Ballistic.exe now has a playable PC demo on Steam. It opens part of the first firing range with three firearms, 80+ cartridges and attachments while the full game remains in development.
Inside the first firing range, players can load rounds by hand and work through weapon tests.
Steam now hosts Ballistic.exe's first PC demo. Kwalee and Tic Tac Toe Digital have opened an early section of the range with three firearms and more than 80 cartridges and attachments, while the full game remains in development. IGN independently confirms the demo in its official trailer description, published on October 8, 2026. IGN identifies Steam as the distribution platform and describes the release as a demo rather than a full game.
What the Demo Includes
The demo is a focused sample, not a complete release. Players can enter the early portion of the first firing range and begin the programme's weapons tests with a limited selection of firearms and customisation options.
The available numbers define its current scope. Three firearms appear in the demo alongside 80+ cartridges and attachments. The planned full game is described as featuring dozens of weapons. It also lists 200+ cartridges and 1,000+ attachments. Those figures describe development plans for the finished product, not content confirmed as playable today. IGN repeats those broader targets, including more than 200 types of ammunition and more than 1,000 modifications, but does not establish that the totals already exist in the demo.
That distinction matters because Ballistic.exe puts complexity at the centre of its design. The project comes from French developer Gabriel de Laubier's solo studio TicTacToe Digital and is published by Kwalee. Its premise places the player inside a declassified computer programme with tests to complete and unexplained requests from the programme's inhabitants. IGN likewise describes Ballistic.exe as a shooting simulator built around that declassified programme.
The Ballistics Model
Ballistic.exe links ammunition and weapon construction to what happens downrange. Charge mass and bullet profile help calculate velocity. Barrel length also feeds into that calculation. Gravity changes the projectile's path, while wind and the Coriolis effect introduce further variables. The Magnus effect, temperature and air humidity also influence the trajectory.
The simulation continues after the shot. The project describes bullets dropping below the sound barrier, tumbling through the air and breaking into simulated shards on impact. Recoil is intended to travel through the receiver, stock and grip into the player's hands, depending on hand position. These remain developer-described systems rather than independently measured evidence of accuracy. They still point to a more technical brief than a conventional shooting range.
The equipment plan is similarly broad. Stocks and triggers are expected to affect balance, ergonomics and handling. The same applies to grips, sights, scopes and handles. Bolts and barrels are included, along with hammers, cylinders, red dots, lasers and silencers. The game also allows deliberately strange combinations, such as using a canteen stock as a front sight or stacking laser pointers.
Manual Weapon Handling
The demo's other defining choice is its control scheme. Ballistic.exe uses WASD and mouse input to represent aiming, weapon manipulation, breath and stance instead of reducing every action to a single reload or interaction command.
Players are expected to load rounds manually. Safeties and switches must be operated, while slides require their own handling. Magazines and loadouts can be prepared round by round, giving ammunition selection a practical role beyond choosing a basic weapon class.
The range is therefore built around procedure rather than spectacle. The programme asks players to assess firearms and attachments before selecting rounds or testing a range. Some challenges are described as more unsettling or esoteric because the purpose of the testing remains deliberately unclear.
As with an earlier demo report on Town of Tinysville, the immediate player-facing fact is that a playable sample has arrived before the final game. Ballistic.exe makes that early access especially significant because its appeal depends on whether the promised depth feels usable rather than merely extensive on paper.
What Remains Unconfirmed
The announcement gives no release date for the full version of Ballistic.exe. It also does not establish how many planned weapons, parts or projectile types will be present at launch. The available material does not confirm whether the complete simulation will retain every described interaction.
No independent performance testing appears in the supplied material. There is no basis for judging the demo's frame rate or input latency. Stability and hardware demands also remain untested. Steam confirms the PC platform for this demo, but does not confirm versions for consoles or other stores.
The available independent results do not confirm download counts or Steam user ratings. They also provide no verified figure for demo size, no system requirements and no confirmed number of updates.
The available evidence does confirm a playable starting point with a distinct technical ambition. Ballistic.exe does not pitch supernatural fiction or a conventional campaign. It asks players to engage with the mechanics of firing itself. The demo will show whether readable handling and meaningful cause and effect can support that approach, rather than inflated content counts.
IGN is the only independent source identified in the available material. Its coverage is an editorial description, not a separate quotation from the developer, publisher, Valve or a regulator. The same material provides no independently verified background on Gabriel de Laubier's previous projects or TicTacToe Digital's history. It also contains no verified information about the terms of the arrangement with Kwalee or the project's financing. Those details remain outside what can be established here.
