Steam Next Fest: what it is, start times, games, and more

By Jesse Lennox Published February 24, 2025

We all have a list of upcoming video games that we’re eagerly awaiting getting our hands on. Waiting is always the hardest part, but Valve tries to make that wait a little bit more bearable with its Steam Next Fest events. Hosted multiple times a year, this gives PC players a chance to play demos for a ton of upcoming PC games while the celebration is going on. This is the perfect chance to get an early look at some games you have on your wishlist, but also get exposed to some new games you hadn’t heard of before. This is a major event with tons to do and not a lot of time to do it, so here are all the details you need about Steam Next Fest to make the most of it.

In short, Steam Next Fest is an event Valve hosts during select times during the year where developers can all release demos for their upcoming games at once for everyone to see. The entire Steam page will be taken over with featured demos, streams, and more to encourage people to check out these projects and add them to their wishlists.

It is a fantastic chance for smaller developers in particular to get eyes on their project and hopefully build up some positive word of mouth. For players, it is a great chance to jump into a ton of demos with no strings attached.

Every demo in Steam Next Fest is completely free to download and play while the event is going on. All you need is a Steam account and you can access any available demo.

The February Steam Next Fest event starts on February 24 at 10:00 am PT and will end one week later on March 3 at 10:00 am PT. That gives you a full seven days to play as many demos as possible.

If you happen to be busy or miss out on this event, there will be two more Steam Next Fest events in 2025 in June and October, so you will have more chances to participate.

There are hundreds of games posting their demos during Steam Next Fest so it would be overwhelming to list them all. However, a few games highlighted in the trailer that would be good games to start with include:

Of course, the best thing to do during Next Fest is to explore the lineup and try out games that look interesting for yourself. Every demo is free, so now is the perfect chance to try out a game you never heard of and possibly discover a hidden gem you might not have otherwise found.