Admittedly, I had intended to have a full review of Demonschool ready to go live on Wednesday. However, as I began to play Demonschool later than originally planned (due to some delays for various reasons), I realized I’d have to take my time, so we’re a little late.

So, let’s start with a disclaimer. Demonschool isn’t quite what it seems on the outside. Despite that, I see the development team’s vision. It wears a lot of its inspirations on its sleeve, mainly Persona 3, but if you see Demonschool and think “Oh, this is a Tactics-based RPG,” you are wrong… partially.

Demonschool is actually something more akin to a puzzle RPG than a Tactics-based one. Yes, tactics play a factor in strategizing how to make your moves, but each fight is a puzzle more than anything. Each fight pits you against a certain number of opponents before you can “seal” the demonic rift at the end of the field. If you do this in a certain number of turns, without losing any party members, then you’ll gain full marks on the battle.

That’s right, you are graded based on your combat performance, and this is where the puzzle comes in. Sometimes, knowing which party members (of the 15 possible available) to use in each battle, as well as how to use their skills, comes down to whether you’ll get full marks or not. Getting higher grades allows you to study more to expand your ability options, which means you’ll be able to grow stronger, faster.

Boss battles carry on this puzzle element more, because each boss fight has its own puzzle gimmick to it. I won’t spoil any, but I can tell you that learning how to counter the boss and its quirks is the challenge in most cases.

Personally, I think this puzzle element detracts from the overall experience. Instead of experimenting with party mashups to learn your party member’s strengths and combining them to take on threats, or trying to clear the board of enemies to farm currency or XP, you find yourself rushing to figure out the best way to take out things as quickly as possible. I personally would rather a more classic tactics-style, or something that leans heavily on the Persona influence and relies more on flexible party composition than speed.

However, Demonschool has a lot going for it regardless of that. The combat isn’t bad overall, but the story and atmosphere elevate it a bit. I’ve had… differences of taste with games set in the Y2K era (see YIIK, also published by Ysbryd Games), but the style and flourish of Demonschool feels right on point.

As for the story, you play as Faye, a girl descended from Demon Hunters who comes to Hemsk University just in time for the end of the world, or to stop it… perhaps? I won’t dig too deep into the story here, because the story is the best part. However, Faye eventually builds up a group of students who all have unique designs, personalities, and skillsets. It feels like they leaned into the inspiration of Persona 3 with the style of the story and characters, but the classroom and life-sim elements feel just unique enough to stand out.

I know I keep throwing “Persona 3” around here, but the inspiration is very clear. Demons (Shadows?) that only certain people can fight? Characters with connections to said demon-hunting lineage? The connections write themselves. I don’t want that to deter you from playing Demonschool, though. If anything, it feels comfortable, and it keeps the combat’s issues from becoming too frustrating.

The soundtrack is fantastic, and fits perfectly alongside the colorful, detailed art style. If anything, the atmosphere and soundtrack are what make Demonschool great. The gameplay is good, but the music and the overall vibes just make it even better.

I would love to see the development team add a few difficulty options to adjust turn numbers or fight requirements. There is an option to reduce enemy damage, but that’s pretty much all that is available aside from colorblind options. There are also a few bugs with achievements (I received a late-game achievement early), along with a few instances of crashing, so keep that in mind. However, the dev team has mentioned they are working to squash some bugs, so they are being worked on.

Demonschool is a rough gem. I can easily see it flying under people’s radars because it plays differently than you’d expect it to. However, with a large number of possible endings, a large amount of replay value, and a wealth of interesting characters and story elements to dig into, I think Demonschool is worth the mental price of admission. Is it perfect? No, but for a new IP with some lofty ambitions, I’d be hard-pressed to find a better presentation.

A PC Review Copy of Demonschool was provided by Ysbryd Games for the purposes of this review.

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Demonschool

$24.99 USD

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Interesting Storyline
• Fun characters and dialogue
• Gorgeous art style and soundtrack
• Lots of Replay Value

Cons

• Combat feels timed and stressful
• Could use more accessibility features