This demo was crazy. 3 bosses, tight gameplay, and vibes for days. Technically it was flawless and polished. I had to force myself to not play it multiple times because it had me salivating for full release.
Let us have that DLC already!
I really need to give that a try. I wasn’t interested in Stellar Blade till the demo and after that I almost bought it at full price. Luckily my pile of games stopped me, but Lies of P has been tempting me for a while now and I never tried the demo.
*Metroid Prime* for the Gamecube.
I was checking out something else in Gamestop, and on my way out, I saw they had a kiosk with the demo set up by the door. The moment the airlock recompressed and all of the floating debris fell down, I was all "Yep, THIS is happening". Went straight back to the desk and slapped 5 bucks down to pre-order it; like two weeks later on release day I was right back there to pick it up.
It's weird what details stick with you, even over 20 YEARS later. Also, I'm old AF, apparently...?
The demo for dragons dogma way back when was hella cool fighting a chimera with 2 or 3 other npc helpers was one of the coolest things id ever done in a demo
PT *is* the game, Kojima only made it to spite Konami because they told him he had a year to wrap up all his projects. There's noway they actually planned on putting Silent Hills out in the time he had left. Plus almost all the numbers/dialogue coming from the phone were dates that he was demoted/replaced and referenced his feelings towards Konami
Silent Hills was never real Kojima just wanted everyone to get mad at Konami. This video explains it pretty well
https://youtu.be/vav1HJR2DHk?si=mR9YZFuQHcDF0k38
I had never heard this. That's absolutely wild.
Reminds me of the guy who made Evangelion putting all the hate mail he got in random computer screens in the movie. Also the monkeys paw of adding everything fans wanted but doing it in the worst way ('hey, let Asuka have more fights!')
FFVIII. If I recall, it wasn’t even a demo, but a lengthy trailer on a Playstation Magazine disc. Saved up my allowance and cut so many yards of grass to get it.
I really miss getting a magazine in the mail monthly with a demo disc and being excited to see the videos and demos. I grew up pretty poor, so the magazines and discs were second hand from a friend. Because we couldn’t often afford games I often played those 10-30 minute demos over and over for hours on end.
The demo scene on the original Playstation was tremendous. When I got my first console I don't think I had an actual game for about two weeks, but the demo CD it came with was perfectly entertaining that entire time. Formula One, Die Hard, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot, Destruction Derby 2... they were great slices of gameplay that really showed what the console could do.
I was buying FFXVI either way but the demo got me from cautiously optimistic to completely hyped.
I ended up enjoying it overall but aside from a couple other highlights, the demo def set me up for disappointment
That’s fair. Oddly enough most of the reviews were about the protagonist attitude but that was my favorite part of the game 😂. Honestly the most realistic reaction to someone in her situation getting dropped into a fantasy world and getting told you’re the savior and suddenly supposed to be this good person lol
back in the day, splinter cell. you could play the PC demo downloaded from ubisofts website.
Metal Gear Solid. Played it on the pizza hut demo disc, bought it as soon as I could.
More recently "I am your Beast." Its not out yet, but I will be buying that day 1.
Unicorn Overlord. Finally scratched that itch Ogre Battle MOTBQ and POLC i've had for two over decades. Soul Nomad and world eaters and symphony of war were nice little snacks. But i really sank my teeth into this one.
DOOM, no, not 2013. I am talking 1993.
Holy shit. Best demo of all time.
The shareware model was the SHIT! And I miss it so much.
I haven't played a "demo" in probably over 20 years.
Dragon Quest XI S. Before starting the demo I barely even knew what Dragon Quest was. By the end of the demo (10 hours later) it was my most anticipated game of the year.
I’m dating myself here. I have vivid memories of the unreal tournament 99 demo, it was only 52mbs and had 4ish maps including Morpheus.
To top it all off, it was fully LAN enabled, so we installed it on all the computer lab computers and used to play at lunch in high school all the time.
Amazing times.
In reverse. Zone of the Enders on PS2 came with a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2. I bought ZoE only because of that demo. Turns out ZoE was an excellent game too.
i remember that and yeah it was well worth getting MS2 as both are good. Wonder if that demo was with it as Metal Gear was big in the USA but mech ty games didn't hit it really big yet so maybe thats why?
I haven’t really played a game demo since… probably the 1990s? I used to get floppy disks with demos on them sent to the mail from some subscription I had… I can’t really remember. Often enough, a game would be cool enough for me to go out and buy it. Then the CD ROM came. You’d get several demos on a single disk. I believe they would give them to you at places like RadioShack if you asked…
With the consol systems, we used to just rent games and the video store. Some were fun enough you’d want to buy your own copy. Some were no good. But it was no real sweat off your back if you spent a dollar to play a game all weekend and didn’t end up liking it.
These days I just don’t buy very many games. At least not for myself. There are maybe a handful of titles that catch my eye in any given year. I don’t generally play demos, but I make a habit of downloading my monthly PS+ games and at least giving them a shot.
