Inside opens up with demo, tears Denuvo from its guts

A demo of Playdead's grimpretty puzzle-platformer Inside [official site] is now out. Given that John found their follow-up to Limbo a bit empty but Pip adored its animation and Alec enjoyed its dark comedy, you may have been waiting for the official centralised verdict of the RPS Advent Calendar. Our word is, of course, law but I suppose it's fine if you start forming your own opinions as a warm-up for the forthcoming judgment. Oh, and if you'd been holding out for a DRM-free release, you'll be glad to hear it now has one.

Inside's demo is now up on Steam (look for the Download Demo button). It arrived unannounced yesterday and is a 1.2GB download. The demo starts at the beginning of the game, scampering through an awfully nice forest. This is my first time playing Inside so I'm thrilled to discover it's about a child being chased by heavily-armed mimes. I wonder what he did to upset them so.

Inside also hit GOG this week, arriving DRM-free. The demo isn't on GOG, mind.

As a DRM-free version of Inside is now out, Playdead have removed the Denuvo Anti-Tamper tech from the Steam release. It's a doodad which basically acts as a digital bodyguard for other DRM, such as Steamworks. Claims about Denuvo trashing PCs and ruining performance are unproven (though accepted as fact worryingly often) but it does have a form of infrequent online activation so hey, good that it's gone.

Inside is in the Steam autumn sale, down to £11.24/14,99€/$14.99. It's also in GOG's sale, costing a handful of change extra.