With Metroid Dread, like all first party Nintendo games, priced rather high in South Africa, it can be too much of a plunge for some buyers, especially newcomers to the series.

Thankfully Nintendo has now made a demo available of the game to coincide with Halloween this week. While this isn’t a horror game there are definite horror elements as you may have guessed by the “Dread” included in the name and the new EMMI enemies which stalk players inside of the game.

There’s also a neat carved pumpkin of Samus’ helmet to go along with this which you can see above.

“This Halloween, suit up as Samus Aran and see what goes bump in the night on planet ZDR with a fun-sized bite of the Metroid Dread game. Download the free demo now from Nintendo.com or Nintendo eShop on your device!” the announcement reads.

“Experience the eerie isolation of a remote alien world, face a relentless mechanical menace, and power your way through a section of what Shacknews calls ‘a sci-fi blast of brilliance that fans and newcomers alike will more than likely enjoy.’ If you need more Metroid Dread in your treat bucket, you can pick up the full game today.

If you visit the Metroid Dread listing on the Nintendo Switch eShop or in your browser the game will now feature the familiar “demo available” blue box in the top right corner of the game art.

For those concerned with the size of the download because of storage space woes or high data costs, you will need to set aside 1.4GB for it. In comparison the full game is 4.2GB.

While we recommend now giving the free demo a try to decide if it’s for you, there’s also our review which was created from the point of view of a newcomer to the series. We’re sure many long-time fans already picked up their copy so of the full game so demos and coverage like this is for those of us who want to give the series a first try.