Xbox is hosting a Winter Game Fest event with limited-time demos starting Dec. 7 (Update)

More than 35 “show floor”-style game demos will be playable from December 7–21

Not to pile more games on your already full plate, but you might want to set aside some time in December for a bunch of limited-time demos. Starting Tuesday, December 7, the ID@Xbox Winter Game Fest event will offer up 35+ demos for upcoming Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S games. You can also expect to see some limited-time PC demos, too.

For instance, Nobody Saves the World, the next title from Guacamelee studio Drinkbox, will get a demo on Xbox and Steam. It’s the one I’m most interested in personally, and the demo will even have online co-op with access to “the opening hours of the game,” which sounds great. It’s an action-RPG with wild-looking forms and mix-and-match abilities.

The full ID@Xbox Winter Game Fest demo list isn’t out yet (we’ll update this article once it is), but here’s a preview of several featured games courtesy of the event organizers:

• Death Trash — a fleshy post-apocalyptic RPG full of punks and unspeakable horrors.
• Loot River — a fantasy action roguelike title with a Tetris-style twist.
• The Tale of Bistun — an action-adventure game about a stone carver inspired by the Persian poem “Khosrow and Shirin.”
• Blacktail — an archery game with Baba Yaga’s origin story.
• Nobody Saves the World — a Zelda-esque RPG with wacky body transformations.

[Update: The Xbox team has shared the complete list of Winter Game Fest demos.]

• Apico (Whitethorn Digital/TNgineers)
• Aspire: Ina’s Tale (Untold Tales/Wondernauts Studio)
• Aztech Forgotten Gods (Lienzo)
• Best Month Ever! (Klabater/Warsaw Film School Video Game & Film Production Studio)
• Blacktail (The Parasight)
• Blind Fate: Edo no Yami (101XP/Troglobytes Games)
• Breakers Collection (QUByte Interactive)
• Castle on the Coast (Klabater/Big Heart Productions)
• Chenso Club (Aurora Punks/Pixadome)
• Death Trash (Crafting Legends)
• Demon Turf (Playtonic Games/Fabraz)
• Flewfie’s Adventure (Valorware LTD)
• Freshly Frosted (The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild)
• Grid Force – Mask of the Goddess (Playtra Games)
• Josh Journey: Darkness Totems (QUByte Ineractive/Província Studio)
• Justice Sucks: Recharged (Samurai Punk)
• Kraken Academy!! (Fellow Traveller/Happy Broccoli Games)
• Lonesome Village (Ogre Pixel)
• Loot River (straka.studio)
• Mind Scanners (Brave At Night/The Outer Zone)
• Nobody Saves the World (Drinkbox Studios)
• Outbreak: Contagious Memories (Dead Drop Studios)
• Overpass: Rhythm Roadtrip (The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild/Studio Bean)
• Princess Farmer (Whitethorn Games/Samobee Games)
• Raccoo Venture (QUByte Ineractive/Diego Ras)
• Space Boat (Recombobulator Games)
• Spacelines From the Far Out (Skystone Games/Coffeenauts)
• Super Toy Cars Offroad (Eclipse Games)
• The Chase of Ellen (Nick Silverstein)
• The Darkest Tales (101XP/Trinity Team)
• The Gardener and the Wild Vines (Finite Reflection Studios)
• The Last Oricru (Koch Media/Prime Matter/GoldKnights)
• The Tale of Bistun (Black Cube Games)
• Treasures of the Aegean (Numskull Games/Undercoders)
• Tunic (Finji/Isometricorp)
• What Lies in the Multiverse (Untold Tales/Studio Voyager)

“Many of these demos are early, and some are for games that won’t be out for quite some time,” according to Xbox’s Jessica Ronnell, the ID@Xbox event and community management lead. “Think of these as akin to “show floor demos,” and not necessarily indicative of the final product. What that means is that you’ll get to experience these games early — some way early — which is awesome, but you should also note that these games will continue to evolve and be polished as they near release.”

Again, these demos are time-limited — they’ll “evaporate after December 21” — so this is our chance in a lot of cases. That said, some might return at a later date.