Tier list of the best games across all genres

S and A tiers are well-worth tracking and wishlisting as they already look like quality games. A tier is already good while S is “best of the best”.

B tier has the potential to be good for fairly large audiences but I suspect a decently-sized portion of the gaming community will find issues with these titles.

C tier ended up disappointing after the initial impression but there is a glimmer of hope still.

D tier is for games that I can’t imagine will offer a significant draw to many players. Cult following is what they can hope for at most.

E tier failed to launch, presented other game-breaking issues or legal terms caused me to avoid the demo.

Filtering method

I briefly went through all the available demos, of which there were over 2000 at the time, according to the Steam filter count. The initial inspection involved hovering the mouse over the game’s store entry in order to determine whether the featured image, description or gameplay snippet would catch my attention.

This way, over 50 games stood out. Unfortunately, it was just not feasible to review them all quickly enough for readers to have enough time to check out the demos afterwards so I had to forego several games such as Gothic Remake, Carbon and a few others.

It is inevitable that I have missed some games that may appeal more to certain gamers but such is the compromise of going through a massive library in a short time span.

Each game was given up to an hour for impressions. Some of them disappointed enough for their time to be cut short, others made me want to play some more.

Games were then rated in the “Tier list of the best games across all genres”.

Navigation tips

Impressions about the each game can be found in their respective genres which you can reach from the table of contents. Alternatively, you can use Ctrl+F to search for impressions of specific games.

In the bottom right of the screen, you will find a black arrow pointing up, which is the “Back to the top” button if you wish to browse the Table of Contents or the tier list without scrolling for years.

You can also click on individual games in the tier list above to go straight to their review.

Cats

Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar (S) is a puzzle solving romp that features couch co-op. Many of the puzzles are physics-based, making it even better and the art style is absolutely fantastic. Travelling around may not be the most fulfilling due to the on-rails jumping but the negatives are quickly overwhelmed by the positives, such as cat hats, riding the robo vacuum and adorable emotes.

Bongo Cat (A) is an oddity since it’s technically not a game but a virtual “companion” akin to Clippy in the old days of MS Office. Unlike Clippy, however, Bongo Cat will not pester the user with suggestions non-stop. It will simply mash the imaginary keyboard whenever it detects a keyboard stroke or mouse click, just like in the ever-popular meme. In the demo version, some of the functionality is not great since getting out of the program is a bit of a hassle but it’s nothing a quick visit to the Task Manager won’t fix.

Ultra Mega Cats (B) is a hero-based roguelike with co-op which sounds fantastic and it could end up being true but the demo felt a bit underwhelming due to massive stutters regardless of whether you’re playing online or not. Considering the game’s graphics are not striving for hyper realism, it is quite the letdown but there is still time for polish until release, hopefully.

RPG

Every Steam Next Fest, I stumble upon a demo I didn’t think much of but then it turns out to be one of the best I tried. The First Berserker: Khazan (S) is one such soulslike. Featuring cel-shaded graphics, I was surprised the game explicitly required installation on an SSD. It even warned me I installed it on a wrong disk upon running it for the first time since I accidentally put it on a hard drive. Still, it performed just fine resulting in a longer playtime than anticipated.

Khazan’s story is straightforward and compelling, no need to watch 30-hour lore video to figure out what’s going on. With brutal action, smooth animations, atmosphere and art style that are neither overly depressive nor grotesque, Khazan stands out is a rather unique soulslike, one you shouldn’t miss out on.

If not for copyrights, Fellowship (A) should have been called WoW Dungeons: The Game. That’s literally all this game does but it excels at doing it. The party consists of 4 players, of which 2 are damage dealer with 1 tank and 1 healer. One significant change in comparison to WoW dungeons is a higher emphasis on interrupting enemy abilities which adds more depth and fun to combat.

Another significant change is that you don’t create your own character but choose one from a selection of featured heroes. This takes away from the player’s feeling of agency and you just can’t make a premade character your own.

One thing that bothered me the most is not even in the game itself though. It is Arc Games, the publisher. They have a long streak of picking up online games and ruining them with some of the worst monetization nonsense I have ever witnessed. Since Fellowship is a live service, they will undoubtedly degrade the experience, even if I don’t know how just yet.

Netherworld Covenant (A) is a solid roguelite with a combat system that puts a heavy emphasis on ghost attacks, which are temporary summons that provide assistance in battle and provide additional mobility for the player. This helps turn otherwise simplistic arenas into complex battlegrounds and the base action itself is pretty good.

One disservice the game does for itself is the usage of AI art, which is both underwhelming and soulless.

