Free Stars: Children of Infinity, the officially sanctioned sequel to classic space RPG The Ur-Quan Masters, has released a free public "combat demo" after five years in development, made by the original game's creators. The demo offers a taste of the full title through its arcade-style "melee" mode, letting players engage in 1v1 head-to-head space battles reminiscent of the 1990s original, ahead of a fuller RPG release still to come.

The demo, available on Steam and GOG for Windows, Mac and Linux (with console versions planned but not yet released), lets players assemble a fleet from 38 ships and pit them against each other or the computer. Nearly all the familiar ships from The Ur-Quan Masters return, bar one exception, joined by new designs and some created by Kickstarter backers, with flight and combat mechanics rebuilt in a new engine called SIMPLE that allows ships to turn more naturally than before.