Steam Next Fest: Party up & get goofy in these 3 multiplayer games with demos

We love our multiplayer shenanigans. We basically started our annual celebration of all things Video Games Are Good — the 24-hour VGG Campout streams — as an excuse to force our closest friends to group up with us and play a bunch of games. We love seeing the unique and exciting ways game devs come up with to break up friendships and to bring them closer together. It's a part of our DNA and a big part of our relationship as partners who share a passion for gaming.

And that's why every Steam Next Fest, we ravenously eat up as many multiplayer offerings as we possibly can to find not only our friend group's next obsession but potential picks for showcasing during our Campout in November.

So, if you're looking for the next thing you can pick up and play with friends for a Discord game night or are digging for a new co-op experience to share with a partner, check out these three favorite multiplayer games VGG stumbled into from this year's Next Fest selection.

And, hey, maybe there'll be a chance to come back and watch us play 'em at the end of the year.

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Eat the Rich

Developed by: Maccima Games

Published by: Monstronauts

Genre: Social deception minigame collection

Release Date: July 22, 2025 (Early Access)

The social deception genre is still booming because, frankly, we love lying to each other, don't we? Eat the Rich is an interesting twist on the format popularized by Among Us and board games like Werewolf and Mafia.

In Eat the Rich, everyone is a billionaire. And in this reality, a preferable one to be honest, billionaires are put into an arena for the entertainment of the populace. An arena where success means a second shot at life and failure means literally being cooked up and eaten.

Six to 10 players go through rounds of minigames, both Mario Party-like shenanigans and more traditional deception games like the Prisoner's Dilemma, collecting cash. After each round of games, you'll be asked to vote out a competitor. Continue that loop until there are only two players left and the richer ends up winning it all.

What intrigued us most about this one was its emphasis on reality show systems. At the start of each round, players are sorted into alliances. You aren't eliminated in cloak-and-dagger killings, but instead via public votes where you get to make your case and use special items (think immunity idols) to flip the script.

It's social deception that's just a bit more cunning: Rather than simply being stealthy enough to give yourself an alibi, you've got to grease palms and make friends or leverage unfair advantages you've acquired along the way. It may not even be in your favor to do well in minigames, but instead skate by while you vote out the obvious targets. Either way, Eat the Rich has tons of promise, and its nuances may well inspire a new generation of social deception games.

Backseat Drivers

Developed by: GhostJam Games, Deadcat Studios

Published by: GhostJam Games, TUSKION

Genre: Backseat driving simulator

Release Date: Q3 2025

I'm not a driver, myself... but it turns out a lifetime of dictating from the back seat was just training for GhostJam Games' incredibly silly co-op game, Backseat Drivers.

In Backseat Drivers, two players collaborate to safely drive from point A to point B. Sounds easy — but consider that the driver is a tiny grandma who can't see over the dash and the car is actively breaking and resisting all your efforts to do anything. The backseat player will be able to shift as much as possible in the backseat to get a good view of obstacles ahead, providing grandma with directions and even busted car parts that have gone flying when needed. And grandma does the driving, adjusts the heat and air to remove visual obstacles like heat and fog, and pulls cassettes out of the backseat driver's mouth whenever the radio decides to launch one.

Communication is key, but even the best communication is thwarted by the game's purposefully convoluted driving mechanics, with buttons assigned to the accelerator and brakes and mouse controls to grab and whip the steering wheel around. It all makes for a gameplay experience almost entirely made up of collaborative bickering. And that's always fun.

One feature I appreciated was that Backseat Drivers regularly shifts the roles for each player across each level, so both players get to experience the full package. And it certainly helps the bickering, because we all know empathy is all about putting yourself in the other person's shoes. I certainly learned how bad Julie had it driving once I was behind the wheel.

DuneCrawl

Developed by: Alientrap

Published by: Alientrap

Genre: Co-op crab battling action adventure RPG

Release Date: 2025

There's only one thing better than a giant enemy crab in gaming. A giant friendly crab! That you pilot with your friends!

DuneCrawl is a cooperative action adventure game where 1-4 players mount up on the backs of a giant crab to do exactly what's on the tin — crawl through the dunes and push back against the rising forces of the Ceramacist and his jar-obsessed devotees. They're terrorizing the locals, taking control of the spiritual Dune Crawlers and attacking otherwise peaceful villages.

You and your team are tapped to fight back in any way possible. Your battle takes place both on foot, with a variety of powerful weaponry and ability-enhancing masks, and on crab, where you work together to pilot the big Crawler, shoot and reload cannons atop its back, or even crawl into cannons to launch yourself aboard enemies' decks.

DuneCrawl is, in a small way, reminiscent of a favorite of ours: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, in which a small crew must manage and pilot a small spaceship while fending off dangerous enemies, having to work in harmony and jump from station to station to survive.

Alientrap's take is a little slower-paced but just as collaborative. DuneCrawl's run-based adventures see players going out into the world with their Crawler, looting resources, and coming back to upgrade and do it all over again. It's incredibly satisfying.

The demo only showcases a small amount of what the Crawler is capable of, but having to hop into action from blasting the cannons to healing the broken limbs of the crab to reviving your incapacitated driver? It's the kind of controlled chaos we're here for.

We can't wait to see how much more layered it becomes and are ready to defeat giant enemy crabs when it releases later this year.