According to an official announcement made by Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment at their forums, a demo version of Sins of a Solar Empire has been released. Though the statement says that the demo is available at GameSpot, you might be happier to know that the demo's been proliferated to most public download veins across the Internet since the call.

The initial release of the Sins of a Solar Empire demo packs only a fraction of the single-player experience and simply aims to offer insight (and quite frankly, tease) gamers into the 4X game's strong points. Also, it was designed so that it will teach newbie gamers how to be an effective commander while in control of one of many races available in-game. Other features include:

• Play as the Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC)
• Learn the basics through four tutorials
• Fight on two small scenario maps against up to two AI players
• Conquer a randomly generated medium map against up to three AI players

Unfortunately, this demo comes doesn't come with longer play times. But we're sure that within 90 minutes of single player gameplay, you'll find something enjoyable - if not the obvious up-close slugfests between capital ships. The entire package sits at a modest 540 MB, and if you're not sure where to look for it, how about trying our suggested mirror provided below?