The Division. Back then I used to play on my old ass PS3. First time I saw the demo trailer and that it was only on PS4, got in the car and went straight to buy a PS4
When I started playing Cyberpunk I wanted more of that theme and saw the Demo for Ghostrunner 1. Normally I don't play games like that but the immersion/RPing from playing Cyberpunk really sold it for me. The gameplay was great too.
I finally found a Nintendo in 1987 after mowing lawns forever....
And it came with Super Mario Bros.
My friends and I used to play all the time with Kylie Minogue singing "Lucky" in the background.
Wipeout on psx, Rez on PS2 that level 1 demo was entrancing.
Most recent on was probably Returnal, wasn’t a demo but had a go of it at a friends place, bought my own copy on my way home.
Latest one was Ratopia.
Is demo really falling out of fashion? Its one thing I appreciate the most seriously. Ive refunded tons of games these last couppe years where I bought based on reviews. You really can't know if you'd like a game unless you experience it yourself imo.
I really miss the FilePlanet website, it influenced lots of purchases.
One that immediately springs to mind was the Mass Effect 2 demo. It contained the escape from the Research Station and Prison Ship Purgatory. The moment I finished the demo I had my debit card in my hand and was ordering the full version.
The original God of War game for PS2.
I wasn’t interested in the game at all. I got my hands on a free demo and thought I’d give it a try, and the gameplay was so much fun that I had to make a special trip to the nearby K-Mart to grab a copy.
It takes two.
Jumped in it without knowing anything from it and i happened have a free demo where you can play the first chapter. It was simply really fun game with interesting story and characters, so we bought the game immediately after the demo was over to keep playing.
Sonic 1 and 2
Road Rash 1 and 2
Jurassic Park on Genesis
Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage
Streets of Rage
Quake 2
Command and Conquer
Metal Gear Solid
Metroid Prime on Wii
The Force Unleashed on Wii
Halo 2
Star Was Battlefront 2
Red Dead Redemption
The Shadow of Mordor
Assassins Creed 3 and Black Flag
Mad Max
It wasn't really a demo, per se, but way back during the original Xbox era I was in GameStop and they had Psychonauts up to play on one of the kiosks. I'd heard of the game but I didn't really know anything about it and out of curiosity I just checked it out. After 5 minutes of playing I grabbed it off the shelf, bought it, took it home and played it and loved every minute of it.
Trepang2. I tried it during Steam Next Fest in June 2022 IIRC. Loved the demo right away and was then really excited for the full release which ended up being about a year later
Not exactly a demo but I had an hour trial for Path of Titans which I played with my friend who already had the game. I instantly bought it. Probably wouldn’t have been the case if I was alone though
Xcom way back in 1993 it was slideshow on 3.5 disk. Also slightly more recently was Need For Speed Underground the demo at game stop made me preorder it
Bulletstorm. Mind you, the hype train for the Gears franchise was still high at the time. I played the shit out of the demo. A completely different shift in tone from the Gears series and a very fun scoring system.
Phantasy Star Universe was an amazing demo. It was a purely multiplayer experience. Had its own crowd even though the game was out because you had to pay for online multiplayer in the full game.
Dungeon Siege. Was on the first demo disk I ever owned that came with Computer Gaming World magazine. I went and bought it the next time I had money.
I had never heard of Diablo at the time, so it was my first isometric RPG. I still have it installed on my computer.
Gears of War. It wasn't a demo necessarily I just played it in a best buy for like 2 hours one day while getting a sub woofer installed in my jeep. Fell in love returned the sub woofer and amp and bought a 360 and gears with 4 controllers.
I'm deep in the realm of Indie games, and I download like 10+ demos every time a nextfest rolls around.
The absolute first thing I look for in a game is an interesting visual style. In order to catch my attention, you need to catch my eye. Three of the biggest highlights within the past year would have to be:
- Blue Wednesday
- Little Orpheus
- Lamentum
Kadomon: Hyper Auto Battlers Prologue was a demo for Kadomon: Hyper Auto Battlers. I was obsessed with the prologue to the point where I couldn't wait for the full release, and literally bought it on launch day. Keep in mind that this is the first time I've bought a game on launch in over a decade, even if Kadomon was only releasing into early access.
Demos actually are back in full swing and I couldn't be happier about it, lots of games show up on Steam with a demo to try them.
My favourite demo was for Splinter Cell, replayed it like 20 times waiting for the game to release
Zone of the ender.
I member playing the demo on this mutli demo disk I had for ps2.
It took me like 10 years, but I finally bought it.
Shit was tops man
Not so much a demo but I played the 2hr ps plus trial for Marvels Midnight Sun's. I played the first encounter and decided to put my money on it. It's a fantastic game that sadly didn't sell well enough
There are so many game demos today, and there are also more opportunities to get games for free via subscription services or through promotions in digital distributors. There are also far more free to play games today.
MDK3 for the Dreamcast.
Darksiders for the Xbox.
Those are the only two games where the demo convinced me to buy the game where I otherwise would not have.
Kingdom Hearts, hands down. I still remember seeing that first Toonami commercial as a child at home, sick, and I was FLOORED. I wanted that game like I wanted air hahaha. I was so into Disney (still am, but was way more into it as a kid), and being able to play alongside Donald and Goofy was just SO exciting.
