• Steam has a new feature where certain games will get a time-limited free trial – in this case, it will last until next week.
• The first game to be offered this way is the remaster of Dead Space, from publisher EA.
• Players will have to download the full game when they begin the 90 minute trial, but their progress will continue if they actually buy the game.

You can now play the remastered version of Dead Space for free on Steam, at least for the next week. The digital game store has launched a 90-minute free trial version of the game, where you simply have to head to its Steam page and click on “Try Dead Space – Free Trial.”

You will have to be using the Steam Client to see this option as the browser version of the page doesn’t populate it. Dead Space (2023) is currently on promotion as well until 23rd March, so perhaps the free trial is meant to lure players into buying the full game – at R799.96 as of time of writing.

Importantly, you will first have to download all 36GB of the game before you can play it, even for the 90 minute time period.

According to a blog post on Steam, this free trial will end on 29th March. While Steam does sometimes offer free demos for games, it is usually on the developer or publisher side. A developer will upload a second copy of the game that is purely a demo for free.

Or, they will let players try a full game for a limited time, such as with Crusader Kings III, in the last few days.

A limited-time free trial like this, with the same treatment Dead Space has received, is new to Steam, and, if you get the free trial, your progress and game saves carry on over if you buy the full game. We could potentially see more of these free trials for games from the larger publishers, in this case EA, if this trial proves successful.

As for the game itself, Dead Space Remastered is sitting on a “Very Positive” rating with over 22 000 user reviews, and 87 percent from Metacritic. The game is a bottom-up remake of the 2008 survival horror classic, with redone modern graphics, enhanced sound, and gameplay improvements.

The developers at EA Motive took the lead in remaking the game after its original creator Visceral Games was shuttered by EA in 2017.

[Image – Steam]