Valve has Steam Next Fest scheduled for October 19 to 26, 2026, with the event opening and closing at 10 a.m. Pacific. For horror fans, the five demo listings in a retro-horror selection offer distinct starting points, from body horror to first-person survival. Steam lists Hyperarousal separately as a free demo coming soon.
Valve says participating games must have a public playable demo when the festival begins, and each game can take part in only one Next Fest. Ian Dean at Creative Bloq selected six horror games for their retro art direction; Steam lists demos for five of those titles.
Five horror demos, five different fits
| Game | Horror style | A good fit if you want |
| The House Before | Body horror and a house that is itself the setting and the player's body | A mostly linear, story-led experience |
| DERELIKT | Retro first-person sci-fi horror with a claustrophobic, PS1-era feel | A single-player retro FPS demo |
| The Road of Dust and Sorrow | Pixel-art survival horror about a mother protecting her daughter | A survival story centered on family and danger |
| ANOMALITH | Third-person survival shooting with Showa-era style and liminal spaces | An atmospheric search for a missing friend |
| BLIGHTEN | First-person survival horror in an abandoned facility | Tension built around managing resources and ammunition |
The House Before: body horror at a slower pace
In The House Before, the player inhabits a house, with pipes and tunnels forming its anatomy. Steam describes the full game as a mostly linear mix of visual-novel and adventure elements, with simple minigames. Its roughly two-hour estimate applies to the full game, not the demo. Steam says it is not aimed at players looking for fast action, jump scares, or complex puzzles, so its pitch is a better match for narrative body horror than an action-heavy session.
DERELIKT: claustrophobic retro sci-fi
DERELIKT is a narrative retro FPS set in claustrophobic, PS1-era sci-fi horror. Steam labels its single-player demo free, making it an easy fit for players who want to try a first-person retro shooter without paying for the demo.
The Road of Dust and Sorrow: survival with a family at its center
Katherine is trying to protect her daughter, Ava, in a world where a miracle crop has created flesh-hungry Dusters. The pixel-art style and family-centered premise put survival and danger ahead of a conventional shooter setup. Steam lists Spanish (Spain) interface text and subtitles, but not full Spanish audio.
ANOMALITH: a search through liminal spaces
ANOMALITH combines third-person survival shooting with Showa-era aesthetics and liminal spaces. Its story follows a girl searching for her missing friend, giving the shooter a clear investigative thread alongside its survival-horror premise.
BLIGHTEN: survival depends on supplies
BLIGHTEN takes place in an abandoned facility and uses a first-person perspective. Steam highlights resource and ammunition management, making it the clearest fit here for players who enjoy weighing when to spend supplies as they move through survival horror.
Hyperarousal is listed as coming soon
Steam’s Hyperarousal page describes its free demo as “coming soon” and says the game is not yet available. The planned psychological horror game is set in Italy’s Camonica Valley. Its listing describes exploration and player reactions shaping a psychological profile that changes Garlo’s perception and surroundings; three ritual tattoos reveal clues and routes. That premise may appeal to players drawn to psychological horror, but Steam’s listing does not place it among the demos available to try during the event.
