MondayDemos

№ 1 · last week · 5 to 11 October 2026

A demo with 12 followers drew 234 players

Every demo that went live on Steam last week, read morning and evening from the day it dropped. Below: the demos that drew a crowd their following does not explain, the biggest crowds, which ones players came back to, what launched off a demo, and who got signed.

demos: 1,529; demos
playtests and betas: 53; playtests and betas
launches with a demo: 70; launches with a demo
signings: 4; signings

Top xCCU

Which demos drew more players than they should have? xCCU, our own metric, predicts a demo's crowd from what it starts with: its followers, its publisher and its store page. Expected is that prediction. Peak (d3) is the most people playing at once in its first three days. These demos beat their prediction by the most, so the game itself brought the players in.

Based on 5,138 demos since 17 August. Each demo is scored after three days, so this covers demos that dropped Saturday 3 October to Friday 9 October.

Rescue Ops: WildfireSELF-PUBLISHED

Open World · Driving · Immersive Sim

Expected 1 · Peak 265 (d3) · no community group

45 reviews · verdict 54

Dormant page revived

ZOMBILLIONAIRESELF-PUBLISHED

RPG · FPS · Military

Expected 2 · Peak 234 (d3) · 12 followers

33 reviews · verdict 90

Deadzone Rogue 2SELF-PUBLISHED

Action Roguelike · Online Co-Op · FPS

Expected 43 · Peak 3,288 (d3) · 9,693 followers

222 reviews · verdict 72

Demo has been on the store before

大收藏家SELF-PUBLISHED

Card Game · PvP · Psychological

Expected 19 · Peak 1,459 (d3) · 1,092 followers

no reviews yet

Carry On TogetherPUBLISHED

Online Co-Op · Comedy · Funny

Expected 11 · Peak 728 (d3) · 321 followers

36 reviews · verdict 45

Stickiness

Did players come back? Opened is the most players a demo had in its first two days. Day 7 is how many were playing a week later. Kept compares the two; above 1× means the crowd grew. Demos that dropped 28 September to 4 October and opened to at least 10 players.

ZOMBILLIONAIRESELF-PUBLISHED

RPG · FPS · Military

Opened 31 · Day 7 169 · kept 5.5×

33 reviews · verdict 90

Dude, Trust MeSELF-PUBLISHED

Time Management · Puzzle · Party Game

Opened 50 · Day 7 227 · kept 4.5×

20 reviews · verdict 70

Shit-Stealing GnomesSELF-PUBLISHED

Co-op · Funny · PvE

Opened 58 · Day 7 150 · kept 2.6×

7 reviews · no verdict yet (under 10)

Log DropSELF-PUBLISHED

Physics · Automation · Incremental

Opened 233 · Day 7 369 · kept 1.6×

50 reviews · verdict 90

100K ZOMBIESSELF-PUBLISHED

Tower Defense · Incremental · Physics

Opened 18 · Day 7 24 · kept 1.3×

3 reviews · no verdict yet (under 10)

Top CCU

The demos that drew the biggest crowds this week. CCU is the most people playing a demo at the same moment. We take two readings a day, so a small number can miss a few players. Only demos that dropped this week; Sunday's have one reading so far.

Deadzone Rogue 2SELF-PUBLISHED

Action Roguelike · Online Co-Op · FPS

Peak 3,288 · 4 readings · dropped Thu · 9,693 followers

222 reviews · verdict 72

wishlist rank 277

WyldheartPUBLISHED

Action RPG · Survival · Dungeon Crawler

Peak 2,011 · 4 readings · dropped Thu · 31,649 followers

no reviews yet

Wayfinder Studios · wishlist rank 75

大收藏家SELF-PUBLISHED

Card Game · PvP · Psychological

Peak 1,459 · 3 readings · dropped Fri · 1,092 followers

no reviews yet

Ballistic.exePUBLISHED

FPS · Gun Customization · Realistic

Peak 1,452 · 4 readings · dropped Thu · 2,743 followers

317 reviews · verdict 98

Kwalee

VaultbreakersPUBLISHED

Extraction Shooter · Action RPG · Survival

Peak 1,332 · 4 readings · dropped Thu · 29,381 followers

293 reviews · verdict 73

BetaDwarf · brand crowd · wishlist rank 203

Top reviews

The demos that got the most new reviews this week. Any demo we track counts, not only this week's drops. Verdict is a cautious 0 to 100 score of how positive the reviews are; 70 or more is what Steam calls Positive. Played verdict is the same score from reviewers who played for at least an hour. The language is the one most reviewers wrote in.

Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper SimPUBLISHED

Shop Keeper · Cyberpunk · Inventory Management

+358 this week · 1418 total · verdict 97

played verdict 98 · Simplified Chinese 61% · peak 11,201 this week

Ballistic.exePUBLISHED

FPS · Gun Customization · Realistic

+317 this week · 317 total · verdict 98

played verdict 98 · English 81% · peak 1,452 this week

Guns of EschatonPUBLISHED

Western · FPS · Souls-like

+303 this week · 303 total · verdict 56

played verdict 70 · English 60% · peak 157 this week

VaultbreakersPUBLISHED

Extraction Shooter · Action RPG · Survival

+293 this week · 293 total · verdict 73

played verdict 76 · English 32% · peak 1,332 this week

Deadzone Rogue 2SELF-PUBLISHED

Action Roguelike · Online Co-Op · FPS

+222 this week · 222 total · verdict 72

played verdict 74 · English 55% · peak 3,288 this week

Launched, with a demo behind them

Games with a demo that went on sale last week. Copies sold is an estimate based on the game's reviews. Peak players is the most people playing at once since launch. The arrow shows whether opinion held up: the demo's verdict before launch against the full game's verdict now.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival

Gore · Horror · Dark

est. 115,900 copies sold · peak players 9,497

demo verdict 91 → launch verdict 94 Very Positive

Order of the Sinking StarPUBLISHED

Puzzle · Sokoban · Top-Down

est. 35,100 copies sold · peak players 6,206

demo verdict 90 → launch verdict 97 Overwhelmingly Positive

Babel LegacySELF-PUBLISHED

Incremental · Idler · Relaxing

est. 16,600 copies sold · peak players 911

demo verdict 74 → launch verdict 83 Very Positive

Maid Cafe SimulatorSELF-PUBLISHED

Visual Novel · Shop Keeper · Management

est. 4,200 copies sold · peak players 315

demo verdict 73 → launch verdict 83 Very Positive

GridlordsPUBLISHED

Auto Battler · Turn-Based Tactics · Pixel Graphics

est. 2,500 copies sold · peak players 201

demo verdict 60 → launch verdict 71 Very Positive

Signed

Games we track that found a publisher last week. We check 1,025 of them every day. Seen is the first day the publisher was on the store page; unsigned on is the last day it was not. The publisher was added somewhere in between.

The Devil's DuePUBLISHEDSIGNED

Roguelike Deckbuilder · Poker · Dark Comedy

Signed to Games People Play, Vsoo Games · seen Thursday 8 October, unsigned on Tuesday 6 October

643 followers

Choo Choo DefendersPUBLISHEDSIGNED

Tower Defense · Trains · Card Battler

Signed to IndieArk · seen Saturday 10 October, unsigned on Thursday 8 October

398 followers

Grandpa Needs FishPUBLISHEDSIGNED

Idler · Incremental · Automation

Signed to Armored Cat, 2Tellers · seen Monday 12 October, unsigned on Saturday 10 October

82 followers

Worm CapitalistPUBLISHEDSIGNED

Incremental · Idler · Automation

Signed to Ivy Juice · seen Wednesday 7 October, unsigned on Monday 5 October

27 followers

Demo dropped Monday 21 September

Followers, rising

Unreleased games picking up followers faster than usual. Followers are the best early sign we have of sales. Each card shows new followers a day this week, the game's usual daily pace before that, and how many times faster this week was. The percentage is how fast the game is growing for its size.