"I just can't get enough": Fans can't stop playing this Animal Crossing-like's "2-hour" demo, with some spending literal days in-game

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Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time

Critter Cove screenshot showing a blue anthropomorphic fox-like character sitting in a boat, blue skies and clear water surrounding him
(Image credit: Gentleman Rat Studios)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons may never get another update again, but that's okay - Critter Cove is coming next month and its demo is proving that it may end up the next big cozy title.

Free game demos on Steam are great, but they usually don't offer much playtime - generally speaking, players can expect to get a couple of hours out of them. That's not the case with Critter Cove, though - Gentleman Rat Studios' debut title offers a playable demo, and fans are getting a lot more out of it than a mere 120 minutes. In a post revealing players' in-game time so far, the developer highlights as much.

Alongside screenshots showcasing fans' hours spent in the Critter Cove demo on Steam, the studio writes: "tfw when the community asks you how many hours of content is in your early access release but have been playing your '2-hour demo' for two days straight." The attached pictures are wild - some fans have over 20 hours, which is quite long compared to two hours, but others have almost 200 hours total.

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As Gentleman Rat Studios puts it, that's literal days' worth of gameplay - in fact, the person with 165 hours has spent the equivalent of almost an entire week playing the Critter Cove demo. Fans commenting on the mind-boggling numbers say that they're not all that surprised: "I just can't get enough of this game. Will definitely clock hundreds or maybe even thousands of hours when early access gets released."

Feedback left on Steam so far seems stellar, too - demo players report being "WOWed" by the upcoming indie gem, with many expressing how much they "absolutely love" Critter Cove so far. I personally can't wait to hop into the wholesome sim myself. Something tells me that I'm going to get more than my money's worth when the game fully releases into early access on September 10 - and then some.

Check out these other upcoming indie games for more to look forward to.

Anna Koselke
Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.