Summary
Gameplay trailers, developer updates, tech showcases and flashy launch trailers are all great at capturing the players’ attention and driving the marketing hype for the product. However, nothing comes close to a playable demo for eliciting accurate feedback or response from the player by making sure they hit the pre-order button if the first impressions are good.
Demos offer more than just a juicy slice of the full game, they set expectations for players. All memorable demos do a great job in terms of offering chunky playtime, introducing the game’s primary systems and mechanics, and boasting solid technical performance. In light of these strengths, the list compiles some of the best free video game demos that are still available across the online stores.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakeonly opened the door for exciting possibilities in the long-standing Final Fantasy series.Final Fantasy 16took this level of confidence to the next level with one of the best dynamic combat systems across the series, which became the main talking point of the 2 hours-long explosive demo of the game.
It gives a grandiose sense of the medieval setting, its rich character interactions, and multiple huge-scale boss fights. Moreover,all progress from the demo carries over to the gameupon launch so the demo is essentially an impressive achievement of a prologue for an AAA title in a world-renowned series.
The gaming community was ecstatic at the announcement ofMetroid Dread, an original entry that marked a return to the 2D style of the old games, after two decades with the last one beingMetroid Fusion.Metroid Dreadwent on to become the best-selling Metroid game with the 25-minute demo giving a tasteful look and feel of all the glory of the side-scrolling Metroid games that players have missed for a long time.
The demo gives a good sense of the new action and stealth elements, along with the slick evasive abilities of Samus as players engage in a couple of mini-boss fights before the demo culminates in the first bossfight against Corpius. The difficulty may be a bit punishing, but thankfully the demo also includes a Rookie mode which reduces the damage output of enemies.
5The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit
This demo serves as a refreshing and unique prologue toLife is Strange 2as the character and set pieces introduced in the demo are wholly original to it. Although some of the player decisions made in the demo carry over to the main game and Chris does make a recurring appearance inLife is Strange 2,The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spiritmostly serves as a standalone experience with its own narrative beats and tone.
The story of Chris and his alter-ego, Captain Spirit, makes for a very relatable and heartfelt coming-of-age story touching on sensitive themes with great emotional depth. Playing as a superhero and using the superpower of imagination to solve puzzles and defeat enemies is creative and encapsulates the originality of theLife is Strangeseries as a whole in a demo unlike any other.
Most demos are slices of the full game but if the analogy is extended, thenDragonQuest 11 S’s demo is a very generous entrée of a full three-course meal. The demo is a comprehensive and beefy prologue spanning over 10 hours withsubstantial content in terms of exploration, boss battles, and quests. It is a perfect snapshot of the grand scale of the actual game which runs a little over 60 hours in its story.
The progress of the lengthy demo, understandably so, is carried over to the main game even if it is a cross-gen transfer. ForDragon Questfans, this already makes a very convincing case to try out the demo first and for newcomers to the series, they will find many reasons in the demo to hop onto the critically acclaimed game.
Capcomis no stranger to giving players an early playable teaser for most of their big video game franchises. WithResident Evil 4 Remake, the case for publishing a demo was even stronger so as to introduce the revamped combat and systems to enjoyers of the classicResident Evil 4(2005), which the Chainsaw demo of the Remake did in an impeccable fashion.
The new parry mechanics felt as satisfying as landing a suplex on the Ganados of the village in the opening section. The demo puts Leon in the heat of the action with a horde of the infested, and a menacing chainsaw-wielding mini-boss, a glorious set piece that is purely about survival, hectic running, and emptying a lot of bullets.
Perhaps to add a slight bit of replayability to an already decent length of demo,a secret ultra-hard difficulty setting, Mad Chainsaw Mode, can be triggered by following a specific set of instructions for absolute mayhem.
Capcomalmost never misses with its demos forResident Evilgames.Resident Evil 7, to date, remains a monumental shift in direction for the franchise thanks to its adoption of a first-person perspective, marking a full-blown survival horror experience. Moreover, it also marked the use of the near-photorealistic graphical fidelity, made possible by the developer’s first use of its proprietary RE Engine.
All of these new innovations were front and center, in the demo which can be considered as a self-contained story with a different protagonist than that of the base game. The new-look atmosphere and mood of the Louisiana suburbs, along with the series’ signature puzzles were all highly praised by fans. It would not be too far-fetched to sayResidentEvil7’s demo marked a revival of theResidentEvilseries which still stands tall today.
TheOctopath Traveler 2demo is playable on all consoles and PC.
Octopath Traveler 2is a stellar sequel and a satisfying RPG in its own right. It’s a love letter to the retro RPGs likeChrono Triggerand the classicFinal Fantasygames. Players can engross themselves in the various interactions and activities presented inOctopath Traveler 2’s world in a chunky 3-hour demo with 8 playable characters to choose from. Like other entries on the list,the demo carries the save over to the main gameso no progress is lost and every bit of exploration is meaningful.
There are multiple playstyles to get familiar with, character scenarios and quests to complete, and secondary jobs to get acquainted with in a well-crafted setting. One thing to note is that the three-hour timer will mark the completion of the demo, and players looking to replay it can only do so from the beginning.
