Hull Rupture Demo: What It Includes in 2026

The Hull Rupture Demo is a free, separate Steam app (appid 4809240). It is not a timed trial and it does not require the full game. You can install it, play the opening of a Classic or Trade run, and uninstall it without losing access to anything you paid for.

It is also the most useful pre-release purchase decision tool for this game. The demo contains the real economy, the real hull construction system, and enough waves to show whether the management loop holds up. What it does not contain is the full ship roster, the complete galaxy, or the late-game modes.

For the launch facts around the demo, see the release date page and the mode breakdown.

What is included in the demo?

The demo gives you one ship, Izumo, and two modes. Classic is the 20-wave survival campaign: build modules, assign humans, travel the galaxy map, and defend the airlock. Trade is the combat-free variant, where alien attacks are replaced by economic pressure and the challenge is logistics rather than turrets.

The playable content includes:

• The opening hull and the Despot's Chamber
• Energy, minerals, fuel, and the basic production modules
• Human assignment and the Reproducer
• Hull Construction, added in the September 14 update
• The reworked post-battle shop with themed crates
• A slice of the galaxy map with events, markets, and guarded nodes
• Artifacts and modifiers that persist across demo runs

The demo does not include the other two ships, Endless mode, the combat-focused mode, or the full set of difficulties. It also stops before the complete campaign, so the final boss and the late-game economy are not testable.

"The demo includes one starting ship and two game modes: Classic ... and Trade."

— Official source: Demo launch announcement on r/DespotsGame

What changed in the latest demo build?

The September 25 patch, v0.10.12, is the version most players will install. It added the Rat Turret, a weapon that turns its target into a rat, and adjusted shop and Despot's Chamber randomization so unseen module kits appear more often.

The bigger change came on September 14:

• Hull Construction was added. You can enter build mode during flight, place one of 15 hull blocks, and extend the ship without waiting for a shop.
• The post-battle shop was reworked into themed loot boxes for modules or turrets. Modules can drop with modifiers already installed.
• Despot's Chamber now produces free random module kits based on how many humans work there. Unwanted kits can be sold.
• Converter automation was added experimentally. The Auto button sends humans to the Bioreactor, then sends another when only one remains in the queue.
• Balance changes made Microchips and Nanobots easier to produce, while making strong defense more expensive.

If you played an earlier demo, your previously unlocked no-combat mode and artifacts should still be available. New artifacts stay locked, and the new tutorial step for Hull Construction does not activate automatically. You can re-enable the tutorial in the settings or learn the system by building.

How long is the demo?

There is no fixed timer. A Classic run lasts 20 waves, and the demo's galaxy slice limits how far you can travel. Most players will see the core loop in two to four hours.

Konfa reported that 25,389 players tried the Next Fest demo, with an average flight time of 2 hours 33 minutes and a 93% positive rating during the event. Those numbers describe the festival build, not the current one, but they are a reasonable estimate of how much content the demo contains.

The demo's Steam rating was around 4.5 out of 5 from roughly 230 reviews in late October. That is a small sample and it measures the demo, not the full release, so treat it as a signal that the opening is polished rather than a review score.

Does demo progress carry into the full game?

Konfa has not announced save transfer. The demo stores its own progression, and the full game is a separate app with a different content set. Assume you will start from zero on November 4.

That is not a reason to skip the demo. The systems you learn, the layout habits you build, and the shop decisions you practice all transfer in your head even if the save file does not.

If carryover is announced, it will likely appear in the Steam announcements feed and the demo's store page. Neither mentions it as of October 30.

Demo vs full game

The most important difference is not the content count. It is the ship roster. Izumo is small, maneuverable, and built from scavenged parts. The other two ships are designed around different playstyles, including one that supports a low-mass, high-speed route through many galaxy nodes. If Izumo feels too fragile, the full game may still have a ship for you.

Performance and troubleshooting

The demo's minimum requirements match the full game: a 64-bit Windows 10 21H1 system, an Intel i7-8700 or Ryzen 1600, 8 GB of RAM, and a GTX 670 or HD 7970. The game is not demanding by modern standards, but late-game ships with dozens of modules and turrets can stress the CPU.

If the demo stutters:

• Lower the resolution before lowering effects. The pixel art scales cleanly, and the UI is the expensive part.
• Cap the frame rate. An uncapped menu can push a laptop GPU harder than the game.
• Close the Steam overlay if you are recording. The overlay's browser layer is a common source of frame spikes.
• Verify the demo files after a patch. Steam occasionally keeps an old shader cache.

The demo is single-player and does not need an online connection after installation. Steam Cloud is listed for the full game; the demo's cloud behavior is not documented.

Should you play the demo before launch?

Yes, if you are unsure about the management layer. The demo is generous enough to answer three questions:

1. Do you enjoy assigning humans to rooms and watching numbers climb?
2. Does the tower defense hold up when the ship is also a factory?
3. Can you tolerate a roguelite run failing because of a bad shop rather than bad aim?

If the answer to all three is yes, the full game's extra ships and modes are likely worth it. If the management loop feels like chores, the full release will not fix that; it adds more systems on top of the same foundation.

The demo is also the best way to test performance on your own machine before spending money. A free download is a better benchmark than a system requirements table.

Sources and further reading

• Hull Rupture Demo on Steam
• Demo launch announcement
• Hull Rupture on Steam

Related

• The launch date, price status, and platforms
• How Classic, Trade, and the other modes differ
• A build order for your first demo run

FAQ

Is the Hull Rupture demo free? Yes. It is a separate free app on Steam and does not require the full game.

How do I install the demo? Open the demo's Steam page, choose "Download Demo," and install it like any other Steam game. It appears in your library as Hull Rupture Demo.

Does the demo have multiplayer? No. The full game is single-player only, and the demo follows the same rule.

Can I play Trade mode in the demo? Yes. Trade is one of the two included modes. It removes alien attacks and replaces them with economic pressure.

Will the demo be removed at launch? Konfa has not said. Demos sometimes stay up after release and sometimes are delisted. Download it before November 4 if you want to be certain.