Steam has a lot of excellent demos this July, but most pale in comparison to this mediaeval first-person shooter about slaying hordes of goblins.

The Steam Summer Sale has come to an end for another year, but there are still plenty of good offers left on the platform.

However if you’re all cashed out and can’t afford another addition to your backlog, you’ll probably appreciate some free demo recommendations.

Whether you’re looking for your next big adventure game or just want to pass a bit of time while Xbox finishes downloading your next game, we’d suggest checking out Gun ‘n Goblins, developed by Lance/Argl and published by SoulGame.

Due for release next year, Guns ‘n Goblins is an FPS where players become the “bell ringer,” tasked with defending your bastion from a never-ending wave of goblins.

“Face a deluge of monsters in this incremental horde survivor FPS” begins the game’s description. It goes on to say: “Build your Bastion, level up your character, and upgrade your arsenal to rise from Apprentice Bell Ringer to Master Dragon Hunter.”

Think of it like a 3D version of Vampire Survivors, but rather than dashing around and focusing on your own survival you’ve got a wider goal of keeping goblins off your lawn.

You start your run with just a mere pistol, which is good for taking down handfuls of lower-levelled goblins but far from suitable for the long night ahead.

Fortunately as your kill-count increases you’ll get access to better weapons, like an extra-long round of Gun Game from Call of Duty. Your growing arsenal will immediately be tested by increasingly large groups of enemies. There’s even a dragon that’ll show up eventually for some extra challenge.

We think Elder Scrolls fans will get a kick out of this one in particular, largely because they’re still waiting for Bethesda to drop its next game and have nothing better to do.

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Of course Doom fans should also like this one, especially the aesthetic. It’s been nice to see so many indie games adopt pixel-art over the last few years, and games like Guns ‘n Goblins are an excellent example of how you can retain those classic visuals over modernised gameplay.

Altogether Guns ‘n Goblins is fabulously good fun, but if you need convincing further it’s currently sitting pretty with a Very Positive rating after 120 reviews. That’s just for the demo of course, as the full game hasn't been released yet.

Q2 2027 is the current release date so long as there are no delays, but the game is sound at the time of writing so it’d be nice to see it come out sooner if possible.

Steam is a treasure trove of free demos at the moment, and it’s always worth checking out if you’re looking for something new to play. You’d be hard-pressed to find as many free trials on Xbox and PlayStation’s platforms.