Every press release for Demonschool began by stating that the game had hints of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei. While I agree that comparison is the thief of joy, it’s hard to avoid doing it when the developers themselves (most likely the publishers) keep hammering that into us.
Whenever an indie pitches itself by referencing a past JRPG, I get cautious. I don’t expect it to be identical to the reference, so I try to temper my expectations. Demonschool says it has hints of Atlus’ RPGs, and you can see that in its school setting, its calendar system, its demon-related conflict, and its character relationship mechanics.
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However, everything else has nothing to do with Persona or Shin Megami Tensei, especially the combat. Does that mean Atlus fans will feel let down? Perhaps. Demonschool left me impressed and smiling at times, mainly because it has a script that’s clever and snappy. Still, its repetitive combat and limited progression system left me pretty bored on several occasions.
Welcome To A Demonic School
Demonschool takes place in 1999 on the isolated island of Hemsk. Some students head there to study and end up caught in a scheme involving demons. The protagonist, Faye, is a self-proclaimed Demon Hunter and one of the few on the island with the intent of stopping this demonic invasion. From the start, she comes across as an unhinged and chaotic individual whose sole goal is to banish demons into oblivion.
Faye’s obsession makes her recruit anyone and everyone with a knack for demon hunting. This draws the school’s attention, which discreetly assigns her tasks that always involve closing demonic portals to stop the creatures from reaching the island. And that’s pretty much the whole plot of the game: kill demons to prevent the end of the world.
We have 11 weeks to do that, which is where the calendar system comes into play. This time limit isn’t nearly as restrictive as in other games, because time only moves forward when we engage with the main quest. A traversal menu displays all the possible activities in a given area, and the player is free to engage with any and all of them repeatedly — and I recommend it.
While the central plot is straightforward, the narrative development surprised me several times, especially given the characters. The highlight of Demonschool is definitely its cast. The game features more than 10 party members in total, each with a quirky, beautifully unusual personality that they fully embody, no matter how grim the situation may be.
A Hell Of A Good Cast
At first, the nonchalance of each member felt out of place, considering the demon genocide unfolding on the island. Still, once I realized the script’s intention was to portray these dangerous threats in an absurd manner, I began to appreciate the game. There’s still some urgency and concern between party members, but if everyone reacted realistically, they’d become bland fast, so this exotic vibe is what gives Demonschool its charm.
The best way to dive into every character is through the relationship system. Faye can make certain choices during the story that increase affinity with specific members. Unfortunately, this is only an afterthought and quickly becomes trivial, as it’s possible to spam some mini-games, such as karaoke or cooking, and max everyone’s affinity effortlessly. Then, to level up affinity, you do a side quest with that specific member, further expanding their personality or backstory.
Doing side quests and mini-games doesn’t advance the calendar, so even though the game has some missable abilities and secondary plots, you only miss them if you choose to. I completed as much as possible before finishing, and narratively, it definitely improved my experience. That is, except for some continuity issues where an affinity quest spoiled upcoming story events.
Demonschool’s setting is largely around the island, and the environments repeat endlessly. Oddly enough, this limitation actually allowed me to see the conflict evolve and witness the demonic influence more organically. NPCs who initially acted a certain way adapt to the story’s progression, as do the territories themselves. The more I got involved with the island, the more interested I became in it.
The game features more than 10 party members in total, each with a quirky, beautifully unusual personality that they fully embody, no matter how grim the situation may be.
It also helps that the writing is coherent. As I said, the plot moves in expected ways, but some twists and turns were either foreshadowed or had believable explanations consistent with what had been introduced. I know this delivery isn’t for everyone, especially those who don’t enjoy unconventional dialogues or intentionally silly characters, but for me, it was a breath of fresh air.
The major problem here is getting to the finish line. Demonschool is not necessarily a long game. I clocked 25 hours after completing all the content, but it honestly felt twice as long because its gameplay was the dullest part for me, and at several points, I was simply dozing off.
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Combat That Overstays Its Welcome
Demonschool describes its gameplay as a tactical RPG, and it’s not wrong. It is tactical. To be fair, it’s so tactical that at first it felt like a puzzle game.
In battle, party members move across grids, usually four tiles per move. Crashing into an enemy deals damage and causes a special effect depending on the character, like a knockback or a pull. The damage dealt is always one HP, unless the enemy is weak to an element, or we have abilities equipped that boost it, and the same applies to enemies hitting allies.
Faye’s normal attack knocks back enemies, so if she hits a grid where several enemies are lined up, they all take damage, and so forth for different attack modes. My goal in battle was to line up my members with enemies and hit as many of them as possible while staying far enough to avoid getting smacked, and that’s the gist of it.
