It’s no secret that more game than ever are dropping every day. The unique combination of a global pandemic, more access to technology, and a decent amount of free time has seen the emergence of more indie made game then ever before. We’re seeing the internet taken by storm by games made by tiny teams and even solo developers, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. So how do games stand out in today’s market? And how do gamers decide where to spend their hard earned money?

Enter the demo. Not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination, but a concept that is now arguably one of the best ways to ensure you know what you’re paying for. Demos have never really had their day in the sun, but have almost always been around. From the early 2000 days of the demo disc you got stuck to the front of a PC Gamer magazine, demos have almost always been seen as an afterthought, but perhaps that is all about to change.

I personally was not a demo player until recently years – why would I play a demo when I can just play the game? It’ll spoil the game for me, I’d rather go in blind – all things you’d find me saying. However, as I’ve become more engrossed in the indie scene, I’ve naturally become more exposed to demos. My inbox will often fill up with demo announcements, demo release details, and if I’m lucky some demo keys, and it didn’t take me long to work out that demos have become an important marketing tactic for indie developers. By releasing a demo, they can showcase a snippet of the game, and start building the hype (and wishlists) for their game.

As someone who covers a lot of games, I’ve found that playing through a demo is often the ideal way to showcase a game without spoiling it for players, although this definitely depends on the type of game. Not to mention (good) demos also typically give you a solid understanding of the game fairly quickly, often smooshing different things together to give you a clear impression of the game, rather than a linear experience.

Now here’s where things can get tricky – no two demos are really the same. They can very in length from 10 minutes long to unlimited play time instead limited by the available content. Not all demos are good, in fact some are terrible and are not accurate representations of what the game is really like. Some are released very early on in development, and you can tell. Steam’s updated demo pages attempt to combat this, allowing you to review demos themselves, but it can be hard to work out what demos are actually good. When you’re someone making content it can make it difficult to cover demos, especially if you’re streaming them, with unknown lengths being the biggest factor there. Finding other playthroughs can be useful here, giving you an indication of what to expect, but can also potentially spoil them so watch at your own risk.

In today’s society, many are feeling the financial strain. The reality is, we can’t all afford to spend $80 per game every few weeks, or even a quarter of that, and when we do purchase something we really want to be sure that it’s something we’re going to love. On the other hand they can provide hours and hours of entertainment completely for free, and introduce you to some of your potential favourite games before they’re even fully made.

So what if there was a way to help cut through the noise and give you a curated list of high quality demos – complete with run times – directly to your inbox? Well good news because we’ve decided to do just that. Allow me to officially announce The Demo Disc – a curated monthly ‘disc’ delivered straight to your inbox (not a physical disc because who actually has a disc drive these days). This will be a completely free series, and we’ll be featuring playthroughs of the demos on our YouTube channel. We’ll be curating 7-10 games, hitting all the main genres, so there will be something for everyone on offer. The Disc will ve sent out monthly on the first Monday of each month.

Have we convinced you yet? If so sign up to get your first disc using the form below.