Demos—post game demos here

[ZedClampet]

Some free demos I found looking at today's game releases on Steam.

Save 55% on Alchemist: The Potion Monger on Steam

First-person Alchemist Simulator with RPG elements. Explore the world, gather ingredients, and sell or use potions you craft to help others and fend off enemies. Adopt pets to help you with your alchemy knowledge (and to pet them). Decorate your home however you like and brew your destiny!

store.steampowered.com

Growth on Steam

Growth is a cozy, hexagonal-grid based soft-strategy game. Explore and populate a procedurally generated world by utilizing unique abilities of animals. Growth blends the beauty of cozy exploration with challenging navigation around obstacles.

store.steampowered.com

Nine Realms: Revolt on Steam

A story driven deckbuilding adventure set in a nordic world with an epic soundtrack. Roll your dice, then alter your dice and reinvent the fate of the realms! Build to suit your playstyle and discover an intricate plot from the eyes of a fledgling elven warrior.

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

@Colif have you tried the demo from the developers of Journey?

Sky: Children of the Light on Steam

Sky: Children of the Light is a peaceful, award-winning MMO designed to help players meaningfully connect with one another. You are a Child of the Light with a magical cape, set out into a wide world to find others like yourself. All are welcome in this cozy, open-world adventure above the clouds!

store.steampowered.com

 

[Colif]

lets see, it was on IOS 4 years ago. since then its been on every console so it makes sense it hits PC.

Not sure I want to play it though, videos of it makes me think I am not target audience.

might as well try it.

 

[Colif]

more cave drawings. Probably need to work out flying since its most of the game from what I can tell. Lots of people playing as I assume most of the other characters are alive. Its hard to tell. they appear to be.

its an mmo... odd.

edit: takes a while to pick up. I think I am up to last area now, since I have all the arches at start filled now.

I still don't know what I am doing. Its too easy to get stuck in friend menus

There must be different routes as I haven't seen all of the map yet... or maybe I have

season is 74 days, I have to assume game comes out before then.

It helps other people can finish areas you are in. I have no clue in some spots and then randomly someone else will finish it.

its Journey the mmo. Lots of similarities, flying things that attack and take flying ability away... how new. Water is your enemy as well. As is cold.

there are loads of costumes but I don't seem to be able to wear any besides in the changing area

Only thing that sticks is my hair... think i need to back track and find some collectables to get through to the last stage. I can't get any further right now.

 

[Colif]

too much of the game relies on you having someone playing with you. So many doors need two people to open them. Some areas only work if there are multiple people. One needs 8.

But it has the rule that Journey has - you will never see friends in game... so why make them? Its designed for people who like socialising, not people who just want to play it alone. Half the quests in game are about talking to other players and doing things with them. Its not for anti social people.

I don't know anyone in there so hard to do that. I don't randomly choose people in game.

I wonder if its cross play as there seem to be a lot of players.

more i learn the less I want to play. It feels like its for girls. Most of the videos are done by them, and the items you collect aren't overly exciting to me. I have seen end.

Glad its a demo as I might just delete it.

 

[Colif]

Looking into it, the reason its so close to Journey is it was made in response to people wanting to play Journey with their friends... so its essentially multi player Journey.

I am not sure I like that really. That and much of game forces you to play with someone else. Half the quests revolve around talking to others...

 

[ZedClampet]

Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 on Steam

Dust off your torch and hammer - it's time to get back to work, you have a new job to do. Visit the new beach coast with the largest, biggest ship graveyard in the world, dismantle huge ship parts and collect tons of precious steel. Roll up your sleeves, it's time to get back to the business.

store.steampowered.com

Published by probably the most prolific publisher on Steam, Playway. We've had a positive user review on this game.

I enjoyed the demo. It's exactly like a shooter. You point your mouse and click.

I wasn't sure I would like a busy-work simulator, thinking it would be a lot loke PowerWash Simulator, but this actually requires just enough thought to be interesting for me. You have to figure out the correct order for taking things apart, and it is possible to injure your character (though I'm not sure that's possible in the demo). Also, you can buy blueprints and craft upgrades for your tools. I'll work all day if it means I can improve a hammer XD.

Only negative is that it doesn't really tell you everything you'd want to know, like where to find the areas that can be disassembled with the blowtorch or how to upgrade tools. You're kind of on your own.

 

[ZedClampet]

These are demos uncovered while making the November monthly random thoughts post. The only one I've tried is Broken Roads, and I thought it was excellent.