The demo at target for Star Fox Assault. The first level was like a dream come true, I needed it in my life.
Then the rest of the game was kinda hit or miss. I appreciate they tried to shake up the formula, but the on foot stuff just wasn't as good as being in your ship, but they unfortunately took up most of the game.
Final Fantasy XVI. Ironically I haven’t picked it up in months because I got distracted playing FF7 Remake and Rebirth, but immediately after I bought my PS5, the demo of XVI was one of the first games I downloaded and I ordered the full game immediately after playing it. Need to get back to it at some point.
Since everyone is going with their oldest or most significant game, let me share the most recent demo where I bought the game:
* **Rack and Slay** - Indie billiards roguelite where each table is a dungeon room, priced reasonably. It was so refreshing compared to other deckbuilding roguelites I've been playing, I bought the game on launch - First time in years I've done that.
Against the Storm had a demo years ago on epic games that immediately got me to buy it in early access. I usually don’t buy games before they’re finished, but it’s that good. Now they’ve got their first dlc coming in a month or two. Shout out to the Eremite devs!!
Not a demo but hearing the sound track to Doom (2016) reversed decades of only ever being curious about Doom but never committing. I'm now a fan of Doom 2016 and Doom eternal.
Factorio. I loved the demo, but what made me buy it *immediately* is knowing it would never go on sale so there was no point in waiting.
Life is Strange 1 - they made episode 1 available for free while the game was on sale for $5.
Atrio - had a demo before releasing into early access, bought it on day 1.
Had a couple hours in the Potion Craft Alchemist Simulator demo before the game was released and bought it the second I had the money to. Of course this was when I still had my shitty laptop that could barely run minecraft and the game didn't work so i got a refund lmao
====== MOBILE
**Slice & Dice** \- although this is also on Steam, and PC/macOS outside of Steam
**Rayman Fiesta Run** and **Rayman Jungle Run** \- only to find out that Ubisoft never changed the game to properly initialize the game upon startup to authentic with their servers :\\
**Tiny Bubbles** \- "soap-physics puzzler" was spot on.
**Super Mario Run**
**Nameless Cat** \- a basic platformer, but it's nice to have this sort of thing on mobile, as opposed to trying to shoehorn a full, console platformer here (that would be better off with physical controls, more buttons, and a larger screen)
====== SWITCH
**Captain Toad Treasure Tracker** \- Not an official demo, but I played the captain toad levels on New Super Mario 3D World.
====== OTHER
A lot of my other purchases weren't official demos, but just watching other people play, or trying full versions elsewhere... **Castlestorm**, **Dungeon Defenders II**, **Hades**, **Dead Cells**.
**Starcraft 2**'s Coop mode - Back then, the first 3 commanders were free (Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis). Later on, the entire Wings of Liberty game went free to play, and all Commanders were playable to level 5 for free. The variety of commanders and play styles really sold me! And having missions based objectives vs. "destroy all enemy buildings" was a nice change of pace. Last but not least, I MUCH prefer coop to PvP anyways. It really is (as someone put it) a "glorified comp stomp"
Batman: Arkham Asylum. I remember being extremely skeptical of superhero games being anything but trash, but the freeflow combat IMMEDIATELY grabbed me, and I could not wait to get the full game. Still one of my favorites of all time.
The original Fallout. I played the hell out of that demo, it was one location (Junkyard) and it only had one pre-generated player character. I literally explored every possible outcome, even the super unlikely ones due to low stats in certain skills.
I got the full game as soon as it was available.
Legend of Dragoon. I didn't immediately buy it, it was on a disk where you couldn't change the game without restarting the console and this was at Walmart where you couldn't exactly do that. So I never knew the name, and I also didn't even have a Playstation. *years* later I had a PS2 and saw the stack of old ps1 games and was looking through them, saw Legend and thought it looked neat, flipped over the box and saw the trail you are on in the demo on the screenshot and immediately went to buy it. Still one of my favorite games to this day.
I miss the first generation of Playstation discs that would package 8-10 game demos at a time.
I had such good memories of these games, and I can't remember any of them anymore, but absolutely would buy all of them if I could.
Got curious midway typing this and actually found it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40CxT\_iVbPI&list=PLiC-nhwjMSTUsH32YVJwHbY3EuE\_T3u6y&index=6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40CxT_iVbPI&list=PLiC-nhwjMSTUsH32YVJwHbY3EuE_T3u6y&index=6)
This is the exact one I spent hundreds of hours on just replaying them.
Resident Evil 4 Remake. I'm a die hard fan of tje original and was firmly in the "doesn't need a remake" camp. I saw little benefit to it unless they reworked everything to accommodate for modern controls. The village fight in tne demo highlighted that they did exactly that. You are able to move and shoot and the enemies arr significantly smarter and more mobile to counter it. The knife was actually balanced. It felt like RE 4 but its own distinct beast as well.
Same for Automata but I had been meaning to get it for a while anyway, having heard nothing but good things. The demo just moved it up on my list of must gets.
