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10 Coziest Demos of Steam Next Fest February 2025
What is a cozy game if not something that embodies what you find cozy in real life? Your relaxing rituals, real or imagined. The things you would do on a lazy summer afternoon if it wasn’t for your pesky life rearing its head. On the other hand, demos are far more black and white. Which Steam Next Fest demos should you play? Those ones. Why those demos in particular? To be frank, the reason is that I like them, but you’re free to infer a logic to this selection. They’re all great cozy games and most are close to release. More importantly, they’ll all leave you wanting more. Except the ones you don’t like, but that's life. The Bench Screenshot by Destructoid What’s more cozy than an exploration game featuring a senior protagonist who moves by throwing slices of bread to a swarm of loyal pigeons? I’ll tell you what’s not very cozy: throwing a brick at a security guard. And yet, The Bench is no worse for it. The Bench is a surprising game, first of all, because it takes a wild premise and manages to stick the landing. And then there’s the exploration, which is core to the game, paired with a protagonist that can only move by teleporting from bench to bench, kind of like in a VR game. Somehow, that works great. Wheel World Image via Annapurna Interactive Wheel World is a cozy game, sure, but it’s also a somewhat realistic bike racing simulator with drafting and a vague approximation of stamina. And then there’s the exploration of a fully realized open world, even if it's not entirely accessible yet, full of curious characters and bike parts. Wheel World is also about saving the world, but no pressure. Your floating skull companion has no intention of un-cozying your vacation. Promise Mascot Agency Image via Kaizen Game Works Limited We’re really stretching the definition of cozy here, but the eternal lazy afternoon spent on a small pickup truck just about qualifies. Promise Mascot Agency is the story of a Yakuza member exiled to a cursed island. If you’ve played the developer’s previous game, Paradise Killer, you know that things are about to get even weirder. While you’re in exile, would you mind taking over a mascot agency where the mascots are horribly mutated living beings? Maybe take care of this disembodied finger’s emotional issues? I’m asking, but this is one of those games where you don’t have a choice. By the way, the mascots know where you live. Solarpunk Image by Rokaplay To some, the world of cozy games is as wide as video games themselves. To others, it’s when you craft and farm without having to fight zombies. Solarpunk definitely errs closer to this strict definition, with its idyllic scenery and cottage building. In a world where floating islands rule the landscape, it’s up to you to chill, build a cozy little house, and then take a little break (you wouldn’t want to overdo it). Will you grow enough plants to secure a food supply? Probably, it’s not a hard game. If not, you can hop on your airship and see if the neighbors can share. They seem nice. Sugardew Island Image by Rokaplay Stop me if you’ve heard this before. In this cozy farming game, you play as the go-getter new farmer in town. Once your inherited/gifted farm is looking a little better, you open a shop for the nearby people and learn of the magical creatures that used to inhabit the land. It’s up to you to tear the Thorns of Inharmony and make peace with nature. Sure, Sugardew Island’s demo won’t win any awards for originality, but it’s a solid farming sim. It doesn’t need to break new ground, even if it might do it later in the game. If we can have 23 Call of Duty titles, we can probably afford one Rune Factory clone. Tall Trails Image by Brady Soglin “Find your purpose”. With those words (and some art that looks rather like a placeholder) your Tall Trails adventure begins. On this island, every little clay creature has a goal, except you. You just exist. Do you want a purpose? Guess you’ll have to find your way to the sorcerer who created you. Now, if that isn’t a purpose, I don’t know what it is. But how does Tall Trails play? In practice, this is a 3D platformer with a focus on exploration over challenge and some inspiration taken from Breath of the Wild. Oh, and you have a trash-powered jetpack that makes the whole affair a lot more fun. Locomoto Screenshot by Destructoid You can’t get more cozy than a coal train conductor life sim where no one has places to be and the black smoke is just a flourish of the pastel art style. In Locomoto you get to make your own train and your own train conductor. The rest is kind of secondary if I can be honest. The full game promises a large explorable world full of different travelers and unique furniture. For now, I’m happy to watch my cute chimera of unclear descent run along their ugly pink and purple train. Is This Seat Taken? Screenshot by Destructoid Would you like to sit in a dirty chair? I ask so I can get this kid n
What is a cozy game if not something that embodies what you find cozy in real life? Your relaxing rituals, real or imagined. The things you would do on a lazy summer afternoon if it wasn’t for your pesky life rearing its head.
On the other hand, demos are far more black and white. Which Steam Next Fest demos should you play? Those ones.
Why those demos in particular? To be frank, the reason is that I like them, but you’re free to infer a logic to this selection. They’re all great cozy games and most are close to release. More importantly, they’ll all leave you wanting more. Except the ones you don’t like, but that's life.
