Line #21 Main/SelfContainedDemo


1	Most video game demos simply use aspects of the game, letting the player try out random levels or guiding them through the title's opening levels. Some video game demos don't do this. Yes, they still give you a clear idea of what to expect from the final product, but rather than give you a glimpse of it, the demo offers you a unique scenario instead. How it relates to the full game can vary, ranging from a purely non-canon adventure to a side-story that serves as a prologue or adds more context to the game's events.
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3	Compare to TechDemoGame.
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5	!!Examples
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7	[[foldercontrol]]
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9	[[folder: First-Person Shooters]]
10	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'':
11	** ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' had a demo named ''Half-Life: Uplink'', featuring a level that did not appear in the main game. It was, however, bundled with the Steam release for the [[MilestoneCelebration 25th anniversary update]].
12	** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Lost Coast'' is a TechDemoGame for ''[=HL2=]'' that takes place on a coastal island well away from New Odessa.
13	* ''VideoGame/Halo2'''s demo at E3 2003 was an original level set in what became the New Mombasa levels. While the core mechanics demonstrated in it (dual wielding, vehicle hijacking, and enemy Brutes) were kept in the final game, the demo levels ran on an entirely different engine that was said to crash if the player went just the slightest OffTheRails.
14	* The early access levels of ''Videogame/IonFury'' are a series of short, but still expansive, levels, which is different to the levels of the final release, although it's available as a bonus content in the final release.
15	* The ''VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'' [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Jedi_Knight_II:_Jedi_Outcast_demo demo]] was about investigating an enemy base that had no connection to the game itself.
16	* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' had the demo ''Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt'' that was included in UsefulNotes/NintendoDS packages. It has several differences with the final game notably the fact that there actually were Metroids in the demo and had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2N1SXoVOp8 a secret cutscene.]]
17	* ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTrespasser'' was an unintentional example, since the demo map was a level that was DummiedOut of the final release version after the physics engine bugs that made the demo nigh-{{unwinnable}} couldn't be resolved in time for the release date.
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20	[[folder: Horror]]
21	* Beating ''VideoGame/{{Carrion}}'' unlocks the level from the Alpha demo.
22	* ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' had one of the most prolific single cases of this in the form of ''PT'', which was quietly released on the Playstation Store masquerading as an indie game before the TwistEnding revealed that it was a '''P'''layable '''T'''easer for a new installment in the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' franchise. However, ''Silent Hills'' was later cancelled, meaning that ''PT'' now exists as its own island (and an increasingly fleeting one at that as [[DenialOfDigitalDistribution it's since been removed from distribution]]). Given how the demo is [[GenreShift mechanically unlike any other previous game]] (first-person exploration horror instead of third-person SurvivalHorror gameplay) and has such [[BottleEpisode a cerebral yet localized plot]], it's not even known exactly how representative of the final game it would have been.
23	* "KITCHEN", "Beginning Hour", and "Lantern", for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard''. None are referenced in the finished game, and "KITCHEN" is the only one that clearly ties into the canon story (accounting for one character's death which we know happened but otherwise don't see take place).
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26	[[folder: Miscellaneous]]
27	* In the demo for ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}} 2: The Tribes'', four exclusive levels are featured, one of which is similar to one of the same name in the full version, but with slight differences.
28	* In order to avoid spoiling the game itself, the creators of ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' created a self-contained demo to promote it. The entirely original level contains the Narrator leading you through a tour of what is ''supposed'' to lead up to the ''Stanley Parable'' demo, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOnxXJyOJ0s but ends up becoming a surrealist nightmare.]] They even sent special editions of this demo to LetsPlay[=ers=] WebVideo/SteamTrain and [=Revision3=] containing bits of dialogue directly addressed to them.
29	* ''VideoGame/{{Glider}} PRO'': "Demo House" served as the playable demo as well as the game's tutorial and AttractMode. Though included with the full game, it is entirely separate from the game's primary scenario, "Slumberland."
30	* ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuest Space Quest 6]]'' had a demo with an entirely different story about the ship Roger had been transfered to being attacked by knockoffs of the Borg.