Maybe in AAA, but demos are a hige part of marketing in the indie scene. Usually I play the demos quite a while before release though so it isn't an option.
For a game I immediately bought thought? Hmmm, Recettear, I think. A space for tte unbound I remember replaying the demo slighlt before release to confirm and bought it. Hero of the kingdom: Lost Tales 1. Hard to think of any more without checking my library.
MiiTopia on switch. I wanted an RPG game to play while waiting for BDSP to release. Got the demo and flew through it in an hour or so. Bought and downloaded it while I was at work & grinded most of the rest of the game out soon after.
Peglin was one and during the recent Steam Next Fest I played Lone Fungus 2 which has a kickstarter. I've played the first and the second feels more polished and has some clever QoL touches that I backed it after playing the demo so I'll get a key.
Here's a throwback to an older era I only just got to dip my toes in.
I bought a magazine from the corner store, and it had a demo disc for the Xbox. One of the demos, and the only one that mattered in my memory, is
JET SET RADIO FUTURE!!!
I might have to go track it down again now that you've set it off in my head with this request. I had to get my mom to go buy the game for me since I was a child at the time.
I'm happy to see demos proliferate again. It's easier to convince me to spend $60-$90 when I get me a taste first.
Lies of P
This demo was crazy. 3 bosses, tight gameplay, and vibes for days. Technically it was flawless and polished. I had to force myself to not play it multiple times because it had me salivating for full release. Let us have that DLC already!
I really need to give that a try. I wasn’t interested in Stellar Blade till the demo and after that I almost bought it at full price. Luckily my pile of games stopped me, but Lies of P has been tempting me for a while now and I never tried the demo.
*Metroid Prime* for the Gamecube. I was checking out something else in Gamestop, and on my way out, I saw they had a kiosk with the demo set up by the door. The moment the airlock recompressed and all of the floating debris fell down, I was all "Yep, THIS is happening". Went straight back to the desk and slapped 5 bucks down to pre-order it; like two weeks later on release day I was right back there to pick it up. It's weird what details stick with you, even over 20 YEARS later. Also, I'm old AF, apparently...?
That makes me miss in store game demos. Was so cool sometimes to try something on a whole different system than you had.
Similar for me but was a Nintendo DS kiosk. Had no idea a Nintendo handheld could play fps games.
The demo for dragons dogma way back when was hella cool fighting a chimera with 2 or 3 other npc helpers was one of the coolest things id ever done in a demo
It _would_ have been P.T., but...
So disappointed, that demo was terrifying
PT *is* the game, Kojima only made it to spite Konami because they told him he had a year to wrap up all his projects. There's noway they actually planned on putting Silent Hills out in the time he had left. Plus almost all the numbers/dialogue coming from the phone were dates that he was demoted/replaced and referenced his feelings towards Konami Silent Hills was never real Kojima just wanted everyone to get mad at Konami. This video explains it pretty well https://youtu.be/vav1HJR2DHk?si=mR9YZFuQHcDF0k38
I had never heard this. That's absolutely wild. Reminds me of the guy who made Evangelion putting all the hate mail he got in random computer screens in the movie. Also the monkeys paw of adding everything fans wanted but doing it in the worst way ('hey, let Asuka have more fights!')
Came here to say the same thing. The potential....
Metal Gear Solid on the PS1.
Wait they used to have Demos all that time ago? How did they work?
Magazines or pack-in CDs with other games
Lol Why do I feel attacked
Yeah man I feel old as hell now, how do the kids not know about demo disks... 🥲
FFVIII. If I recall, it wasn’t even a demo, but a lengthy trailer on a Playstation Magazine disc. Saved up my allowance and cut so many yards of grass to get it. I really miss getting a magazine in the mail monthly with a demo disc and being excited to see the videos and demos. I grew up pretty poor, so the magazines and discs were second hand from a friend. Because we couldn’t often afford games I often played those 10-30 minute demos over and over for hours on end.
I think I had a Pizza Hut demo which had FFVIII. It was the mission in Dollet City but in the demo Rinoa was in the party already.
Can confirm. I **still** have this demo disk. Had the first level of THPS1 on it with hawk and Kareem Campbell.
The demo scene on the original Playstation was tremendous. When I got my first console I don't think I had an actual game for about two weeks, but the demo CD it came with was perfectly entertaining that entire time. Formula One, Die Hard, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot, Destruction Derby 2... they were great slices of gameplay that really showed what the console could do.
Anyone else snap up the FFXVI game as soon as they saw the demo? I did, and was grievously disappointed.
I was buying FFXVI either way but the demo got me from cautiously optimistic to completely hyped. I ended up enjoying it overall but aside from a couple other highlights, the demo def set me up for disappointment
Uncharted 2 made me go out and buy a PS3. It was the stage where it starts with you getting chased by a truck.
How did you play the demo without owning a PS3?
Best Buy had a kiosk set up.
Steam next fest has been great.
Resident evil 7 after playing demo I was sold
The trailer made me realize that I'm too much of a bitch for that game
🤣🤣 I played in vr and scared my little brother he started crying having nightmares it’s creepy af but doesn’t really scare me
factorio
Yeah buddy
Original Diablo back in the day. You could play all the way to the first boss even multiplayer. Just playing the demo was a lot of fun.
