In recent years, I've been trying to expand into playing a wider variety of games, especially indie games created by small teams. Steam Next Fest, an online event held three times each year, is an excellent way to explore a variety of games and game genres to find something new. The most recent event, from February 23 to March 2, event hosted a slew demos for forthcoming indie games in a wide variety of genres.
As I scrolled through the list of games participating, I made my choices mostly based on vibes. Interesting artwork or creepy atmospheres caught my attention immediately — and before I knew it, I had a massive list of games to explore. Unfortunately, I only made it through a small fraction of the games I wanted to play. Here are some of my favorites, and if any of these games sound interesting, you can support them by wishlisting them on Steam.
Phonopolis
Phonopolis is a new release from Amanita Design, one of my favorite developers who also made Creaks (a fave from 2021), Pilgrims, and the Samarost series. The studio is known for making hand-crafted adventures with unique puzzles inspired by the strange worlds they create.
In Phonopolis, the player takes the role of Felix, who lives in a city full of megaphones. Every citizen must follow the orders of the megaphones or risk being arrested. However, Felix has found a pair of headphones, setting him free from the city's control.
Just as with previous games from Amanita, the puzzles are wonderfully unique and often challenging. I find myself poking at the different interactive elements of the screen, dragging objects around, and scratching my head, trying to figure out how to solve the puzzle — and when I finally do, it's immensely satisfying.
The main difference between Phonopolis and the studio's previous games is that it has a stronger emphasis on narrative. In all the previous games, the main characters silently interacted with the world and there was no intelligible text. However, here the story is fully scripted, with beautiful voice acting (from a soothing voice actor, who sounds incredibly familiar to me, but I can't seem to figure out who it is).
As a side note, the demo includes a brief behind the scenes video, showing some of the ways this game was hand-painted and designed.
Coming 2026.
Wax Heads
Wax Heads, the first game from Patattie Games, was recommended to me by a friend. In the game, you are a former band member turned record store clerk. Customers come in with various requests and you have to search through the stock to find the right record for the customer, based on your conversation with them.
The game features some fantastic cut-out style character art, interesting characters, and what seems like a cool storyline about the love of music. The team must have had a great time brainstorming band names and album covers, some of which are hilarious and others I'd love to listen to in real life.
Coming May 5, 2026.
Our Ordinary Home
Our Ordinary Home, developed by Mantaray161, is a visual novel about weaving together the events of a murder in a suburban family home. The story involves a young man killing his sister, because he believed she was possessed by a demon. As he recounts the events of that terrible night, the young man reveals haunting facts about what happened, the family, and the likelihood of abuse.
While what initially drew me in was the striking artwork, what fascinated me most about playing was how it explored memories with intense emotional resonance. These appeared on a page with sequence of fragments, which the player has to assemble into the correct order to piece together what transpired. At the end, these events are summarized and the player has to pull the correct words (mad-libs style) from the fragments to complete the summary.
I really enjoyed this mechanic. However, I ran into some issues, with the gameplay area being larger than my screen. This made it extremely difficult for me to navigate through the scenes and fragments. I really hope this is something the developer is able to fix in the final version, because I would love to fully explore this narrative.
Coming April 24, 2026.
Letter Lost
Letter Lost, developed by FlatNine Games, is all about working in a most unusual post office. The player is conscripted into managing a tiny post office with very specific hours of operation and rest. You run around checking addresses, stamping envelopes, weighing parcels, and generally making sure each letter or package is delivered to the proper place. Throughout the day, you may be interrupted by visitors, some just seeking to send out a message, others with their own mysterious stories.
As you run through your days, you grow increasingly aware that something is strange about this post office — and not just the fact that you can't leave. I found the demo incredibly compelling, if a bit stressful (in a good way), since there was never enough time to complete everything I wanted to get done. But I'm fascinated to see where this story will go, so I'll definitely be playing the full game.
Coming May 2026.
Sister Ray: A Walk on the Wild Side
Sister Ray, developed by The Growing Stones, is a visual novel/role playing game about a young artist struggling with addiction, who is also taking care of her younger sister. As you play, you have to manage her addiction, mental state, and health as she maneuvers through the world and scramble to make enough money to keep your sister fed and addiction satiated.
Every element of this game feels slickly polished and designed to immerse the player in the experience of facing addiction. The character slouches through the world, as if it's all too much to carry, as the camera angle tilts and blurs showing how off kilter she really is (even when she appears to be holding it together).
Certain dialog choices come with a mini game, in which you have to stop a rapidly moving line at just the right point to say the polite or "correct" thing. Fail and your intrusive or aggressive thoughts win, creating more problems with the people around you. (I kept forgetting this was a thing and ending up down bad pathways.)
Sister Ray will be triggering for some people. The issues and experiences it deals with are intense, and the process of managing her addiction as it escalates adds to the stress. I also think it has the potential to be a powerful and meaningful game for those who feel they're in the right head space to experience it.
Coming Q2 2026.
A Storied Life: Tabitha
A Storied Life: Tabitha, developed by Lab42, provides an exploration of grief in a game about clearing out a loved one's home following their passing. The player is presented with a room and must clear out objects, art, knickknacks, and mementos and decide whether to keep, auction, or recycle them. Since the "keep" box only provides a limited amount of space, the player has to make careful choices as to what or what not to hold on to.
Each item also provides interesting insights into this loved one's story, and after completing a room, the player is able to pull words from the kept objects to help complete an old water-logged memoir. The story includes interesting elements of mystery, as well, with a secret life revealed through the remnants of what this person left behind.
Coming April 14, 2026.
Human.exe
Human.exe, developed by Weird Engine, is an interactive fiction, in which the player is acting as a human validation for an AI construct based on the mind of a philosophy professor, who insists he's a real person. As you answer moral questions with yes/no responses, the the professor answers his response in turn, which may or may not be in agreement with your answers.
The game promises to have a more complex storyline with multiple branching pathways. The concept of a machine's understanding of binary morality is an interesting one, and I think it could go down some interesting avenues.
Coming soon (no specific release date).
Besmirch
Besmirch, developed by Gangru Games, is a dark fantasy farming sim, in which you take up the roll of being a farmer in a small remote town. After spending the day tilling the field and planting beets, you go to bed at night only to discover your new home comes with spirits and demons bent on tearing you apart. So, the days then become focused on not only farming, but also obtaining the spiritual protection to be able to safely sleep at night and speaking with the locals to figure out the deeper mystery of this place.
I barely scratched the surface with this one. There seems to be plenty of places to explore, lots of people to chat with, timed events, and side quests. I love the moody art style and the spooky vibes, which might be enough to get me to play a farming sim.
Coming May 11, 2026.
More Games...
A few games looked interesting, but they didn't have playable demos when I put my list together, including Woodrot (The Midnight Token), Last Spaceship (正常游戏) and Teeth Cutter (Phillip Hubbard).
Thank you for reading and spending a little of your precious time with me!
I make games! You can play some of them for free on Itch. If you’re a game developer looking for a writer or narrative designer, please check out my portfolio.
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