Steam Next Fest is pushing a mix of fresh indie games onto storefronts and demos—ranging from a Virtual Boy-inspired shooter and a matchday management soccer game to an application-review thriller and an autobiographical survival drama recently flagged by BAFT
Steam Next Fest has a way of making your backlog feel less like a graveyard and more like a checkout line. This round. the demos lean into big swings: a retro-flickering shooter that looks like it crawled out of a Virtual Boy fever dream. a soccer game focused on the matchday around the pitch. and two titles that place players in emotionally loaded. bureaucratic corners.
First up is The Last Salvage Squad, developed by Sunfish Kumano and published by Waku Waku Games. It’s a 2.5D shooter where you go after enemies with an array of firearms and swords. The visuals are strikingly red and black—so much so that they feel inspired by the Virtual Boy—and some foes resemble the Martian Tripods from The War of the Worlds. The game is landing on Steam for Windows, with the Steam Deck verified, and a demo is available. It’s also on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Pricing is usually $10, with a 10 percent discount on Steam until July 1.
Copa City takes a different tack. Developed and published by Triple Espresso S.A. it’s a soccer game that isn’t really about controlling play the way EA Sports FC or Football Manager would. Instead, you manage the matchday experience across a city. In practice. that means recruiting volunteers. catering to supporter groups by setting up fan zones for both teams. and placing players in hotels. It’s available on Steam for Windows (playable on Steam Deck), plus PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It typically costs $40, with 10 percent off on Steam until June 30.
But after about an hour, the pitch doesn’t fully land. The interface is described as clunky. The game is said not to explain its systems well. and essential items can be gated behind a progression system that’s called nonsensical. The reviewer also noticed Loren Ipsum placeholder text on a menu screen about 15 minutes into the tutorial. To the developers’ credit. they say they’re listening to players’ concerns and working to fix issues—though with many games competing for attention. there’s no plan to return.
Then comes Thank You For Your Application, developed by IceLemonTea Studio and published by IceLemonTea Studio and No More Robots. It’s on Steam for Windows and Mac, is playable on Steam Deck, and has a demo available. It usually costs $20, with a 15 percent discount until July 3.
In this game. you review candidates for jobs and decide whether to bring them on board based on how well they fit a company’s requirements. You’re not just scanning resumes; you’re also looking at documents like internship reports and emotional evaluations. The job review work is paired with managing your own life—paying bills and managing your mental health.
The structure echoes No More Robots’s Not Tonight series and Papers. Please. and it’s framed as commentary on late-stage capitalism at a moment when finding work can feel brutal. There’s also a sense of being trapped in a company town: the character can only spend earnings from the company within Aeropolis.
The most emotionally heavy thread, though, is The Quiet Things. Developed and published by Silver Script Games, it’s on Steam for Windows with a demo available, and costs usually $25 with a 10 percent discount until June 25.
It was in the news recently because BAFTA pulled a trailer for the game from its game awards ceremony at the last minute. BAFTA said it was “not in a position to sufficiently warn” attendees about “themes that may be a trigger for some.” In a statement to Kotaku. BAFTA added that it fully supports “games that engage with difficult subjects.”.
The Steam page for The Quiet Things warns it “contains discussion of self-harm. suicide. sexual assault/non-consensual sex and childhood abuse.” It’s an autobiographical game based on the developer’s own story. exploring those issues from the perspective of a survivor—making it. in the reviewer’s view. more than worthy of attention even after the setback.
Taken together, Steam Next Fest’s new indie slate feels like a tug-of-war between style and reality. One side is bright, loud, and fast—guns, swords, and Martian-shaped enemies in a Virtual Boy-inspired glow. The other side asks what it costs to apply, to manage a life, to survive. And for a storefront full of demos, that difference may be the point.
Steam Next Fest indie games The Last Salvage Squad Copa City Thank You For Your Application The Quiet Things demos Steam Deck verified Nintendo Switch 2 BAFTA trailer pulled
Virtual Boy shooter sounds fake tbh.
Wait so Copa City is like… managing hotels for soccer players? That is weirdly stressful. I guess that’s better than another “run and shoot” game.
So The Last Salvage Squad is on Switch 2 too? Thought Virtual Boy style games were dead. Also Martian tripod looking enemies?? sounds like they just ripped off War of the Worlds and called it indie.
I’m confused why they’re talking about “application-review thriller” and “bureaucratic corners” like that doesn’t ruin the fun. Steam Next Fest making my backlog feel like a graveyard?? same tho, I swear every demo launches another 3 games I didn’t ask for. Also the discounts end July 1 right? or June 30? they said both and my brain hurts.