The Bench
What’s more cozy than an exploration game featuring a senior protagonist who moves by throwing slices of bread to a swarm of loyal pigeons? I’ll tell you what’s not very cozy: throwing a brick at a security guard. And yet, The Bench is no worse for it.
The Bench is a surprising game, first of all, because it takes a wild premise and manages to stick the landing. And then there’s the exploration, which is core to the game, paired with a protagonist that can only move by teleporting from bench to bench, kind of like in a VR game. Somehow, that works great.
Wheel World
Wheel World is a cozy game, sure, but it’s also a somewhat realistic bike racing simulator with drafting and a vague approximation of stamina. And then there’s the exploration of a fully realized open world, even if it's not entirely accessible yet, full of curious characters and bike parts.
Wheel World is also about saving the world, but no pressure. Your floating skull companion has no intention of un-cozying your vacation.
Promise Mascot Agency
We’re really stretching the definition of cozy here, but the eternal lazy afternoon spent on a small pickup truck just about qualifies. Promise Mascot Agency is the story of a Yakuza member exiled to a cursed island. If you’ve played the developer’s previous game, Paradise Killer, you know that things are about to get even weirder.
While you’re in exile, would you mind taking over a mascot agency where the mascots are horribly mutated living beings? Maybe take care of this disembodied finger’s emotional issues? I’m asking, but this is one of those games where you don’t have a choice. By the way, the mascots know where you live.
Solarpunk
To some, the world of cozy games is as wide as video games themselves. To others, it’s when you craft and farm without having to fight zombies. Solarpunk definitely errs closer to this strict definition, with its idyllic scenery and cottage building.
In a world where floating islands rule the landscape, it’s up to you to chill, build a cozy little house, and then take a little break (you wouldn’t want to overdo it). Will you grow enough plants to secure a food supply? Probably, it’s not a hard game. If not, you can hop on your airship and see if the neighbors can share. They seem nice.
Sugardew Island
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. In this cozy farming game, you play as the go-getter new farmer in town. Once your inherited/gifted farm is looking a little better, you open a shop for the nearby people and learn of the magical creatures that used to inhabit the land. It’s up to you to tear the Thorns of Inharmony and make peace with nature.
Sure, Sugardew Island’s demo won’t win any awards for originality, but it’s a solid farming sim. It doesn’t need to break new ground, even if it might do it later in the game. If we can have 23 Call of Duty titles, we can probably afford one Rune Factory clone.
Tall Trails
“Find your purpose”. With those words (and some art that looks rather like a placeholder) your Tall Trails adventure begins. On this island, every little clay creature has a goal, except you. You just exist. Do you want a purpose? Guess you’ll have to find your way to the sorcerer who created you. Now, if that isn’t a purpose, I don’t know what it is.
But how does Tall Trails play? In practice, this is a 3D platformer with a focus on exploration over challenge and some inspiration taken from Breath of the Wild. Oh, and you have a trash-powered jetpack that makes the whole affair a lot more fun.
Locomoto
You can’t get more cozy than a coal train conductor life sim where no one has places to be and the black smoke is just a flourish of the pastel art style. In Locomoto you get to make your own train and your own train conductor. The rest is kind of secondary if I can be honest.
The full game promises a large explorable world full of different travelers and unique furniture. For now, I’m happy to watch my cute chimera of unclear descent run along their ugly pink and purple train.
Is This Seat Taken?
Would you like to sit in a dirty chair? I ask so I can get this kid next to their parent and the parent next to this other kid who needs to steal some popcorn. I’m sure you understand. If you don’t, you should play the demo for Is This Seat Taken?
Is This Seat Taken? seems like a great game for short sessions that inevitably spiral into hours of play. It has a unique premise based on fitting odd groups of sentient geometric shapes in mundane places, making sure to follow their requests. It also seems to want to tell a story, but I wouldn’t expect anything fancy.
Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game
Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is exactly what it promises to be: a detective game just like The Curse of the Golden Idol but instead of solving a grand conspiracy one murder at a time, you solve little problems. Things like “Who broke the cup?” and “Why is this girl crying?”.
Not exactly breaking new ground, but thankfully the way those mysteries are solved is quite interesting, even if it is an exact copy of the Golden Idol series. That said, the demo shows some potential. Here’s hoping the story gets a bit more intense than “Who called dibs on the last cupcake?”.
Wanderstop
The Wanderstop demo stands out for many reasons, one of which is the polish on display. The game seems to be pretty much done, and it better be, since it’s supposed to come out on March 11. That’s just two weeks before the new game from the creator of The Stanley Parable!
I should have led with that. This is an all-star indie dev team, including Minecraft composer C418, and Tacoma and Gone Home writer Karla Zimonja. What else… you grow tea and brew it for the various characters that come to visit you. It looks to be more tongue-in-cheek than your average farm sim, but what else did you expect?
The post 10 Coziest Demos of Steam Next Fest February 2025 appeared first on Destructoid.
