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.
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 What secrets hide in this eerie adventure of cryptic games and outdated software?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.
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!
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