Moonlight Peaks has a bigger demo on Steam ahead of its July 7 launch

Moonlight Peaks – the vampire farm life sim – launches July 7, and a new, expanded demo just went live on Steam. It dropped during the Wholesome Games showcase and replaces the smaller, more limited demos the game has had since its reveal a few years back.

The new demo is largely the same build a PC Gamer writer played for six hours last month, with one difference: you start with a partially upgraded farm rather than from scratch. A rep for the game says it will "cover the same content," which means you get the opening stretch of the story – werewolves, witches, vampires, and seers all at each other's throats, slinging spells and insults in equal measure. You can meet most of the cast, get into farming, and learn how to cast spells and shapeshift.

Earlier demos skipped story content and the character creator entirely, keeping things to short decorating or farming snippets. The new version fixes that. Based on hands-on time, the fundamentals are solid – snappy tool animations, clean menus, and charming character designs. The real question is whether the comically toxic banter between factions and the directed main quest structure (as opposed to Stardew Valley's open-ended approach) clicks for you. The developers strongly recommend a gamepad, though keyboard and mouse works fine too.

The demo is on Steam now, and that's where you'll buy the full game when it launches on July 7.