This Bed We Made on Steam

This Bed We Made is a third-person mystery game in which you play as a maid in a 1950s hotel and snoop around strangers' rooms to uncover their deadly secrets. Discover what links guests together in this tale of love, heartbreak and murder!

store.steampowered.com

Magicraft on Steam

"Magicraft" is a Roguelike game that uses a variety of spells to match unimaginable spell effects, and the construction of ultra-high degrees of freedom cannot even be exhausted by developers.

store.steampowered.com

Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom Complete Edition on Steam

Prove you have what it takes to join the Peaky Blinders in The King's Ransom, a narrative VR game inspired by the epic gangster drama. Complete with all DLC included – including 7 additional missions and challenges!

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STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R on Steam

In this science fantasy RPG, choose between Claude or Rena, play through their perspectives, and unlock various endings. Recruit allies and defeat foes in fast paced real-time battles.

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Thirsty Suitors on Steam

Thirsty Suitors is a surreal story-driven game which throws turn-based RPG battles, skating and over-the-top cooking mechanics together in a spicy fusion! This isn't a dating sim - it's a breakup simulator. Battle your exes. Disappoint your parents. Find yourself.

store.steampowered.com

Slime 3K: Rise Against Despot on Steam

Welcome to Slime 3K, an unhinged roguelite bullet-heaven set in the Despot’s Game universe! Build a deck of crazy weapons, grow stronger and devour hordes of pink puny humans as a murderous jelly blob on a warpath of death, violence and pretzels.

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Iron Marines Invasion on Steam

Prepare to take off, soldier! The galaxy needs your strategy! Prove your RTS expertise, explore an entire galaxy and defend it from a threatening invasion.

store.steampowered.com

Ratopia on Steam

Ratopia is a new game that has combined elements of both strategic survival and city building. With plenty of content available, and more planned, enjoy a vast world to adventure and populate with citizens! Build your own economical system to sustain your ideal city of Ratopia.

store.steampowered.com

Survivors of the Dawn on Steam

A run-based roguelite space bullet heaven with strategic sci-fi weapon-item synergies against quintillions of alien hordes. Die and die MORE again to build synergies, level up bullets, unlock power-ups, and survive the chaos!

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Idling Gears on Steam

Click! Place gears, click! Make money, click! Place more gears, click! Make even more money, click, click and above all click!

store.steampowered.com

Noseka: The Gold Project on Steam

Venture into a frenetic metroidvania and take part in a fight between divinities where you will have to choose between Corrupting Gold and Purifying Light to achieve your ends.

store.steampowered.com

Saturnalia on Steam

A Single-Player Survival Horror Adventure: play as a cast of characters exploring an isolated village haunted by an ancient ritual—but beware, its labyrinthine roads will change each time you lose all your characters.

store.steampowered.com

Beyond Sunset on Steam

Cyberpunk first-person shooter with a rich story and RPG elements. You are Lucy, an enhanced street samurai searching for lost memories. Fight in large, open, interactive levels overtaken by yakuza, zombies, robots and bosses!

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GUNHEAD on Steam

Gunhead is a fast paced strategic roguelike FPS where you take the role of a pirate mech with a gun for a head, looting derelict spaceships filled with monstrous drones made out of bone and steel. Sequel to the 2d roguelite Cryptark.

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Save 30% on Spells & Secrets on Steam

In this rogue-lite adventure, you free the Academy of Greifenstein from magical creatures by using your spells creatively. Explore this modern magical world alone or in local co-op mode with friends and family, customize your character, solve mysteries, and find powerful artifacts.

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Don't Die In The West 🤠 on Steam

Don’t Die in the West is an open-world cowboy-life RPG for 1-4 players. Start a new life on the prairie, explore the frontier, and build a ranch of your own. As you avenge the untimely demise of your uncle, will you become a heroic cowboy or a notorious outlaw?

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Mob Factory on Steam

Mob factory is an tower defense and automation game for the lazy adventurer. Smelt down enemy loot into turrets & factories to automate an ever expanding dungeon from the comfort of your tower.

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Undercat on Steam

Undercat is a non-restrictive 2D platformer with co-op and PvP modes. Help the Resistance to overthrow the Cats' tyranny and liberate the animal city!

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Microcivilization on Steam

Incremental clicker strategy, where you expand, construct, research, fight, collect heroes and make choices between good and evil. Ascend through difficulty tiers by playing through challenge campaign going back and forth through history. Mammoths included.

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Spirittea on Steam

Hey human, we've got problems! This town is crawling with troublesome spirits, and you're the only one who can see them. You'd better get that old bathhouse up and running, maybe that'll help them chill out!

