I haven't tried the Next Fest demo yet but I'm going to shout out Road to Vostok. It's kind of like a single player version of Escape From Tarkov. You have a hideout/shelter, you go out to looting and then you get to come back and improve your hideout. The hideout customization is excellent. Outside you have to deal with enemies, environment, food, hydration, energy etc. and if you die outside you lose what you had on you.

Everwind is fantastic. Fixes just about every complaint I have about Minecraft, and I say that as someone who bought Minecraft back in alpha. There are things that could be improved, but even where I think there's room for improvement the baseline always seems to be "It's already better than Minecraft". For example I really feel like the combat could do with a dodge mechanic and harsher stamina management, but that's based on comparing it to stuff like Dark Souls. Even in its current state it absolutely clowns on Minecraft's combat.

The artstyle is lovely, the building and crafting feels really good, the range of furniture and decorations you can build is massive, and you get to build and fly an airship. And that's not an afterthought, it's a core part of the game and feels really, really good.

Skate Story was a real trip. I love the surreality of the thing. It may be my favorite skateboarding game apart from Tony Hawk.

Final Sentence has been great in short sessions - it's a keyboard typing battle royale with a gritty 1940s atmosphere

As usual, I haven't even played anything yet. I've just been thoroughly browsing for games to put on my list, and it's a long one this time. At the top of my list of games I want to try are:

• Bubsy 4D
• Ultimate Sheep Raccoon
• Mesmalie
• Time Snatcher Handy
• Myths are 100% True
• FUNKYHEART
• MONUMENTUM

Roughly ordered by my interest levels:

It's not Next Fest specific, but the Ball X Pit demo has absolutely grabbed me by the throat and won't let go.

I've played like 5 hours of just the demo alone and I cannot wait for the full release.

It's not something I found in Next Fest, but if we're talking demos, Trails in the Sky is something I've been having fun playing recently. The demo is surprisingly long too.

Million Depth demo is pretty good.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3991920/Million_Depth_Demo/

G-Rebels demo is back. I just love how nimble the ship is in this one. Fully upgraded you can get up to insane speeds with it darting around the cyberpunk style city. Personally I think they should make more of that, so that you can fly through more narrow gaps and maybe even underground tunnels. Also I've been watching their Discord for a while and they seem to be really going full steam ahead (no pun intended) with this one. Can't wait for the full game 🙂

For those who don't know you can see the games people are playing during that event in steamdb

I played so far.
Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era - nice demo but the graphics map interest points blends with background and it looks like it's unbalanced.
Alchemy Factory - automation game / shop simulator - also nice demo but the controls are a little clunky and hard to get used to.

RogueJack21.
Basically Slay the Spire meets Black Jack. Very fun, the UI is great and the animations are super smooth.

Skate Story.
Skating game with insanely trippy visuals, great music, runs super smooth even on my aging PC.

FEED MY MECH.
Iron Lung meets the Resource management/Task juggling of FNAF. Descend thousands of feet into an abandoned underground colony in your Mech and retrieve what's left. Beware your surroundings.

Time Snatcher Handy.
Roguelike bullet hell where you can freeze time at will, but only for 60 seconds. These seconds serve both as your health and currency, so you gotta be really careful with how you utilize it.

rome burns and nero fiddles - i’m no exception