The Steam Next Fest games that gained the most Steam followers
We look at some of Steam Next Fest's biggest success stories, before providing some tips on how to increase your chances of Next Fest glory.
Before we get into it, a brief explanation of Steam Next Fest. If you’re familiar, scroll to the next heading.
What’s Steam Next Fest?
Steam Next Fest is a week-long showcase on Steam dedicated to upcoming Steam games, giving players the chance to try demos, tune into developer progress, follow their favourite titles, and add games to their wishlists.
Steam hosts three editions of Next Fest each year – one in February, June, and October. Unlike most of Steam’s year-round promotions, which focus on released or discounted titles, Next Fest focuses on unreleased games.
While a lot of developers take part these days, Next Fest is a free and somewhat visible way to reach an eager audience, boost discoverability, and grow valuable wishlist and follower numbers before release.
Without further ado, here’s our estimates for the top 5 October Steam Next Fest games by new followers during the duration of the event
Top Steam Next Fest games by new followers
As you can see, there’s a diverse mix:
Let’s dive deeper into each game. To give you an impression of how each demo has continued to build hype for its game, we’ve also included our estimates on the following:
The number of Steam followers overall, as some of these are known quantities and already had plenty of followers before the event.
When the game was added to Steam, as some were added last year but others last week.
The share of wishlisters who played the demo during Steam Next Fest (or a prior game in the franchise, where relevant).
Looking for our raw wishlist estimates? Reach out here for a demo and free trial of our platform.
REANIMAL (#1 by new Steam Next Fest follows)
New Steam follows during Next Fest: 8.5K
Overall followers on Steam: 45.5K (since Aug 2024)
Share of WISHLISTERS who played the demo: 7.8%
Tarsier Studios’ REANIMAL quickly emerged as one of the biggest success stories of Steam Next Fest. REANIMAL blends atmospheric co-op survival horror with the handcrafted, stop-motion visual style that made Tarsier’s earlier work iconic.
Tarsier is behind the beloved Little Nightmares franchise, which celebrated over 20M total sales a few months back. Nearly half of REANIMAL’s wishlisters previously played Little Nightmares, making it clear that Tarsier’s established fanbase has followed the studio into its next, even more twisted world.
It’s worth noting that REANIMAL was also one of the games Valve’s curation team selected for the trailer that it sent to press and shared to its social media channels:
The numbers also show that the demo is somewhat doing its job of building hype for fans of the developer and new fans, with 7.8% of wishlisters having already tried the demo. Many are seeing it as the true successor to Little Nightmares, as the third game in the series was handled by a different developer.
I wouldn’t say it’s too derivative, though. REANIMAL’s cooperative focus, which is obviously hot right now, helps it stand out. As does its dynamic camera and shifting the themes from childhood fears to humanity’s treatment of animals.
Everwind (#2 by new Steam Next Fest follows)
New Steam follows during Next Fest: 7.7K
Overall Followers on Steam: 48.6K (since Sep 2024)
Share of WISHLISTERS who played the demo: 14.2%
Everwind also soared during Steam Next Fest. The numbers are pretty encouraging: 14.2% of wishlisters played the demo, suggesting strong hands-on appeal for its blend of survival, building, and exploration.
Everwind, which is made by Bohemia Interactive, is a first-person survival experience letting players explore a layered world above the clouds. It’s sort of like a mix between Minecraft, Zelda Skyward Sword, and Valheim. On that note, 41.8% of Everwind’s wishlsiters have played Valheim, as per our estimates.
Everwind’s core hook of constructing and piloting your own floating skyship seems to have resonated with players looking for a fresh mashup of the sandbox survival genre.
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era (#3 by new Steam Next Fest follows)
New Steam follows during Next Fest: 6.7K
Overall Followers on Steam: 113.8K (Since Aug 2024)
Share of WISHLISTERS who played the demo: 27.8%
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is on track to mark a triumphant revival for this beloved fantasy strategy series. Plenty of Steam players have been looking forward to this one, and it shows. Over a quarter of wishlisters playing the demo, while nearly a fifth also played the remaster of Heroes of Might & Magic III.
This is a strategy title built for leisurely strategising rather than intense competition, which aligns with Hooded Horse’s recent success in thoughtful strategy publishing.
It’s a comfortable, elegantly updated take on the classic formula that’s on track to launch to modest success.
