As the leaves are changing colors and a refreshingly cool breeze stirs the grass, there’s only one thing to do: play more video games, because the outside is a scary place filled with mean people.
Thankfully, Valve recognizes this and is bringing about the Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition with a heft of titles to poke and prod with demos and trailers of exciting upcoming developers of all means and purposes. Note that Steam itself isn’t readily regarding this as a Steam ‘sale’, although the offered slug within their embedded tweet does list the event under other sales.
The Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition begins tomorrow!
From October 7-13, play *hundreds* of demos for upcoming games for free from the comfort of your cozy home. 🍂
⏰ Don’t miss it! Set a reminder: https://t.co/WQaae9OYN7
#steamgamefestival— Steam (@Steam) October 6, 2020
Valve is offering ‘hundreds’ of titles that will have readily available demos for players to try out and see if a title is shaping up to be a good fit, and the developers that have already noted their involvement is worth a peek (or twenty).
If nothing else, PC gamers need to get in on the idea of developers readily offering playable demos of their game so we don’t need to hem and haw for hours wondering how well the title will work, or if its anything close to what has been advertised.
SSTR from Dabster Entertainment appears to be taking a note or two from escape rooms while injecting a bit of horror into it with a title that seems to blend Dead Space and SOMA: currently scheduled for release on February 23, 2021, SSTR will be offering a full demo for players to experience and mess their pants once or twice.
SSTR Demo on #Steam We've designed the demo to test mechanics present within the game. Solve the puzzles, and have some fun. Full game will be very story driven and will release 2021. #gamer #indiegame #scifi #horror #puzzle #madewithunity #games https://t.co/mocSpi8kI7 pic.twitter.com/JIZeBDPRKE
— Dabster Entertainment (@dabsterent) October 4, 2020
EastWorks is similarly appearing to participate with a demo of their Early Access game GRAY ZONE, a futuristic tactical RTS that appears to lean on pulp fiction of yesteryear.
What's up rebels? We've hand-picked some moments from Gray Zone once again. 🚂 Mobile refinery, 🏜️ Rab city, ⚙️ Tridium facility & 🛍️ the Market.#screenshotSaturday #tactics #indiegame #gamedev #indiedev #pcgaming #madewithunity #gaming #indie #games #indiegames pic.twitter.com/mgv7B5RE2w
— Gray Zone (@grayzonegame) October 3, 2020
It’s worth noting that both of the titles already have demos readily available prior to the event, however; you can download them now and test them as you deem fit.
There is notably speculation as to Sega’s involvement, as a leak regarding Sonic The Hedgehog 2 being free to claim for everyone on the platform beginning on October 9 has been found within the SteamDB.
The event will likely begin at 1300 EST (as Steam events tend to) and will end on October 13, meaning you have five days to dig your hands as deep as possible into a litany of titles ranging from first-person shooters to atmospheric slice-of-life games, and everything in between, and you can test all of these titles on your PC without ever needing to pore over videos and specs to figure out if it’s playable and enjoyable for you.
Sometimes, it’s good to be a PC gamer.