Next Fest, without the AI
The demos people are actually playing, most played first.
7,008 games in Steam Next Fest until 26 October. 2,506 are hidden because their developers declared AI.
Some developers don't declare it, so a few may slip through. Player counts are checked every few hours.
1,329 demos without AI, tagged Strategy, most played first.
Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim
Questing Goose Studio
Probably Stolen is a cyberpunk shopkeeping simulator set in a dystopian space station. Craft, trade, and smuggle goods of questionable origin, navigate faction loyalties, and stop rampant AI by killing those it controls. Earn enough to buy out your shop before rising rent forces your hand.
Shop KeeperSimulationTradingManagementCrafting▶ Peak: 18,144 playersMore like this →Meltdown Crew
Meltdown Games
Run a barely-stable nuclear reactor with your friends in this online co-op physics chaos game. Fix broken systems, manage radiation, survive power outages, and prevent a total meltdown before everything goes horribly wrong.
ActionSimulationStrategyParty GamePuzzle▶ Peak: 2,229 playersMore like this →Tropico 7
Gaming Minds Studios
Get rich or die trying! In Tropico 7, you step into El Presidente’s shiny boots again to build your island nation and – literally – move mountains. As glorious leader you guide your loyal citizens (and your Swiss Bank Account) through the ages toward untold prosperity.
SimulationStrategyCity BuilderPolitical SimColony Sim▶ Peak: 1,019 playersMore like this →Stronghold 4
Firefly Studios
Wood needed! Return to the green roots of Stronghold in this narrative prequel to the original 'castle sim'. Immerse yourself in a cinematic campaign, hone your siegecraft with new mechanics in skirmish mode and customise your castles with a wide selection of castle pieces and cosmetics.
Early AccessSimulationStrategyCity BuilderColony Sim▶ Peak: 889 playersMore like this →Legend of Defenders
KaiPlay Studio
A thrilling idle tower defense game with automated battles and endless growth! Build your defenses, deploy heroes, and watch your fortress evolve from a humble outpost into an unstoppable stronghold—even while you’re away.
CasualStrategyTower DefenseIdlerIncremental▶ Peak: 799 playersMore like this →骤影:绯月杀
TMXN Games
Among Shadows is an intense blend of fast-paced combat and identity-based deduction. You are sent to stop a deadly infection from spreading across a corrupted land, but traitors have infiltrated your team. With the Blood Moon rising, can you escape from this place under the conspiracy?
PvPMultiplayerHack and SlashThird PersonParty Game▶ Peak: 723 playersMore like this →Northgard Battlegrounds
Funday Games
A city-building auto-battler set in the Viking world of Northgard, where every building you place shapes your clan’s fate. Develop your village, claim the Gods’ blessings, and send your warband to battle against rival players! Every move counts, only one clan will stand.
Early AccessStrategyCasualAuto BattlerCity Builder▶ Peak: 658 playersMore like this →Dungeonbound
louidev
Dungeonbound is a retro first-person auto-battler dungeon crawler. Send your Warrior, Mage or Rogue into monster-packed depths, watch battles play out turn by turn, and grow stronger every run. Death just sends you home with the loot. Merge gear, buy upgrades, descend again.
Inventory ManagementDungeon CrawlerLootIncrementalRoguelite▶ Peak: 466 playersMore like this →Dude, Trust Me
Sefik Studios
Get hopelessly misunderstood by your two best friends. One of you goes blind, one goes deaf, one loses their voice, and no puzzle here can be solved by one person. Can the three of you work out how to understand each other?
Time ManagementPuzzleCasualParty Game3D▶ Peak: 247 playersMore like this →Can 'Em All
LuisDev
A juicy first-person incremental game about turning cute creatures into cans. Kill them, collect their bodies, can them, and sell them. Make money, upgrade your weapons and machines, and produce more and more.
SimulationActionStrategyIncrementalShooter▶ Peak: 221 playersMore like this →Dawn of Defense
6side Studio
Dawn of Defense blends RTS, Tower Defense, and Roguelite progression. In a last defense, lead your tribe against the Empire: Command warriors in battle, fortify defenses, and build an economy as you fight to reclaim your ancestral homeland.