Dungeons Deep (B) is a pretty interesting dungeon crawler where players can feel the weight of the character as soon as they make the first step. The combat might be aiming for the same but it is not quite there yet, probably because the game is in pre-Alpha as of its SNF debut. Considering a title can only be entered to Steam Next Fest once, it is an odd choice to put the demo up so early but even though its edges are rough, this solo project may show a lot of promise with additional polishing.

Solasta 2 (E) is perhaps the demo that saddened me the most. I anticipated it more than any other out of ~2000 games at Steam Next Fest February 2025 but unfortunately, it just kept crashing right after the initial cutscene. If you can run it, however, I would still urge you to give it a try since Tactical Adventures keep making things better at a brisk pace, even though optimization seems to be the one challenge that remains insurmountable.

Empyreal (E) would not launch, citing that my system doesn’t support DirectX 12, even though I know for a fact that it does.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad (E) would just return a “Fatal Error” upon trying to launch, preventing any gameplay.

Shooter

Hellbreak (S) was the best possible introduction to roguelikes for this edition of SNF. The event is often flooded with games that contain such elements and while it can be overwhelming at times, this boomer shooter made sure it’s not much of an issue. Shooting hordes of demons up while collecting temporary and earning permanent buffs feels incredibly satisfying while also providing a great action romps that can go on for hours at a time or a quick adventure, 20 minutes in and out, your choice.

After all the live service slop we’ve been fed in the past few years, it feels so good that a game will let us pick it up and put it down whenever we feel like it. Bonus points for the metal soundtrack and art style, both of which evoke Painkiller memories.

PUBG: Blindspot (S) is an isometric tactical shooter that takes many things straight out of Rainbow Six Siege’s playbook. Operators have unique loadouts, attackers breach, defenders set up traps and ambush points and controlled chaos quickly ensues.

Two main differences are:

1. Operators are not specifically attackers or defenders – you can pick any on either side but some are better for certain roles
2. Isometric POV dictates a different intelligence gathering system and players can only see what their their operator sees straight ahead

Overall, it is one of the demos I got carried away with and spent more time than I should have. Highly recommended.

No Alibi (A) is a top-down shooter where the main goal is to rob something and get out alive. The heists can be played in up to 4-player co-op, essentially making the game a GTA Online that went back in time, to the series’ 2D roots. While the main draw are the co-op heists, it can also be played in singleplayer so even if the game doesn’t end up having a massive audience, you will not be stuck with a useless entry in the Steam library. The only reason I didn’t rank it higher is that some of the systems feel clunky and shooting cameras off can be particularly annoying.

Versus (C) looked like a fun Contra clone on the trailer but playing it is an entirely different story. The legendary series became popular because of its difficulty and smooth gameplay, both of which Versus lacks. Unfortunately, that’s the best way to describe the game that otherwise seems promising – it is currently just a clunky Contra.

Black Stigma (C) looked highly engaging and I still believe it is but the demo ran so horribly that it took away any possibility of enjoyment. On top of that, frame generation makes it a blurry mess and hopefully the full product will be better than this lacklustre showing.

Sidescrollers

Inayah: Life After Gods (S) is a fantastic metroidvania with a beautiful, vibrant art style, snappy controls and challenging combat. That last part may sound intimidating but the system is created to be intuitive so it’s really not hard to familiarize oneself with the weapons that come along your way, as well as their numerous upgrades. Inayah looked like one of the most promising demos from the get-go and justified the expectations.

Even in the demo version, the game looks highly polished so it’s likely to be a properly finished product by the time it launches on March 27, 2025.

The Phantom (S) is a classic beat ’em up with an even more classic protagonist. The purple spandex-wearing hero is 2 years older than Batman and 3 years older than Superman.

In any case, the game itself is presented in a beautiful cel-shaded 2D style that would closely resemble a comic book and the story cutscenes play out as comic strips. There is a whole lot to like for the lovers of classics but newer generations might find it too simplistic.

Mother Machine (A) is a beautiful metroidvania with protagonists highly reminiscent of Stitch. Players get to explore various caves and character progression is adorably crude. For example, the creatures can evolve to drop Healing Farts that provide HP regeneration for all nearby allies.

Perhaps more importantly, it is quite insistent on some rules of physics. For example, inertia is something that’s all but gone from modern games but Mother Machine won’t let you jump to one side and change your direction by simply using directional keys to change it. This gives more weight to the minor decisions in a playthrough which actually feels good. If you are never accountable for anything, it gets boring really quickly.

Performance could use a bit of work though and random crashing in a demo tends to be a bad sign.

