Steam Next Fest's 10 most played demos of June 2024 include an adorable building game, a surprising turn-based strategy spin-off, and a survival shooter where everyone's a duck

A group of duck soldiers posing in DUCKSIDE.

(Image credit: tinyBuild Riga)

Steam Next Fest is in full swing, and as usual there's an absolutely ridiculous number of demos available to try. Today, Valve's reached out to let us know the ten that have most captured your collective attention, earning more plays than any others.

The full list is:

Lots of good stuff in there. I suspected Tiny Glade would do well after enjoying viral success on TikTok—plus it's just a wonderfully charming little builder, as Lauren discovered earlier this week. Level Zero: Extraction isn't too surprising either—players love an extraction shooter, and its clever twist of throwing player-controlled monsters into the mix is so intriguing we recently featured the game in our own PC Gaming Show.

Of the rest of the list, we had a great time with Metal Slug Tactics, a turn-based strategy take on the classic arcade series. We've also been keeping a very close eye on The Alters, a survival game where you have to manage relationships with alternate universe clones of yourself to succeed—including going hands-on earlier in the year, and more recently chatting to the creators about their vision for the project.

I have to say, though, I probably wouldn't have predicted the success of DUCKSIDE, a game described on its own store page as "Imagine DayZ or Rust but you're a duck". That's the power of a strong premise, I suppose. I've also got to give props to Dungeon Clawler, a game that combines roguelike deckbuilding with the mechanics of an arcade claw machine, presumably all purely to justify that dreadful pun.

There's a few days left of Steam Next Fest, so you've still got the chance to check these out for yourself—just make sure you do so before June 17. While some demos do tend to stick around, we don't know yet which, so best to give them a try before they potentially vanish into the digital ether.

Formerly the editor of PC Gamer magazine (and the dearly departed GamesMaster), Robin combines years of experience in games journalism with a lifelong love of PC gaming. First hypnotised by the light of the monitor as he muddled through Simon the Sorcerer on his uncle’s machine, he’s been a devotee ever since, devouring any RPG or strategy game to stumble into his path. Now he's channelling that devotion into filling this lovely website with features, news, reviews, and all of his hottest takes.