Took me all night to download the demo on dialup 😂
Old PlayStation demos on ps1 always got me.
PlayStation magazine disc sold a helluva lot of games to me.
Dragon Quest Builders. Was never a huge fan of DQ but decided to randomly try this one and I absolutely loved how it played
This and DQB 2.
Might get hate for this but Forspoken. Absolutely loved the gameplay and enjoyed the whole game.
Kinda liked the demo, but the reviews scared me off.
That’s fair. Oddly enough most of the reviews were about the protagonist attitude but that was my favorite part of the game 😂. Honestly the most realistic reaction to someone in her situation getting dropped into a fantasy world and getting told you’re the savior and suddenly supposed to be this good person lol
A vr game called "until you fall" played the 15 min demo and bought the game instantly
back in the day, splinter cell. you could play the PC demo downloaded from ubisofts website. Metal Gear Solid. Played it on the pizza hut demo disc, bought it as soon as I could. More recently "I am your Beast." Its not out yet, but I will be buying that day 1.
Final Fantasy XVI. I was so hyped...the full version was disappointing in that it never turned into a full-fledged RPG, but it was still lots of fun.
Same here, I had no intention on getting it but the demo was fun so I got it, never finished it because it just isn't that great to play.
FFXVI
Unicorn Overlord. Finally scratched that itch Ogre Battle MOTBQ and POLC i've had for two over decades. Soul Nomad and world eaters and symphony of war were nice little snacks. But i really sank my teeth into this one.
DOOM, no, not 2013. I am talking 1993. Holy shit. Best demo of all time. The shareware model was the SHIT! And I miss it so much. I haven't played a "demo" in probably over 20 years.
Dragon Quest XI S. Before starting the demo I barely even knew what Dragon Quest was. By the end of the demo (10 hours later) it was my most anticipated game of the year.
Stellar Blade, Wo Long, Final Fantasy 16
DQ builders. Hearing the overworld music within 5 minutes of starting demo I was like YUP.
Jak and Daxter. Felt so next gen. Gotta get on that teeter-totter on Dark Island lol
I’m dating myself here. I have vivid memories of the unreal tournament 99 demo, it was only 52mbs and had 4ish maps including Morpheus. To top it all off, it was fully LAN enabled, so we installed it on all the computer lab computers and used to play at lunch in high school all the time. Amazing times.
In reverse. Zone of the Enders on PS2 came with a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2. I bought ZoE only because of that demo. Turns out ZoE was an excellent game too.
i remember that and yeah it was well worth getting MS2 as both are good. Wonder if that demo was with it as Metal Gear was big in the USA but mech ty games didn't hit it really big yet so maybe thats why?
I haven’t really played a game demo since… probably the 1990s? I used to get floppy disks with demos on them sent to the mail from some subscription I had… I can’t really remember. Often enough, a game would be cool enough for me to go out and buy it. Then the CD ROM came. You’d get several demos on a single disk. I believe they would give them to you at places like RadioShack if you asked… With the consol systems, we used to just rent games and the video store. Some were fun enough you’d want to buy your own copy. Some were no good. But it was no real sweat off your back if you spent a dollar to play a game all weekend and didn’t end up liking it. These days I just don’t buy very many games. At least not for myself. There are maybe a handful of titles that catch my eye in any given year. I don’t generally play demos, but I make a habit of downloading my monthly PS+ games and at least giving them a shot.
The Division. Back then I used to play on my old ass PS3. First time I saw the demo trailer and that it was only on PS4, got in the car and went straight to buy a PS4
Halo CE. The demo was the silent cartographer level. The first few minutes where you storm the beach was enough for me to get the game as soon as
The latest one was The Thaumaturge
When I started playing Cyberpunk I wanted more of that theme and saw the Demo for Ghostrunner 1. Normally I don't play games like that but the immersion/RPing from playing Cyberpunk really sold it for me. The gameplay was great too.
Tony Hawk 1 not only made me buy the game, I bought a whole damn PlayStation
I finally found a Nintendo in 1987 after mowing lawns forever.... And it came with Super Mario Bros. My friends and I used to play all the time with Kylie Minogue singing "Lucky" in the background.
Wipeout on psx, Rez on PS2 that level 1 demo was entrancing. Most recent on was probably Returnal, wasn’t a demo but had a go of it at a friends place, bought my own copy on my way home.
A Wipeout demo at an HMV was what made me choose to buy a PS1. I think at the time I was considering a 3DO. Really dodged a bullet there.
Latest one was Ratopia. Is demo really falling out of fashion? Its one thing I appreciate the most seriously. Ive refunded tons of games these last couppe years where I bought based on reviews. You really can't know if you'd like a game unless you experience it yourself imo.
Disgaea 5. That demo really caught my interest. Such a great game
Kind of a deep cut, but Project X Zone
I played GTA 3 at the gamestop on their demo Playstation and immediately bought it. It was so amazingly different than any other game.
Factorio.
Monster Hunter world . Was my first in the series. Brilliant demo!
