Welcome to DarkZero’s first monthly round-up of demos (and other cool things) that are available for you to check out right now!

These are all tastes of new and interesting games that we’ve managed to squeeze into our gaming sessions this month and wanted to share. Well, the past few months are all jammed together here but that won’t always be the case.

Enjoy and game on!

Demos

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Pawnbarian – Demo on Steam

A roguelike deck-builder based around the unique movements of chess pieces?! A wonderful mix of old and new that takes advantage of people’s almost innate familiarity with Chess and spins it into an incredibly entertaining and complex challenge. I can’t wait to see more of this game!

In Retrospect – Demo on Steam

A dream-like platformer that mixes story decisions and different collectibles to build a narrative around the life of the protagonist, in retrospect. A strange, challenging, and oddly engaging mix of genres that paints a colourful picture of the ups and downs of life, as well as just how random it can be.

Retro Machina – Demo on Steam

Explore the ruins of the old world, solving puzzles and fighting off primitive robots to learn the truth about what happened to the humans in this single-player action adventure game.

Astral Ascent – On Kickstarter with a Demo on Steam

An absolutely gorgeous 2D action platformer roguelite playable solo or with a partner in local co-op. Choose your hero(es) and fight your way through the beautiful elemental realms, upgrading your spells and growing stronger as you progress, in an attempt to escape the deathless void by defeating the twelve zodiac guardians and finally learning the truth.

Free-To-Play

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This was a title I had never heard of until I saw the developer announce on Reddit that it had come out of Early Access and was totally free to play. I thought I’d give it a shot for the grabbing visuals but the hectic gameplay, increasing difficulty, and crazy upgrade combos held me until the end. Come to think of it I still need to go back and try win with the other characters…

Rogue Glitch – Free to Play on Steam

Trippy neon graphics and one of the funkiest soundtracks imaginable wrapped in a glitchy (themed) roguelite platformer full of crazy upgrade synergies, bosses, secrets, and scaling difficulty that is sure to push you to your limits….for FREE?!

Collections

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I had such a great time playing through the latest Haunted PS1 Demo Disc that I almost immediately scheduled a stream for the following weekend to go back and play last year’s. Whether you’re playing an actually creepy demo, running away from an evil bowl of ramen, or experiencing a trippy cat-world, these collections are chock full of uniquely bizarre and engaging ideas.

Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2021 – Free to Play on itch.io

Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2020 – Free to Play on itch.io