During Steam NextFest 2025, I shared 18 demos during three live streams, and played some additional games off stream. I’ll share my first impressions of the demos I explored. This post covers the games I played during my Saturday night stream:
- Tiny Garden
- Monsterest
- Whisper of the House
- Spray Paint Simulator
- Brassheart
- Urban Jungle
- WYRMHALL: Brush and Banter
- Cubic Odyssey
Tiny Garden
In Tiny Garden, players grow a miniature garden inside a toy shell. The art is cute, and has a sheen evoking plastic toy veggies. The demo offered some gameplay instruction, but I struggled to understand certain aspects of managing my little garden at first. The various plants affect the garden plots, and harvested crops are traded for other crops or decorative items.
I did sort out the basics and progressed a bit in the game, but I wasn’t pulled in by it right out the gate. I may revisit the game armed with what I learned the first time. Cozy puzzle games are generally in my wheelhouse, so I’m open to taking a second pass at this one…but for a first impression, I was left a little wanting.
Monsterest
An inn that needs repair out in the middle of the woods? Sounds like the perfect ‘next thing’ for my character to take on. What’s that? It’s an inn that caters to monsters? Well, that’s a twist! In Monsterest, I had fun meeting the monster guests arriving and needing rooms, furniture, and company.
The delightful pixel graphic game has several inn management tasks and features you’d expect, but the monster clientele add a fun element. I made sure to play long enough to check out the fishing mechanic. It was simple and intuitive, just like the wood chopping, mining, and furniture crafting were. (I did have a moment of confusion placing my first doorway, but that was a case of me looking at a part of the wall other than where the door was going. Oops!)
Monsterest was fun and I’ve added it to my wishlist. I’d love to play a bit more and meet more adorable monster guests in the future.
Visit Monsterest on Steam.
Whisper of the House
Whisper of the House is a relaxing tidy up game. The pixel graphics are enchanting, and the gameplay is pretty straightforward. I only completed the first tidy up job, but I’d like to play more and see if I encounter one of the mysterious puzzles alluded to in the Steam gameplay trailer.
This game is one I want to play more. I had a packed schedule for the stream, or I would have stuck with it a bit longer. Placing furniture in a game like this is oddly soothing, even when I can’t decide where a piece should go and I end up moving it several times. Haha.
Visit Whisper of the House on Steam.
Spray Paint Simulator
I don’t think I could ever create detailed graffiti art, but I can certainly enjoy the zen of spray painting a surface with the goal of a smooth, even coat of color. Spray Paint Simulator was a nice dose of meditative game play. I was grateful for the variety of crouch angles as I worked to coat a car in a vivid shade of tangerine. I even jumped on the hood to spray the roof. (That’s what the pros do, right?)
If you are a fan of PowerWash Simulator, this game would be a lovely addition to your library. This game is set to release in Q2 of this year, and I’m looking forward to it. I want to achieve some more spray painting zen!
Visit Spray Paint Simulator on Steam.
Brassheart
Brassheart is a point and click adventure puzzle game, set in an alternative 1920s era. Players play as Pola, a pilot trying to save her father. I got stuck on one piece of the puzzle in the demo gameplay, but it feels good when various clues start chaining together to make sense.
I don’t play this particular type of puzzle genre much these days. I used to play them more, so I felt a touch of nostalgia while playing Brassheart. The visuals of the game were lovely and the overall style of the game was appealing. I don’t know what the price will be when the game releases (later this year), but I’m following on Steam for updates.
Visit Brassheart on Steam.
Urban Jungle
Urban Jungle is a relaxing organizing sim/puzzle game. Place plants with varying needs around a charming 3D space. Seek harmony in placing the plants, meeting their needs, and unlock additional plants. I enjoyed the charming and simple nature of the game.
The art and soundtrack were cute and relaxing. I had fun learning about some basic needs of the plants I was tasked with placing. Urban Jungle is a good game to turn to when you want a soothing gameplay environment that lets you explore at your own pace.
Visit Urban Jungle on Steam.
WYRMHALL: Brush and Banter
WYRMHALL: Brush and Banter caught my eye, perhaps because the combination of “brush and banter”, but whatever the reason, I’m grateful that it did. I enjoyed the art style, the vibes, the characters… You play as a teenager starting a job where you clean objects that customers bring to the stall. The stall is in an alien market, so you encounter a variety of customers and objects.
My favorite part about the game is probably the “banter”. The dialogue in the game is fantastic. The graphics were whimsical and the soundtrack added charm. WYRMHALL: Brush and Banter is a game I’d like to continue playing. Its release date is March 7, 2025, so I won’t have to wait long!
Visit WYRMHALL: Brush and Banter on Steam.
Cubic Odyssey
Cubic Odyssey is a voxel-based action-adventure sandbox exploration game. (That’s a mouthful of a game genre, isn’t it?) This game had been on my “maybe” list of demos for NextFest until I saw some gameplay on a friend’s stream. I immediately moved it onto my “must play” demos list, and I’m glad I did. I had so much fun exploring and avoiding the “aggressive fauna” while searching for crafting materials.
The release date is “2025”, so after adding it to my wishlist, I followed the game for news and updates. I look forward to adventuring in the vivid voxel landscapes and crafting more and more tech to try and stop the red darkness. The mining process may be hard on my hands for long play sessions, as it involves long mouse button presses, but I hope to reach out with feedback to the developers and see if they have some accessibility options planned for the game. Cubic Odyssey was my favorite game demo of the stream, but it did have some stiff competition from WYRMHALL!
Visit Cubic Odyssey on Steam.
Watch the stream VOD of Steam NextFest game demos, part 3:
Read all of Ravvy’s Steam NextFest 2025 Game Demos posts:
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