Among the Trolls demo walkthrough
The demo is a curated slice of non-consecutive sections: atmosphere, survival and crafting, the story opening and a taste of the supernatural, with chests that exist only in the demo.
The Among the Trolls demo released on 12 February 2026 and is still the best free way to understand the game. It is not the opening of the story: the developers curated non-consecutive sections of the archipelago so you could experience the pillars without spoiling the mystery.
What the demo is, structurally
| Section | What you get |
|---|---|
| Atmosphere | The Finnish wilderness, landmarks, some interactive and some not |
| Survival and crafting | Gathering, tools, weapons, the inventory, physical needs |
| Story | Anna's early search for her family, and some of the characters |
| Supernatural | A taste only: the biggest encounters were held back |
The demo deliberately gave you both too little and enough: if it handed over everything at once it would spoil the mystery, and if it gave too little you would miss the soul of the game.
Getting through the demo
- Search the cabin and its surroundings. The demo's opening tasks live there.
- Do not fight the intro. There is a walk and a Crow conversation; the third hotfix added Skip for the first and last cutscenes if you want to move on.
- Open the journal with J as soon as you get it. The demo's own known-issues thread admits many players missed the prompt.
- Learn the bow at the target range behind the cabin before hunting.
- Craft arrows from sticks and treat every stick as ammunition.
- Hunt the deer. Several negative reviews said the tutorial stalled because they could not find one; crouch, move slowly, and search the open ground near the trees.
- Enter the first dungeon prepared. Stat drain is a real threat; the second hotfix added food to the dungeon inventory to stop deaths there.
Demo limits to expect
- No save function, so plan a single sitting.
- No key rebinding and no adjustable graphics settings in the demo build.
- English only.
- Two known crash risks were listed by the developers: restarting from the pause menu, and selecting Leave on the wishlist screen after the first dungeon.
- Some interaction prompts could flicker or stick; players occasionally saw a stuck swimming animation on dry land.
What the demo teaches about the full game
Even inside its limits, the demo shows the shape of the release: a slow-burn introduction to systems through story, hunting that depends on crafting arrows, dungeons that punish arriving unprepared, and a world that gets worse when the balance slips. If that rhythm suits you, the release is the same rhythm with the whole story attached.
Sources
- Devlog #10 "Crafting the Demo" (what the demo contained and why): Steam news archive
- Demo FAQ and known issues (demo limits, chests, workaround): Demo FAQs & Known Issues
- Demo store page: Among the Trolls Demo on Steam
Game imagery on this page is official promotional material, used for reference.
