Five Thousand Demos and One Guyatt

This number is so daft that PC Gamer worked out you’d need more than 90 days, dedicating just 30 minutes to each one, to clear the pile. Now, I love games, but I’ve work, friends and a family to consider too. I think I’ve managed about ten demos so far.

That sheer abundance is both a triumph and a tragedy. It’s a glorious shop window for indie developers and a relentless battle for our attention all at once. With this many demos, even genuinely good stuff gets forgotten within days, and for every title turbocharged by Valve’s efforts, hundreds are dead on arrival.

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So what stood out? My personal favourites are EMPULSE — a wall-running 6v6 shooter I’m far too slow to play competitively, but one whose mechs gave me flashbacks to a time when I was decent at Titanfall — and my first proper hands-on with Jonathan Blow’s Order of the Sinking Star, because anything with Blow’s name attached calls to a certain breed of puzzler, and his touch looks utterly undiminished. Beyond mine, the demos everyone’s talking about share a knack for the instantly legible, SAND: Raiders of Sophie sells itself in a single image, a customisable walker-mech striding across an ocean of sand while Mistfall Hunter simply out-polished the entire throng of Dark and Darker lookalikes.

And that, I think, is what these winners did differently. It isn’t that they’re the most accomplished games in the event, it’s that I could explain each one instantly to a mate. I didn’t need an hour to “get” them, which matters enormously when there are 4,931 rivals queueing for the same sliver of attention. In a week this crowded, a game you can’t pitch in a sentence has already tanked.

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When should a games studio hire a video game marketing agency?

It's always best to bring in an agency partner as soon as possible. If you're a video game studio or publisher looking for support, Bastion does its best work when we can support with the very foundations of your brand messaging and launch planning.

Bastion supports developers and publishers with:
• Brand development and strategy
• Media engagement and influencer outreach
• Launch strategy and go-to-market planning
• Corporate communications and reputation management
• Event and experiential activation
• Marketing consultancy for indie and self-publishing studios

Our role is to ensure your game’s story is clearly defined, strategically aligned and delivered to the right audience at the right time.

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