Steam's 2021 Digital Tabletop Fest is all about RPGs

The Steam Next Fest returns tomorrow, October 1, for another week of dev chats and demos for literally hundreds of games. But it's not the only big Steam event on the monthly calendar. Valve announced today that the Steam Digital Tabletop Fest is coming back too, with a focus on RPGs.

The 2021 edition of the Digital Tabletop Fest will kick off with a sale beginning at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on October 21. Streaming events will follow at 1 pm on October 22, beginning with an hour-long chat with Disco Elysium designer and writer Robert Kurvitz, followed by a D&D panel at 2, a dive into Greedfall at 3, a look at Game of Thrones: The Board Game at 4, and a presentation called From Chess to Dragons – The Evolution of Gameplay at 5, which should be of particular interest to our resident chess fan Rich.

Livestreams will continue through October 23 and 24, with highlights including a Baldur's Gate 3 show with Larian Studios, a panel discussion on drinking and gaming called The Tavern (I think I might need to watch that one), a look at Necromunda: Hired Gun (which if we're lucky will include information on Streum On Studio's plan to bring the game up to its potential), and a Paradox Interactive talk called World of Darkness Goes Digital. 

The relentless optimist in me dares to dream that it will include a surprise update on Bloodlines 2, but realistically, no, that's not going to happen. The attached image looks to me like a screen from the Early Access battle royale Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt, though, and that's a pretty cool game in its own right, so I reckon it'll still be worth watching.

(Paradox isn't directly involved in the creation of Bloodhunt, but it owns World of Darkness.)

Steam's Digital Tabletop Fest: RPG Edition wraps up at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on October 25. The full event schedule, with calendar links and reminder options, is up at store.steampowered.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.