Octopath Traveler 2's substantial JRPG demo is out now on PC

Katharine and I were lamenting earlier today that Square Enix seem inconsistent when it comes to releasing demos of their games on Steam. Forspoken's demo only came to PC months after its console release, and Harvestella's demo remains exclusive to Switch. Likewise, the Octopath Traveler 2 demo which was released on console yesterday was nowhere to be found on PC.

Uh, until today. It's out on Steam now.

Shows what we know, eh? You can grab the Octopath Traveler 2 prologue demo from Steam now.

Like the first game, Octo 2 is a fantasy JRPG focused on eight different characters, each with their own skills and storyline that intertwines with all the other. It's most striking for its art style, which blends ye olde 16-bit era sprite art with 3D environments and more bokeh effect than you'll have seen outside a photo uploaded to Flickr circa 2003.

The demo is substantial, too. You can choose to play as any of the eight protagonists, the demo lasts for three hours, and your progress will carry over to the full game. That full game is out later this month, on February 24th.

Katharine wrote our Octopath Traveler 1 review back in 2019, and she enjoyed it in parts. She did find it fell apart at the end, though, where it seemed to expect a lot of further grinding even after 80 hours of play. Here's hoping Octopath Traveler 2 pulls its various strands together better, but if not I'm sure Katharine will let us know later this month.