Steam Next Fest's top demos were packed with gnomeslop hijinks, open world piracy, and vampire card battling, but then—well—Marathon happened

Steam Next Fest’s top demos were packed with gnomeslop hijinks, open world piracy, and vampire card battling, but then—well—Marathon happened | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Puzzle Devs behind GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and TimeSplitters are done with big shooters after getting burned by Embracer, so their next game is a Balatro-like twist on Scrabble—and you can try the demo now FPS Hours before its open preview weekend, Marathon is suddenly very close to the top of Steam’s top sellers list Survival & Crafting I’ve already played the demo of this co-op pirate survival game for 7 hours, but the boisterous sea shanties my crew sings keep me coming back for more Games Upcoming 2026 games: All the new PC games you won’t want to miss, from big hits to hidden gems Survival & Crafting ‘We couldn’t even have imagined this’: Co-op pirate survival game Windrose has been wishlisted over 1 million times Games The best PC games to play right now Roguelike Steam Next Fest is full of Balatro-likes: here’s 7 demos I think you should try Horror Burglin’ Gnomes is the next great friend-slop game that everyone with a PC and at least one other friend should check out Survival & Crafting The latest Steam Next Fest features a pile of Palworld-likes as witches and airships battle over the creature-collecting survival subgenre Card Game If you’ve ever had a crippling Vampire Survivors or Slay the Spire habit, avoid Vampire Crawlers at all costs Games Steam Next Fest is back and you’ve once again got just 7 days to find your favorite demos among hundreds of choices Games The best free games on Steam Platforms Five new Steam games you probably missed (February 23, 2026) Racing The creators of Rain World were tired of making something so depressing, so their next game is a ‘loud and dumb and fast’ cyberpunk racer you can try in the Steam Next Fest Games The best free PC games PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Resident EvilArc RaidersBest PC gearGame Quizzes Games Steam Next Fest’s top demos were packed with gnomeslop hijinks, open world piracy, and vampire card battling, but then—well—Marathon happened News By Lincoln Carpenter published 27 February 2026 Oh, and cowboy robot wizards. 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Since things kicked off Monday, the charts have been topped by gnomish burglary simulators, Vampire Survivors spinoffs, robot cowboy co-op, and more.At least, that was the case until the Marathon Server Slam unlocked yesterday and immediately rocketed to the top slot on the list, anyway. Ah, well. Far be it from me to deny the allure of an electric teal spacegun. While players flood by the thousands into Tau Ceti shootouts—players who, so far, have much itchier trigger fingers than their Arc Raiders counterparts—let’s run down the other previews that pulled the most attention. (Image credit: Fobri)At second place in the Next Fest ranking is Burglin’ Gnomes, representing the friendslop contingent of the field. In it, you and up to five friends play as a band of ankle-high gnomish bandits with unsettlingly extendable arms and a profound love for blasting cigs, risking gruesome death at the hands of shotgun-toting homeowners and their murderous cats while performing the mischief mandated by the High-Gnome’s edict. Related articles Steam Next Fest is back and you’ve once again got just 7 days to find your favorite demos among hundreds of choices Steam Next Fest is full of Balatro-likes: here’s 7 demos I think you should try This co-op FPS Steam demo feels poised to do for spellslinging robot cowboys what Deep Rock Galactic did for space dwarves After trying their own hand at gnome burglin’, our Elie Gould said “it’s got all the right stuff to warrant a REPO-like explosion onto the gaming scene: funny little guys, a good dose of horror, death, and a fun soundtrack. I can’t wait to play more.” A powerful recommendation for pint-sized vandalism.Sailin