Another Jeff pre-Next Fest demo roundup

Steam Next Fest officially starts on Monday, but we've been getting demos for a week now. I already wrote up a handful last Friday and Cass wrote up some more this week. We're going to get a firehose of them starting on Monday, so let's do another round of gems so they don't get lost in the chaos.

About Fishing

About Fishing is from The Water Museum who created 2024's Arctic Eggs. Both are absurd, PSX, janky, and kind of amazing. The demo gives you just enough of About Fishing to know that it's about anything but. There are mermaids, murders, and a church that's been converted into a jail. Also, there's some fishing.

The Incentive Program

Look, we're halfway through 2026 and I'm already burned out on Balatro-likes and I normally wouldn't recommend a "it's a match-3, but Clover Pit." But The Incentive Program makes it clear from the start that there's more to it than just more break-the-game-with-combos slop. There's a corporate horror story under the surface and a fun style that hooked me right away.

Moss: The Forgotten Relic

I never played the VR titles Moss and Moss 2 from Polyarc because I don't have a VR headset (and don't really want one). But their third entry, Moss: The Forgotten Relic, is a normal, non-VR game that combines them both. You play as both a small mouse named Quill and as a disembodied spirit that acts as a guide and helper. Those dual roles take Moss from being just a platformer and turn it into a really clever environmental puzzler with some unique gameplay.

Photomaly

Photomaly is kind of an immersive sim where you run a photography studio. But it's also a horror game where the people you're taking photos of aren't always what you see through your camera. And then a representative from a vague, yet menacing, government agency shows up. It's a pretty basic game, but it's a lot of creeptastic fun.

Project P.I.T.T.

Project PITT is a game about throwing rubber ducks into a pit. It's kind of a physics-based immersive sim, kind of an incremental upgrader, kind of a corporate satire, and kind of a horror game? It really is just about throwing rubber ducks into a hole in the ground, though, and it's fascinating.

Thanks, Light

Thanks, Light is a puzzler in the tradition of Portal, but with heavy influence from Superliminal and a bit of horror mixed in. You're working your way through a series of puzzles armed only with a flashlight. The light makes certain things go from being 2D shadows to being 3D objects. It's weird. It's spooky. It's clever. And it's a lot of fun.