For the second time in three months, Steam is hosting a virtual video game expo where users from around the world can download time-limited demos of unreleased games. This time, circumstances are wildly different.

The biggest difference with today's launch of the Steam Game Festival: Spring Edition has little to do with the implementation itself. Like the offer we saw in December, which was attached to a livestreamed Game Awards presentation, users can head to Steam right now and download a bunch of demos of games that are not officially available for purchase. Only this time, the count has grown significantly to 59 games (the list is below).

What's different is how these games are sorted and why that is the case. Most of these game demos were prepared for presentations at the developer-centric Game Developers Conference 2020, which was supposed to take place in San Francisco through this week. That expo, like many others, was summarily postponed last month in the face of mounting pressure from health experts and city and state officials. As a result, you'll notice designations for most of the games such as "Indie Megabooth," "Wings Fund," "Indie MIX," and "Day of the Devs," which are organizations that typically present new and independent video game demos at GDC-affiliated events.

The result is a rare opportunity for the game-playing public: go personally hands-on with dozens of still-in-development video games without having to fly or drive to an expo event and wait in long lines at crowded kiosks. (Right now, in terms of public health , such a scenario would be a terrible idea.) As is traditional with developer-centric events like GDC, most of these games are the kinds you've likely never heard of, from developers with unknown track records. The only exceptions are games whose demos have launched previously, like Chicory: A Colorful Tale or the sole game with a pop-culture license attached, Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl. And unlike the December version of the event, this one extends into the weekend, so if you're truly swamped in your work-from-home duties until Friday, you'll still have some free, indie-flavored fun to look forward to.

If you'd like a hard look at the potential future of video game expos—in which companies can control the content that's distributed and avoid the costs and complications of attending an event like E3 (whose 2020 edition was canceled earlier this month)—you owe it to yourself to see what Steam is pulling off this week. The event concludes at 1pm ET on Monday, March 23. It may be a mere coincidence that Valve, the operator of Steam, is launching its own game right around that time on Monday.

The list of games with available time-limited demos, which are almost all built exclusively for Windows, follows below. Games marked with asterisks are already launched and can be purchased, but they still qualify for free downloads and time-limited demos at this time. Games with pound signs attached are currently on sale on other platforms or on Epic Games Store, but they are not yet on Steam. And just like last time, your access to these demos is tied to checking in online to confirm your sessions are within during the festival's time window.