Steam Next Fest has gathered more than 8700 demo games this time, and among them, along with a bunch of interesting indie projects and some AI nonsense, there are titles that seriously make you wonder: "Who thought of this? And "Who will play this?"
From a simulation of preparing Indian street food, to a game where your isekai truck supports you from another world, to a horror about mushrooms. If you thought you had seen everything on Steam, think again.
Budge
We start with the least strange game on the list. In BUDGE, the world is collapsing, and you must lift heavy objects and make the final sacrifice to the gods! The game can be played by 2 to 5 players.
Mischief Mandarina
Mischief Mandarin is a humorous stealth puzzle game where you are a child who devises creative pranks on the local tyrant instead of direct confrontation. Each level functions as a small puzzle where you observe his habits, exploit the environment, and try to execute the perfect prank before you get caught.
It's Chopping Time
What if the whole game was about chopping wood? It's Chopping Time is a 100% hand-drawn game where you cut down trees by moving the cursor across the screen, while natural forces like lightning, tornadoes, and earthquakes further accelerate the chaos. The game combines simple “idle” gameplay with an upgrade system and leaderboard races, focusing on quick sessions and gradually unlocking crazier abilities.
Too Hot to Be True
This is a dating sim visual novel where the player has only one week to find a "future wife" before the parents arrive, leading him into relationships with five women staying in his seaside house. The game focuses on choices, relationships, and rapidly evolving romantic situations, where each decision changes how the story and ending will unfold.
When Will I Get Home
I don't know how to describe this game other than that it is a horror set in Eastern Europe. The goal is simple: get home and sleep every day.
Mycel PIPI
Mycel PIPI is a 2D puzzle-platformer where you follow a small mushroom that wakes up in the waste of mutated mushrooms and embarks on a journey to discover its own origins. The game combines exploration, precise jumps, and solving environmental puzzles while being hunted by dangerous mutated creatures in a dark, spore-infected world.
Glitchy: Not So Sweet
Glitchy Not So Sweet is an escape-room horror puzzle game where a once-sweet world of animals turns into a grotesque and bloody nightmare after a small spirit, Glitchy, loses control of its powers. The game focuses on observing the environment, finding clues, and solving daily changing puzzles in a space that constantly hides new anomalies and surprises.
Health Audit Simulator
Health Audit Simulator is a simulation game where you take on the role of a health inspector who examines various locations and looks for potential hazards to safety and health. The game focuses on detailed observation of the environment, marking risks, and ranking them across 20 different playable environments.
Boy Escape from School
How far would you go just to escape from school? This game clearly says: very far. Throughout the game, you solve absurd puzzles, avoid teachers, and try to find a way out of a school that seems to hide many more secrets than it should.
Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?!
If you watch anime, you already know who Truck-kun is. This time it doesn't run you over but supports you from another world while you try to survive the adventure. The title itself probably says enough about how serious the game is.
Indian Street Food Simulator
Finally, I've saved the best for last. A simulator for preparing Indian street food. You prepare various traditional dishes, serve customers, and develop your own street food stand. After all the previous games, this even sounds relatively... normal.
