10 creepy horror demos to check out during Steam Next Fest, October 2026

It goes without saying that October is spooky season, and that always comes with an influx of horror games to try and buy. Throw in the fact that Steam Next Fest has a week in October as well, and that means there are suddenly hundreds or even thousands of new demos hitting Steam. 

It can be hard to sift through all the newly available demos and find horror games that will have you on the edge of your seat, but there are some true gems hidden in there. I’ve gone through the demos available ahead of Steam Next Fest (mostly so I can actually play a heap of demos during the week itself) and found some of them. 

Here are 10 indie horror game demos to check out during Steam Next Fest, October 2026.

Flick

Flick, by Inqdrop Studios, is a psychological horror game that messes with the well-established preconception that safety can be found in the light while the darkness hides horrors. The main mechanic is the use of light to change the surroundings in ways that aren’t realistically possible, putting the true horrors where you can see them while letting the mind run wild with ideas of what hides in the dark. 

There are complex puzzles to solve that need to be completed through different variations of the same location, a twisted story to uncover through non-linear gameplay, and gorgeous graphics that really maximise the effectiveness of the jump scares. I loved the Flick demo, and I cannot wait to play more when the full game is released!

We don’t have long to wait; the full game releases on November 16, 2026, and you can play the amazing demo of Flick right now on Steam. 

Feed Me More Brains

If you like the constant improvement loop of incremental games but want one with a horror twist, Feed Me More Brains ticks all the right boxes. There’s a cult, demonic portals, tentacles, and a gelatinous blob of flesh that constantly demands more and more human brains be fed to it. That escalated quickly, I’m aware, but so does the game, so this is all very thematically on point. 

Aside from the body horror and demonic worship aspects, Feed Me More Brains feels most like a horror when the gelatinous blob of flesh on the wall grows, and you’re suddenly gifted with more “knowledge.” It’s not exactly scary knowledge, just ominous pieces of information coupled with strange glimpses of things that make no sense, like “you remember dying before you were born.”

This glorious little incremental horror game is being developed by Sheraf Games, and there’s a demo available to play right now. The full game isn’t far away either, releasing on November 5, 2026.

Deepward

Deepward is a boomer shooter that takes you on long runs of absolute carnage through the twisting hallways of what appears to be an abandoned manor. With upto three characters that can be switched through at any point, each with their own weapons and special abilities, you can switch up your playstyle at any moment. 

The manor is filled with zombies and cultists, apparently responsible for the madness and disappearances of people from nearby villages. Expeditions have set out trying to find answers and never returned, so this is the final push for the truth before madness takes over. It’s bloody, endlessly satisfying when your aim is true, and there are countless potential jump scares if you don’t keep one eye free to check around corners. 

Deepward, by Echofall Games, is set to release in Q1 2027, but there’s an epic early demo available to play on Steam right now.

Compartment 666: Anomaly Express

I’m terrible at anomaly games, but I love playing them. Compartment 666: Anomaly Express puts you on a creepy early 1900s train filled with luggage but conspicuously absent of passengers and asks you to spot anything that’s out of place. It’s creepy even without anything jumping out at you, because you never know what’s different or if your mind is playing tricks on you. 

Even if this was just a walking simulator, there’s something inherently creepy about being alone and surrounded by old things like Victorian photos, fine china, and abandoned clothing. Throw in some suspicious graffiti, a radio static-based hint system with finite uses, and the question of whether your memory can be trusted, and you get something truly unsettling. 

Compartment 666: Anomaly Express is being developed by ShepherdWorks, and the demo is available right now to play. There’s no release date for the full game just yet, but the demo will keep you guessing on the edge of your seat.

Unsound Love

Of all the games on this list, Unsound Love by Professional Villains might be the strangest and most intriguing. It feels to me like a point-and-click adventure game that removes both the pointing and the clicking, which I know makes very little sense, but it’s hard to explain otherwise. 

The Steam page describes it as “Zelda possessed by Silent Hill,” and I have to admit that’s an oddly accurate description. In Unsound Love, you’re constantly chasing a girl who always seems just out of reach and solving puzzles with no hint system, while the sound design is downright orchestral, with every little sound created specifically for the game using musical instruments. 

