Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom has a free demo on Steam right now

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is Game Atelier's take on the classic Wonder Boy series: it's a side-scrolling Metroidvania RPG with graphics so cheerfully lush that it almost makes you angry. It released for consoles last year and has been constantly delayed on PC, while the studio ensures the port is up to scratch.

But the much-delayed release looks set to come soon, with a free playable demo now available on Steam. This demo was always intended to help the studio gauge how successful its port work has been, so if you try it and encounter any problems, there's a thread to add to here.

"We'll be very active on the Monster Boy discussion board when the demo is live," the studio wrote last week. "The full version is almost ready, too–but first we want to be sure the demo runs great for the majority of players. Once all is fine we launch the game."

Fingers crossed everything goes to plan: by all reports, Monster Boy is a tremendous outing for platformer tragics like myself. 

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.