Tower DefenseRTSRogueliteVikingsStrategy▶ Peak: 217 playersMore like this →Screen Stocks
Conradical Games
Screen Stocks is an online multiplayer trading game featuring a real-time simulated market. Buy, short, and sell stocks to gain unprecedented levels of wealth. Team up with other traders or outsmart them all. It's time to make some money!
StrategyDesktop CompanionIncrementalMinimalistIdler▶ Peak: 216 playersMore like this →GRAVHOUNDS
Octopus Panic, Inc.
GRAVHOUNDS is a 1–4 player co-op action builder. Drop into hostile planets as a pack, build and defend your base in physics-driven mayhem, and extract with everything you can carry before you become alien chow! The longer you stay, the greater the danger... and the rewards.
Online Co-OpThird-Person ShooterAction RoguelikePvECo-op▶ Peak: 209 playersMore like this →Fathom Reach
Feldsparc
An underwater roguelike deckbuilder where every dive is a gamble. Chain explosive card combos, push deeper for richer loot, and surface before your hull breaks. Bring the haul home to upgrade your deck—and build a base other players can raid while you're away.
Early AccessRoguelike DeckbuilderDeckbuildingCard BattlerRoguelite▶ Peak: 176 playersMore like this →Golden City
Mint Studio
Golden City is a desktop idle game blending ice-and-snow survival with simulation. Light the Furnace, build the last shelter, manage resources, extract Gold Coins, and advance technology. Idle on your desktop while you work, and keep strengthening your base to save the last hope.
Free to PlayDesktop CompanionCity BuilderIdlerLoot▶ Peak: 170 playersMore like this →Angel Investor Simulator™
Bigosaur
Invest into promising startups with sometimes wacky ideas. Help them grow with your team of experts. Capture the market share with quality product, smart pricing and marketing. Cash out big after the IPO. Compete with the other angels and show them who's the boss.
SimulationCapitalismTradingManagementEconomy▶ Peak: 160 playersMore like this →HELLCARD II
Thing Trunk
Hellcard II is a unique co-op deck-builder roguelike game. Descend into the paper dungeons on your own or invite friends to fast-paced tactical card battles against hordes of evil and dragons. Lots of dragons!
RPGStrategyAction RPGCard BattlerCard Game▶ Peak: 146 playersMore like this →Ski-E-O! Ski Resort Tycoon
Falling Damage Games
You're the Ski-E-O - build the cozy ski resort of your dreams in this management tycoon game. Adapt to ever-changing weather, paint trails, build lifts, and place the lodges and après bars that keep thousands of skiers warm, fed, and happy.
Early AccessSimulationManagementBuildingFunny▶ Peak: 146 playersMore like this →Warlapse
Bad Engine Studio
War isn't heroism — it's ruthless order and maneuver. Across 7 ages from the Stone Age to modern times, encircle the enemy, cut their supply, and break morale to melt them in the killbox. Lead veterans through Campaign, dive into fast Skirmishes, or mod tomorrow's wars with your own units!
StrategyRTSAction RTSReal Time TacticsWargame▶ Peak: 144 playersMore like this →Traffic Architect
Green Signal Games
Become the master of traffic with your expert infrastructure designs. Lay down streets, shape junctions, time traffic lights, design a public transport network, and watch the city come alive. It grows on its own, and every new building sends more trips onto the roads you built.
City BuilderSimulationStrategyTransportationPuzzle▶ Peak: 139 playersMore like this →Epic Seven
Smilegate
PLAY THE ANIMATION! A playable anime in your hands, Epic Seven. A turn-based Hero collection RPG alive with stunning 2D visuals. Collect unique Heroes in the Seventh World and plan your path to victory through elemental effects and skill combinations. Challenge Heirs worldwide in World Arena PvP.
2DAnimeStrategyJRPGPvP▶ Peak: 132 playersMore like this →


