As the Switch eShop library continues to grow, so does the number of available demos. And hey, the demos are great!
This convenient way of trying before you buy has gotten us hooked on many games we might never have picked up otherwise, and with a number of demos offering the chance to transfer your data from trial to full version, by playing through introductions. it feels more and more determined instead of ‘ugh, I’m going to have to play all this again in the full version, right?’
The variety of demos on offer now has us rubbing our chins as we ponder (yes, that’s a real word) what makes a good manifestation. Playtime is one thing, sure, but what about content? How much of the game should we see and how much should be kept secret? And what about the features? Should everything be available to us with a thick vertical slice, or should there be a much richer experience hidden behind the paywall?
If you’ve ever wondered the same thing about a demo, or perhaps you’re a game developer looking to release a demo of your own and reading this for inspiration, let us give you our personal thoughts on what goes into making a good ‘un’. (and let us know your own thoughts in the polls at the bottom of the page). We’ll start with the obvious…
Transferable save data please
Thanks in no small part to the excellent demos released by Square Enix (Octopath Travelers and Live A Lives of the world), we now live in the constant hope that our demo’s save data will carry over to the main game, should we decide to. buy. For any demo around an hour or more in length, this is quickly becoming a must-have feature to get us playing the download in the first place.
No matter how good your game is, how fun the opening hour was, and how quickly we ran to the ‘shopping’ section of the eShop after finishing it, no one wants to immediately repeat that opening hour, especially given how heavy what is the tutorial they usually are. Time is precious and we want to feel like the last 60 minutes meant something. This is impossible if instead of seeing the corpse of the EMMI that we have fair we managed to kill in the Metroid Dread demo, instead we return to the opening scene of Samus approaching ZDR as if the life and death struggle we somehow survived never happened.
And this isn’t to throw shade at Dread (as if we ever could); many, many shows are guilty of the same crime. While it’s not that annoying with the shorter tests out there, surely we can all agree that transferring save data can only be a good thing.
But how long?
Now this is interesting, because there is no set answer. A brilliant demo is a brilliant demo almost regardless of its length. If the game is captivating enough to get us hooked in 10-15 minutes, then why should the demo be longer? But if the game is all about spending time with a mechanic until you really crack it at the two or three hour mark, then surely that’s how long it should last.
Ultimately, the demo should stick around until you get the job done. What is this ‘job’ exactly? Well, to get us to buy the game, of course. But this isn’t simply a case of showing us the best bits before showing up with a “Give us £60 to find out more” message, oh no. Instead, the demo is meant to introduce the experience, teaching us some fundamental controls, giving us a little sense of accomplishment when we do something right, and so saying “money please” just when we think we’ve got it down.
But how long this takes people will vary from case to case. The full 15 minutes of the Sonic Frontiers demo barely gives you time to get past the “Press A to jump” prompt before kicking yourself out, while the ten hours of the Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition demo they are about developing your understanding of the game mechanics so that you can jump into the full version as prepared as ever.
Perhaps instead of asking “What is the correct length of a demo?”, we should ask “How long should a good demo be?” Not all tests need to have a timer ticking constantly behind the curtain when goal-based tests are just as satisfying: you take all the time you need, but it’s over once you pass a certain milestone.
We see this regularly in everything from Dragon Quest Treasures to Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, and it’s a nice way to let the player go through the first few chapters in a quick 30 minutes if they want, or sit back and explore every nook and cranny. and crack in a matter of hours. Haven’t we collected all the coins in a demo level and then sat down with the idea that we’ve somehow cheated the system by getting more of a single level proof than the developers intended? Take that multi-million dollar study!
Showing the best #content
This nicely brings us to the final aspect of a good demo: the actual ‘content’. We already made it clear that we want a decent amount of time to play, so the tutorial and the first few levels seem quite long. But this does not mean that we need to see all. It is even possible that a non-linear approach will work better. it’s the beginning always the best place to start? It depends on the game of course. But perhaps a Stage 2 mini-boss battle could give curious players a better take on the experience without bogging down a non-captive audience with early exposure to the game.
Like a good movie trailer, a demo should show you enough to make you think “yeah, this is for me” but not so much that it discourages you from coming back for more because you can already see where it’s going. Are we talking about censoring the game in its demo phase to further enrich the full experience? Maybe! Sea Of Stars does exactly that with everything it actually tells you about the story and it works remarkably well.
Of course, there’s also the incentive of unlockables to keep us coming back for more: “play the demo to unlock X in the full game!” This is a good way to bypass the demo length issue as it makes the experience worthwhile as you have added something to the full game that might not otherwise be there. We’ve seen this in Pikmin 3 Deluxe’s ”Ultra Spicy” difficulty mode and even Kirby and the Forgotten Land’s Present Codes, among others, and it never fails to make us feel a sense of accomplishment for not having done anything more than play a demo. . Come on, who’s to say no to more free stuff?
The fact is that putting together a demo is a difficult balancing act. Too short and you don’t have enough time to hook the player, but too long and that same player can cross the line and feel finished with the game before it even starts.
However, the one thing we need more than ever is that valuable save data. If you’re still reading, dear game developer, please don’t make us play the demo content. Above all, even with a free download, it is imperative to respect the player’s time.
Unless your game is so good we’d gladly play the first hour again. but how many games are there that ok, hmm?
So what do you think? Is more playtime the way to go, or do demos need to be short and sweet? Or maybe the bigger question is, do you bother with the demos? Complete the following surveys to give us your opinion.
Why not take to the comments to tell us about some of your best demo experiences (we’ve even created a handy guide for inspiration below).