Demonschool Review - Bringing The 90s To My RPG
Demonschool is the Persona-style, tactical RPG I never knew I wanted, but I’m very glad it exists. Developed by Necrosoft Games, Demonschool is what you get if you smush 80’s & 90’s anime and arthouse styles together, blend it with turn-based strategy, a social sim, and then add a big serving of supernatural mystery. Oh, and then you’ve gotta sprinkle on a healthy dose of punching demons in the face – because there’s a ton of that in this game.
Demonschool is a tactical, turn-based RPG – but not in the way you might expect. The flow of combat revolves around you planning your entire turn in one go; you position your characters strategically and try to take out as many bad guys as possible. If you screw it up (which I did, a ton), you simply rewind and start over. I enjoyed being able to approach each battle a number of different ways, and the rewind feature gives the seemingly simple battle system a lot of unexpected depth.
Once the combat tutorial is over, the game dumps you in the deep end and leaves you to it… which, in a way, I loved, because I hate it when games feel the need to hold your hand for too long. However, I did find myself constantly referring back to the combat tutorial in this game because I totally forgot how to line up combos and do anything strategically. I know the purists out there will scream “games need to be harder, stop babying me”, but I don’t love feeling lost and frustrated in a game, and I did find myself wishing for just a bit more help than what I got.
Though the combat system does form a huge chunk of the game, the parts I liked the most were the social sim aspects. One thing about me is that I love to yap (shocking, I know) and what I empathised with the main character, Faye, was that she also loved a yap. When Faye and I weren’t round house kicking demons in their big dumb faces, we were doing what every normal college kid does – making friends and thinking about which of our classmates we wanna bang.
Demonschool boasts a roster of 15 playable characters, who (combat-wise) fall into four pretty standard categories of damage, support, healer, etc – but narratively are all quirky and different enough that they avoid being lumped into the archetype casting of most relationship sims. Don’t get me wrong, you still have all the great character stereotypes like “girl who solves problems by punching”, “big dumb himbo” and “rough on the outside, romantic on the inside”, but the characters are written well, and their genuine quirks and personality outshine the type-casting. In a roster of 15, it was hard to pick a favourite… and then I met Henk. Henk has tattoos, he has attitude, and he drops desks on bad guys. He is my favourite, and he is the best. He’s quite a late addition to the story, but well worth the wait because he is perfect.
Something that helps really make the characters feel like actual people is how well their personalities shine through their portraits and animation. Demonschool’s art style is clearly inspired by a range of genres and eras (the 80s & 90s being the biggest inspo in my eyes), but the way they’re combined gives the game a very unique visual identity. The environments are saturated and detailed, character portraits are expressive, and the aesthetic feels thought out and cohesive.
The other thing that kept me coming back to this game was the writing. Not only do the characters all have very well-written personalities, but the way they banter with one another is genuinely hilarious. The writing does a good job of providing a dose of realism to this otherworldly experience. I mean, in a game where you’re doing things like tracking down killer VHS tapes, it can only get so realistic – but I mean the characters generally feel like actual students interacting with one another. I’m a sucker for good writing, and Demonschool did not disappoint.
Demonschool is a fast-paced, tactical-style RPG that offers a unique gameplay experience in a familiar aesthetic. Drenched in nostalgia and retro vibes, the game is constantly nodding to its inspiration in jokes, storylines and art, whilst weaving in its own personality to deliver a truly fun time. Plus, the main character punches people in the face constantly. It’s art. Violent, wonderful art.
Demonschool was reviewed on PC with code kindly provided by the publisher.
