Dead in Vinland gets a demo on Steam

Dead in Vinland is, as Jody described it in his recent review, "a turn-based survival game about a Viking family on a magic island that is also inhabited by god-like blue people, a tribe led by a skull-collecting warlord named Bjorn, and wanderers from other lands, including Africa and Japan." 

You can probably go a long way toward deciding if you want to play it based on that alone, but if you're still not sure, a demo is now available on Steam. The demo covers the first seven days of life in Dead in Vinland, giving players the opportunity to meet Eirik and his family, explore the island setting, get a taste of the management and crafting systems, and of course do a little fighting. 

To get it, find the "Download Demo" button in the sidebar of the Steam page (just below where it tells you which of your Steam friends already own the game) and click it. You'll need about 2GB of space to install it. The demo isn't currently available from GOG, but developer CCCP said that it's on the way. And if you spring for the full game after playing the demo, any progress you've made will carry over. 

A 1.05 hotfix for Dead in Vinland was released last week, addressing a number of specific technical issues, including a serious one that prevented most of Eustache's dialogs from triggering. A more expansive 1.1 update, which sounds like it will at least partially address some of Jody's complaints about the game's inherent randomness, is still in the works.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.