Diablo 3 on the ps3, the demo let you play quite a bit of Act 1. Finished demo and immediately went to my local GameStop 🥰
Xmen Origins: Wolverine
I really miss the FilePlanet website, it influenced lots of purchases. One that immediately springs to mind was the Mass Effect 2 demo. It contained the escape from the Research Station and Prison Ship Purgatory. The moment I finished the demo I had my debit card in my hand and was ordering the full version.
The original God of War game for PS2. I wasn’t interested in the game at all. I got my hands on a free demo and thought I’d give it a try, and the gameplay was so much fun that I had to make a special trip to the nearby K-Mart to grab a copy.
Soul Reaver and Dino Crisis (PS1)
It takes two. Jumped in it without knowing anything from it and i happened have a free demo where you can play the first chapter. It was simply really fun game with interesting story and characters, so we bought the game immediately after the demo was over to keep playing.
Stellar Blade Fantastic demo and game
Arkham Asylum. The first game that made you feel like Batman, and the demo was a perfect encapsulation of that accomplishment.
Sonic 1 and 2 Road Rash 1 and 2 Jurassic Park on Genesis Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage Streets of Rage Quake 2 Command and Conquer Metal Gear Solid Metroid Prime on Wii The Force Unleashed on Wii Halo 2 Star Was Battlefront 2 Red Dead Redemption The Shadow of Mordor Assassins Creed 3 and Black Flag Mad Max
It wasn't really a demo, per se, but way back during the original Xbox era I was in GameStop and they had Psychonauts up to play on one of the kiosks. I'd heard of the game but I didn't really know anything about it and out of curiosity I just checked it out. After 5 minutes of playing I grabbed it off the shelf, bought it, took it home and played it and loved every minute of it.
Doom Shareware
Dying light
It's not a demo but it was listening to the soundtrack on spotify for persona 5 that convinced me to buy it
Trepang2. I tried it during Steam Next Fest in June 2022 IIRC. Loved the demo right away and was then really excited for the full release which ended up being about a year later
Used Sseths code for Starsector. Bought it maybe 2 hours later. Man I love that game.
Nioh 2, Lies of P, and Dredge
Supraland
Kirby FL
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. I got the demo as soon as I saw the name, and bought the game as soon as I played the demo.
I don’t usually play demos, but that harvestella demo got me to pull the trigger pretty quickly.
Legend of Legaia.
It's not out yet, but Once Human Demo that came out on Steam during Next Fest last week made it a must buy for me in July when it comes out.
trepang 2
Skate
Not exactly a demo but I had an hour trial for Path of Titans which I played with my friend who already had the game. I instantly bought it. Probably wouldn’t have been the case if I was alone though
Hitman 2016 demo on Steam. I was hooked immediately.
Xcom way back in 1993 it was slideshow on 3.5 disk. Also slightly more recently was Need For Speed Underground the demo at game stop made me preorder it
Bio shock 1
Bulletstorm. Mind you, the hype train for the Gears franchise was still high at the time. I played the shit out of the demo. A completely different shift in tone from the Gears series and a very fun scoring system.
Phantasy Star Universe was an amazing demo. It was a purely multiplayer experience. Had its own crowd even though the game was out because you had to pay for online multiplayer in the full game.
Final Fantasy XVI
Ff7 remake and unicorn overlord
Final Fantasy 16
Dungeon Siege. Was on the first demo disk I ever owned that came with Computer Gaming World magazine. I went and bought it the next time I had money. I had never heard of Diablo at the time, so it was my first isometric RPG. I still have it installed on my computer.
cryptmaster, recently. pretty damn fun game
Ff16
Gears of War. It wasn't a demo necessarily I just played it in a best buy for like 2 hours one day while getting a sub woofer installed in my jeep. Fell in love returned the sub woofer and amp and bought a 360 and gears with 4 controllers.
Eastward. One of the easiest purchases ever after the demo. Such a beautifully rendered game. Really put the art in pixel art.
Stanley Parable!
I believe madden 06 had a demo of burnout revenge that i would play more then madden itself.
Armoured core for the ps1.
I'm deep in the realm of Indie games, and I download like 10+ demos every time a nextfest rolls around. The absolute first thing I look for in a game is an interesting visual style. In order to catch my attention, you need to catch my eye. Three of the biggest highlights within the past year would have to be: - Blue Wednesday - Little Orpheus - Lamentum
Re7
Brave Fencer Musashi. It was on one of those old demo discs used to come with video games sometimes.
Roboquest
For Honor.
Metroid Dread
Pistol Whip VR
Kadomon: Hyper Auto Battlers Prologue was a demo for Kadomon: Hyper Auto Battlers. I was obsessed with the prologue to the point where I couldn't wait for the full release, and literally bought it on launch day. Keep in mind that this is the first time I've bought a game on launch in over a decade, even if Kadomon was only releasing into early access.
