LudoNarraCon 2023: Over 30 Free Demos Available!

“Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.” – Neil Gaiman

LudoNarraCon 2023

LudoNarraCon 2023 (LNC) is a FREE digital convention hosted on Steam, with a focus on celebrating narrative and storytelling in video games and the talented and dedicated people that make such titles. You can read an in-depth overview of the event here!

Part of the LudoNarraCon event sees developers exhibiting their games and making playable demos available for the duration of the event. This year there are 35 demos and the following is a list of them all!

LudoNarraCon 2023 Demos

1000xRESIST

Delve into a hyper-cinematic adventure. You are a CLONE. You live at the world’s end. You worship the last surviving human: the ALLMOTHER. When a dangerous rumour shatters your faith, you phase through time and memory—to expose a 1000-year-old lie. Relive. Reclaim. RESIST.

Astronaut: The Best

Astronaut: The Best is an occult management adventure where people aren’t just numbers: they’re incompetent screwups. Your duty is to turn them into national heroes, or the government will have you killed.

Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly

Dust off your coffee machine and prepare your warmest smile to meet your customers again in the second episode of the much-loved coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator; Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly.

CryptMaster

SAY ANYTHING in this bizarre dungeon adventure where words control everything. Fill in the blanks with text or voice to uncover lost abilities, solve strange quests, and play unexpected mini-games. Use your words to conquer the crypt and unleash a whole new kind of “spell casting!”

Dead Pets Unleashed

Struggling punk band, Dead Pets, are still looking for their breakthrough after almost 10 years. Gordy has big plans for the group, but when you turn 30, life starts to get in the way. Dead Pets Unleashed is a narrative, slice of life and management-lite game; get ready to unleash your inner demon.

Death Trick: Double Blind

The star magician of the circus went missing: rumours are flying, and trouble is brewing, but the show must go on. In this non-linear detective game, gather clues, question suspects, and point out contradictions to unravel the mystery from two alternating perspectives.

Demonschool

Demonschool is a new-style tactics RPG where motion equals action. Defeat big weirdos in between the human and demon worlds as Faye and her misfit companions, while navigating university life on a mysterious island.

Do Not Feed the Monkey 2099

Spy on strangers through security cameras, invade their privacy and discover their secrets in this digital voyeur simulator. Welcome to the future of The Primate Observation Club. Even in 2099 the rule about messing with your unlucky subjects still remains in this sequel: DO NOT feed the monkeys!

Dordogne

Immerse yourself in a unique narrative experience and explore the thousand summer colours of Dordogne as you revisit your childhood to uncover lost family secrets in this touching formative journey.

Fall of Porcupine

FALL OF PORCUPINE is a unique story adventure. The collision of work and daily life – an exciting reflection of an unhealthy healthcare system.

Figment 2: Creed Valley

Figment 2: Creed Valley is an action-adventure game set in the human mind. Face bosses in musical showdowns, make your way through puzzles and explore unique environments.

Forever Lost

Who are you…and what happened at the Hawthorne Estate? Escape the room to find the answers in this psychological horror adventure.

Ghostpia

“In my dreams, I can get out. In my dreams, I can fit in.” ghostpia mixes the adorable art style of an illustrated book with glitches-and-noise effects. There are no choices to be made. There’s only a lonely girl in a ghost town and her story full of mystery, friendhood…and a bit of violence.

Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between

Glitchhikers is a surreal journey through the spaces between places. A late night drive, a deserted airport lounge, a moonlit walk through an empty park, a quiet carriage on an overnight train. Who will you meet? What will you talk about? Where will the journey take you? Find yourself along the way.

Goodbye Volcano High

Goodbye Volcano High is a cinematic narrative adventure about love, change, and the end of an era. Guide Fang through their final year of high school as they try to make things right before time is up.

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

The fate of humanity is at stake. Use your gift of clairvoyance to see into the future and stop an apocalypse that threatens the balance between your world and the deities’.

I Did Not Buy This Ticket

Weep for the dead! In this short psychological horror story, play as a professional mourner travelling between funerals. Ride a nightmarish bus whose destination depends on how you choose to face your traumas.