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BZZZT on Steam

Become a tiny ZX8000 robot and begin your journey through a beautiful, pixel-art world inspired by games iconic to the platformer genre. Follow a surprising story, upgrade your skills, beat challenging levels, and compete with other players for the fastest speedrun!

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Broken Roads on Steam

Broken Roads is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in a decaying, post-apocalyptic version of the vast Australian Outback, featuring a genre-redefining morality system. Survive, form bonds, and make tough choices that will shape your dangerous yet mesmerizing journey across the wilds.

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SUPER CRAZY RHYTHM CASTLE on Steam

It’s Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, the chaotic rhythm adventure! A puzzling co-op mashup unlike anything you've ever heard. Solo, or with a band of up to three friends … … Can you conquer the castle?

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Death Must Die on Steam

Descend the nether in search of Death himself! Choose from God-given powers to slay his hordes of minions. Unlock new heroes, collect powerful items and create game-breaking synergies in this roguelite hack and slash survivors game.

store.steampowered.com

The Last Faith on Steam

A dark, gothic fusion of metroidvania and soulslike. The Last Faith thrives on merciless and precise combat with a huge range of weapons, firearms, and custom executions at your disposal. Let nothing stand in your way.

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American Arcadia on Steam

American Arcadia is a cinematic puzzle game that combines a 2.5D platformer and first-person game to tell the tale of a thrilling escape. Experience the extraordinary story of Trevor, an average man escaping from the world's most popular reality tv show.

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Wizordum on Steam

Wizordum is a retro FPS that puts you in the role of a Mage on a quest to track down the source of Chaos. With a wide arsenal of spells and magic items, battle your way through the world of Terrabruma in this unique blend of classic 90s shooters and modern gaming elements.

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7th Domain on Steam

"7th Domain" is a horizontal version action game derived from Roguelike Metroidvania combined with treasure grinding gameplay. You will play a child of destiny who repairs the world and finds the truth of the broken world. You will grow in battle and challenge the unknown and hidden forces.

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The Kindeman Remedy on Steam

The most blasphemous, diabolical and insane management game ever created. Aided by a lascivious nun in a grim prison, rig executions, conduct horrid experiments and do the unspeakable to cook up your cure-all: The Kindeman Remedy. Do not be afraid. This time, you're the monster.

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Loddlenaut on Steam

Play as an interstellar custodian sent to clean up a polluted ocean planet. Pick up trash, explore the vibrant waters, and take care of axolotl-like alien creatures!

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迷离诡夜 blurred weird night on Steam

The story mode is a supernatural interactive story, with strong Chinese characteristic scenes and plots. Will all the staff die or will most of them survive? It's like a funny horror movie, scary and funny. The zombie mode has different plots and boss. Provide DEMO download

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Below the Stone on Steam

Below the Stone is an extraction roguelike about dwarves on the quest for the deepest depths. A place where each and every descent will lead to new adventures -- and where only the most determined dwarves with many lost lives will be rewarded by the hidden world lying below the stone.

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Save 20% on In Stars And Time on Steam

Live with the ever-present burden of being trapped in a time loop only you can know about in this turn-based RPG. Create a better future for you and your friends. Find hope where there is none left. Pray to the stars and free yourself from time.

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Save 25% on Worldless on Steam

Worldless is a stylised 2D platformer with a unique, active, turn-based combat system, and a mind-bending interpretative narrative. Players embark on a journey of self-growth and understanding, pushing the limits of their nature in a newly born and abstract universe.

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Last Train Home on Steam

The Great War is over - the fight continues. Command a legion of soldiers, desperately trying to make their way home amidst the chaos of civil war. Lead them through the unforgiving wilderness onboard an armored train. Manage your crew and resources and try to survive.

store.steampowered.com

TEVI on Steam

Embark on an epic action-adventure as you slash, dash, and combo your way through a vast, vibrant world. Explore and uncover hidden secrets. Customize your build to triumph in spectacular boss battles. Experience a tale of mystery, magic, and mayhem in TEVI, a bullet hell metroidvania!

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

I tried The Kindeman Remedy, but only for a few minutes. During the part I played, you were just following instructions on everything, which may change as the game goes on. It's an interesting story, for sure, and included one of the most enthusiastic content warnings I've ever seen.

