Highlights

• Playable demos provide the best opportunity for accurate feedback and response from players, increasing the likelihood of pre-orders if first impressions are good.
• Memorable demos offer chunky playtime, introduce primary systems and mechanics, and boast solid technical performance, setting expectations for players.

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.

7 Final Fantasy 16 Demo

• Final Fantasy 16’s demo is exclusive for PS5.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake only opened the door for exciting possibilities in the long-standing Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy 16 took 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 game upon launch so the demo is essentially an impressive achievement of a prologue for an AAA title in a world-renowned series.

6 Metroid Dread DEMO

• Metroid Dread’s demo is available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

The gaming community was ecstatic at the announcement of Metroid Dread, an original entry that marked a return to the 2D style of the old games, after two decades with the last one being Metroid Fusion. Metroid Dread went 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 boss fight 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.

5 The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit

• Players can try The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles.

This demo serves as a refreshing and unique prologue to Life is Strange 2 as 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 in Life is Strange 2, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit mostly 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 the Life is Strange series as a whole in a demo unlike any other.

4 Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes Of An Elusive Age - Definitive Edition Demo

• The Dragon Quest 11 demo is available on the PS Store, Xbox Marketplace, Nintendo Store, and Steam.

Most demos are slices of the full game but if the analogy is extended, then Dragon Quest 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 with substantial 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. For Dragon Quest fans, 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.

3 Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Demo

• The Resident Evil 4 Remake demo is available on platforms across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

Capcom is no stranger to giving players an early playable teaser for most of their big video game franchises. With Resident 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 classic Resident 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.

2 Resident Evil 7 Teaser: Beginning Hour

• The Resident Evil 7 demo can be launched from Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, as well as PC.

Capcom almost never misses with its demos for Resident Evil games. 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 say Resident Evil 7’s demo marked a revival of the Resident Evil series which still stands tall today.

1 Octopath Traveler 2 Prologue Demo

The Octopath Traveler 2 demo is playable on all consoles and PC.

Octopath Traveler 2 is a stellar sequel and a satisfying RPG in its own right. It’s a love letter to the retro RPGs like Chrono Trigger and the classic Final Fantasy games. Players can engross themselves in the various interactions and activities presented in Octopath 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 game so 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.

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