Author: CtrlAltNoob

Indie Showcase – Steam Next Fest 2026

Here you can find all of my coverage of the games taking part in the Steam Next Fest June 2026.

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Desktop Explorer – Demo Impressions

Step aside logic puzzles, there is a new contender in town.

Desktop Explorer

Developer: Recurring Dream

Release Date: 17 Jul 2026

Rummage through the abandoned profiles of an old PC to unravel an inherited mystery. What secrets hide in this eerie adventure of cryptic games and outdated software? Who was using this computer? And what happened to them?

Desktop Explorer is what I want to call an OS exploration game, but not like any other I have played. The entire premise of the demo revolves around solving the puzzles on the system, incrementally unlocking new folders and using the files within to solve the next puzzle. They are presented to you through a light horror adventure, laterally unravelling the presumably real life mystery of your uncles amnesia/history/life.

The immersive nature of the OS threw me at first, as puzzle solutions can and will be found throughout the functions of the programmes themselves. Every solution had me feeling like a tech genius, despite – or should I say, especially because of – the brain scratching moments that had me starting at the screen, browsing back and forth wondering what on earth I was supposed to do. The information is there for those lightbulb moments and I feel that is all that you should know going into this game.

After seeking out logic puzzles for the last while, Desktop Explorer is an absolute breath of fresh air and I can’t say I have played anything else like it. I was thoroughly invested in this demo both mechanically and narratively and I highly recommend checking it out for yourself.

Demo Length – ~1 hour
At a glance
+ Excellent puzzles
+ Diagetic puzzles
+ Diagetic hints
+ Immersive
+ Engaging story
+/- Doesn’t feel hand holdy
+/- Disturbing enough. Not too scary (yet)

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Noob’s Picks – PC Gaming Show 2026

The PC Gaming Show delivered. I now have 7 more demos installed and countless more games on my radar. As always, I have narrowed it down to my 10 favourite reveals of the show!

The games are featured in alphabetical order.

Ascenders: Beyond the Peak

Developer: Ludogram

Release Date: Q3 2026

ASCENDERS: BEYOND THE PEAK is a turn-based exploration roguelite where survival is vertical. Lead a team of alpinists to recover ancient artifacts from cursed peaks, prepare your expedition, evolve your climbers, master rope mechanics, and face H.P. Lovecraft-inspired horrors within the mountain.

Wishlist Ascenders: Beyond the Peak on Steam here. There is also a demo available!

Carcass Clad

Developer: Wrong Organ

Release Date: To be announced

A visceral co-op tank horror game from the creators of MOUTHWASHING. Featuring weighty physical controls, crew the Yksiö with a team of 3. Fuel is limited and ammo is scarce. The city’s saint, long since laid to rest, walks again – gilded and defiled.

Wishlist Carcass Clad on Steam here.

Hack 95

Developer: Village Studio

Release Date: To be announced

Time travel to 1995 in this card-based computer hacking voyage. Take down an evil tech startup and shadowy government agency to become a god to the freaks and geeks of cyberspace. All while being helped by an incontinent virtual pug.

Wishlist Hack 95 on Steam here, and there is currently a demo available!

Locator: The Search for Abigail

Developer: Empty Exhibit

Release Date: To be announced

A Geoguessr-inspired narrative detective puzzle game set on an alien planet. As the Cartographer, you must gather and examine clues to locate missing archaeologist Abigail Lidari and uncover the fate of an ancient alien civilization.

Wishlist Locator: The Search for Abigail on Steam here.

Rivage

Developer: Exnilo Studio

Release Date: 13 Aug 2026

Rivage is an immersive sci-fi puzzle adventure set aboard the A.R.E.S. space station trapped in a space phenomenon. Wake up as Miranda, forced to explore, solve intricate puzzles to unravel the fate of your missing crew.

Wishlist Rivage on Steam here. There is also a demo available!

