Steam Next Fest June 2026 is live with nearly 5,000 free demos
Steam Next Fest is running right now through June 22, 2026, giving anyone with a Steam account free access to nearly 5,000 playable demos. The event is the biggest demo week on PC before the Steam Summer Sale kicks off June 25. If you've had games sitting on your wishlist, this is the week to actually try them.
What Next Fest actually is
Next Fest is a recurring Steam event where developers release free, time-limited demos ahead of their games' full launches. It pairs demos with live developer streams, so you can watch a team walk through their game before deciding whether to download it. For players, it's a low-stakes way to sample a crowded release calendar. For developers, it's a shot at building a wishlist audience — though TechTimes notes the event now amplifies titles that already have press momentum rather than surfacing unknown indie games.
Games worth your time this week
The lineup is enormous, but a few titles stand out.
The Sinking City 2 is the most notable. Frogwares, the Ukrainian studio behind the original, has a one-hour demo live now and a confirmed August 18 release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, per OpenCritic. The Lovecraft-inspired detective horror has been in development since January 2023 — the studio's 90-plus-person team has been working from Ukraine throughout the war. The demo was shadow-dropped at the Future Games Show during Summer Game Fest.
EMPULSE, from 1047 Games, is a Titanfall-style shooter with wall-running and giant mechs. It launches at $19.99 with no microtransactions — its console versions drop the same week Next Fest closes, giving you a three-day window to try the demo before buying.
Other highlights include Onimusha: Way of the Sword (Capcom's samurai fantasy action revival), 1666: Amsterdam (a supernatural adventure from Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Désilets), Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2, the hardcore Napoleonic souls-like Valor Mortis, and the medieval trading RPG The Guild – Europa 1410.
Before the Summer Sale
Next Fest ends June 22. The Steam Summer Sale starts June 25. That three-day gap is deliberate — demos build wishlist pressure right before discounts land. If a game you try this week doesn't have a demo-period price drop, it almost certainly will by June 25.
Browse the full lineup at Steam.
