Weekly Notes (Oct 13 – 19): Steam Next Fest Brings Demos and Duck-Based Extraction Shooter

Niklas Borglund

Author

2025-10-22

Last week was dominated with Steam Next Fest Demos, and usually we don't see that many releases of games then, but a few full releases still managed to stand out.

Escape From Duckov launched to Overwhelmingly Positive reviews with its humorous take on extraction shooters. BALL x PIT continues the trend of critically acclaimed survivor-likes, while Fellowship brought a new fantasy online RPG to Early Access.

Let's look at what launched alongside all those demos!

Escape From Duckov by Team Soda

Largest audiences: ~75% Chinese (Simplified), ~12% English

Apart from the many demos this week - Escape from Duckov seems to be the winner. The name is (I assume) a humorous play on the very popular Escape from Tarkov - that is being released on Steam next month.

With Overwhelmingly Positive score shortly after launch - players love the fun gameplay and the active community and response from the developers. They appreciate the art style, using ducks and the unique twist on the extraction shooter genre.

It's a single player game, so the main critique is more of a feature request - a subset of players really want multiplayer and/or co-op support, since they think it would enhance the experience.

The large majority of reviews are written in Chinese, around 75% - will be interesting to see if this game will attract other audiences as time goes by.

BALL x PIT by Kenny Sun

Largest audiences: ~55% English, ~16% Chinese (Simplified)

After the recent success of Megabonk, Ball x PIT seems to be the latest critically acclaimed game in these type of games.

You face hordes of enemies and gather the loot to expand your home base. With currently 95% positive, players love its addictiveness and the unique genre combination - giving a sense of freshness to the experience. The base building is much appreciated along with its meta-progression system.

Some players think it gets a bit repetitive and shallow after a while. 7% of all the reviews are Steam Deck players, which is high. Usually I see 2-3% on verified titles.

Fellowship by Chief Rebel

Largest audiences: ~65% English, ~10% Russian, ~6% German

A fantasy online RPG where you play with up to 4 friends that was just released in Early Access. Players love the focus on Dungeon runs and the right gameplay loop. They see the potential and are excited over future updates. This feels different to other MMOs according to some, which is exciting to many.

The overwhelming criticism is server issues, long queue times and just general instability. If we look at the audience split, then there's a clear positive score discrepancy between the english audience and most other languages. I'm guessing they have some regions they prioritize, but I also assume that this will be ironed out over time.

Mohrta by Scumhead & Osiol

Largest audiences: ~90% English

A "non-linear FPS adventure" with a clear retro art style similar to DOOM and other classic titles. It's even made in the GZDoom Engine, which is a fork of the original Doom Engine.

Players love the art style and the satisfying combat and world building. Overall very positive, but some players report some technical issues and performance drops.

⚔️ Early Access Graduates

• Necesse - A procedurally generated sandbox open world survival crafting game. Players love the creative building, npc management and just the overall management. Some players feel it can become repetitive over time and lacking in depth.

Steam Next Fest Demos

Niklas Notes picks up on demo products, but I don't really have a system for automatically refreshing them like I have with games yet. I am working on better demo coverage in future updates. However, here are some of the top demos that got analysis from the next fest this time around. Extracted with the Advanced Search!

• Cairn Demo - (Open World. Resource Management. Walking Simulator)
• REANIMAL Demo - (Exploration. Horror. Puzzle)
• Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era Demo - (4X. Grand Strategy. Turn-Based)
• Desktop Defender Demo - (Auto Battler. Idler. Tower Defense)
• Lort Demo - (Action Roguelike. Looter Shooter. Open World)
• Servant of the Lake Demo - (Escape Room. Hidden Object. Point & Click)
• ゆんゆん電波シンドローム Demo - (Immersive Sim. Rhythm. Visual Novel)
• Everwind Demo - (Building. Exploration. Open World)
• MISERY Demo - (Open World Survival Craft. Action Roguelike. Base Building)
• HABROMANIA Demo - (Interactive Fiction. Point & Click. Side Scroller)
• Final Sentence Demo - (Battle Royale. Survival Horror. Education)
• Tears of Metal Demo - (Beat 'em up. Hack and Slash. Roguelite)
• MARVEL Cosmic Invasion Demo - (Beat 'em up. Hack and Slash. Roguelite)
• Starsand Island Demo - (3D Platformer. Exploration. Farming Sim)
• Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown Demo - (Choose Your Own Adventure. Interactive Fiction. Space Sim)
• Hell Maiden Demo - (Action Roguelike. Bullet Hell. Roguelite)
• Bubsy 4D Demo - (3D Platformer. Collectathon. Exploration)
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II Demo - (Action. Tactical RPG. Turn-Based Strategy)
• Long Drive North: Co-Op RV Simulator Demo - (Automobile Sim. Open World. Exploration)
• OPUS: Prism Peak Demo - (Drama. Exploration. Walking Simulator)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide - Demo - (3D Platformer. Adventure. Collectathon)
• Docked Demo - (Automobile Sim. Job Simulator. Management)
• UMIGARI | ウミガリ Demo - (Hunting. Open World. Psychological Horror)
• Homura Hime Demo - (Character Action Game. Souls-like. Spectacle fighter)
• Bus Bound Demo - (Automobile Sim. Driving. Sandbox)
• Global Rescue Demo - (Base Building. Open World. Real Time Tactics)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Demo - (Action-Adventure. Third-Person Shooter. Wargame)
• Disciples: Domination - Demo - (Exploration. Tactical RPG. Turn-Based Strategy)
• Of Ash and Steel Demo - (Action RPG. Adventure. Open World)

Full List: Top Releases for October 13 - October 19 (2025)

And that's it! Thank you for reading!

Stay tuned! If you enjoyed this, feel free to share it with someone who you think it'd bring value to - or get your hands on the advanced & visual search (and other features) by supporting me on Patreon.