Signet City

Developer: Jump Over the Age

Release Date: Coming soon

From the creator of Citizen Sleeper, SIGNET CITY is a first-person fungalpunk RPG. You are a parasite, in a city where strange technologies and radical ideas are taking root. Grow into and through its inhabitants, uncover and change their stories, and witness the terminal season of the signet city.

Wishlist Signet City on Steam here.

Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions

Developer: Fat Alien Cat, Nomo Studio

Release Date: 11 Jun 2026 – Early Access

Join the ESS Starseeker crew to explore strange new worlds, working together with friends to complete planet-wide objectives before the station journeys on to new planetary destinations. Collect and unlock powerful tech to help the crew tackle the perils of space!

Wishlist Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions on Steam here.

Star Trek: Outposts Unknown

Developer: Magic Fuel Games

Release Date: 2026

Lead your crew across strange new worlds in this narrative driven outpost builder! Research, explore, and build as you face a mysterious cosmic force that threatens a new ally. Your adventure awaits, Captain!

Wishlist Star Trek: Outposts Unknown on Steam here. There is also currently a demo available!

There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

Developer: Friday Sundae

Release Date: Q4 2026

Inherit a crumbling English hotel and restore it by day—while battling ghosts by night. With a sardonic cat, a talking power tool, and a twisting supernatural plot, this is a musical mystery unlike any other. Will you be able to hold it together while everything around you falls apart?

Wishlist There Are No Ghosts at the Grand on Steam and play the demo here.

Vampire: The Masquerade — ETERNAL WHISPERS

Developer: Flyos

Release Date: Coming soon

Vampire: The Masquerade — ETERNAL WHISPERS is a narrative-driven CRPG set in the World of Darkness. Awaken from decades of torpor into a dark-modern Montreal consumed by political intrigue, buried secrets and personal horror.

Wishlist Vampire: The Masquerade — ETERNAL WHISPERS on Steam here.

The indie showcases of Summer Game Fest 2026 delivered so thoroughly that I think I am going to be working my way through the games all the way up to the Game Awards season!

We are rich in choice, surrounded by creativity and I can’t wait to see how all these games do at release and beyond.

Watch the full showcase here.

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Noob’s Picks – Wholesome Direct 2026

How is it possible to pick only 10 games from so many lovely games featured at the Wholesome Direct 2026? I want to say it isn’t but somehow I have narrowed it down to the top 10 that caught my eye this showcase!

The games are featured in alphabetical order.

Beastfolk Barber

Developer: Safe Flight Games, GameWorks Ventures

Release Date: To be announced

In Beastfolk Barber (code name: Project Salon), you’re a barber in a city full of beastfolk. Chat with your customers, style their look, help them see something new in the mirror… and in themselves.

Wishlist Beastfolk Barber on Steam here.

Croakwood

Developer: Texel Raptor

Release Date: Coming soon

Welcome to Croakwood, a relaxed town-building and management game where tiny frogs settle into life in the wild woods. Design and create structures, plan and decorate your town, explore an ancient forest filled with secrets, and guide a charming frog community as it grows.

Wishlist Croakwood on Steam here. There is also a demo available!

Design and Conjure

Developer: Tiny Kiwi Games

Release Date: Coming soon

Join Dalia, the Nature Witch, on a heartwarming journey to restore her hometown. Tidy spaces, design magical rooms, solve gentle puzzles, and soothe magical creatures affected by mysterious corruption bringing warmth and peace back to the town. 🌸

Wishlist Design and Conjure on Steam here, and there is currently a demo available!

Dressmaker

Developer: Cozy Lives

Release Date: September 2026

Become a dressmaker! Choose fabric, cut out patterns, and sew them all together to satisfy (or sabotage!) townsfolk in this cozy crafting game inspired by real dressmaking.

Wishlist Dressmaker on Steam here.

Fields of Mistria

Developer: NPC Studio

Release Date: 5 Aug 2026

Start your new life! Build the farm of your dreams as you discover a world brimming with possibilities. Magic, romance, and adventure all await you in this nostalgic farming / life sim RPG!

Wishlist Fields of Mistria on Steam here.

