A prologue or a demo on Steam: which one?
2 min read
By Eduardo Orellana ·
A demo is a Steam demo-type app attached to your game: a button on its page (or its own page with reviews), no community hub, and it can enter Next Fest once. A prologue is a separate free game, usually a self-contained opening chapter, with its own store page, reviews, community hub and place in free-game lists, and its own Steam Direct fee. A prologue builds an audience of its own; it cannot stand in for a demo in Next Fest. Most indies are better served by a demo.
Same idea, different products on Steam
Both let players try your game for free. But Steam treats a demo as part of your game and a prologue as a game of its own, and that changes where it shows up, what it collects and what it costs.
Demo
- A demo-type app, linked to the base game.
- A button on the game's page, or its own page with user reviews.
- No community hub of its own.
- Eligible for Steam Next Fest (once per game); one wishlist email within two weeks of launch.
- Can be deactivated later.
Prologue
- A separate free game: its own page, reviews, community hub and free-game visibility.
- Its own Steam Direct fee.
- Not eligible for Next Fest as the game's demo.
- Players who finish it are invited to the full game, but must find and wishlist it.
Which one
A demo for nearly every indie game: it keeps attention, wishlists and reviews on one page and plays well with Next Fest. A prologue when the opening chapter is a satisfying game on its own and you want it to collect its own reviews and appear in free-to-play lists.
Where Flockbay fits
Flockbay builds your game on Godot, and its playtest links put the demo build in front of testers before Steam. Free in beta until 1 December 2026.