Steam's October Next Fest is live, and it's enormous. Valve's demo festival opened on 19 October and runs until 26 October, according to PocketGamer.biz's event listing, with Steam's own Next Fest page now marked "LIVE NOW". The pitch hasn't changed: playable demos, developer livestreams and Q&A sessions for upcoming PC games, all free to try.
What has changed is the size. GamingOnLinux reported on 20 October, citing SteamDB's count, that the event includes 7,164 demos. At least 1,054 of them carry an AI disclosure notice, roughly one in seven.
What the numbers mean for you
Seven thousand demos is far more than anyone can try in a week. GamingOnLinux's write-up puts it plainly: "it has become quite difficult to sift through the noise." That's the practical problem with Next Fest now. Getting to a demo is easy. Deciding which ones deserve your evening is the hard part.
The AI figure needs a bit of care. GamingOnLinux counted demos with an AI disclosure notice, which means the developer says AI was used in some form. The notice doesn't tell you how much AI was used, where in the game it shows up, or whether the result is any good. One demo might use it for a few background textures, and another might lean on it much more heavily. Treat the label as a prompt to read the store page closely, not as a verdict.
The writer at GamingOnLinux reads the count as a sign of "just how many developers ... are using AI in some form now". Whatever you think of that trend, the number is useful: it tells you this is now a routine thing to check when choosing what to play.
How to get through a festival this big
You don't need to beat the algorithm to have a good Next Fest. A few simple habits help:
- Start with your wishlist. If a game you've already wishlisted has a demo, that's the easiest win. You chose it before the noise started.
- Pick a genre and stay in it. Browsing everything at once is how you end up with thirty half-downloaded demos and no opinions. One genre per evening is much easier to judge.
- Watch before you download. Many games run developer livestreams during the event. A few minutes of watching will tell you whether a demo is worth the install.
- Check the store page details. Look for the AI disclosure if that matters to you, along with system requirements and how long the demo runs.
- Wishlist what you like straight away. With thousands of demos in a week, a quick wishlist is the easiest way to keep track of a game you liked.
Curated picks help too. GamingOnLinux's own shortlist includes Handshakes: Hands On, Surfpunk and Littlelands, and following a few writers' lists is a quicker filter than scrolling the whole catalogue.
What happens next
The festival runs until 26 October. PocketGamer.biz's listing doesn't give an exact closing time, so if there's a demo you mean to try, don't leave it until the last evening. After that, the best signal you'll have is what ended up on your wishlist.
Reporting notes