Katanaut (A) is a pretty difficult sidescroller, mainly because it takes time to get used to enemies’ attack timing and countering it with you own attacks, dodges and parries. Controls are a bit odd since they sometimes feel clunky and sometimes as crisp as potato chips. Pixelated art style is wonderful and while the game may not be for everyone, those seeking a challenge are in for a treat.

Volkolak: The Will of Gods (C) seemed like an interesting sidescroller initially but numerous inconsistencies quickly proved me wrong. Jumping feels wrong every time, in a sidescroller mind you, animations are wonky and then come actual consistencies in all the wrong places. All enemies seem to do the same amount of damage, causing balancing issues, and you can rely on loading screens to pop up more frequently than overpriced Nvidia GPUs.

Should these issues be addressed before launch, Volkolak could become a metroidvania well worth checking out.

Adventure

Chip ‘n Clawz vs. The Brainioids (A) is a smooth adventure with a charming art style that reminds of legendary PS1 era series like Spyro and Crash, with a hint of Fortnite. Additionally, players will build nodes to spawn mining or fighting bots to help them out against the aliens and it features couch co-op with a split screen, should you have more than one controller plugged in.

Some of the drawbacks include a simplistic combat system and painfully formulaic writing in the Marvel style where every line has to be a quip. Washed out attempts at humor get worse when the characters attempt to nudge the players to acknowledge it and while one might claim it is meant for kids, one should also remember they don’t like a patronizing tone either.

In The Knightling (A), you are not the one who’s meant to be the hero. Instead, you are his sidekick but the big guy is off elsewhere. This leaves us with a whimsical adventure in a vibrant setting. It is not a particularly difficult game as it’s meant to be a relaxing and enjoyable adventure. If that’s what you’re looking for, The Knightling delivers.

Once Upon a Puppet (B) is a 2.5D adventure that seemed charming at first but didn’t feel that way once I started playing. Primary culprits are an overabundance of theater puns and writing that quickly bored me in general. That said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I have no doubt there will be people who like both of those aspects of the game.

Exploration and certain mechanics are uniquely presented. For example, the player character consists of a marionette and a magical hand floating above it while pulling its strings. This allows the hand to float the puppet or slingshot it, should the need arise. While I didn’t have a particularly fun time with this game, I can see why many gamers would.

Racing

Recharge (B) looks like a promising RC car racing game but the current state is not really fit for a public showing. Joining a multiplayer session will lock you out of controls and unless the host starts a race with everyone in the lobby, they will be stuck watching the host racing no one on an empty track. The singleplayer part is also just racing around an empty track.

On the other hand, the handling, sounds and graphics relay the feeling of racing an RC car rather well so while this demo showing wasn’t a flattering one, the full game could be a hidden gem on Steam.

Skyline Savior (D) seemed like an interesting idea – all those silly car platformer stunts you would see in GTA Online but without the uninterrupted stream of greedy changes from the devs that keep pissing you off.

Unfortunately, the game disappointed quickly with floaty animations, poor handling and overall terrible physics. That last part is especially important in a game like this so unfortunately, it is one of those demos I just can’t recommend to anyone.

Sports

Vector Strike (S) is an FPS spin on Rocket League’s formula with the addition of heroes, called Strikers, with unique abilities. As such, some Strikers have abilities more suited for offense to fill the role of regular football’s forwards, some are great with utility akin to midfielders and some can spawn a temporary wall, making them ideal goalkeeper candidates. Learning the game’s intricacies is a ton of fun, wrapped in a sheet of delicious chaos of the random online matchmaking.

Fear FA 98 (B) is a unique take on both Silent Hill and FIFA series. It mixes the actors and atmosphere of the former with the mechanics of the latter, creating a deranged version of a football game classic. While I enjoyed the brutal tone myself, I can see how numerous players would find it repulsive.

In any case, should the mechanics see more depth by the time of the release, Fear FA 98 could become a cult classic with a potentially small but highly loyal fandom.

Soccer Pro Simulator (C) disappointed as soon as I entered a match. The store page promises a “realistic football (soccer) simulation designed to make you feel like a rockstar” but all it managed to accomplish is to feel even more arcadey than FIFA / EA FC.

Both PES / eFootball and FIFA / EA FC have become casinos pretending to be video games so any attempts at challenging them is welcome. Unfortunately, SPS has a long way to go before it becomes a gripping new contender.

Football Life Simulator (B) does exactly what the title says. The player has the meters for his basic needs and you need to do various things to keep them up, from watching TV to going at it in the gym. However, the actual mechanics on the field are nothing to write home about and might turn a few heads away.