Fourleaf Fields

Developer: BEHEMUTT

Release Date: To be announced

Welcome to the tiny world of Fourleaf Fields, a cozy farming life sim where you’re no bigger than a carrot. Grow towering crops, care for tiny farm bugs, and uncover a web of secrets fueled by gossip – solo or online with friends!

Wishlist Fourleaf Fields on Steam here.

Momento

Developer: Fat Alien Cat, Nomo Studio

Release Date: 6 Jun 2026

Momento is a cozy room decorator with a twist: the choices you make play out over the course of a lifetime! Decorate your room, choose which items are important to you, and discover how the objects you choose will alter the course of the story, in a winding ode to the power of everyday things.

Wishlist Momento on Steam here.

Moonlight Peaks

Developer: Little Chicken

Release Date: 7 Jul 2026

Welcome to your new vampiric life in the magical town of Moonlight Peaks. Raise mystical crops, learn spell-casting and potion-making, and befriend – or even romance – the local werewolves, witches, and mermaids in this heartwarming supernatural life-sim. Eternity awaits!

Wishlist Moonlight Peaks on Steam here. There is also currently a demo available!

Tiny Delivery

Developer: Sinica

Release Date: Q3 2026

Tiny Delivery is a cozy adventure about a small robot courier with a big job and questionable methods. Heartfelt moments, hidden secrets, and a little chaos – all in one route!

Wishlist Tiny Delivery on Steam here.

Toem 2

Developer: Something We Made

Release Date: Q3 2026

Step back into the shoes of a curious photographer and set off on a brand new adventure all about uncovering hidden details, helping friends along the way, and documenting the world’s little wonders in TOEM 2, the sequel to the acclaimed TOEM.

Wishlist Toem 2 on Steam and play the demo here.

I feel like this showcase truly featured something of the wholesome variety for everyone. If I have any impressions on the demos I will be sure to post them in demo impressions and on the Summer Game Fest 2026 page!

Watch the full showcase here.

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Noob’s Picks – Story Rich Showcase 2026

The inaugural Story Rich Showcase is presented by Fellow Traveller, the folk that bring us the LudoNarraCon each year, which happens to consistantly be my favourite steam event. The curation is top class and catered to my tastes, so here are the top 10 announcements that I struggled to narrow down!

The games are featured in alphabetical order.

A Line Held Tight

Developer: Humble Grove

Release Date: Q4 2026

Tensions both political and personal are rising at the Brightworld mining colony. In this dynamic sci-fi visual novel you must decide where your heart and loyalties lie if you’re to shape the future and save yourself.

Wishlist A Line Held Tight on Steam here. There is also currently a demo available!

Am I Nima

Developer: HO! Games

Release Date: 8 Oct 2026

Am I Nima is a psychological-horror game where you must convince your mom that you really are her daughter. Combine words together in your brain and use them to talk. Get her to trust you.

Wishlist Am I Nima on Steam here. There is also a demo available!

Apple Crumble

Developer: Happy Broccoli Games

Release Date: 2026

It’s your grandma’s 84th birthday party and nobody is trying to murder her. Stop suspecting your family members, and don’t worry about the strange man in your bedroom. A new creepy-cozy mystery thriller from the creators of Duck Detective.

Wishlist Apple Crumble on Steam here.

Burn-9

Developer: 14 Hours Productions

Release Date: 2026

14 Hours Productions reveals Burn-9, a spy thriller where you’re not the spy. Safe behind your screen, guide the last survivor of an elite black-ops team in a desperate attempt to salvage a mission gone horribly wrong. Burn-9’s demo is available to play now.

Wishlist Burn-9 on Steam here. There is also a demo available!

Desktop Explorer

Developer: Recurring Dream

Release Date: 17 Jul 2026

Rummage through the abandoned profiles of an old PC to unravel an inherited mystery. What secrets hide in this eerie adventure of cryptic games and outdated software? Who was using this computer? And what happened to them?

Wishlist Desktop Explorer on Steam here. There is also currently a demo available!

