Just Volleyball Demo: What Next Fest Included
The free Next Fest demo ran from October 19 to October 29 and is now delisted. Here is what it contained, what carries over, and how to practise without it.
The just volleyball demo was a free Next Fest build that ran from October 19 to October 29, 2026. It has been delisted from Steam. If you did not download it during that window, there is no official way to get it now, and the store page no longer shows a demo button. The full game is a separate app and has not launched yet.
The demo is over. It was extended by two days, ended on October 29 at 11:59 am, and no longer appears on the store page. Progress from the demo is supposed to carry into the full game, but only for players who already have a save.
The demo timeline
The demo was announced on October 19 in a Steam post titled "Free Nextfest Demo + Release date!" The timing was deliberate: Steam Next Fest is a discovery event, and a free demo is the standard way for a small game to get in front of players who would never watch a trailer.
The original end date was extended. Community posts and a YouTube capture of the demo build refer to an end on October 29 at 11:59 am, and the developer's quoted Discord message confirms that the demo "will run until 29 October 2026 11:59 am." After that, the demo was removed from the store. A third-party video from October 22 describes the build as a "v0.9.5 Demo/Beta" and notes the same end date.
That makes the demo a ten-day window, not a permanent trial. If you missed it, you are not alone: the Steam forum has a thread titled "Is the demo over?" with players discovering the delisting after the fact.
What you could do in the demo
The demo was not a vertical slice with a single match. It exposed the core systems that define the full game:
- Cursor-based contact. Your mouse cursor decides where the ball goes, not just where your player faces. That applies to serves, passes, sets, spikes, and blocks.
- Manual movement. Every step is yours. There is no auto-positioning and no magnetism toward the ball.
- Avatar creation. The demo let players build a Mii-style character with a face, hair, voice, and jersey number. Rock Paper Shotgun's hands-on describes the avatar editor as one of the demo's charms.
- Online play. Community threads refer to a server browser, and players organised matches during the demo window.
- Multiple team sizes. The full game supports 1v1 through 6v6. The demo's local setup screen showed four player slots, which is a useful hint for couch play but not a confirmed cap for every mode.
- The full contact set. Serve, bump, set, spike, block, and dive were all present. The October tutorial update added dashing and mouse-wheel zoom.
The demo did not include the career tab, the full achievement list, or the seven launch courts. Those are launch features. It also did not answer every question about matchmaking, because a ten-day demo population is not the same as a launch population.
What carries over to the full game
The developer's quoted message says your levels and save will carry over, while "certain profile stats will not." That is a reasonable split: progression and unlocks are the parts players care about, while stats tied to a demo season are harder to migrate cleanly.
In practice, this only helps you if the demo is still installed on the same Steam account and the save files are intact. Deleting the demo folder may delete the save. If you played the demo and want the progress, do not wipe the install directory before launch. The full game should read the same save location, but that is an expectation based on the developer's statement, not something we can test before release.
Why the demo is gone
Steam demos are separate app entries. When a developer ends a demo, the store page can remove the download button even though the full game page stays up. That is what happened here. The demo app no longer returns store data, and the full game page shows no demo section.
The removal is not a sign that the game was cancelled. It is the normal lifecycle of a Next Fest demo: build hype during the festival, then close the free build so the launch version is the only way to play. The October 31 delay announcement is a separate issue, caused by Steam review timing.
Demo vs playtest: they are not the same
The demo and the playtest are two different apps. The playtest (app 5037230) opened on September 23 and was a free public test of an earlier build. The demo was the polished Next Fest build in October. The playtest app may still appear in your library if you joined it, but it is not the demo and it is not the full game.
This distinction matters when you search for downloads. A "playtest download" is not a demo download, and neither one is a cracked full game. The playtest guide covers what that build contained and why it was useful.
How to practise without the demo
You cannot legally download the demo now, so the honest answer is: practise the theory, not the build. Three things transfer to launch:
- Learn the control map. The controls guide explains which button does what and how the cursor changes each contact.
- Learn the contact rules. A team gets three touches, a block does not count as one of them, and the same player cannot touch the ball twice in a row. The how to play guide covers the rules in plain language.
- Watch real footage. The Steam store page has a trailer and eleven screenshots. The official Discord and the Steam forum have clips from the demo. Watching a server-browser match is a better use of time than watching a highlight reel, because it shows positioning and recovery.
If you already have the demo installed, you can still launch it offline. Do not expect updates, online services, or a populated server list. The developer has said the demo will no longer receive updates, so treat it as a museum build: useful for learning the cursor, useless for testing the launch meta.
Will there be another demo before launch?
Nothing has been announced. A second demo before a delayed launch is possible but uncommon; the Next Fest window is the main promotional beat, and the developer is currently focused on clearing review. The safer plan is to assume the next build you can download is the paid game.
If a new demo does appear, it will show up on the store page and in the Discord. The Discord guide explains which channels to watch so you do not miss a short window.
FAQ
Is the just volleyball demo still available?
No. It was delisted after October 29, 2026, and the store page no longer offers a demo download.
When did the demo run?
It opened on October 19, 2026 during Steam Next Fest and ended on October 29 at 11:59 am after a two-day extension.
Does demo progress carry over?
The developer says levels and saves carry over, but some profile stats will not. Keep the demo install and save files intact if you want to test that at launch.
Is the demo the same as the playtest?
No. The playtest was a separate free app that opened in September. The demo was the October Next Fest build.
Can I still play the demo offline?
If it is already installed, some players report launching it offline. There are no updates, online services, or official support for that build.
Further reading
Official source: just volleyball on Steam and the October 19 Next Fest demo announcement.
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