10 Gamescom Titles With Playable Demos

Ending the week with interesting games that you can already try for yourself.

Hi! This is a shorter post than usual, and one wholly inspired by

James Francis

who does excellent work over at

Adventures in Indie Gaming

. If you’re interested in indies and enjoy playing demos, there is no better Substack to follow than his.

Gamescom had a lot of medium to massive hitters filling the show with headline content, but what piqued my interested was how many smaller projects were announced or shown with playable demos already out in the wild. Here are the ten that intrigued me the most, which are all available to download on Steam now.

13Z: The Zodiac Trials

Embark on a quest to become the 13th Zodiac in this frantic hack-and-slash roguelike action adventure. Take on a celestial trial of grit, speed and power, and rise stronger after each fall as you upgrade your skills. Your trial awaits!

Mixed Realms are already experience in the gaming space, but they’ve mostly stuck to the niche-within-a-niche that is VR. 13Z seems them diversifying their portfolio with a Hack and Slash Roguelike. The demo promises around 3h of gameplay and already supports both keyboard & mouse and controllers.

Aethermancer

Monster Taming meets Roguelite. Become the Aethermancer and fight alongside mythical creatures. Explore the ever-changing Fractured Ruins, plan your moves in challenging turn-based battles, and watch your Monsters grow stronger from previous lives and defy death!

I’d unfortunately been oblivious to Aethermancer’s existence up until recently, but thankfully Gamescom fixed that issue. The game’s demo was released on Steam back in Feb 10, 2025, and has already gotten over a thousand reviews with an impressive 95% positive ratio. It seems like an exciting twist on the monster taming genre that is eternally dominated by Pokémon.

Compensation Not Guaranteed

Experience the first chapter of Compensation Not Guaranteed. Take a small peek into Southeast Asian politics through a lens darkly. Check ownership for authenticity, listen to stories, decide who should give up their land in the name of PROGRESS!

While Aerthermancer has already gotten a lot of attention, this one has flown under the radar. Compensation Not Guaranteed is the first game from Team Project Lunch, a small studio from Singapore. Inspired by Papers, Please, it gives the player the nightmarish task of having to decide who gets to keep their houses and who will lose them to the government. Its most unique aspect is the fact that it takes place in Southeast Asia, which is rarely explored as a location in games.

The Darkest Files

The Darkest Files is a historical investigation and courtroom game based on true crimes during the Second World War. Investigate cold cases, search for clues, interrogate witnesses, immerse yourself in the crimes, and defend your case in court to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Darkest Files is the only demo in this piece that for an already released videogame. This demo has been available since 2023, but the full game only came out in March 2025. Steam reviews are Very Positive with 95% ratio, but there aren’t many (yet). This detective puzzle game puts you in the shoes of a prosecutor who is hunting nazis that are hiding in plain sight. Will you crack the cases?

DarkSwitch

DarkSwitch is a vertical survival city builder. Build a city on a great tree and defend it against the Fog. Face the challenges of limited real estate, scarce resources, and tough moral choices as you seek to uncover the mystery of the Veil. The Tree Provides! The Tree Protects! The Tree Prevails!

In a genre as overcrowded as city builders, seeing something unique is rare. Seeing a game that’s both unique and promising is even rarer. DarkSwitch gets you building a city on a tree surrounded by the scary Fog. Harvest the tree’s resources and keep it safe through the game’s tower-defense challenges. There’s no release date for this one yet, but you can already get your hands onto its demo.

Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road

Beware, Monsters are Coming! In this Tower-Survivor rogue-lite, you protect an ever-moving city from unrelenting hordes. Gather resources, fortify defenses, and boost potential through enhanced player progression. Will you reach the Arch?

Raw Fury rarely miss as a Publisher, and this one already feels like a bullseye. Ludogram already received a lot of praised following their previous game, Worlds of Aria, and are yet another example of innovation in overcrowded genres. Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road is a Tower Defense, City Builder, Rogue-lite in which your “tower” is constantly moving, forcing you to quickly harvest resources.

Morsels

Morsels is a fast-paced creature collecting roguelite with a rotating roster of characters to switch between at will. Overcome a clique of killer cats as you fight your way out of the sewers in this unique, action-packed journey.

Keeping with the “publishers that never miss” theme, Annapurna Interactive is the one bringing us Morsels, a beautiful roguelite that is all about collecting creatures while swapping between characters, another interesting iteration on the ever-present Pokémon influence. The demo has been available since June 9, and the full game is coming November 18.

Town To City

Build an idyllic 19th century Mediterranean town and help it flourish into a prosperous city. Freely place and customise each element to create the perfect home for your growing population in this cozy city builder from the creators of Station to Station.

Town To City is the epitome of cozy. This city builder ditches the grid system and lets you place buildings and roads at your leisure, all made possible by a fantastic voxel-based architecture. You’ll get a taste of the experience through the demo, which will likely suffice to let you fall in love with the gorgeous artstyle.

Twinkleby

Twinkleby is a cozy decoration game where you map out an archipelago of floating islands and build dioramas for a society of spacefaring neighbours. Try out a little piece of the upcoming game in this demo!

Keeping with the cozy theme, we have Twinkleby. This is another demo which had been previously released (May 13, 2025), and it is self-published! Might and Delight have released a ton of games, and players have reacted well to the Twinkleby demo. If a simpler take on Animal Crossing with dioramas sounds like your jam, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Woodo

Woodo feels like a 3D coloring book you can touch, a relaxing tale told through handcrafted wooden dioramas. No pressure, just a cozy world that remembers what it felt like to be a child.

Woodo is our list-closer, and it is one of the most unique-looking games I’ve seen. It looks like live-action toys animated via stop-motion. This is the first game we’ve seen from Tiny Monks Tales, and it has already put us on our map. Daedalic Entertainment have a great eye for talent. Woodo’s demo came out less than a month ago, on August 7, and has already gotten over 200 reviews. The best part? 99% Positive ratio.

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Let me know if you try any of these demos and what you think of them! Feel free to also point out any that I might’ve missed.