Systemic War (#4 by new Steam Next Fest follows)
New Steam follows during Next Fest: 5.0K
Overall Followers on Steam: 12.2K (since Sep 17 2025)
Share of WISHLISTERS who played the demo: 14.1%
Developed by Warsaw-based studio Play of Battle, Systemic War tries to bridge the gap between grand strategy and real-time tactics, combining geopolitical simulation with ground-level combat across real-world locations.
Co-created with Polish geopolitical analyst Dr Jacek Bartosiak, Systemic War promises depth that goes far beyond traditional RTS fare, modeling macroeconomics, diplomacy, and even currency flows. It made a strong impression at Next Fest, despite the build being a bit shaky at times.
Systemic War wishlister base is disproportionately Polish (Poland is its #3 market by wishlisters). This is due to the dev’s origin and the game’s setting, which centers around Poland defending itself in an alternate 2022 conflict.
We saw the same regional-overperformance trend in a few other games this year, including Expedition 33 (its #3 market is France, higher than usual) and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (its #4 market is Czechia, same deal).
Starsand Island (#5 by new Steam Next Fest follows)
New Steam follows during Next Fest: 4.6K
Overall followers on Steam: 21.8K (since May 2024)
Share of WISHLISTERS who played the demo: 7.6%
Developed by Chinese studio Seed Lab, Starsand Island is a cosy game that mixes the meditative rhythms of farming, crafting, and relationship-building with light adventure and exploration. It’s also 3D and has an anime art style.
Starsand Island clearly takes a lot of inspiration from Stardew Valley, with similarities in the title, even. Whether you call it copycat or iterative, the association seems to have worked. Our estimates show that two-thirds of Starsand Island wishlisters have played Stardew Valley on Steam.
The wishlist data reveals some other interesting nuggets, too. Almost a third of Starsand Island’s wishlisters are from China, and almost 9% from Japan. These higher-than-usual numbers for these markets are due to:
The popularity of the anime art style in Japan and China (although Western gamers love it, too).
The game was made in China, which tends to resonate a lot with local players, as we also saw with Systemic War in Poland.
The developer’s events strategy is paying off, as Starsand island was part of Tokyo Game Show, ChinaJoy, and gamescom (it’s tracking well in the West, too).
Starsand Island and the other four games we looked at clearly made the most of the Steam Next Fest event. Let’s see how they and others have done it in the past.
How to succeed in Steam Next Fest: Tips on improving your chances
Obviously, there’s no silver bullet here, and finding the time to perfect this stuff when building a game can be rough. But there are some clear similarities between most of the games that have performed well in this event (this one and in previous editions):
Starting early helps: Developers who plan – through community building and comms – tend to perform far better once the festival begins. This includes having decent marketing assets, which will make it easier for influencers and the media to cover your games. Logos, videos, nice screenshots – that stuff. If you’re a studio with some sway or your game appeals to creators in specific niches, contact journalists, influencers, and streamers early, especially those who cover demos or indie showcases.
Deliver a polished, representative demo that’s the right length: The most successful demos are short, stable, and highlight what makes the full game special. Focus on a vertical slice that communicates your core loop, visual identity, and emotional tone. Avoid releasing a buggy or incomplete build, but if your concept is cool enough, it’s not the end of the world. On that note…
Communicate and be transparent: Valve itself says that developers should tell players how long the demo will remain available, since many users download during the festival but only play in the following days. For smaller devs, Next Fest is a great way to get a leg up with community building – and transparency is important there. Fostering open channels for discussion – through Steam forums, social media, or community hubs – can help you nurture lasting fans (and get some QA done).
Engage actively during the event. Once the festival starts, treat it like a mini launch week. Devs actively posting on social media, responding to player feedback, and updating their Steam community pages see stronger engagement and retention. Also, communicate clearly about how long the demo will remain available after the event.
Follow up and sustain momentum. The weeks after Next Fest are also important. Keep the demo live if possible, as many players install during the event but play later, and use the feedback you received to refine your full release. Continue posting updates to maintain interest, and plan your launch window strategically to capitalize on your new audience.
Devs of the most played demos, like these ones in the recent event, get another chance of promotion via a landing page on Steam. They also get an email with a couple of extra tips from Valve itself:
The top-performing developers can access recap pages showing key metrics like wishlist counts and demo plays to assess performance and plan future strategy.
And speaking of key metrics and data-driven decisions (not my best segue…)
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