MondayDemos

№ 3 · last week · 19 to 25 October 2026

Melvor Idle 2 drew 6,915 players against 359 expected

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
977
demos
playtests and betas
31
playtests and betas
launches with a demo
85
launches with a demo
signings
5
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 before the demo dropped, its place on Steam's wishlist chart, its publisher, its store page, and how many other demos dropped the same day. Expected is the typical crowd for a demo with that start. Peak (d3) is the most people playing at once in its first three days; next is the second-highest of the six readings, so a one-off spike cannot rank. These demos beat their expectation by the most players.

Based on 6,814 demos since 17 August. Each demo is scored after three days, so this covers demos that dropped Saturday 17 October to Friday 23 October. 390 of them had no follower reading we could trust and are not scored.

#1

Melvor Idle 2SELF-PUBLISHED

RPG · Idler · Moddable

Expected 359 · Peak 6,915 (d3) · next 6,912

the biggest crowd of the 40 demos we have tracked with 5,000 to 19,999 followers · no reviews yet

11,740 followers before the drop

#2

LoftiaSELF-PUBLISHED

Life Sim · Cozy · Farming Sim

Expected 816 · Peak 5,533 (d3) · next 4,648

1 in 6 for a demo with 20,000 or more followers · 362 reviews · verdict 80

23,077 followers before the drop · Dormant page revived

#3

just volleyballSELF-PUBLISHED

Sports · Arcade · Volleyball

Expected 152 · Peak 4,789 (d3) · next 4,041

the biggest crowd of the 150 demos we have tracked with 1,000 to 4,999 followers · 734 reviews · verdict 97

3,478 followers before the drop

#4

ArcheAge ChroniclesSELF-PUBLISHED

Controller · Open World · PvE

Expected 2,514 · Peak 6,136 (d3) · next 5,349

1 in 8 for a demo with 20,000 or more followers · no reviews yet

49,681 followers before the drop

#5

Meltdown CrewPUBLISHED

Party Game · Puzzle · Online Co-Op

Expected 174 · Peak 2,380 (d3) · next 1,927

1 in 75 for a demo with 1,000 to 4,999 followers · 192 reviews · verdict 87

2,015 followers before the drop

From nowhere

The same scores, ranked by how rare the crowd is for the following. 1 in 240 means that among demos we have tracked with that many followers, one in 240 drew a crowd this big in its first three days. Followers are counted before the demo dropped where we had a reading, else the first reading after.

#1

Hearth FableSELF-PUBLISHED

Resource Management · City Builder · Open World

Expected under 1 · Peak 773 (d3) · next 626

1 in 3,846 for a demo with 1 to 9 followers · 20 reviews · verdict 76

1 follower before the drop

#2

When Chests Rain Tons of LootSELF-PUBLISHED

Incremental · Auto Battler · Idler

Expected 1 · Peak 94 (d3) · next 84

1 in 775 for a demo with 1 to 9 followers · 26 reviews · verdict 87

8 followers before the drop

#3

SeabunPUBLISHED

Incremental · Bullet Heaven · Underwater

Expected 1 · Peak 68 (d3) · next 54

1 in 388 for a demo with 1 to 9 followers · 77 reviews · verdict 95

9 followers before the drop

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 12 October to 18 October and opened to at least 10 players.

#1

A Pond HuntSELF-PUBLISHED

3D Platformer · Immersive Sim · Shop Keeper

Opened 16 · Day 7 2,249 · kept 140.6×

27 reviews · verdict 55

#4

Stars of IcarusSELF-PUBLISHED

Spaceships · Vehicular Combat · PvP

Opened 11 · Day 7 50 · kept 4.5×

14 reviews · verdict 52

#5

Banana AirwaysSELF-PUBLISHED

Co-op · Online Co-Op · Flight

Opened 93 · Day 7 384 · kept 4.1×

16 reviews · verdict 72

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.

#1

just volleyballSELF-PUBLISHED

Sports · Arcade · Volleyball

Peak 9,118 · 7 readings · dropped Mon · no community group

734 reviews · verdict 97

#2

Melvor Idle 2SELF-PUBLISHED

RPG · Idler · Moddable

Peak 7,152 · 7 readings · dropped Mon · no community group

no reviews yet

wishlist rank 327

#3

ArcheAge ChroniclesSELF-PUBLISHED

Controller · Open World · PvE

Peak 6,136 · 7 readings · dropped Mon · no community group

no reviews yet

wishlist rank 55

#4

LoftiaSELF-PUBLISHED

Life Sim · Cozy · Farming Sim

Peak 5,533 · 7 readings · dropped Mon · no community group

362 reviews · verdict 80

wishlist rank 137

#5

FrostrailPUBLISHED

Open World Survival Craft · FPS · Survival

Peak 2,476 · 7 readings · dropped Mon · no community group

no reviews yet

Shiro Unlimited · wishlist rank 65

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.

