AVS03 Demo Launch (February 13, 2026) — Five Protocols, BeanZ

The demo goes public

After the February playtest drew over 2,000 signups and over 1,000 players (plus more than 100 survey responses), the free demo opened on its own demo store page on February 13, 2026. The demo guide covers how to get it today.

Fairness fixes over the playtest

Per the announcement, the demo build adjusted several playtest-era pain points:

• Collision detection was tightened — “if you’re hit, then you’re definitely hit”.
• iframes were made longer.
• Opening a Safe Folder means you are actually safe now.
• Better descriptions and tooltips that no longer run off the screen.

Five Protocols, and BeanZ meta-progression debuts

Two big additions defined the demo and still structure the full game:

1. Five difficulties, Protocol I through V. The announcement is candid that playtest difficulty had crept up — what used to be Protocol I sat “around the Protocol II and III level” in the demo build — so Protocol I was tuned easier for new players. The developer also stated a belief that Protocol V should be impossible without meta-upgrades. That is a developer claim, not a tested verdict; this wiki treats difficulty rankings as pending until the full game is measured.
2. The Upgrades menu and BeanZ. Meta-progression purchases use a meta-currency called BeanZ, earned by opening Safe Folders and clearing enemies, with higher Protocols rewarding more. The naming later changed to Ranks; the currency mechanics are covered in the BeanZ and meta upgrades guide.

Timeline

Playtest (Feb 2) → Demo launch (Feb 13) → Next Fest (Feb 24) → Warmfix (May 2) → Demo Update 1.2 (Jul 14) → release date announcement (Sep 10).