There are so many obvious influences in Unsound Love, like Zelda (for the puzzles), Silent Hill (for the aesthetic), and Little Nightmares (for the mechanics). If you want to see how they all come together to form the artistic strangeness of Unsound Love, the demo is available now, with the full game set to release at some point in 2027.

The Road of Dust and Sorrow

The Road of Dust and Sorrow is a side-scrolling, post-apocalyptic horror game that centers around the aftermath of a miracle crop that ended up destroying the planet and changing life for humans forever. You venture out, find supplies, fight zombies, and try to survive in the wastelands of the place you once called home. 

All of the dystopian themes are wrapped up in gorgeous, cozy pixel art that brings the main characters and their world to life in a way that immediately hooks you in. While the background story may be devastating, there’s light to be found in the relationship between the main character and her daughter, Ava, along with the young girl’s humor in dark times. 

The demo of The Road of Dust and Sorrow was available to play until September 30 before it was taken down, with the promise of a new, improved version coming “soon.” The full game is set to release at some point before the end of 2026. 

Precious Feather

Precious Feather is a horror game that sends you out into the woods with a shotgun (and in my case, a terrible sense of direction) to shoot turkeys and collect feathers for your husband at home. He is perhaps another element of horror in this game, or at least the fact that this poor woman is inexplicably still married to him. 

Things start out fine, albeit weird, with you getting food for the husband as he sits at his desk. But then he sends you out for the feathers, and while the first outing is relatively straightforward, things start to go horribly wrong from the second outing onwards. In the darkness of the second outing, the turkeys start attacking back, and surviving becomes a lot less guaranteed. 

Developed by Clyde Smets, Precious Feather has a demo out now that lets you play through three of the five days that will feature in the full game, which is set to release at some point in Q4 2026.

At Once, My Lord

This game is more comedy than horror, to tell you the truth, but it’s on this list because if you’re even the tiniest bit squeamish, it will horrify you. At Once, My Lord is an incremental game that requires you to pick up the body parts of poor, unfortunate souls who have seemingly exploded into bits and throw them into the fire.

There are no jump scares and no unexpected twists, at least in the demo; it's just earning money and increasing skills to make the job easier. But there is a lot of blood, bones, dismembered parts, and the threat of losing out on roast onions, which might be the biggest horror of all.  

The At Once, My Lord demo by Who Makes Games is the video game version of someone promising you a blooming onion from Outback Steakhouse and then taking it away before kicking you out of the restaurant, and you can play it now. The full game doesn’t have a release date yet, but I’ll be there when it does. 

Pawn Shift

There are some games that do an amazing job of lulling you into a false sense of security before they unleash the true horror, and Pawn Shift is an example of that. On night one at the pawn shop, I was playing Glyphs on the computer. By night three, I was constantly checking behind me and keeping my back to the wall just in case. 

This indie horror is part shop simulator, part terrifying nightmare of supernatural and/or psychological nonsense. Filled with jump scares that I should have seen coming but absolutely didn’t, weird customers with even weirder requests, and at least one child who should not have access to her parents' money, Pawn Shift is honestly terrifying. 

Developed by Two-man Shift, Pawn Shift is set to release at some point in Q4 2026, and the demo is available to play right now as part of Steam Next Fest. 

Plura Ingenia: Patient 16

Plura Ingenia: Patient 16, by Oblique Interactive, starts like a lot of other horror games: you’re in a house, weird things start happening, and you have to go and investigate with nothing but a flashlight. I thought I knew what I was getting into, right up to the point at which I was apparently knocked unconscious by a soldier in the attic and shoved into a facility against my will. 

After that, things get progressively more strange and twisted, with furniture on the walls and ceiling, strange apparitions that seem to stalk you, almost demonic imagery, and some cow figurines that you can flush down the toilet if you don’t mind being told off for doing so. According to the Steam page, your experience in Plura Ingenia: Patient 16 is shaped by your personality, but you won’t find me playing this more than once to find out what that means. 

The demo of Plura Ingenia: Patient 16 is available now, and it’s well worth diving into if you love spooky things with occasional jump scares and some psychological mind games. The full game is set to release in Q1 2027.