Demonschool Review

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: Add-On Content

Both turn-based and tactical RPGs are my favorite types of RPGs to play. I prefer turn-based JRPGs the most, but I can play just about any RPG as long as it has a good combat system. Demonschool is a turn-based tactical RPG developed by Necrosoft Games. For an indie game, it’s quite amazing how well this game holds up. If you like turn-based RPGs that are similar to Shin Megami Tensei, Demonschool is definitely one to check out!

Players take control of Faye who is among a group of demon hunting college students. Faye and her team, deal with everyday university life while fighting against supernatural threats. Together they try to stop an oncoming apocalypse while juggling their studies. The game is set up like an anime with some very nice character designs. Spoken dialogue is presented with unvoiced text and expressive character images. The characters in this game are definitely full of life.

The overall combat system emphasizes strategic planning. During combat, you have a planning phase and an active phase. The planning phase allows you to issue out commands to your party sort of like moving them on a chess board. Each move will cost you a certain amount of AP and you can issue out commands until you run out. The more you give commands to a single character, the more AP you use from your overall amount. Once the planning phase is over, you switch over to the active phase where the game basically runs all of your commands in real time. I’ve read that this the same setup as Valkyria Chronicles – I have not played that game (just mentioning it for comparison).

One character (Namako) can move through enemies and weaken them. She pulls the enemies a space toward her while phasing through them. This can help out a brawler character that can take advantage of the weakness and take off more damage. If enemies stand side by side, either in a straight line or diagonal, you can hit multiple enemies in a row with a single attack. For instance, one character can weaken a whole line of characters and another character can hit one enemy in that line and make the victim bounce against the other enemies in that line to take out the whole group.

Each character has their own special move that builds up over time as well. Battles are very flashy once you run your setup in the active phase. Getting combos and teaming up with other characters will make the battles even more flashy. If two characters attack the same enemy, you get a special animation that shows both of them teaming up. The main objective to each battle is to defeat enough enemies to where you can move to the opposite side of the grid and seal the demons away – this ends the battle immediately. In contrast, the demon side can send their grunts to your side and escape the demon world, which will instantly result in failure for your team.

The fights in the game are rather hard from the beginning. The game requires a good amount of thinking and a good understanding of the game’s mechanics to have a successful battle. You’re graded on how well you do during each battle. It’s very hard to get a really good rating. You have to finish the battle in a certain amount of turns to get a good rating. Later on, battles get even harder to where it’s just hard to survive with all the newer enemies and abilities that they possess being thrown into the mix. Later enemies can poison your character or set off explosions that will damage a whole area. The game also has boss enemies here and there.

Demonschool also has a few minigames here and there such as a karaoke game. There are also other extras such as increasing character relationships through interacting with certain characters. The game’s overall story is alright. It progresses rather well. The main problem I have with the story is the excessive amount of worthless dialogue. Just like some other RPGs, the game is loaded with meaningless dialogue that could have been edited out. It feels like something to make the game longer.

There is no true world map for Demonschool. You get to choose from different areas around the campus or surrounding area, such as classrooms, town squares, cemeteries, etc. The objective area is clearly pointed out to you on the list. There is very little exploration. You can speak to NPCs in some areas, but they almost always just have a few simple phrases for you. There are very few side quests at times and there is also a shop to visit. For the most part, the game is just “run to one objective person and talk to that person then find the next”.

Even with the Demonschool’s flaws, this game has a very solid combat system and is overall quite fun. I could keep going through the same battles with possessed students and other supernatural enemies over and over and not get bored with it. The combat is flashy and rewarding once you get the hang of it and that counts a lot for a tactical RPG. I’ve only ever played Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga, so I don’t know what Persona is like, but if you enjoy the SMT games, be sure to check out Demonschool, since it has the same feel to it.

The Good:
+ Overall fun and addicting tactical combat
+ Stylish look
+ Flashy combat

The Bad:
- The talking segments can really drag with meaningless dialogue
- There isn’t much in the way of exploring