 

[ZedClampet]

Beer Factory - Prologue on Steam

Beer Factory - Prologue is a business simulation and management game. Take the challenge and manage your own beer factory, employees, production lines, as well as the import and export of merchandise.

store.steampowered.com

It's a Playway game. The full game will supposedly have tycoon game features, but the demo is all busywork, as is typical for Playway. If you've ever played one of their prologues, you'll know whether you'll like this one or not. Has about an hour of playtime if you goof around a bit.

 

[ZedClampet]

Train Valley on Steam

Build railways, manage traffic and stay accident-free. Play in Europe, America, Japan and USSR in 1830-2020. Complete the story mode from the Gold Rush of 1849 to the first manned spaceflight, and then explore the random mode. Management. Construction. Trains. Welcome to Train Valley!

store.steampowered.com

Fun train RTS puzzle game. I was hilariously bad at it because I can't do RTS, but I enjoyed laying out the tracks.

If you want to try this, in the Steam app, the "Demo" button is actually in the right column. Don't know why the web page and the app have different formats.

 

[Frindis]

Beer Factory - Prologue on Steam

Beer Factory - Prologue is a business simulation and management game. Take the challenge and manage your own beer factory, employees, production lines, as well as the import and export of merchandise.

store.steampowered.com

It's a Playway game. The full game will supposedly have tycoon game features, but the demo is all busywork, as is typical for Playway. If you've ever played one of their prologues, you'll know whether you'll like this one or not. Has about an hour of playtime if you goof around a bit.

Ahhhh, yes! Now there is a game for true gentlemen.

 

[Brian Boru]

there is a game for true gentlemen

Hey now, don't leave out Vikings and Irish!

Fun train RTS puzzle

The wonders of spreadsheet reveal I have TV on GOG and TV2 on Epic—guess I should try them sometime

 

[ZedClampet]

Hey now, don't leave out Vikings and Irish!



The wonders of spreadsheet reveal I have TV on GOG and TV2 on Epic—guess I should try them sometime

I only mean RTS in the sense that all your trains are going at the same time, and you have to manually move all the switches to get them in the right direction and avoid collisions. You can order individual trains to stop, but you can't pause the game. Also, it just suddenly spawns new trains in the stations every now and then, which really threw me off.

 

[Brian Boru]

Yield!

Yield! on Steam

Forge your Kingdom amidst the Ruins of Rome! As the world crumbles, rebuild civilization and shape your destiny with every decision. Unleash your strategic prowess, conquer provinces, and explore dynamically generated campaigns that promise endless challenges!

store.steampowered.com

I gave this TBS city and empire builder ~30 minutes. Love the art style and production values, looks to be very well crafted. UI and maybe systems still need fine tuning, as I got stuck trying to do sth I know I could do—since I'd done it earlier. Didn't get any 'You can't do this…'

Standard building progression of Harvest, Process, Earn, Grow—I met Sheep, Forest and Boars so far.

Added to Following.

 

[ZedClampet]

Yield!

Yield! on Steam

Forge your Kingdom amidst the Ruins of Rome! As the world crumbles, rebuild civilization and shape your destiny with every decision. Unleash your strategic prowess, conquer provinces, and explore dynamically generated campaigns that promise endless challenges!

store.steampowered.com

I gave this TBS city and empire builder ~30 minutes. Love the art style and production values, looks to be very well crafted. UI and maybe systems still need fine tuning, as I got stuck trying to do sth I know I could do—since I'd done it earlier. Didn't get any 'You can't do this…'

Standard building progression of Harvest, Process, Earn, Grow—I met Sheep, Forest and Boars so far.

Added to Following.

What are all the updates they are posting? Are they actually building out the demo or are these just progress reports on the full game?

 

[Frag Maniac]

...I met Sheep...

Don't worry, I won't judge.

 

[Brian Boru]

What are all the updates they are posting?

Dunno, hadn't noticed them until now. Looking at the 2 updates since October, I didn't reach the affected areas in the demo, so I still dunno

I won't judge.

Boaring

 

[Brian Boru]

Last Train Home

34% off at Steam for another 3-4 days, so check it out soon if you might be interested.

Looks very well made, beautiful look and art style even in the medium settings it picked for my 1060. It's a mix of survival and RTT, with plenty of RPG and management elements, and therefore lots of micro. 4 difficulty settings, set at end of WW1, your job is to get your infantry force across Russia in an armored train, thru the hostile civil war factions there.

Not my cuppa, but if the elements interest you, I strongly recommend trying the demo, it has all the appearance of an excellently made game.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Boaring

That's what sheep said!

 

[ZedClampet]

Last Train Home

34% off at Steam for another 3-4 days, so check it out soon if you might be interested.

