Steam Next Fest October 2026: starts Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. ET, with free demos until Oct. 26

Steam’s week of free demos starts on Monday. Steam Next Fest October 2026 opens on Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. Pacific and runs for exactly one week, until Oct. 26 at the same time. It’s the last Next Fest of 2026.

When Steam Next Fest starts and ends

Valve’s schedule for developers puts the start at 10 a.m. PDT on Monday, Oct. 19. In other US time zones, that’s 11 a.m. MT, noon CT and 1 p.m. ET. Developers are told to set their demos live before then, so most demos should be ready the moment the event page opens.

The fest ends on Monday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. PT, or 1 p.m. ET. Daylight saving time in the US doesn’t end until Nov. 1, so the times are the same on both days. Valve also launches a wrap-up page on Oct. 26 with the games whose demos were played most during the fest.

Press got an early look: Valve’s press preview began on Oct. 8 for demos that opted in.

Five demos already confirmed for this Next Fest

Valve publishes the full lineup when the fest opens. Until then, these are games whose developers have confirmed a Next Fest demo on their Steam pages.

Loftia is a cozy multiplayer game about building a greener future on sky islands, where you farm, craft, explore and decorate with friends. Qloud Games says its limited-time demo goes live on Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. EDT and stays playable until the fest ends on Oct. 26. Progress from the demo carries over to Early Access, which starts on Nov. 3.

Hands Over is a five-player co-op horror game in which harmless challenges turn into cruel tests of luck and nerve, and bluffing and sabotaging your friends is part of the plan. ArtDock released the free demo early, on Oct. 15, and the game is in Next Fest from Oct. 19 to 26. Steam lists Early Access for Oct. 30.

Walkers is an open-world zombie survival game with base building and survivors you recruit as workers, guards or companions. It’s made by a single developer at Punch Interactive, and it passed 20,000 wishlists this week. The free demo is playable during Next Fest, and Early Access follows on Oct. 30.

Northgard Battlegrounds is a city-building auto-battler set in the Viking world of Northgard. Its demo has been out since Oct. 6, and a new clan, the Clan of the Wolf, joins it on Oct. 19 for Next Fest. Funday Games and publisher Shiro Unlimited release the game in Early Access on Oct. 27.

Rip It! Card Collector is a single-player incremental game about opening booster packs and filling a binder. Cybernetic Walrus put the demo out on Oct. 13, ahead of Next Fest, and the full game launches on Oct. 30.

How Steam Next Fest works

Next Fest is open to upcoming games with a playable demo, and they have to come out after the fest ends on Oct. 26. Prologues, chapter ones and demo versions of games that are already out aren’t eligible. Every demo is free, and you can add games to your wishlist straight from the event page.

There’s no official Next Fest livestream anymore. Valve dropped it with the October 2024 edition and moved developer streams to their own tab, and streaming is optional for developers. Many demos are only available during the fest, so if one catches your eye, play it before Oct. 26. For the full games launching next week, see our list of new games this week.

Steam Scream V, Steam’s event for horror and Halloween games, starts the same day Next Fest ends and runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2. The Steam Winter Sale 2026 follows from Dec. 17 to Jan. 4, 2027.

Valve has also scheduled the next two Next Fests, from Feb. 22 to March 1, 2027, and from June 14 to 21, 2027. For games you can keep at no cost right now, see our list of free games this week.

This page is updated as soon as Valve opens the Next Fest event page on Oct. 19, and again when it publishes the most played demos on Oct. 26.