Steam’s Next Fest has begun, a celebration of all the indie games releasing over the next few months, with a load of demos. In this article, I will be focusing on 4 games I’m most looking forward to after trying their demos.
If you want even more Steam Next Fest head over to The Outerhaven YouTube channel, where our YouTubing colleague will have lots of coverage over the coming week.
Raccoin
Touted to be released sometime in 2026, Raccoin is an Arcade Addicts wet dream. You know the machines, you see them everywhere, “press button, Coin comes down, and it pushes the other coins.” Now, think of that, but with a Balatro-style twist. You earn tokens to use in the shop that warp your game with new modifiers that, when combined turns your coins inside the cabinet into who knows what. Some examples of coins you can buy are the Glue Coin, which other coins will stick to. The X coin that multiplies the regular coins it touches, plus so many more to discover and unlock.
You also have your Racoon that you start with each having their own unique abilities and modifiers they bring to the game. ON TOP, you can change your Cabinet and coin pushers to a point where the game becomes a Coin Mess of Multipliers.
As someone who adores Balatro and has had my eye on this game since announcement, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into full release whenever that may be. Another thing I am hoping for is a Console release because I mainly play Xbox. But either way this is a game I will 100% with all my heart be playing.
Here is a link to the Steam Next Fest Demo
Vampire Crawler
The newest release by the amazingly talented team behind Vampire Survivor, Vampire Crawler keeps the same art style and enemies but puts them in a Rougelite First Person Dungeon Crawler. While being set in the Vampire Survivor world with all the enemy’s you know and love including Bats, Skeletons and many others, Also the Arsenal you should be familiar with the likes of Knifes, Whips, Holy books and buffs like Armour and Spinach.
But not how you’d expect them, in this game you are in a dungeon moving around freely, which allows for some strategy when it comes to fighting monster. With each kill you earn XP & as you level you will unlock new cards, be that weapons or buffs, sometimes even being able to imprint them and add new and improved bonuses.
While I enjoyed my time playing this game, I do fear that it won’t have the same impact that the predecessor had. In the short time I played it did become some what of a “same same” experience. I hope as you progress and unlock more characters and cards it could become “fun” but unfortunately for me there are other games like this that do it better.
Lunchbreak Tactics
Lunchbreak Tactics is a strategic auto-battler card game set behind the scenes of a chaotic supermarket. With no timers, you can draft, build, and fine-tune your squad before taking on other players asynchronously. Short sessions, deep strategy, and a bold, funny tone.
Unfolding over 12 rounds, you choose between 16 differing characters that you slowly unlock over time, while also choosing 2 of 6 decks that will be the cards you choose from. Between every round you are given as cash total with what you use to buy/upgrade and improve your 5 Slot team. While both being fast paced and strategic, you can mix and match card that synergise well.
I really enjoyed the 2 games I played, both being completely different from each other. Ranging from Toasters all the way to a glass of wine. A Hearthstone style Attack and Health system. It’s a game I think I would play irregularly but it could become a really good Phone game. I look forward to seeing what they do with this over the years.
Here is the link to the Steam Next Fest Demo
Esports Manager 2026
A Management game like Football manager but for Esports. While right now it is just Counter Strike, I hope of games like League of legends and Rocket League are added. Boasting a decent amount of Real players & Real teams, Players like S1mple & Coldzera, Teams such as Fnatic, The Mongols & even Faze.
You can choose to take over a team or create your own franchise, after that you are then tasked with getting your team ready for the upcoming tournament AIM Krakow. You can sign players, buy players, change tactics and even buy peripherals that will give your Organisation an edge. Once you get to the game, it’s just like a real tournament. You ban the maps your team don’t like, you then watch and give strategies to your team as a in real time Counter Strike game players out. They are some issues with the AI positioning but that can be improved in due time.
I took over Fnatic and they started with only one player, so I was given the task of signing 4 players. I choose to go the free agent route to see how contract talks work, while being pretty simple (you select duration in months then how much wage), it was nice to see that there is a back and forward when it comes to contract talks. Winning our first game 13-2 on Dust 2, It felt like watching a regular game on twitch minus the first-person view.
This game could be really fun and be something that could push into a space that needs more Esports type things. Just hope that they continue to evolve the AI when it comes to actual strategies. On top of that Counter Strike isn’t really my first choice in Esports games so it would be nice if they add League of Legends or something else like Dota. But I do also accept that Counter Strike is a huge Esport.
Here is a link to the Steam Next Fest Demo
While I hope to try some other Games in Steam Next Fest we will have many Videos & Live Streams over on The Outerhaven YouTube channel where our resident streamer YouTube person has loads and loads to enjoy.
