Star Birds Demo Soars in Steam Next Fest, Gaining Over 100k Players

Gaming Staff • June 13, 2025

Pc Games Indie Game Early Access Strategy

The demo for Star Birds, a space factory building game developed by Toukana Interactive and kurzgesagt, was released during Steam Next Fest on June 9th and quickly gained popularity with over 100,000 players. The demo received an overwhelmingly positive rating of 96% with over 800 reviews and reached the top 10 of most played demos.

Star Birds offers satisfying gameplay mechanics, 3D graphics, and a story campaign with cutscenes in kurzgesagt's signature style. The demo includes the first two story campaign levels and a procedurally generated bonus expedition level. Players can unlock achievements and redeem a secret code for a special item.

Star Birds is currently at the #100 spot on the global Steam Wishlists with over 340k wishlists. An Early Access release is planned for this year, and players can participate in community events on the Steam Community Hub or Toukana's Discord.

Toukana Interactive, based in Berlin, is known for their previous title, Dorfromantik, while kurzgesagt is a German animation and design studio with over 23 million subscribers on YouTube. The collaboration between the two promises a unique experience for fans of relaxing, innovative gameplay mechanics and appealing visuals.

Star Birds features gameplay mechanics such as exploring and mining asteroids, building production networks, collecting and upgrading buildings, and uncovering mysteries. The game is currently in development, and the Early Access release date has not been announced yet. Players can download the demo on the official Steam page.

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