The Best of Steam Next Fest June 2025
- Alex Orona
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
We are closing out on the second of three Steam Next Fests of the year. This is the magical time when we are blessed with a festival of demos for games that are coming out this year. It’s always a treasure trove of indies and unheard of gems you'll only uncover if you are willing to dig through them. Fortunately for you, we've done some digging for you. Here's what we loved from June's Steam Next Fest.
Baby Steps
From the twisted minds of Bennet Foddy and Devolver Digital comes Baby Steps. It's the story of a man who just hasn’t walked in a long time because he spends all his time watching TV. You wake up in a cave and you have to take your first steps in some time.
You'll do that by moving the sticks and controlling one foot at a time with the triggers, using the game's ridiculous physics to take your baby steps and make your way back home. It’s fun and absurd in all the best ways. Even the very minimal dialogue had me cracking up at how little our protagonist cares for really anything. It’s fantastic.
Possessor(s)
When the world is invaded by demons, your character is stuck without any choice but to be possessed by a demon or die. In this case, his demon is a charismatic one with an agenda to figure out why the mysterious lab in town’s experiment led to the invasion in the first place.
Mechanically it’s a 2D metroidvania with a massive map to explore, but it also features beautifully animated cut scenes and art, with fantastic voice acting that when put together leads to a fully realized package. It's an intriguing premise that's animated so well we’d watch a whole series based on this story and its characters. Possessor(s) definitely stands out.
Dispatch
In the vein of the TellTale series, there's Dispatch, a story driven narrative adventure about a former hero who was forced into retirement early. Now all that’s left is to work the dispatch and send out different heroes for different emergencies in hopes he can one day become the hero he once was again.
What makes this stand out is the hilarious work place comedy that exists within the game, with top notch voice acting from tons of big names but notably Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad voicing the protagonist. This one will definitely break into the mainstream.
Hotel Barcelona
For those not in the know, one of the many prolific names in game directors is Hidetaka Suehiro, AKA SWERY. He is responsible for some of the most ridiculous and out there games to the point that he is in the Guinness World Records for the “Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game” with Deadly Premonition. Now he has brought us Hotel Barcelona, a 2D Side Scrolling combat rogue like, but set in a mysterious hotel. Your job is to explore the hotel, but when ready, jump into movie posters and take on the enemies and bosses that live within. All the while finding new temporary upgrades and bonuses for the run. It’s got a lot of depth but the mystery of the hotel is so creepy that I didn’t even care much about the levels and just wanted to dig deeper into finding clues as to why I was there. This one grabbed my detective brain and didn’t let go.
Space Adventure Cobra- The Awakening
If you were ever a fan of 80s anime, Space Adventure Cobra-The Awakening is perfect for you. A 2D platformer and shooter, it’s also intrinsically an '80s anime, with long cut scenes and action, complete with City Pop interludes that really make this game bang.
The gameplay is secondary to what I was there for though. I just wanted full episodes of this show, and since that became my motivator, I didn’t want to stop playing it! Beautifully voice acted and fully realized as a perfect addition to the '80s anime oeuvre, I can’t get enough of this one.
What did you guys think of Steam Next Fest? What were your stand outs? Leave a comment and let us know below!
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