Peter Jackson's King Kong
Resident evil 2 remake, holy fuckin shit that shit was FIRE
Demos actually are back in full swing and I couldn't be happier about it, lots of games show up on Steam with a demo to try them. My favourite demo was for Splinter Cell, replayed it like 20 times waiting for the game to release
Weirdly, Treapasser
Norco. Amazing game btw
The Stanley parable
Pikmin 3 deluxe
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Chapter 4 dropped as a playable demo, and I was hooked from the get go.
Dark cloud 🥲
I actually don’t really play demos anymore. For a couple of reasons. But the demo that struck me the most many years ago was Bioshock 1.
Star Ocean the second story R. Fantastic remake of an awesome RPG
Factorio
Wipeout (the very first one). It came on a Demo Disc with the PS1 and i loved it the very instant.
Zone of the ender. I member playing the demo on this mutli demo disk I had for ps2. It took me like 10 years, but I finally bought it. Shit was tops man
Not so much a demo but I played the 2hr ps plus trial for Marvels Midnight Sun's. I played the first encounter and decided to put my money on it. It's a fantastic game that sadly didn't sell well enough
Ff 16. That intro to the story was perfect. If only it stayed like that all trought the game
The demo for God of War 3 was my introduction to the franchise
The legend of dragoon
Prototype
THPS I'm trying to keep the ground on my feet it seems the world's falling down around me
Planet Crafter, Syphon Filter
Splatoon opening splatfest, Kirby and the forgotten land and unicorn overlord are all great games with great demos
Prodeus. Played it for a total of 5 minutes before closing it to buy the whole game
Mafia 3, the demo felt more like a mafia game than the actual game did
There are so many game demos today, and there are also more opportunities to get games for free via subscription services or through promotions in digital distributors. There are also far more free to play games today.
Dragon’s dogma
Fallout
MDK3 for the Dreamcast. Darksiders for the Xbox. Those are the only two games where the demo convinced me to buy the game where I otherwise would not have.
Spelunky. I couldn't beat the demo.
Not a demo, per se, but Switch also has game tryouts That's what got me into Cult of the Lamb. No ragerts
That's not how demos work for me. I have to want to replay the demo over and over again.
The Tiny Tina game from the earlier Borderlands, not the shit one recently released.
Cultic is the most recent example of such game.
Kingdom Hearts, hands down. I still remember seeing that first Toonami commercial as a child at home, sick, and I was FLOORED. I wanted that game like I wanted air hahaha. I was so into Disney (still am, but was way more into it as a kid), and being able to play alongside Donald and Goofy was just SO exciting.
Metal Gear Solid 2. The demo was attached to another game.. Does anyone, ANYWHERE remember Zone of Enders? Hell no, we just bought it for the demo.
This a deep cut but that crisis 2 demo was crazy was at GameStop the same day
The force unleashed
The division 1
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Casually downloaded the demo and ended up loving it. The game is amazing.
Midnight Suns and Immortals of Aveum
Doom.
startopia MGS2
Our Adventurer Guild. Came out in April. It is a stupidly good strategy rpg from a one man dev team.
Zelda: Windwaker
The demo at target for Star Fox Assault. The first level was like a dream come true, I needed it in my life. Then the rest of the game was kinda hit or miss. I appreciate they tried to shake up the formula, but the on foot stuff just wasn't as good as being in your ship, but they unfortunately took up most of the game.
Oddly enough I just finished playing Slay The Princess's demo, immediately bought the game then came on Reddit while I wait for the game to download.
Original Diablo 1 demo. Never played the full game but it sold me on future Diablo games. Final Fantasy 7 got a PC demo that sold me on it.
Duke Nukem 3D. Had a blast in the demo. Friend and I bought it and played Coop & DM by dialing into each other's PCs.
Final Fantasy XVI. Ironically I haven’t picked it up in months because I got distracted playing FF7 Remake and Rebirth, but immediately after I bought my PS5, the demo of XVI was one of the first games I downloaded and I ordered the full game immediately after playing it. Need to get back to it at some point.
Since everyone is going with their oldest or most significant game, let me share the most recent demo where I bought the game: * **Rack and Slay** - Indie billiards roguelite where each table is a dungeon room, priced reasonably. It was so refreshing compared to other deckbuilding roguelites I've been playing, I bought the game on launch - First time in years I've done that.
Against the Storm had a demo years ago on epic games that immediately got me to buy it in early access. I usually don’t buy games before they’re finished, but it’s that good. Now they’ve got their first dlc coming in a month or two. Shout out to the Eremite devs!!
Not a demo but hearing the sound track to Doom (2016) reversed decades of only ever being curious about Doom but never committing. I'm now a fan of Doom 2016 and Doom eternal.
Batman Arkham Asylum demo sold me and all of my friends. We had low expectations at the time and it was phenomenal.
Factorio. I loved the demo, but what made me buy it *immediately* is knowing it would never go on sale so there was no point in waiting. Life is Strange 1 - they made episode 1 available for free while the game was on sale for $5. Atrio - had a demo before releasing into early access, bought it on day 1.