Detective Turner: If Looks Could Kill

Developer: Riker

Release Date: 2027

A text-driven noir murder mystery where you literally read the room. Search for clues in the text, photograph evidence, and interrogate suspects to solve the murder of fashion icon Margot Voss.

Wishlist Detective Turner: If Looks Could Kill on Steam here.

Duppy Detective Tashia

Developer: Spritewrench

Release Date: 8 Jun 2026

Help Tashia unravel the case of a heinous murder and find her cell phone in this point & click, mystery adventure based on Caribbean folklore!

Wishlist Duppy Detective Tashia on Steam here. There is also currently a demo available and you can read my full impressions here!

The Hearth & Harbour

Developer: Saltstone Studios

Release Date: 2026

Transform a run-down restaurant and build a new life for yourself in this management RPG. Decide what kind of restaurant you want to create and what kind of person you want to be. As a storm brews outside, every choice you make has consequences.

Wishlist The Hearth & Harbour on Steam here.

The Telwynium

Developer: Dave Lloyd

Release Date: 2027

A 90s fantasy adventure epic from the creator of The Drifter- It’s your first night away from Willows Dene, and you have first watch.

Wishlist The Telwynium on Steam or play the demo here.

Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists

Developer: A Sharp

Release Date: Fall 2026

Recruit your team, choose your path, and descend into hell. Four heroes must overcome the trials of the underworlds in tactical narrative encounters. A new systemic storybook experience blending mythology and surrealism. From the designers of King of Dragon Pass and Six Ages.

Wishlist Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists on Steam here.

A great first showcase and will certainly be my most anticipated in the future. Keep an eye out here and on the Summer Game Fest page as I make my way through more of the demos!

Watch the full showcase here.

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Duppy Detective Tashia – Demo Impressions

The cast are as vibrant as the colourful art style.

Duppy Detective Tashia

Developer: Spritewrench

Release Date: 8 Jun 2026

Help Tashia unravel the case of a heinous murder and find her cell phone in this point & click, mystery adventure based on Caribbean folklore!

With the full game of Duppy Detective Tashia due to be 2-3 hours, this 30 minutes slice showcased a fun, bubbly detective adventure that left no space for tedium. After unfortunately and unknowingly being struck from life, Tashia has a murder to solve in the afterlife. The stylish animations and UI tie the simple investigative gameplay together in a way that never felt like it slowed down.

The game is created by a tiny Jamaican studio eager to showcase their culture and as a result, the afterlife is populated with mythical figures that I am unfamiliar with. Cultures are unique but games are universal and indie games in particular remain an incredible medium to discover people, places and stories that you may never have encountered otherwise. I hadn’t even heard the word Duppy before (it means ghost!). This game has a flavour that couldn’t be produced be anyone else and I would love to see more.

What I didn’t expect was for the game to turn in to a narrative version of Among Us. You should play yourself to understand what that means as it gave me a good chuckle when the demo wrapped up the way that it did. An easy-going easily digestible way to spend some time and solve a mystery!

Demo Length – -30 mins
At a glance
+ Colourful and stylish
+ Characters based on not your everyday myths
+/- Gameplay is simple
+/- The game feels more about the narrative than a challenging puzzle

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Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar – Demo Impressions

Quantum zoomies.

Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar

Developer: Abandoned Sheep

Release Date: 21 May 2026

Portal with cats – Become entangled in a quantum puzzle adventure! Mittens gains the incredible power to be in two places at once. Explore twisted test chambers, make mischief and evade capture by a whisker! 🐈🐈‍⬛

Every cat game that I see triggers my scepticism and I don’t know where that has come from, I can’t think of a single cat game that I have tried that has actually dissapointed me. In fact, they generally tend to be full of heart, humour, and quality in their own way. Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar continues that streak delightfully.

Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar takes the concept of Schrodinger’s Cat, and a literal cat burglar, and fuses them together into a puzzle game in a way that feels like it was born with the universe. For those who are familiar with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, this game controls similarly. One half of the gamepad controls one cat and in an instant, you can split into two cats, the second being controlled by the other half. It takes a bit of brain rewiring to start with – I can see why it is part of the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase – but soon enough it feels natural, and the speed and agility of the cats encourage getting stuck straight in. Zero pussyfooting around here.

The opening cutscene set the tone for the game, displaying the exact amount of seriousness necessary for a concept such as this. Lazy Susan is our hedgehog handler as we infiltrate a facility, solving puzzles of permanence, quantum physics, and steal cash to spend on fashion. Whether or not the fur density is actually fur density is down to interpretation but either way, the customisation is a joy and the bonus of this being Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar is that you have two cats to dress up rather than just one. Purrfection really.

It could just be big bones.

The puzzles were mind bending enough that I had to pause a couple of times to figure it out, and the addition of optional puzzles is a treat. If you take the time and go the extra mile you will be rewarded with currencies, which as far as I could tell so far, go towards the aforementioned fashion. If you don’t then it is no big deal, the rest of the story awaits. A fantastic demo that I had installed for far too long before finally playing. I stand corrected about putting it off and recommend any puzzle heads and/or cat fans to check it out!

Demo Length – 1hr
At a glance
+ TWO cats
+ Fantastic use of the concept
+ Feels great in the hands
+ Optional puzzles count towards optional fashion
+ The customisation is lovely
+ There is a built in hint system
+ Animations feel fluid and sharp, especially when splitting the cat.
+/- The demo made me pause to think, I have no idea how complexity will continue to increase

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Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division – Demo Impressions

The most engaging, useful, hilarious online course I have ever taken.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division

Developer: Thomas Hsu

Release Date: July 2026

Solve criminal cases through the power of SQL queries! Help out the city of Los Zorangeles by becoming a Database Detective in this new (unpaid) work from home opportunity.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division is truly the type game that I have wanted for my entire life.

It is your first day on the job as a Database Detective, which entails examining evidence and searching through databases to solve who commited these most heinous crimes, taking them off of the streets for good. You can then sleep soundly at night knowing that that elderly lady will never litter, ever again.

The game teaches you SQL, a real life programming language used to interact with databases. Through the brilliantly written manual for dummies and contextual practice, you will learn the basics. Each case adds on a new feature. Using those new features alongside what you have already learned allows you to find the data that you are looking for, and find that pesky perpetrator.

I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the best online course that I have ever taken. I am currently 3 chapters into a Python course and the entire process so far has consisted of ‘watch me do this’ and ‘copy that’. The reason Database Detective works so well is that even from the very first case, it does not tell you the answers directly. The instructions are very clear on what you have to do but you have to engage your own brain to input the commands relevent to the tables that you are working with. The entire process feels less like learning and more like solving a really satisfying puzzle.

The learning part is outstanding, but that isn’t the only thing that impressed me so thoroughly. The entire package of this game is a delight. You aren’t just solving any cases, you are solving the pettiest of crimes. The entire process feels completely ridiculous, not least when the air horns go off and confetti fills your screen on a successful arrest. It is a hilarious time that will make jumping back in to learn so much more of an easier process than picking up a book or watching a video would. The CopOS that you are navigating is thematically perfect, and I can feel a passion for not only teaching, but teaching through a quality product oozing through every interaction. 

I have no SQL experience and the demo took 1 hour. I wouldn’t say I am competent by now but the handbook is a fantastic reference and I presume any future cases will allow you to build on the basics while also introducing more complexity.

Some games are worthwhile because they make you feel something, help you see the world in a new light, or provide invaluable distraction. Database Detective is valuable as it showcases the astronomical potential for educational games, with the genuine potential to change the course of lives by making learning accessible, engaging, interactive and fun. I truly see the future of learning being infinitely better because of projects like this.

Demo Length – 1hr
At a glance
+ Genuinely educational
+ Great humour
+ Builds on itself
+ Seamless
+ Learning disguised as a puzzle

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Funeral for the Sun – Demo Impressions

When logic meets the surreal.

