Publisher Retroware has announced that a free Steam demo for The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest will go live on June 19, 2026. To mark the occasion, the studio also dropped a brand-new gameplay trailer that tours the cursed locales, monstrous inhabitants, and oversize bosses awaiting players in developer Programancer’s darkly comedic retro platformer.
The premise is a gleeful inversion of the Castlevania formula. Arriving in Transylvania only to find that his vampire-hunting rival has already put a stake through Count Dracula, protagonist Simon Quest is robbed of his moment of glory. Undeterred and furious, Simon sets off across Wallachia to collect the scattered remains of the dark count, resurrect him, and deliver the killing blow himself. It’s a pixel-perfect homage to Simon’s Quest and Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, played entirely straight despite its absurd heart.
The new demo represents that rebuilt version in full — tighter controls, refined visuals, and a more complete vision of the 8-bit world the developer has been quietly crafting.
Players can choose between two play modes:
Adventure Mode – Explore the Bram region at your own pace, speak to villagers, and work your way toward the cursed Bram Mansion.
Action Mode – Skip the small talk and go straight to Bram Mansion.
Both modes offer plenty to discover, including:
*8 subweapons and utility items to collect
*An alternate route through the region
*A hidden minigame
*And more secrets waiting to be found
“The first region of the game, Bram, is playable in its entirety! Those who have been following The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest since the beginning are aware that there was a demo from 2021 of this region; however, this demo is from the completely rebuilt game, featuring smoother visuals, controls, and an overall more polished experience,” said the game’s developer, Programancer.
“This is the first publicly available demo I’ve released of The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest since it had its massive overhaul/rewrite I’ve shown this off at conventions recently, but now people can finally have this version of TASQ to play at home! I hope people are able to see just how improved the game has been since its original “not-really-suitable-for-wide-release-because-it-was-just-a-joke” inception, and I appreciate everybody’s patience as I craft this world!”
The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest is coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. A launch date for the full game has not yet been announced. The demo arrives on Steam on June 19th.
