Steam demos: June 2025

As a result of a recent Steam demo update many games include a demo that you can play and review. This in my opinion is an amazing feature, as it allows me to give a chance to games I'm not sure about and feedback is surely useful to developers.

As a developer myself I also appreciate being able to see what other developers are up to. I get inspired by the good ideas and learn from the bad ideas. Here are the Steam demos I enjoyed the most, in no particular order...

PIGFACE

PIGFACE is a first-person shooter developed by: titolovesyou and published by DreadXP.

This game may be described as a first-person Hotline Miami. Gunplay is really satisfying, but what takes this game to the next level is the atmosphere. This game is a masterclass of atmosphere, both levels and apartment are fun to exist in, they feel real and I'm immediately sold on everything I see. The world consumes my mind and I'm fully immersed right from the start.

The game is dark, it brings back that nostalgic feeling older FPS games had but with a bit of Dishonored sprinkled on top. You can approach your missions in different ways, you can sneak around and take out enemies 1 by 1, or you can run straight at them, guns blazing. I've played through the Farmhouse mission 8 times already, I love it.

No I'm not a Human

No I'm not a Human is a story driven horror game developed by Trioskaz and published by: CRITICAL REFLEX.

Similarly to PIGFACE, the atmosphere of this game is insane. The story is Lovecraftian in nature with multiple extinction level threats and deep mystery surrounding the world we inhibit. During the day the sun burns people alive, so they seek shelter with others. When the sun goes down the creepy Visitors emerge and attempt to deceive you into letting them in. The problem is, because of the amazing art direction and dialog, every single person looks and sounds suspicious. It's never an easy choice.

Every day you find out a little more, a new way to distinguish Visitors from people, a new detail about the world. You have to constantly check-up on the survivors in your shelter based on this new information. Over time you grow paranoid, of the people knocking, of the people you already let in, and the government. This is a must play, even if you don't usually play horror games.

BALL x PIT

BALL X PIT is an amazing blend of survivors-like and brick breaker, developed by: Kenny Sun and published by Devolver Digital.

This game innovates on the survivors-like genre with it's brick-breaker style gameplay where you destroy hordes of enemies with carefully, or not-so-carefully shot BALLS. Those BALLS come in many variations, from fire to ice. But what's really special is that you may level up, evolve and fuse the balls together to create insane amalgams that demolish your enemies.

More persistent progression is offered in form of a city builder, by placing buildings around you slowly build out your city and gain bonuses in your runs.

Relic Abyss

Relic Abyss is a survivors-like game developed and published by: Reverse Loop.

It's a beautiful survivors-like game with plenty of depth and it delivers on the power fantasy as you'd expect from this genre. There are plenty of characters you can play and plenty of ways to play them. This game is a must play for anyone who likes the survivors-like genre. One problem I usually have with this genre is clarity, especially during end-game hordes, this game solves it with really good art direction which makes things look good, but not distracting.

This game has a cast of interesting NPC-s you can talk with in the hub area to find out more about the world and unlock new characters. You can also buy and enchant equipment as you would in a game like Diablo. There's a lot to do in this game, demo alone could take you hours to complete.

TEXNOPLAZM

TEXNOPLAZM is a super fast, first person shooter/brawler developed and published by: Mothership Loudspeakerz.

This game is so fast and exciting that it was only possible for me to capture the aftermath of a fight. You play as a nameless "doll", who's talent for violence can best be described as John Wick meets Doomfist from Overwatch (2016). In this game you Rush through the dark streets of dystopian Europe and crush your enemies with bare hands, melee weapons and guns.

You can punch a guy so hard he drops his gun, catch that gun mid air, head-shot him, throw the gun at some other dude to stun hum and beat him up with a metal pipe. It's so satisfying to pull off such combos. Game also features a parry system, you are able to parry pretty much everything, including a subway train. Absolutely glorious.