Skip to main content

Here’s how you can play Summer Game Fest demos on Xbox this month

Summer Gaming Marathon Feature Image
This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

If you were one of the many who witnessed the recent Summer Game Fest from the comfort of your home and wish you could get to try a few of the demos then your wish is coming true (at least if you own an Xbox console). Xbox confirmed that it is once again teaming with Geoff Keighley’s summer event to bring select demos from the show floor to Xbox One and Series X/S consoles for a week.

Announcing the Xbox #SummerGameFest demo event starting June 21 – play more than 30 games from the comfort of home!https://t.co/6rynliPzHP

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 16, 2022

From June 21 through June 27, Xbox owners can try out over 30 demos for upcoming unreleased games that appeared at Summer Game Fest. This is the third time that Xbox has teamed with the event to bring a part of the experience home.

Recommended Videos

The games confirmed to be coming to the program include Batora: Lost Haven, Broken Pieces, Severed Steel, and Tinykin. Xbox states that the full list of titles is to be revealed closer to the actual starting day of the demo week.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

While some of these games may keep their demos around, Xbox made it clear in its blog that most will only be available during the week of the demo event. It also stated that many of these are “show floor demos” and proof of concepts, meaning they are not necessarily indicative of the final product, and are mostly around for players and testers to give feedback, which these developers want.

If you’re an Xbox owner you can join in on the early access and prolonged Summer Game Fest fun with these demos from June 21 through June 27.

DeAngelo Epps
Former Digital Trends Contributor
De'Angelo Epps is a gaming writer passionate about the culture, communities, and industry surrounding gaming. His work ranges…
Stardew Valley 1.6 has finally arrived on consoles and mobile
Special Orders board in Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley console and mobile players will want to start a new farm soon. The long-awaited 1.6 update is finally available for all platforms on Monday, bringing with it a new farm type, more dialogue with NPCs, new events, and too many other things to count.

The 1.6 update launched for PC players on March 19, so console and mobile players have been waiting almost eight months for the release. In July, developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that it was taking longer than expected. The following month, he wrote in another post that the ports have been the "primary focus" for the team. He had even stopped working on the Stardew follow-up Haunted Chocolatier to get the console and mobile updates finished.

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (November 1-3)
xbox game pass recommendations november 1 throne and liberty

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was a monumental addition to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate last week, so no week of additions to the service will live up to that for a while. Still, that didn't stop some more games from trickling onto Microsoft's subscription service in the wake of the latest Call of Duty. In fact, the games that came to the service were quite good. If you're wondering what you should be checking out next as a Game Pass subscriber after you're done with Black Ops 6, consider trying one of these games.
Ashen
ASHEN | Gamescom 2018 Gameplay

In July, A44 released Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and it was part of Xbox Game Pass from day one. Now, the studio has brought its previous Soulslike to the subscription service. Originally released in 2018, Ashen stood out from the crowd at the time thanks to its distinct, grayish cel-shaded look and open-world design years before Elden Ring came out. Ashen still stands as one of the best indie Soulslikes ever released, so those who have never played it before should give it a shot now that it's on Xbox Game Pass. It'll also make for an enjoyable Game Pass Soulslike double-feature with Flintlock.

Read more
7 free game demos you need to check out during Steam Next Fest
steam next fest october 2024 game recommendations permafrost

The last Steam Next Fest event of the year is upon us. Valve holds one of these events every few months on Steam and encourages developers to share demos and early looks at their upcoming PC games. Only indie developers participated initially, but more high-profile studios chipped in recently. That’s only makes it harder to find some of the best games on offer, as hundreds of demos are available.

I played several demos featured in October 2024’s Steam Next Fest ahead of the event, and I want to spotlight my favorites. From strategy RPGs to dumb physics-based platformers, these seven Steam Next Fest demos are worth checking out.

Read more