Demos with unique content

Final Fantasy XV's was totally different, and quite strange

oh yeah.

There were two different ones there if I remember correctly. Like there was one that felt like a slice of the main game, then a weird Kingdom Hearts-y which was more of a tech demo than anything else.

Well, there is no full game to compare it to...

Final Fantasy XV is right though. Even if the area in Episode Duscae is technically reused almost exactly as is in the full game, and even the main quest is pretty similar (aside from the Ramuh summon, the Behemoth quest is pretty much repeated). The sidequests and combat were different though. I liked the companion quests and photos. The second demo was effectively unique though.

RE7 is similar as FF15. Same area but different puzzles.

Christmas Nights maybe counts because you get a unique ending, but isn't it exactly the first level of the full game, just with reskinned assets?

I was going to say Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, but I don't think that's even a demo: it came out late and was only available for owners of the full game, which kinda defeated the point. It was more like a standalone DLC chapter.

Dead Rising 2 Case Zero was also unique, I think, but then it cost money. Much like RE7, it was more of a (paid in its case) DLC prologue.

Warcraft 3 had an unique level in its demo I think.

Didn't the Stanley Parable have different content to the actual game?

I also remembered the Serious Sam demo used the Karnak level, but because that was a late game level, they almost entirely changed the enemy positioning to make it easier at the start and more of a crescendo.

I don't think it was all that common even in the 90s, or at least, I don't remember many examples. After all, it would have been a lot of work. And once shareware took hold, it was almost always the first chapter of the game.

But then I don't know much about the Amiga era.

RE7 and Village had demos that did their own thing. Quite surprising that they bothered with it in a world that seems to have forgotten that demos exist.

Yeah I definitely participated in a false economy in both my Speccy and Amiga days. I’d beg for a magazine most weekends just because of the playable demos it came with, and then wonder why my folks were reluctant to shell out for any actual games.

I think the Arkham Asylum demo was also a bit different to the main game, but more in item placement etc.

Could be absolutely wrong though.

Can't remember if the Dead Space demo used an area of the game, or if it was original... pretty sure it was a very small area though.

Indie soulslike Hellpoint had a demo that was it's own thing, titled The Thespian Feast. Was pretty cool.

I've got a vague recollection that there was something special about the Viewtiful Joe demo on the GameCube.

I only found EuroGamer because of a demo