The October 2025 Steam Next Fest wrapped up today and Valve has revealed the most downloaded demos from the event. Big winners included Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Everwind, and YAPYAP. If you’ve never heard of any of those this is your chance to catch up on tomorrow’s hit Steam games before they’re out.
Here’s the top-10 demo downloads during the latest Steam Next Fest in order of most unique players:
Online co-op and survival sims still reign supreme, though it’s nice to see Heroes of Might and Magic having a mini-breakout moment in 2025. “This is the heroes game I have been waiting for ever since heroes 3,” wrote one Steam reviewer about the demo. I was never an HoMM guy growing up but I like strategy RPGs and enjoyed what I tried of the Early Access build that came out earlier this month.
Here are some other games from the larger top-50 Next Fest demo list that caught my eye. Ultimate Sheep Raccoon is a multiplayer PVP Trials-like. Think 2D side-scrolling Mario Kart. Master of Command is a history buffs historical strategy game that trades neat graphics for the nitty-gritty detail of regiment customization and supply line management. Cairn is an open world atmospheric climbing sim. It looks like the indie version of Breath of the Wild meets Death Stranding. Tears of Metal is a co-op hack-and-slash roguelike. It’s giving Dynasty Warriors in the art-style of Darkest Dungeon. Finally there’s Skate Story, a skateboard RPG where you grind through a shadow realm to liberate tortured souls. I keep hearing great things.
The October 2025 Steam Next Fest may be over now, but most of these games still have free demos you can download if you want to check them out and wishlist them ahead of their launch windows. Because we all know Steam users don’t already have way too much to play.