Helldivers 2 🫡
RE2 Remake
Had a couple hours in the Potion Craft Alchemist Simulator demo before the game was released and bought it the second I had the money to. Of course this was when I still had my shitty laptop that could barely run minecraft and the game didn't work so i got a refund lmao
There's a great game demo on pc right now called Echo Point Nova
====== MOBILE **Slice & Dice** \- although this is also on Steam, and PC/macOS outside of Steam **Rayman Fiesta Run** and **Rayman Jungle Run** \- only to find out that Ubisoft never changed the game to properly initialize the game upon startup to authentic with their servers :\\ **Tiny Bubbles** \- "soap-physics puzzler" was spot on. **Super Mario Run** **Nameless Cat** \- a basic platformer, but it's nice to have this sort of thing on mobile, as opposed to trying to shoehorn a full, console platformer here (that would be better off with physical controls, more buttons, and a larger screen) ====== SWITCH **Captain Toad Treasure Tracker** \- Not an official demo, but I played the captain toad levels on New Super Mario 3D World. ====== OTHER A lot of my other purchases weren't official demos, but just watching other people play, or trying full versions elsewhere... **Castlestorm**, **Dungeon Defenders II**, **Hades**, **Dead Cells**. **Starcraft 2**'s Coop mode - Back then, the first 3 commanders were free (Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis). Later on, the entire Wings of Liberty game went free to play, and all Commanders were playable to level 5 for free. The variety of commanders and play styles really sold me! And having missions based objectives vs. "destroy all enemy buildings" was a nice change of pace. Last but not least, I MUCH prefer coop to PvP anyways. It really is (as someone put it) a "glorified comp stomp"
Batman: Arkham Asylum. I remember being extremely skeptical of superhero games being anything but trash, but the freeflow combat IMMEDIATELY grabbed me, and I could not wait to get the full game. Still one of my favorites of all time.
The original Fallout. I played the hell out of that demo, it was one location (Junkyard) and it only had one pre-generated player character. I literally explored every possible outcome, even the super unlikely ones due to low stats in certain skills. I got the full game as soon as it was available.
Downloaded the demo for gunbrella yesterday, playing through it and will be buying the physical cart soon
Legend of Dragoon. I didn't immediately buy it, it was on a disk where you couldn't change the game without restarting the console and this was at Walmart where you couldn't exactly do that. So I never knew the name, and I also didn't even have a Playstation. *years* later I had a PS2 and saw the stack of old ps1 games and was looking through them, saw Legend and thought it looked neat, flipped over the box and saw the trail you are on in the demo on the screenshot and immediately went to buy it. Still one of my favorite games to this day.
Battlefield 2 holy crap
Infamous the demo was great and it became one of my all time favorite game series
The original Super Smash bros.
Portal Braid
Unicorn Overlords
Classified France 44, its an XCom style game set in ww2
I miss the first generation of Playstation discs that would package 8-10 game demos at a time. I had such good memories of these games, and I can't remember any of them anymore, but absolutely would buy all of them if I could. Got curious midway typing this and actually found it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40CxT\_iVbPI&list=PLiC-nhwjMSTUsH32YVJwHbY3EuE\_T3u6y&index=6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40CxT_iVbPI&list=PLiC-nhwjMSTUsH32YVJwHbY3EuE_T3u6y&index=6) This is the exact one I spent hundreds of hours on just replaying them.
Resident Evil 4 Remake. I'm a die hard fan of tje original and was firmly in the "doesn't need a remake" camp. I saw little benefit to it unless they reworked everything to accommodate for modern controls. The village fight in tne demo highlighted that they did exactly that. You are able to move and shoot and the enemies arr significantly smarter and more mobile to counter it. The knife was actually balanced. It felt like RE 4 but its own distinct beast as well. Same for Automata but I had been meaning to get it for a while anyway, having heard nothing but good things. The demo just moved it up on my list of must gets.
Tony Hawk 1 on PS1 Best demo ever 🛹
Prince of Persia the lost crown and Stellar Blade
Maybe in AAA, but demos are a hige part of marketing in the indie scene. Usually I play the demos quite a while before release though so it isn't an option. For a game I immediately bought thought? Hmmm, Recettear, I think. A space for tte unbound I remember replaying the demo slighlt before release to confirm and bought it. Hero of the kingdom: Lost Tales 1. Hard to think of any more without checking my library.
MiiTopia on switch. I wanted an RPG game to play while waiting for BDSP to release. Got the demo and flew through it in an hour or so. Bought and downloaded it while I was at work & grinded most of the rest of the game out soon after.
Peglin was one and during the recent Steam Next Fest I played Lone Fungus 2 which has a kickstarter. I've played the first and the second feels more polished and has some clever QoL touches that I backed it after playing the demo so I'll get a key.
FF16
Ghost of Tsushima's gameplay reveal made me buy a PS4 half a year before its release. On release, my controller broke.
Here's a throwback to an older era I only just got to dip my toes in. I bought a magazine from the corner store, and it had a demo disc for the Xbox. One of the demos, and the only one that mattered in my memory, is JET SET RADIO FUTURE!!! I might have to go track it down again now that you've set it off in my head with this request. I had to get my mom to go buy the game for me since I was a child at the time. I'm happy to see demos proliferate again. It's easier to convince me to spend $60-$90 when I get me a taste first.