Where do you draw the line between a demo and a trial? Does it depend on if progress continues on to a full purchase? Is it down to limited availability? I’m not entirely sure it really matters when Bethesda’s latest offering is as generous as it is. From 6th April, you’ll be able to download a free trial/demo of Dishonored 2 that lets you play through the first three missions in the game’s campaign as either Emily Kaldwin or Corvo Attano.
That trial is available via the PSN Store, Xbox Marketplace, or Steam, and if you then decide to carry on and play the rest of your game, what progress you made will carry forward.
That’s ridiculously generous when it’s essentially the first third of the game. Consulting a walkthrough, I can see that there’s nine missions in total, and you get to play the first three of them. That’s easily the largest fraction of a game that I can think of featuring in a trial or demo, but hey, if it gets Bethesda a few more sales for what was widely considered one of the best games from last year, then good for them!
Source: press release
MrYd
Is it generous? Or is it the same as many games were 20+ years ago? How much of the original Doom could you play for free? About 1/3 of it? Quake? About a 1/4?
But what’s changed? A while ago, it was “do a demo, and it’ll hurt your sales”. Now it’s “maybe we were right before, and a demo/trial helps”
ron_mcphatty
It’s definitely generous by today’s standards! I know we don’t need demos anymore but they’re a bit of fun to show your mates before a trip to the pub, especially when new hardware is released. This is a clever move though, we get to lap up a lot of game for free and Bethesda get a sales spike, I’m on board.
Ferrick
Most demos that have been released lately are actually post-release, which is nothing but a win win I reckon.
It can only increase sales and, as far as I’m concerned, it gets me a free slice of gaming cake. :D
Andrewww
Is availability limited? I still got to play the first one, which I got with Plus some while back…
Stefan L
It doesn’t seem to be, no.
Andrewww
Very good, a demo like that is definitely welcome.