Funeral for the Sun

Developer: Nicolás Cid Delgado

Release Date: Coming soon

Search the ashes of an abandoned Latin American town and uncover 500 years of secrets. A non-linear mystery where you travel back in time and untangle the complex history of a community cursed by supernatural forces.

The final demo that I tried from the Thinky Direct 2026 was the demo for a game that I already had on my wishlist, Funeral for the Sun. We play as a historian on her attempt to unravel the past of a town doomed to flames and time.

Of all the games that I have tried that have evoked Return of the Obra Dinn in some way – my favourite game of all time might I add – Funeral for the Sun has come the closest to capturing that magic so far. Don’t get me wrong, Funeral for the Sun has its own soft, painterly art style, its own story to tell and its own unique way of telling it, but exploring the environments, discovering clues from the past and encountering the drama along the way is reminding me of the reasons that I like the genre. It is not only for the deduction of the logic puzzles – however smart that makes me feel when I have some success – but the story that unfolds along the way, the surprises, unexpected turns, and the oddities that provide another level of intrigue.

In less than 45 minutes I was given enough clues, enough fulfilment and enough strangeness to really want to continue beyond what is currently available. Exploring the same scenes in both the past and the present in order to fill out our journal, put names to faces and make the connections between them is an endlessly satisfying process, presented seamlessly. I will be keeping my eye on this one!

Demo Length – 30min-1hr
At a glance
+ A satisfying deduction system
+ I have no idea where the story is going to go
+ Drama ramps up quickly
+ The way the past and present work together to present puzzles and solutions
+ The colour palette is evocative and art style recognisable
– Only being able to save a limited amount of journal entries felt restricting

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Deductopia – Demo Impressions

A clever, cozy use of a deduction style format.

Deductopia

Developer: Nightwell Games

Release Date: Coming Soon

Explore the scenes, find clues, and sort out people, pets, and belongings in this cozy slice-of-life detective puzzle game. Fans of Duck Detective, Little Problems, and The Case of the Worst Day Ever will enjoy this new deduction game for all ages.

I have tried a lot of demos for Obra Dinn and Golden Idol likes (admittedly I still have yet to play Golden Idol beyond the demo), and Deductopia has been my favourite so far. It is a logic puzzle to its core and it did all of the right things. The UI is intuitive, the clues are just enough, and it pushes you in the deep end, giving that delicious initial overwhelm that unravels through exploration, turning ‘how the heck am I ever going to do this?’, to ‘if this is this then that must be that’, at a satisfying fast pace. It throws you in a scene, provides you with some questions, some clues and some solutions, and says, ‘have fun’.

Something that I really appreciate about Deductopia are the difficulty options. There is the option to experience these levels in two different ways. Easy mode checks your answers as you go, informing you if you are correct or potentially going down the wrong path. Hard mode waits until you have inputted all of your answers and deduced the entire scene to reveal whether you made any mistakes. Hard mode was exactly the kind of challenge that I am after. If you give me a way to brute force a puzzle I will, I just can’t resist it so for me, easy mode would have had me gaming the game rather than playing the game. I only bring this up because, while I am glad it exists for the folk that prefer to play that way, a lot of the reward of a deduction games for me is the dopamine flood I get when I get confirmation of my answers. From my experience so far, this is always 10x better when lots of information that you have been chipping away at all gets approved at once. These options allow me to flex whatever brain muscles that this works, while also providing reassurance that if I get stuck later down the line, I am not hung out to dry, easy mode will be there for me.

The demo offered 3 of 12 scenes to explore and solve. It took me 30 minutes total, so this is not going to be a long game. It does however seem like it is going to be an extremely satisfying version of what it is. Low stakes, sit down with a cuppa and a biscuit, and be the observation hero that everyone needs.

Demo Length – 30 mins
At a glance
+ Difficulty settings
+ Thoughtful UI
+ A good ratio of clues:deduction so far
+/- Trusts that the player doesn’t need handholding
+/- Short

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