Kitsune: The Journey of Adashino

“Where will their light lead them?” Kitsune is a fox girl who finds herself on Adashino Island and starts travelling with her Frog friend. Neon signs give light and colour to the island with a Japanese-inspired atmosphere. Something is lurking in the shadows, inching ever closer…

Loco Motive

On the Reuss Express, a passenger has been murdered, and you’re the prime suspect. Uncover a thrilling mystery and solve satisfying point-and-click puzzles to prove your innocence! A slapstick adventure, packed full of deadly surprises, shocking twists and larger-than-life characters!

Mask of the Rose

A marvellous romance with a hint of murder. Lose your heart to a stolen city in this game of amorous intrigue! Seek love, for yourself or your friends. Help a murdered man find justice. And watch out for the bats.

Midautumn

Crashing at Grandma’s was meant to be a break from your responsibilities. But relaxing might prove hard when the Spirit World is real, its entrance is in your basement, and you’re its newest guardian. Blast evil spirits and save your hometown in this rogue-like dungeon crawler!

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island

You’re shipwrecked on a lost mythical island. As backpacker Alex, you must befriend the forgotten gods of Greek mythology and restore their memories. Explore the dynamic island and its story sandbox to build new friendships, solve the mystery and save the gods.

Norco

NORCO is a text-based point & click adventure that immerses the player in the sinking suburbs and industrial swamplands of an increasingly surreal and distorted South Louisiana.

Paper Ghost Stories: Third Eye Open

Third Eye Open is a third-person narrative adventure rendered in a distinctive “paper theatre” aesthetic. Set in early 2000s Malaysia, the player takes the role of Ting, a young girl trying to come to terms with the burgeoning power inside her.

Roadwarden

Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction.

Slay the Princess

You’re here to slay the princess. Don’t believe her lies.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Gods. Romance. Murder. Musical Numbers?! Change fate with your choices in this interactive roleplaying musical. Play as Grace in a world where Greek Gods live in hiding. Draw friends, foes & lovers into song using your powers of musical persuasion to unravel the mystery of the Last Muse’s death.

Sucker for Love: Date to Die For

Put the ‘love’ in ‘Lovecraftian horror!’ Hide from cultists and survive dangerous rituals to find a way out of the Black Woods!

Tamarindos Freaking Dinner

A 90’s horror sitcom! Play as the pizza dude Macario Macabro, you must deliver your order to Tagomago´s Mansion, but be careful, dinner is not the pizza.. it’s Macario! Try to escape from this haunted house and its cannibalistic inhabitants in a time loop buckle with more than 25 endings!

The Case of the Golden Idol

A new kind of detective game that allows you to think and investigate freely. Discover clues surrounding 12 strange and gruesome deaths and build your own theory. Pick your suspect, deduce the motive, and unmask the awful truth.

The Invincible

Rethink human’s dominion in The Invincible: a story-driven adventure set in a hard sci-fi world by Stanisław Lem. Discover planet Regis III as scientist Yasna, use Atompunk tools to look for a missing crew and face unforeseen threats. Make choices in a philosophical story that’s driven by science.

The Palace on the Hill

A slice-of-life adventure game set in 90s rural India. Explore ancient palace ruins, set up your garden, cook Indian food, run errands for quirky characters, and learn about your history by making art.

The Star Named EOS

Capture photos and step back in time to experience the moments held within them in The Star Named EOS. Solve a variety of puzzles to help a young photographer uncover the truth about his mother’s disappearance and rediscover the beauty that is to be found in the world.

Times and Galaxy

Embark on an interplanetary adventure as the first robo-reporter for the Times & Galaxy, the solar system’s most trusted holopaper. You’re just an intern, but if you can get the scoop, write great stories, and impress your colleagues, maybe you’ll get to keep your job!

Underground Blossom

Underground Blossom is an upcoming adventure game by Rusty Lake. Fulfil various tasks at every station to find the metro that will take you through each important event from Laura Vanderboom’s life.

Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block

It’s time to kick ass and break hearts! Wrestling with Emotions: New Kid on the Block is a wrestling dating sim that combines elements of RPGs and punk games to create a uniquely anarchic experience.

LudoNarraCon 2023 Demos Summary

Overall, there is a fantastic selection of demos available this year. All demonstrate the value of narrative in games but with enough variety that there will be something for everyone. If you haven’t already started checking some of these titles out, what are you waiting for?

You can also check out demo info from previous years:
LudoNarraCon 2021: Free Game Demos Available this Weekend! – LudoNarraCon 2022: Over 30 Free Game Demos Available!