Sci-fi idle RPG Lost Vessel will take part in Steam Next Fest beginning June 15, with a free demo already available to play on both web browsers and Steam.
Lost Vessel casts players as the lone survivor of a wrecked ship on a hostile world, rebuilding from nothing by salvaging, mining, crafting, researching, and fighting through deepening tiers of gear and enemies. As an idle game, progression continues whether the player is active or away, so every session builds on the last – and the Next Fest demo holds hundreds of hours of that progression rather than a short vertical slice.
The game sets itself apart from the genre in several ways:
- A save that travels with the player: Progress can begin in a web browser and continue on Steam on the same account, with no loss and nothing to redo.
- No signup wall: Players can start instantly as a guest and only commit to a permanent account when they choose.
- Optional, non-invasive PvP: The Raiders system rewards players who opt in, but never sets back the progress of those who skip it.
- Built in dialogue with its players: A significant share of the demo’s features were added in direct response to community requests.
Beyond the solo loop, players can join shared expeditions and world-boss fights and stake out territory through an optional faction-based PvP layer, with none of the pay-to-win pressure or forced progress resets common to the genre.
Lost Vessel has been developed in the open from the start, shaped by an active community whose feedback drives its frequent updates – a relationship that continues into the Next Fest demo and beyond.
“I’m one person building this, and honestly most of what’s in the demo is there because players told me they wanted it,” said the solo developer behind Lazy Frog Games. “I didn’t want the Next Fest demo to be a five-minute taste. It’s the actual game, hundreds of hours of it, free to play right now.”
Lost Vessel is free to try now and is scheduled for full launch in July 2026 on web and Steam (PC).