Steam Next Fest: Core 2025 Challenge - Play the Demo and win a Steam Key
Sphere TD · published
Next Fest is officially live, and Sphere TD is launching into Steam Early Access on 25 June.
To celebrate, I am hosting a challenge for anyone who loves deep strategy, optimization, and perhaps a bit of self-inflicted theorycrafting pain.
The Galatium Academy Final Exam
If you can conquer the entire core campaign in the Steam demo, you get the full game for free when we launch. But be warned: this is not one of those casual tower defense games where you plop down a generic archer tower and go make a sandwich. Map 50 is a brutal, hand-crafted final exam that will test your routing logic, your grid packing, and your projectile math to their absolute limits.
The Reward. A free Steam Early Access key when the game launches on 25 June.
The Catch. Keys are limited, and we will be issuing them to verified completions while supplies last.
The Rules. You must complete all 50 Core 2025 maps with every single objective checked, using the Steam Next Fest demo.
The Proof. Join our Discord server to read the submission guidelines and post your proof once you finish.
Join the Galatium Academy on Discord Please make sure to check the rules channel on Discord before you start your run so you know exactly what screenshots or save files to capture.
New to Sphere TD?
In this game, nothing is premade. Instead of buying preset towers, you build them from scratch. You sit with a finite grid and route modifiers from an input to an output, designing custom projectiles that split, bounce, chain, pierce, and multiply. It is a game built for theorycrafters who love roguelite choices, incremental progression, and complex optimization puzzles. The Next Fest demo gives you access to all 50 core maps, endless mode, and research up to Tier 3. There is easily enough depth here to sink a week into if the systems click for you.
Important Links
Wishlist and install the demo on Steam Discord for rules and proof submission
If you prefer playing on the go, the mobile version is also available on Google Play and the App Store.
Thank You
As a solo developer, building this game has been an incredible journey. I want to say a massive thank you to everyone in our community who has helped me test, balance, and refine these systems. Your feedback has directly shaped our towers, mods, and progression. Good luck with the exam, cadets. I will see you in Discord! Alex, solo dev