The 20 Most-Played Steam Next Fest Demos Include Mischievous Students and Farting Hippos

Steam Next Fest is in full swing, with studios of every size releasing fresh demos so players can try their upcoming games. The festival runs through Oct. 26. Valve has already shared with Polygon which 20 demos have drawn the biggest crowds out of more than 8,000 participating titles. Multiplayer games dominate the ranking, since “friendslop” keeps posting huge numbers on Steam. A couple of shopkeeping sims also made the cut. Here are the most-played games of the October 2026 Steam Next Fest, counting down.

20. Worst Class Ever

Funcore Games is both developer and publisher of Worst Class Ever. It’s a new asymmetrical friendslop game in which a gang of unruly students wreaks havoc on the classroom, and on one another, while a teacher played by another person tries to catch them. Funcore Games reports that more than 300,000 people have tried the demo. The full game is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2026.

19. Probably Stolen – Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim

If Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 has left you craving more neon-soaked dystopia, this shopkeeping sim from Questing Goose Studio and tinyBuild could be your next stop. It blends classic shop-management gameplay with the moral scrutiny of Papers, Please. You have to decide whether each person who steps up to your counter is someone you should trade with. If the demo wins you over, Probably Stolen launches on Oct. 28.

18. ArcheAge Chronicles

Fantasy devotees have ArcheAge Chronicles, an MMORPG from XL Games. It has every staple you’d expect from the genre. Its fluid, fast-moving combat, however, feels closer to Phantom Blade Zero than to World of Warcraft. XL Games hasn’t yet announced when it will reach Steam Early Access.

17. Find the Needle

When Needle In A Haystack Simulator blew up on social media a few weeks ago, it spawned a wave of imitators. One of them, Find the Needle, has found a big audience during Steam Next Fest. The premise is just what the name suggests: you hunt for a single needle buried in a haystack of six million strands. FindTheNeedleDev and Needless Games plan to release it in the fourth quarter of 2026. There’s no AI disclosure on the page at the moment, so it appears to be simple trend-chasing.

16. Fart Together

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Fart Together is a physics-driven co-op game where players propel a shared raft through treacherous levels using nothing but the power of flatulence. Does it need any further pitch? There’s little wait, either. GamesMrkt’s Fart Together lets loose on Steam Early Access on Oct. 29.

15. Character House -Desktop Companion-

Idle games sometimes shoot up the player-count charts on SteamDB, and Character House -Desktop Companion- looks ready to be the next to do so. Yinengie’s creation lets you style and dress tiny chibi characters who live on your screen. They unlock still more accessories while you get on with other tasks on your PC. A full release is planned before the end of 2026.

14. Frostrail

The follow-up project from the Barotrauma creators at FakeFish is striking a chord during Steam Next Fest. Frostrail is a survival FPS in which you scavenge for supplies, fend off monsters, and fight to stay alive aboard a steam-powered train rolling through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. After this demo, it’s set to enter Steam Early Access before the year is out.

13. Loftia

Cozy-game fans also showed up in force, pushing Qloud Games’ Loftia into the festival’s most-played demos. This relaxed MMO takes the everyday life-sim loop of Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing: New Horizons and expands it into larger worlds shared by many players. That buzz should give Loftia a nice boost when it enters Steam Early Access on Nov. 3.

12. just volleyball

Temkosoft’s entry keeps things simple. It’s an accessible competitive volleyball game with a cartoon look and customizable players. Volleyball is a neglected niche among sports games, so it’s easy to see why just volleyball is gaining traction ahead of its Nov. 4 launch.

Source: Polygon