Steam Next Fest February 2026
- Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
Thoughts on indie demos from the recent Next Fest
Steam Next Fest February 2026 is over. From February 23rd to March 2nd, 2026, we played various demos for upcoming flight games. While we have covered many festivals like this in the past, this year we decided to change things up slightly. Rather than rush through all available demos in just two or three days in the middle of a weeklong event, we took our time to instead promote the games during the festival period both here on the website and on social media.
Our thoughts now come a few days after the festival is over. While we are specifically talking about a few of the demos here, be sure to double back to our post announcing the demos at the end of last month to further research what is being developed out there.
Wings of Aviora
Coming into Wings of Aviora I was not sure what to truly expect. I feel like my mind wanted to compare it to Crimson Skies within the first few minutes I saw it. Mainly because of the focus on propeller driven aircraft and steam punk design cutes. That perception was quickly blown away by two major factors: world setting and aircraft building.
The setting of the game is that on the planet Aviora the New Vravice archipelago is under siege by mechanical creatures causing destruction. The concept is that there are no briefings and no maps to guide you in the fight. Players are encouraged to take their aircraft, launch from their home base and take off on a 'sky patrol' as per the Steam page. Players can wander around the islands - some of them floating in the air - to do training challenges, search for enemies, intervene in on going attacks, avoid (or challenge) Leviathans, escort trade ships and more. Further encouraging exploration is finding blueprints for new aircraft parts behind mountains, in the middle of small towns and who knows where else.
Aircraft building is a much larger part of this game than expected. Story wise, the player is a test pilot a part of an aviation engineering effort to develop new technology to combat the mechanical invaders. The level of customization previewed in the demo is also higher than I thought it would be. Story wise, the player is a test pilot a part of an aviation engineering effort to develop new technology to combat the mechanical invaders. While the demo provides players with three distinct designs to start with, the aircraft building aspect is detailed enough to let players build entirely new designs from the unlocked parts. Taking these aircraft on flights, completing challenges and successfully retuning to base will get the aircraft's design rated with the gathered data used to unlock even more components.
Combat is rather reasonable in the game. While the enemies that appear are not highly maneuverable like a traditional aircraft, this does give players the chance to use evasive maneuvers to evade enemy attacks and counterattack somewhat reliably. The flight model is forgiving enough to allow for arcade flight game style maneuvers and let players build some pretty wild aircraft, but there are factors like overheating/stressing the engine, running out of fuel and of course aircraft hull damage.
Overall, this was a pretty solid demo from developer Stormy XP. I came in only knowing the bare minimum and was surprised by the depth provided in the demo.
StarFront: Lancers
Looking at the promotional media for StarFront: Lancers, I was primarily drawn in by the concept of a sci-fi flight action shooter with customizable hero traits. This game is set in a deep space conflict with a handful of factions interacting with and battling one another for story related reasons. There is only one story mission in the demo, so rather than focus on the lore details, we should look at the combat and customization system.
Using two in-game currencies gained by completing daily tasks, story missions, custom missions and Gauntlet game mode missions, players can purchase and customize many things. Space fighters with 10 or more customization slots can equip upgrades across five categories. Each of these pulling certain amounts of energy to function, making power management important. These parts can be purchased from the in-game shop or salvaged during combat in any game mode. The next layer of customization comes with the characters. There are up to five characters that can be unlocked and leveled up. These characters have baseline stats unique to themselves with certain ship components impacting their stats, but mainly it is their Manifestation (skill tree) that greatly expands their stats and unlocks new character specific special abilities.
StarFront: Lancers plays like a classic space-based arcade shooter with game mechanics like hull armor, energy shield strength, booster timers, engine off motion drifting, basic gun aim lead mechanics; everything you would expect of a solid game in this genre. Finding the right mix of components to defeat enemies efficiently while still leaving enough energy for high-speed maneuvering is a nice balance. The default gamepad controls leave a bit to be desired, but that may be more personal preference than anything else. Not a problem since it does have a rather nice option menu for remapping that even includes a handy benchmark stress test to check setting performance before starting a mission.
I do not normally play a lot of spaced based games; no matter how arcadey or simulator like they are. I had a great time with the StarFront: Lancers demo within just the first five to ten minutes of playing it.
SimplePlanes 2
SimplePlanes 2 by Jundroo Games had multiple timed demos over the past year or so. The third demo that was active during the recent festival added a new area to explore (three areas total), many more base game vehicles, limited vehicle editing and other small features previously seen in the past demos.
Recently we had a great multiplayer session with the current demo, but our November 2025 first impression written by Caio D. "Hueman" Baretto is still accurate and goes into immense detail about SimplePlanes 2 from the perspective of someone that put in a lot of time in SimplePlanes 1 and built dozens of vehicles with custom systems. Read that one for our thoughts on the SimplePlanes 2 demos up to now.
POCKET FLIGHT
Among the primarily combat focused flight games I tried during Steam Next Fest, Pocket Flight by Just Pocket Games acted as an unexpected pallet cleanser. Claiming itself to be a "cozy flight game" I really was not sure what to expect. There are certainly flight games that are made for non-combat enjoyment, but "cozy" as in comfortable? Eyebrow raising.
Though the full game will have a story driven game mode as well, the demo focuses on the sandbox game mode. The game uses procedurally generated terrain to let players fly across endless distances exploring different landscapes. Two landscapes were available in the demo with distinctly different themes. With the one aircraft available in the demo you are flying around without specific objectives beyond a general daily task to give you some minor direction. Within the somewhat nebulous concept at hand, the daily tasks do contribute to the developer's concept of this game being built for casual flying sessions. I can say that while wandering around foothills, hunting for unusual structures and pushing through turbulent weather I actually did feel myself unwind a bit.
While wandering the landscapes players can find unexpected landmarks and wildlife while collecting coins scattered across the area. The gathered coins can be used to unlock new landscapes, new aircraft and new parts to modify aircraft. Aircraft modification in Pocket Flight focuses on engines, wings, propellers, rudders and aircraft color. Besides aesthetic changes, flight values for aircraft attributes like speed, roll, turn, pitch, acceleration and deceleration.
The aircraft in the demo, the Breeze, is a propeller driven biplane. It is arguably perfect for the scenic type of flying the game is staking its identity on. Its lower maximum airspeed and easy low speed flight characteristics are perfect for taking in the sights and flying in a relaxed manner. It makes me wonder how faster aircraft like the Skyline L (regional jet) and the Skylark (military style fast jet) would fit into the overall feel of this type of game with their significantly higher speeds.
I'm sold on the concept and would like to see just what a "cozy" flight game has in store for the genre. Who knows, perhaps we have had "cozy" games within this genre and we have just been viewing them through the wrong lens.
About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. [Read Profile]
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