The editors at The Punished Backlog have graciously let me write a column about the demos I dabble in on the PlayStation Network. Each month, I’ll cover demos of games that have come out recently or are coming out soon. First up: PlayStation Store demos from April 2025.
I used to love the PlayStation 3 era of demos — a time when trialing games was a common occurrence. Over the past decade or so, those experiences have largely dried up, but based on the recent demos I’ve seen added to the PlayStation Store, I’m hopeful we can return to that period’s prominence.
For this initial roundup, I went back and tried PSN demos from the past month. Here’s a recap of everything I downloaded:
Metal Eden
I first saw this game at one of the recent showcases earlier this year and thought it looked really interesting. Having now played the demo, however, I wish I had been less curious. To say I started off with the worst game for this round of demo experiments is the only way to describe it.
Initially, I thought this would be a first-person on-rails shooter, so I was happily surprised it wasn’t. However, that appreciation didn’t last long. Metal Eden’s clunky controls were soon matched by a rapid-speed gameplay tutorial. The former made it impossible to feel comfortable, while the latter was frustrating as enemies and new environmental interactions arrived at a breakneck pace.
After a few minutes, I dialed the sensitivity to max, hoping I could quickly adjust my shooting. I was surprised when the max settings put you at almost normal speed in comparison to most FPS games. All right, I can live with this, I thought, I’ll just dodge more. Unfortunately, enemies move way faster than I anticipated. Each fight was a test of patience; dodging felt out of sync, much like the environment interactions when you selected highlighted icons.
The default weapons in the demo are an assault rifle and a pistol. While the assault rifle has unlimited ammo with a cool down, it doesn’t pack much of a punch. Meanwhile, the pistol felt the best of anything in the game, specifically when you blast through enemies in one shot, which is often (depending on how well you aim).
An essential gameplay element in Metal Eden is the ability to remove the core from the robotic enemies you’re fighting. This core can be thrown to explode like a grenade, or harnessed to replenish your health. I thought this would be a great way to clear crowds of enemies, but enemies get hit by it and keep running at you like nothing happened. If the sluggish dodge wasn’t bad enough, you have to get pretty close to remove cores; unless an enemy is alone, you’re taking damage to do this.
Last note on gameplay: The melee combat was horrible. I wouldn’t complain about this in an FPS if it wasn’t a key gameplay element for removing enemy shields. It felt like the last resort instead of a reliable combat option.
Racing through a generic-designed ship’s corridors, you can hear a cliche-ridden narrator endlessly monologue about the main character’s situation. By the time he stopped talking before the final portion of the demo, I couldn’t care less about the plot.
I took a long elevator out of the tutorial area, entered the final section of the demo, then promptly died after killing two waves of enemies. I was completely disengaged by this point, so I turned off the game.
Metal Eden will need a lot of polish before it enters the wild. It’s not clear when the game will be released, but hopefully it lives up to that high-speed focus.
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: Q3 2025
Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree
The premise of Mandragora is interesting. It mixes the dark vibes of Salt and Sanctuary with the medieval setting of a Dragon Age (or maybe it’s the fact you’re an inquisitor). Either way, this was a solid action-RPG.
There are six classes available in the game, but the demo lets you choose from three. Feeling roguish, I chose the gal with dual daggers. After a lengthy prologue, you’re thrust into chasing down a witch on behalf of the clearly deranged king who has lost faith in you. (You killed a tortured witch out of mercy as part of the game’s opening.)
Thrust into the game, you immediately go running through the town to accomplish your mission, which sends you to a swamp. Your first combat interaction is noticeably challenging as you fight the head of the inquisitors who has a giant two-handed sword.
I must have missed the prompt for dodging, but the game does teach you how to evade behind enemies. Combat was interesting; while the first two hits of combos are quick, the last swing is noticeably delayed.
In most Metroidvania games, the formula is “two hits and dodge,” so maybe this is enforcing that habit early on. I didn’t have that many abilities besides a poison attack, so I dodged around the sword swings, chipping away at the health bar. After losing about half my health and taking only a third of the inquisitor leader’s, I was allowed to enter the world.
The environment was bleak, with NPCs milling about in the background muttering various complaints about the world. When you finally leave the confines of the town, you step onto a dirt road under the oversight of an evening sun and meet your first wild encounter: wolves.
The rest of the demo is spent running through screens, fighting enemies, and finding new information about the world. After I reached the third witch’s rest, I put this one down. The gameplay loop was fine, the story felt interesting, but the game overall wasn’t going to hook me.
I’m mature enough to know when to walk away, and I put this one down knowing I wouldn’t be back to it. Steam reviewers noted the fun of exploration, but also that the Metroidvania mechanics drop off in the second half along with the traversal and story elements.
While I can’t speak for those critiques myself (having played just a slice), I do know Mandragora is an interesting title with a diverse cast of characters navigating the world. (Its progression system also captures the charm of Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid, for those familiar.) Overall, this one is worth checking out, even if you don’t ultimately buy it.
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release Date: Available now
Unbeatable
Unbeatable is the most exciting game demo I’ve played in a long time. The world feels like Steven Universe meets Brave Fencer Musashi, with a rebellious focus on music and anti-fascism. With plot elements that seem both dream-like and absurdist, the game’s non-linear storytelling shines brightly even in this small sampling, as you shift from main character Beat’s internal dialogues to her interactions with her bandmates, while simultaneously dealing with interruptions from the chaotic anti-music organization H.A.R.M. and their police cronies.
Gameplay consists of music-rhythm-focused mini-games that involve lining up notes like you’re strumming a guitar, or watching your timing as you swing a baseball bat at the perfectly synchronized time period. While I’m sure there are more rhythm games in the full offering, these were the predominant ones in the demo.
Running around the world of Unbeatable also just feels great. There’s a nice interplay of 2D characters running around a 3D world that keeps the game feeling very anime-esque, while also highlighting the most important aspects of the background and foreground based on how far your character can move.
The NPCs of the world are interesting as well. Getting to know the town environment is important, as your characters rely on their community to survive economically, build their audience, and meet new people. Already, I can tell there’s an interconnectedness central to how this world operates. I’m curious and excited to see how this cast of characters interact and come together in this little beach town.
There couldn’t be a more timely game in our current political environment, with Unbeatable criticizing the egregious overreach of expanded powers of authority to the state. Thus far, it’s clear there will be a lot of cops beat down to a series of radical rock anthems led by this predominantly girl band, and I’m here for it.
There’s no firm release date, but you can be damn sure I’m getting a physical copy when the publisher does that limited run.
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: TBD 2025
Vaughn Hunt is writer who has loved video games since he picked up a controller. His parents wouldn't let him buy swords as a child (he wanted the real ones) so he started writing, reading, and playing video games about them. A historian at heart, you'll often find him deep into a rabbit hole of culture, comics, or music.