Looks very well made, beautiful look and art style even in the medium settings it picked for my 1060. It's a mix of survival and RTT, with plenty of RPG and management elements, and therefore lots of micro. 4 difficulty settings, set at end of WW1, your job is to get your infantry force across Russia in an armored train, thru the hostile civil war factions there.

Not my cuppa, but if the elements interest you, I strongly recommend trying the demo, it has all the appearance of an excellently made game.

Thanks for highlighting this again (it's also in the massive post above with all the demos from the November game post). This time I actually paid attention to it and am downloading the demo now

Hey! That link to the individual post actually worked. I didn't know how to do that. Gives me an idea for the monthly post.

 

[ZedClampet]

Internet Cafe Evolution on Steam

This is a business simulation + construction game. It tells the evolution history of Internet cafes that began in the 1990s, and also carries the youth of nearly two generations over the past thirty years.

store.steampowered.com

Didn't really care for this. Too many gamified things like computers constantly breaking down. The English was very bad, and so I did the wrong thing which took all my money. I couldn't do the thing I was supposed to do because I was broke from upgrading computers when I should have actually been adding new computers.

 

[Brian Boru]

Roadwarden Demo

"illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction"

Spent ~30 mins on this, wishlisted. I'll probably pick up on sale sometime despite the RPG warning label, as the writing is very engaging and the art style is nicely retro. Be warned, lots of reading—I used to enjoy text adventures back in the day.

 

[Brian Boru]

Songs of Silence Demo
Planned Release Date: May 23, 2024

Phenomenal artwork in this hybrid, which has elements of 4X, RTS and RPG.
"strategy game set in a fantasy world threatened by the all-devouring Silence. The game features a mix of turn-based kingdom management, auto battler, and hero development, contrasted with intense real-time battles"
Peter has a 9-min video about it.

Conclusion

I gave it 30 minutes and the initial feel is great, despite the RPG and fantasy malarkey which usually dissuade me. Wishlisted for some future sale, I won't be surprised if the presentation alone gives me a few hours of enjoyment before the rot sets in. Text is a bit small, but otherwise UI looks great. Recommended.

Here's the initial map:

Specs
Ran fine on my 2017 PC with i7-7 and GTX 1060.

"RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-7700T CPU @ 2.90GHz or better
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1070
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 5 GB available space"

Contents

Demo has Campaign and Skirmish for SP, with Multi greyed out—so I assume available at release, Co-op not mentioned that I saw.

I tried the Campaign start for a bit of lore and action. I'm Queen after my parents are killed in the sacking of our capital, so I must lead survivors to a nearby ally. Voiceovers are good, small battle on the way, made it to ally's capital—their king is under siege in one of their other cities, so next job is to go and lift that.

Movement is standard 4X-style—click unit(s), r-click destination. I had 6 movement 'points', ie I could move 6 'spaces' in one turn.

Resources

3 resources—gold, material, divine favor.
In capital, can rest and heal troops, recruit new units, and something with buildings—not sure what, I didn't find any agency in that The Cap had some attributes already in place, each giving some benefit to eg defense, healing, storage.

Military

The military setup is interesting. Check this out:

3 sections, with 7 slots in each column. The central Army section has 28 slots—I assume you can recruit 28 units when you have enough gold, I bought Infantry and Archer squads which went in 2 of the 28 slots, joining my 4 surviving units. You choose from the cards at the bottom of the screen.

Interesting bit are the other sections, especially the Reserves. Any troops there are not available for battle, so good place to heal or keep specialist units—I currently have only 3 groups of surviving civvies there, with 1 Health and 2 Cowardice if I recall correctly Also place for wagons, eg supply and loot. The Garrison section is for troops and wagons you want to stay behind when the rest of your forces leave—apparently some troops can get a Garrison perk.

You can drag and drop units between the 3 sections, and between slots, so both force composition and formation is up to you.

Combat

You don't control units, you issue orders and perform royal actions via the battle cards you have—eg 'All cavalry charge' or 'All wounded healed 20%'. The battle goes on in real time, but you can pause to issue your card-based commands and actions. The cards have a short cooldown period—~10 seconds—before you can use them again.

So it looks like combat will be mainly about setting up your force for different kinds of challenges, and having appropriate battle cards in hand. Seems interesting in theory.

I'm not sure about the battle cards short cooldown, doesn't that encourage immediate usage spam so as not to 'waste' their power—eg to ensure you get to use them 3 times in a battle rather than 2?

 

[Rolfil]

Masterplan Tycoon - A minimalist resource management game. Looks promising