31	* ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' had a Japanese exclusive demo called ''What's Shenmue?'', released as a preorder bonus to make up for the game's release date being postponed (the demo was released the date the game was originally going to be released) and also made available as a freebie with Famitsu. The demo features Ryo searching for Mr. Yukawa and saving him from an assaulter. It's then revealed that the entire demo was [[AllJustADream a dream made by Mr. Yukawa]], which goes back to work on a marketing campaign for the Dreamcast.[[note]]Mr. Yukawa is based on Hidekazu Yukawa, Sega's senior managing director at the time[[/note]]
32	* ''VideoGame/TheAwesomeAdventuresOfCaptainSpirit'' serves as a free prologue to ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'', centered around Chris Eriksen, an imaginative 9-year old boy who lives alone with his father and dreams of being a superhero named “Captain Spirit”. The extent to which this demo impacts the story of ''Life Is Strange 2'' is unknown, though it has been confirmed that choices made in it as well as in [[VideoGame/LifeIsStrange the original game]] will affect the sequel in some way.
33	* A now-removed free iOS-only version of ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'' contained levels that weren't in the full version. That was until 2015, when the ability to unlock (nearly all of) the first four chapters via watching ads was introduced, leaving those 24 levels as an [[TheArtifact artifact of an past time]].
34	* [[https://youtu.be/DxoUFJPwWYE The demo]] for ''VideoGame/BookwormAdventures'' acts as a prequel for the game, explaining how Lex and Professor Codex first came across the Magic Pen. Notably, the final boss is Odin, who, despite being the TopGod of Norse mythology, is weaker than many of the other bosses in the full game. Go figure.
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37	[[folder: Role-Playing Games]]
38	* ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' did this with its demo. You controlled Yew, Janne, and Nikolai on a mission as the Three Cavaliers, set before the game's beginning.
39	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
40	** ''VideoGame/PokemonOmegaRubyAndAlphaSapphire'' had a downloadable demo where you played as the male lead (named "Orlando" in the demo) set in Mossdeep City where you encounter Team Aqua and Team Magma. It also features the possibility to catch a Glalie (a Steelix in the Japanese version) with his Mega Stone and transfer it into the final game, where both the Pokémon and his stone are normally available only towards the end of the game's main story (or not available at all, in Steelix's case)
41	** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' had a downloadable demo where you played as the male lead (named "Sun" in the demo). It features him arriving in Alola with his mom, but it's depicted in a completely different way from the actual game. In the demo Sun receives a Greninja with an exclusive ability called Battle Bond, allowing him to turn into Ash Forme after defeating an enemy Pokémon[[note]]It's actually implied that this is [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Ash's own Greninja]], since the ability, the nearly-identic moveset and his birthdate being set on the date the episode where Ash got his Froakie first aired in Japan[[/note]], and then has to complete an Island Trial exclusive to the demo, set in Ten Carat Hill and featuring a Totem Hakamo'o. Completing the demo also allows to transfer the Greninja in the final game, alongside a bunch of items you get doing multiple subquests after completing the demo's main plot.
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44	[[folder: Real-Time Strategy]]
45	* The demos for ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'' and the ''Rise of Rome'' expansion contains unique campaigns not found in the retail game, respectively for the Hittites and First Punic War.
46	* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' has tutorials that are unconnected to the game's campaigns, like Phoenician settlers or Roman soldiers.
47	* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'': [[invoked]] A cut-down promotional version of the first game, variously known as the "Raider Retreat" or "OEM" edition, contained the first four missions from the regular game and a fifth completely new one, which would later turn out to be [[DummiedOut cut content]] that was removed from the release version for being [[DifficultySpike unreasonably hard for that point in the game]] and not doing much to advance the plot.
48	* The original ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' demo was a campaign made of four levels that play before the events of the actual game. It was later made available as an extended version with additional missions that could be launched as a custom campaign from within the game.
49	** Uniquely in the demo campaign is that it has branching path that lead to different mission and opposition depending on your action in a mission.
50	* ''VideoGame/WarCraft'':
51	** The demo of ''[=WarCraft=] 2'' featured two campaigns of three levels each which were not featured in the game proper.
52	** The demo of ''[=WarCraft=] 3'' was an extended version of the tutorial prologue of the actual game, featuring three extra levels. These levels were included as a bonus campaign in the Expansion pack.
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55	[[folder: Visual Novels]]
56	* The demo for ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' was based on the first case of that game, but with some differences -- there's no murder victim (the trial is only for the courtroom bombing), Phoenix is the defense attorney from the start rather than taking over for Athena, and a nameless guard takes Apollo's role in the events.
57	* The demos for ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' and ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' both feature unique trials with different victims and murderers, and in the case of ''V3'', characters who don’t appear in the actual game.
58	* ''VisualNovel/DontTakeItPersonallyIJustDontLikeYou'' has a demo featuring two of the romanceable characters on an ill-fated camping trip.
59	* ''VisualNovel/WeKnowTheDevil'' has a demo which takes place shortly before the main game and serves to demonstrate the pairing mechanic and show some character moments.
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Context Main / SelfContainedDemo