Square Enix is never going to do the sensible thing and make a new Parasite Eve, so we’re relying on the ambition of one small Chinese studio to do it for us.
Parasite Mutant received a positive response when it was announced last year, and now you can try it out ahead of its PS5 release later in 2026. The catch? The demo is currently only available on Steam.
But here’s the good news: it demands relatively modest specs due to its throwback presentation style, so you may be able to get it running on an old desktop or laptop if you don’t have a state-of-the-art rig.
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Alternatively, you can just watch the full 30-minute playthrough in its entirety embedded above. It looks very Parasite Eve.
Specifically, the combat system – which gives you complete control over your character and sees you using menu prompts to attack – is a lovely throwback. We like how you have a melee action if you want to conserve ammo.
Clearly this is still a work-in-progress; we think missed shots may need better tuning and the visual style of this opening level is a little bit drab for our tastes, but we like the design of the Aya Brea stand-in and the gameplay seems to be moving in the right direction.
The Steam page says the demo represents about 5% of the full game, so we’re probably looking at a 10-ish hour experience here. To be fair, that’s consistent with the original Parasite Eve on PS1, which took a similar length of time to finish.
There’s still no word on a release date for this yet beyond a vague 2026 target, but hopefully the demo will eventually make its way to the PS5, so we can get a taste for how that version is shaping up as well.