Other genres

Scaravan 66 (A) is a three-way genre merge: roguelite, vehicular combat and endless runner. The player’s car is moving forward on its own, but you can speed up, slow down, move sideways and ram while shooting the bejesus out of mythical creatures that are trying to do the same to them. Occasionally, the highway signs will point to a diner or another stop where the player can pick up power ups and when they go down, the whole process repeats.

This is a unique formula as far as I know and with art style that is oddly reminiscent of American Traditional tattoos, the experience carves its niche out even further. With all that in mind, Scaravan 66 is bound to be a memorable game even if one ends up not liking it for one reason or another.

Biped 2 (S) is the sequel to the puzzler with adorable robots with movement that is somehow even cuter. That’s probably because you control each of the robot’s legs separately. Once again, it delivers a serene atmosphere as you navigate around the environmental hazards disguised as puzzles, offering the player a beautiful little campaign filled with brain ticklers.

While the singleplayer gameplay is great by itself, co-op is the definitive experience. While I highly recommend this game, I would also like to use this opportunity to recommend the first one again.

In Deliver At All Costs (S), you are a delivery guy that moves parcels from place A to place B. Since everything here is unhinged, the deliveries quickly descend into hilarious chaos while listening to the ’50s music in the background and enjoying the same era’s aesthetics. Essentially, it’s a fun version of Death Stranding.

On top of that, the game has amazing environment destruction physics. Highly recommended.

Rocket Boots Mania: Space Train (A) is a high-octane, highly addictive endless runner. The player has to jump over train cars, concrete tubes and other obstacles that move constantly in space. The faster they move, the higher the score. It’s a simple premise but the gameplay loop is so addictive you will be yearning for more as soon as you put it down. That said, Rocket Boots Mania doesn’t have any schemes to force you to come back, it’s just good old high score chasing and smooth action.

Technically, this is a complete game rather than a demo and it’s completely free. The reason for that? It’s an advert for the actual full game which is simply called Rocket Boots Mania. Yup, the devs gave you a full game for free in hopes you’ll buy the other one. That one also has a free demo.

Blade Ball Arena (A) is basically a game of hot potato with abilities to help you survive. The basic one is to deflect the ball onto the next target and the goal is to be the last one standing. Additional abilities can be obtained by leveling up which quickly sprouts joyous chaos when everyone starts laying bombs and other ways of combating you around the arena.

However, the game is highly reliant on having an audience so if it doesn’t take off, it could end up unplayable.

Scarlet Lake (A) is a horror game in the style of classics such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, although the art style deviates fairly often in comparison to those two. If you are into scavenging, creepy map transitions, freaky monsters and mystery, this game will be right up your alley.

Old Timer Transport (B) is an unhinged taxi service game where everyone is an old guy in a scooter, with a trailer attached to it. The goal is to pick up customers by running into them and then deliver them to the designated location while going through a physics mayhem of speed ups, jumps, explosions and so on.

The more players in a lobby, the merrier as it contributes to chaos but the game screams low production value and the map featured in the demo seemed rather small, which begs the question of whether the shelf life on this kind of fun is fairly short. It could potentially blow up in popularity, should a group of streamers pick it up.

Among Us 3D (E) first asked to record my voice and made it clear I won’t be able to join any lobbies with voice chat if I refuse. Those recordings would be shared with modulate.ai and after I refused, I couldn’t find any lobbies.

Strategy and tactics

Tempest Rising (S) is a classic RTS in every sense. It is what the devs promised and they definitely delivered. While brutally difficulty until you learn the ropes, this game does not needlessly attempt reinvent the wheel. The old RTS formula works and it is faithfully recreated. The parts where Tempest Rising sought improvements are graphics and cinematic presentation, which once again, proved successful.

Chains of Freedom (S) is another surprisingly superb demo in this edition of Steam Next Fest. It has a fairly intriguing story setup, pretty good tactical depth, great character design and it’s easy to look at. Downsides include some voice acting and the red crystal zombie-like enemies that are so uninspired, the likes of Rainbow Six Extraction and Metal Gear Solid Survive used them extensively.

Did you ever wish for a Mad Max game with epic car combat through the desert but Mr. Rockatansky’s game didn’t itch that scratch? In that case, Dust Raiders (A) is precisely what you were looking for.

Featuring minor settlement trade and management as everyone attempts to survive in the wasteland, the player will spend a lot of quality time using their caravan to blow up pursuing raiders. On top of that, there exploration of the endless desert in hopes of scavenging spare parts, ammo, goods and finding new crew members to round the experience off. It is unforgiving when it comes to choice making so some players may be thrown off while others will welcome the brutal challenge.