Demonschool Review (PC): This Tactical RPG Stops Just Short of Straight A’s

Demonschool has had a bit of a rocky road to release, with updates offset by frequent delays. With this year being hit back-to-back with indie titans like Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, it’s no wonder that the team behind Demonschool decided to play it safe. However, this increased waiting period has only helped to raise the game’s profile.

My excitement to play Demonschool has less to do with delays and more to do with the inspirations it wears on its sleeve. Demonschool has long advertised itself as a spiritual successor to Shin Megami Tensei, which itself spun off the widely-acclaimed Persona series. Demonschool even went so far as to place its college-aged characters front and center, answering the calls of many Persona fans that have long wished for the series to grow out of highschool. Throw in an extra dose of horror cinema, and I found myself firmly at the edge of my seat with each trailer. However, I also find it impossible to discuss the final product without being reminded of those inspirations that first brought Demonschool to my attention in the first place.

Demonschool’s Characters Range from Endearing to Eccentric

Plenty of JRPGs, Persona included, feature an avatar character with a paper-thin personality for players to project onto it. Demonschool forgoes this by placing Faye at the center of the story, a character who is nothing if not distinct. In fact, she may actually be a little too “outstanding”.

Faye acts like a hyperactive protagonist straight out of shonen anime, in that she’s dumb-as-rocks enough to stay unshakably determined in the face of any obstacle. However, she also happens to be one of the only characters who is in the know on the supernatural happenings that keep cropping up. Faye spends a great deal of time ranting about an incoming apocalypse and excitedly doling out all sorts of unprompted exposition that makes her sound, for lack of better terms, out of her mind.

The rest of the major characters share Faye’s endearing qualities, although most of them are remarkably less cringe. The early game party is particularly well-balanced. Namako is introduced as the perfect introvert foil to make Faye more palatable, and she even shaped up to be my favorite of the entire bunch. Namako’s sensitive demeanor lends itself to a bit more depth than the fiery Faye, and all in all I just found that this made her a bit easier to relate to. Destin and Knute share the same “stupid versus smart” dynamic as Faye and Namako, which I worried might feel incredibly redundant, but ultimately gave the whole group a lot of cohesion. The group stops just short of feeling as close of friends as I would have hoped, but their dynamic was always effortlessly entertaining.

A Story Full of Ups and Downs

Demonschool’s story tends to be very all gas, no breaks. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise from the moment you meet its characters, but it does still carry a couple of downsides. First and foremost, it’s often difficult to sit with any one story beat before moving on to another. This non-stop movement is a perfect storm with the joke-filled writing, and ultimately stands in the way of feeling immersed into the world of Demonschool.

For all its faults, this lightning-fast pacing does come with some upsides. For instance, it allows Demonschool to further distinguish itself from the games it borrows so much else from. Where Persona games may have several hours of prologue, Demonschool throws players into their first battles in a matter of minutes. Persona 5, in particular, is infamous for giving players too little time to get to know some of its characters. Demonschool’s breakneck pace allows it to sidestep this issue. Not only is the core party assembled within the first hour or two, but many characters you join up with later are also introduced in those opening hours.

Once again, this makes it pretty hard to settle into the moment-to-moment experience of Demonschool. Any attempts at serious moments (such as the game’s horror-inspired segments) especially suffer from this. You may have less time before being introduced to every face you’ll fight alongside in your adventure, but you could do with more time to get to know them.

Combat Doesn’t Pull Any Punches

Demonschool’s combat system has more in common with Megaman Battle Network than with most traditional JRPGs. Your mileage may vary on what you wanted out of a game like this, but I personally couldn’t have found myself more pleasantly surprised.

Combat encounters begin with a planning phase, where players have as much time as they want to try out different tactics. Once you’ve happened upon an ideal strategy, you simply confirm your actions and watch them all play out in a kick-ass sequence of battle animations. Every party member has a unique role to fill, and there’s a decent level of difficulty in even deciding who to send into a given fight. Likewise, there’s an untold level of satisfaction every time you unleash a powerful flurry of attacks, and especially when you coordinate a synergy between your party members that you hadn’t considered before.

Demonschool’s combat system has the depth of an ocean, but its tutorial period is the length of a step ladder. I would normally appreciate a game going out of its way to not hold my hand, but this particular approach left every difficulty spike feeling uniquely frustrating. You can win any encounter with perfect planning, but sometimes losing feels like a simple lack of information.

The most egregious example of lackluster tutorials is found in the game’s element system. Namako is weak to Curse, which is somehow different from Dark, which she resists. Destin resists Curse, thank goodness, but is weak to Spirit, which is also different, somehow. Enemy affinities aren’t particularly well telegraphed either, so you’ll probably have to do a bit of thumbing around the game’s menus whenever you come into something you haven’t seen before. Oh well, at least you’re given plenty of time to plan.

Demonschool’s Stylish Presentation is the Cherry on Top

One of the most in-your-face examples of Demonschool’s inspiration is its presentation. From menu transitions to battle music, the whole game is oozing with style. Although you can easily identify the Shin Megami Tensei-shaped watermark on that style, Demonschool never comes across feeling entirely derivative.

Demonschool blends disparate visual elements with such brilliance that it really deserves its own round of applause. Characters are represented in the overworld by 2D sprites that run around beautiful 3D environments. Demonschool’s visual identity is tied up in a bow thanks to its dialogue sequences, where the party is granted a wide array of hand-drawn portraits.

Final Verdict

I had quite a bit of fun with Demonschool, there’s no doubt about that. There are still a few bugs that need to be ironed out, and some that even caused unexpected shutdowns, but thankfully none that made me lose progress thanks to the game’s autosave system. Demonschool draws similarities to its RPG inspirations at nearly every turn, but never forgets to set itself apart. Some of these distinctions absolutely make the experience, but others may be just as likely to break it. 

Demonschool’s finely tuned combat and instantly endearing characters are big selling points. However, both are bogged down by the game’s tendency to more or less throw everything at the player without even a single moment’s warning. You might be caught off guard if you expect the marathon-like feel that is typical of JRPGs, but you’ll find yourself over the moon if you’ve always thought you’d rather go for a sprint.

Demonschool was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Necrosoft. It is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox.

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