I thought my school days were over. While I may be willing to learn new things, I lament the fact that none of it has anything to do with slaying demons. Luckily, I can jump into Necrosoft’s latest release, Demonschool, and live vicariously through the characters that inhabit the mysterious island. Will these characters make it out alive? Do they learn something about themselves and each other? Is this school even properly accredited? Demonschool answers some of these questions. But one remains: is it good? Come join me and see how I feel about Demonschool, if you dare.
Faye the Demon Slayer
Behind the Scott Pilgrim-like art style is a deep narrative that is constantly driven by pure insanity. Conversations in the game start out as simple, easy to make sense of. Starts out casual, eventually divulging into pure, unbridled insanity. It feels reminiscent of beloved Italian cinema and prime-time supernatural shows like… um… Supernatural.
You take the role of the energetic Faye, the last living heir to a long-forgotten family of demon hunters who attends a college to excel in her studies. Through her adventure, she makes friends with a slew of fellow students. She is over the top excited to attend this school and kick the crap out of the demons that seem to hide in every corner of the island. From the school itself to the college town, she will fight demons till her legs cannot kick anymore. She isn’t alone as every good tactical game requires ranks to be filled. As the cast gets bigger, the combat becomes more tactful, and the conversations become more unhinged.
I love unhinged, weirdness in games. I personally think we don’t get enough of it. As a person whose particular brand of brainrot was catered to me by a talking milkshake, a floating mass of fries, and a wad of meat, Demonschool comfortably nestled itself within the wrinkles of my brain. I went from liking the game to downright loving the interactions the characters had with each other. When presented with the various hauntings that need to be investigated, Demonschool has no problem engaging with the horror and comedic aspects. When you take a moment to think about how any of this works in the society that it takes place in, you have to eliminate your suspension of disbelief and just go with it because you have no choice. Nothing makes sense and sometimes leaves you with more questions than there are answers. The truth is,
Why do gangsters run the island? What is up with the fountain? Where is the dog? Why is the dog? Are printers actually haunted by demons? What about he grammatical semantics on haunted VHS tapes? Demonschool is an eclectic, nonsensical experience filled with tasteful randomness like a death metal band shirt in a Kohls. Also, yes, printers are haunted, and I am speaking from a position outside of the game.
The Party That Slays Together, Stays Together
I love a good tactical game and when I first saw Demonschool, I instantly felt like this would be one for me. No random encounters are found within Demonschool as everything follows a strict script that repeats itself on a consistent basis. It has a weekly schedule with Monday through Thursday acting as the main plot for the literal monster of the week, which is always fought on a Friday. It’s nice that they keep this schedule and I mean that sincerely. This allows you to figure out the various tricks and trades of how the game operates, leading you into a sense of security only to leave it shattered at a point that I cannot go into.
Combat in Demonschool feels basic yet incredibly complex. With Faye as your main character, you can pick from three other characters to join you on the battlefield. Each one has a basic attack and a special that builds up over time. What really changes it up a bit is how each character is handled and utilized in battle. Some characters push an enemy back while others can pull them in. You also have healers and support characters too. The only shame is how you can only choose three to accompany you.
Combat comes in multiple phases starting with the planning phase. Each move and combat action takes up a certain amount of Action Points (AP). If you have one character perform all the actions, AP is consumed quicker rather than spreading moves and abilities amongst your team. It is up to you to use the character’s skills and abilities to create synergy and combos on the battlefield. Once you wrap up this phase, you get to see all the characters move around and perform the actions you planned. The trick is while you are making your plans, you can see how your characters are effected by the decisions you make. Every combat scenario has you defeating a certain amount of enemies within a certain amount of turns, creating this dynamic where you want to be as efficient as possible. Does it always work? Sometimes. Demonschool is like playing chess and unfortunately my mind is stuck in “checkers” mode. If you are not particularly fond of combat and become more ingrained with the narrative, you can turn on an invincibility mode to help you get past some of the more challenging parts of the game, and there are plenty of those.
Demonschool lacks the traditional leveling mechanic, instead opting for an entirely different skill system. You have to earn and learn new abilities which can then be applied to the characters in your party. You choose two characters to study together which gives you a neat and humorous prompt about the study session. Characters are then placed on a cooldown, meaning they cannot be used to study till later. This is a unique way to evolve combat beyond traditional means. The only part of the game that has levels is the relationship levels which measures how close you are to your fellow demon hunters.
Dario Argento Appreciation
Narrative and combat aside, Demonschool’s art and music direction is absolutely rad! The isometric perspective allows the level design to shine, embodying the game’s inspiration. It also primed me for the combat sections, keeping that same angle to blur the lines a bit. Every so often we are treated to a neat ground-level camera angle that captures the characters in their retro-bit design. Character details pop with vivid color! Faces and animations during conversations had me laughing from time to time, especially at the more surprised expressions.
It felt like each character an identity that they fully embraced by just a design standpoint. Faye’s excitement at a new opportunity to investigate a situation is clear as day as are other character’s emotions. Knute, a pacifist, is adorned with yellow robes as a call back to ancient monks. Destin feels ripped directly out of an 80’s film, complete with the wild hair. I cannot forget the nervous and anxious Namako’s “goth” design that she keeps on saying isn’t but, hey, goth is many things these days. Dare I say, the cast is incredibly diverse in their mannerisms as well as their core design philosophy. I said before that it felt akin to the Scott Pilgrim series, but the more I played, the more I noticed how well this art style stood out from the crowd.
Musically, the soundtrack is fantastic! I love the music that plays throughout each area, but the combat score really sticks in my head because it transforms along with what you’re doing. The planning phase of combat has a lower tone compared to the rest of the battle sequence, giving you audible clues as to what is going on when it occurs. When the planning music plays, you feel encapsulated by the moment, leaning into the inquisitive nature of careful planning and experimenting.
Conclusion
Demonschool as a whole leans into itself with unadulterated awareness that it comes off as charming and endearing. If you are in it for the narrative, you’ll find a great cast of characters deserving of your time. If you want tactical combat, you get a lot of thoughtful design within the grid-based system. No matter how I cut it, the only true way I can describe this game is by calling it what it feels like: a game for those who write about games. A game for those who love nuance, antics, and those who like to embrace a sense of individuality. A game for those who have no problem accepting individuals for what they are. What I am trying to say is that this one is for the folks who respect representation in any form. Demonschool has a lot to say and instead of spoiling the subtext, I want you to see it for yourself because this game totally rocks. Even if your brain is like mine: made of rocks.
Thank you to our PR Partners and Necrosoft for review access to Demonschool. You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.