Some abilities change the combat flow a bit, and a few demons feature different attacks that may throw a wrench in your planning. However, these variations only appear later in the game when we have 10 or more party members. Until then, the early and mid-game is excruciatingly repetitive. We fight the same couple of demon types, using limited attacks from a handful of members without enough new abilities to shake things up. If I weren’t playing Demonschool for review, I would’ve quit.
I pushed through to the endgame, where I encountered some clever gameplay variations, such as two-field battles or enemies that could stun my characters. Even so, I was already burned out. Nearly every primary story interaction or side quest boils down to fighting. There are so many that at some point, you’ve already faced the same enemy several times and know exactly how it’ll end.
Demonschool tries to spice things up by rewarding players who finish battles within a certain number of turns and with all party members alive. Getting an ‘A’ rewards us with resources used to acquire abilities. However, it didn’t take long for this resource to become surplus, removing any motivation to build an ideal party to win efficiently and flawlessly.
I won’t tell you I wasn’t engaged in some fights, especially against bosses that shift the battle dynamic in interesting ways. Yet most of the fodder battles left me with a filler feeling, even if those combats are ever-present in most RPGs. And that’s where the core problem lies: Demonschool’s RPG elements are too barebones. Because of that, the progression system doesn’t promote nor motivate constant battling.
Our party members don’t have levels. The only post-battle rewards are resources to unlock abilities and opal, the currency used to buy new learnable abilities. These abilities are learned by studying, which essentially involves selecting two or three members, spending resources, and it’s done. They enter a rest state for a few days before being usable again for more learning.
Demonschool’s RPG elements are too barebones.
Some abilities are handy, while others are just okay and don’t really impact the combat, which made me feel like I wasn’t being rewarded for my effort, thus leading me to boredom. I don’t mind grinding in RPGs when I’m constantly rewarded for it, a feeling I didn’t share here. It didn’t take long before battles became more of a chore than fun. I only engaged with them because they were a roadblock keeping me from seeing where the story was going.
Exploration Is Restricted To The Island
I believe that pretty much sums up my whole experience with Demonschool. Script, dialogue, and story? Pretty amusing. Gameplay and progression? A bummer. Exploration stands firmly between these two elements. The gameplay reward is mid, but the subplots pay off are enjoyable. As mentioned, the game takes place almost entirely on Hemsk Island, and exploration simply involves selecting an area from a menu and interacting with NPCs.
To convey a sense of progression tied to exploration, there are always small interactions with elements and side quests that gradually evolve. For example, there’s a Shrine where you can donate coins every morning, and if you do it consistently, the dialogue changes, sometimes reflecting the story. The same applies to certain side quests, which can chain up to three. It’s not groundbreaking, but at least it gives the sense that the game is always moving forward.
On the other hand, most of these interactions and side quests boil down to battles, and the rewards are typically money or abilities. At some point, I actually preferred when it was just text, because some of the gags are genuinely funny. All this reinforces my feeling that although Demonschool has incredible writing, its gameplay leaves something to be desired.
Is there a problem with playing a game solely for its story and narrative? As an avid JRPG fan, I don’t see an issue with that, especially when the game is wrapped in an authentic and unique artistic style like Demonschool’s. The pixel art is full of attitude, and even without many animations, it conveys the sense of an impending doomsday really well.
There’s no voiceover here, so the atmosphere relies entirely on the soundtrack. It’s exclusively eerie, somewhat ethereal, and melancholic. At one moment, you feel like you’re in a zombie procession, and in the next, like you’re heading to dinner with Dracula. It perfectly fits the game’s ambiance and themes.
Character expressions and feedback are shown through the beautiful character illustrations or symbolic audio cues that quickly become shorthand for what’s happening. It’s an ingenious way Necrosoft Games found to express emotions visually and audibly without depending on voice acting.
Ultimately, Demonschool is still an indie game. This doesn’t mean I’m sugarcoating my criticism, but at the same time, I can’t use the same lens I’d use for a AAA title. I can see that even if its gameplay wasn’t mostly enjoyable for me, this puzzle-like tactical RPG may charm some players, especially those committed to earning Top Marks in each stage.
At the same time, the quirky and unhinged script that appealed to me might disappoint players seeking something more serious and visceral, with a darker or violent presentation. Whenever a story beat started getting heavy, a remark from Destin or Jem would catch me off guard and break the tension. For me, that worked like a charm. I finished the game because I was curious to see its outcome, and the story didn’t disappoint.
Closing Comments:
Demonschool has a quirky charm. I initially enjoyed its battle system, but I grew bored with it before long. Even though I had to push myself to finish it, I walked away with a satisfying experience. The characters, the witty and snappy script, and the story development kept me hooked. It’s not a groundbreaking game, but for those who enjoy over-the-top humor, puzzle-like gameplay, and demonic themes, it might be a good pick.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
