Alright it is time for part two of the Steam Next Fest demos I checked out for this June 2026 edition. Unfortunately this second batch of games I checked out where mostly negative experiences, which were sometimes the game’s fault, and sometimes just my inexperience in the genre of game. So while I give my thoughts, you should always check out these demos for yourself.
AI disclosure: I personally do not like the use of AI, and therefore did not play any demos that disclosed AI usage at the time of this writing. I checked every game’s description looking for a disclosure. I do my best to not support games that utilize AI.
Signy & Mino: Against All Gods
First and foremost this game looks great overall. I really like the aesthetics and character designs. I found the combat to be interesting with the combo system, and the jumping to avoid attacks. I kind of wish the battles moved a little faster though, and maybe they will enhance that further into the game. My huge grievance with this game is the sound effects. I found a lot of the sound effects to really annoy me, especially when moving around menus, or text windows popping up. Other than that I can see this as a game I play down the road, but probably won’t be a title I snag at launch.
Echoes of Aincrad
The tutorial of this game was annoying as shit. I was legit just yelling at them to stop popping up tutorial tabs, and just let me play. If you go into the pause menu, players keep talking to you and you miss conversation. The MC’s design is super fucking dull, and I was pretty bored throughout the tutorial dungeon. When I got to town I tried to quit out, and it legit would not fucking let me. I hit ALT+F4 and won’t be looking at this game again unless it’s tossed into a cheap bundle years down the road. (A friend informed me later that the actual quit option is in the settings menu).
SURI: The Seventh Note
I had to give up on this one early on. I’m just terrible at rhythm games, and this one is very strict with it. I think a lot of people will enjoy this, but I can’t wrap my head around the beat enough to even get past the tutorial. On to the next.
Mexican Ninja
This is a really silly action rogue-like featuring a Mexican “ninja”, but feels a bit more samurai honestly. This game leans into some weirdness, and by the end of the first run I died to a scantily clad Mexican stripper. Once dead, you get the option to spend the money you’ve collected on boosts and power like other rogue-likes. Then you jump back into the fight. Similar to other games of this vein, you can select different levels as you proceed to the boss fight. I am unsure if this will be a day one purchase, but I hope to check it out at some point for sure.
Edge of Memories
No inverted Y Axis controls, and I’m not doing the XBox app shit anymore to set it up. Pass for me. I shouldn’t have to do extra work for accessibility settings.
Poly Fighter
I don’t play fighting games much at all, so all my issues could just be me. This game feels a bit stiff and clumsy to me. I fought a few folks during stages and just felt bored with how the game felt. Then the barrel breaking bonus stage was laughably bad, which could be chalked up to my inexperience, but it didn’t make me as a casual feel very good about the game. It has cool ideas where you can learn moves to customize your fighter’s style, but the gameplay just isn’t doing it for me. I will not be purchasing this one in the future, but I think fighting game fans should check out the demo, as I’m no expert on this genre.