#1

The Serena Villa FilesSELF-PUBLISHED

Choose Your Own Adventure · Immersive Sim · Visual Novel

+997 this week · 1180 total · verdict 99

played verdict 97 · Simplified Chinese 59% · peak 561 this week

#2

just volleyballSELF-PUBLISHED

Sports · Arcade · Volleyball

+734 this week · 734 total · verdict 97

played verdict 98 · English 60% · peak 9,118 this week

#3

Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper SimPUBLISHED

Shop Keeper · Cyberpunk · Inventory Management

+620 this week · 2404 total · verdict 98

played verdict 98 · Simplified Chinese 60% · peak 14,198 this week

#4

LoftiaSELF-PUBLISHED

Life Sim · Cozy · Farming Sim

+362 this week · 362 total · verdict 80

played verdict 86 · English 77% · peak 5,533 this week

#5

Ignite the DepthsPUBLISHED

Online Co-Op · Dungeon Crawler · Dark Fantasy

+342 this week · 342 total · verdict 91

played verdict 93 · English 60% · peak 515 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.

#1

FINAL FANTASY RESONANCE

RPG · Turn-Based Combat · Pixel Graphics

est. 234,600 copies sold · peak players 33,435

no demo verdict → launch verdict 96 Overwhelmingly Positive

#2

Loop Dungeon - IncrementalSELF-PUBLISHED

Roguelike · Auto Battler · Puzzle

est. 18,800 copies sold · peak players 381

no demo verdict → launch verdict 61 Mixed

#3

Stupid Never DiesSELF-PUBLISHED

Action RPG · RPG · Zombies

est. 7,100 copies sold · peak players 341

demo verdict 71 → launch verdict 76 Very Positive

#4

Online: 404SELF-PUBLISHED

Survival · Co-op · Base Building

est. 6,600 copies sold · peak players 345

no demo verdict → launch verdict 48 Mixed

#5

GemCraft - Legacy CollectionPUBLISHED

Tower Defense · Difficult · Top-Down

est. 6,100 copies sold · peak players 689

no demo verdict → launch verdict 89 Very Positive

Signed

Games we track that found a publisher last week. We check 1,545 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.

#1

Hack YouPUBLISHEDSIGNED

Hacking · Espionage · Realistic

Signed to Mahlo Games, GAMIKE · seen Thursday 22 October, unsigned on Tuesday 20 October

2,553 followers

Demo dropped Sunday 4 October

#2

Forsaken FleetPUBLISHEDSIGNED

Horror · Psychological Horror · Dark

Signed to Zakym s. r. o., Enelot s. r. o. · seen Thursday 22 October, unsigned on Tuesday 20 October

692 followers

Demo dropped Thursday 3 September

#3

My Own Hero PartyPUBLISHEDSIGNED

Incremental · Auto Battler · Economy

Signed to Gamersky Games · seen Tuesday 20 October, unsigned on Sunday 18 October

320 followers

Demo dropped Wednesday 29 July

#4

KEYKRUNCHER™PUBLISHEDSIGNED

Incremental · Perma Death · Gambling

Signed to CRITICAL REFLEX · seen Thursday 22 October, unsigned on Tuesday 20 October

201 followers

Demo dropped Sunday 9 August

#5

9.8PUBLISHEDSIGNED

Space Sim · Physics · Sandbox

Signed to Tremoço Games · seen Thursday 22 October, unsigned on Tuesday 20 October

191 followers

Demo dropped Wednesday 30 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.

#1

QUIETSELF-PUBLISHED

Horror · Online Co-Op · Comedy

+71 followers a day this week · usually 17 · 4.0× faster

2,586 followers · growing 2.75% a day · demo dropped 21 October

#2

Spirit CrossingSELF-PUBLISHED

MMORPG · Relaxing · Cozy

+43 followers a day this week · usually 22 · 2.0× faster

4,660 followers · growing 0.92% a day · demo dropped 8 October

#3

LeafbornSELF-PUBLISHED

Fast-Paced · Runner · 3D Platformer

+12 followers a day this week · usually 1 · 5.2× faster

635 followers · growing 1.82% a day · demo dropped 16 October

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