Demonschool by Necrosoft Games made more than a few heads turn when it was revealed in 2022, and for good reasons. Combining gorgeous old-school visuals with a unique atmosphere reminiscent of Italian horror movies and an evident classic Persona influence, the game looked like the one to keep track of for fans of the ATLUS series who prefer the classic first entry in the franchise as well as Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment.
Following two years of almost complete silence, which made people fear the worst, a Demonschool playable demo is available as part of this year’s Steam Next Fest, giving players the chance to experience a week in the life of Faye, the final heir of a legendary family of demon hunters, as she attempts to uncover the mystery of an island university together with some friends, an island where demons have started appearing, and the boundary between worlds, started getting thinner and thinner. While the demo drops players a few hours into the adventure and lacks all of the mechanics that will be available in the final release, I feel it does a great job showcasing some of the most unique features of the experience.
The story of Demonschool is probably the hardest feature to evaluate from the demo. From what can be gleaned, Faye’s investigation will go hand-in-hand with university life, and an occult theme seems to permeate everything. For example, the demo begins after Faye and her companions have successfully investigated some sort of possessed VHS tape and have been rewarded for it with school credits that can be used to learn new abilities. The week that can be experienced in the demo is centered around finding a demonic paintbrush, and during the investigation, the party will meet all sorts of wacky characters, such as an amnesiac woman who thinks random people are actually her husband who seems to be the main focus of a longer subquest. Thankfully, it seems like secondary quests will be hard to miss, as the quick travel interface highlights any important event that is about to take place in a certain location. Ultimately, the week available in the demo passes by rather quickly thanks to a gripping enough story that is possibly made more enjoyable by the game’s beautiful and colorful 2D visuals and the atmospheric soundtrack that gives the experience a sort of horror-noir vibe. If the entirety of the story manages to do the same, it remains to be seen, but I’m definitely hopeful.
The real highlight of the Demonschool demo is the combat system, which is quite unique compared to most role-playing games on the market. After encountering an enemy, the party gets transported to a combat arena where both the player and the AI-controlled enemies take turns to move their units and take action. Actions play all together at the end of the Planning Phase, where the player can take all the time needed to move their units. A single unit can be moved and attack enemies as long as enough AP is available, though multiple actions from a single unit increase their AP cost.
A few rather unique quirks make the Demonschool combat system intriguing. For starters, units can only move in straight lines and must use a special maneuver called Sidestep, which doesn’t cost AP to adjust their movement range. Attacking enemies requires positioning characters in the correct range, and each attack also pushes the attacked unit, allowing the player to plan things out so that it will become possible to attack an enemy out of range at the start of the Planning Phase. Additionally, just defeating enemies is not enough to win, as not only players must defeat a required number of demons, but they also have to reach the opposite side of the combat arena with any character to seal a portal. Add in different roles for playable characters, frequent demon respawns, and special attacks with different properties, and you get a uniquely challenging battle system that could take some time to understand, but it offers a lot of strategic depth, making battles extremely fun.
As already mentioned, my in-game week in the Demonschool demo flew by, and it has definitely left me hungering for more, especially as the demo hints that there will be more to do than just fight demons and progress through the main adventure. Hopefully, the wait won’t be much longer, and the game will indeed be released on PC and consoles in the second quarter of the year, as currently listed on the game’s Steam Store page.
Demo early access provided by the publisher.
