Steam Next Fest gives you a week to try 700-odd demos

Steam's semi-regular Game Festival, which has been rebranded as Steam Next, begins today. Running until 22nd June, it offers a simply enormous amount of free demos (the official figure began at 560, but games kept being added and Valve's latest press release boasts of "over 700 demos") alongside a bunch of trailers and developer livestreams. The official page is here.

Valve has at least produced some highlight reels that group the games together by genre, so if you have a particular affinity for RPGs or strategy games or whatever there's a simple way to have a quick look (the below example is Adventure games).

I know what you're thinking: who the heck has time for 700-odd game demos? Fear not fam because PCG has you covered: we've been sifting through the chaff in order to bring you the most wholesome gaming wheat! Here are 14 of the best / most interesting looking demos on offer, including the gorgeous Sable, a road trip trucking adventure, and a roguelike that, for some reason, stars an evil Mary Shelley.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."