not inundate you with another ten games to sample. Once again, if there are any games you want us to check out or you think could be featured, drop us a message on X or BlueSky, or leave a comment below, and we’ll do our utmost to play it and pop it on our heady pedestal.
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