REVIEW: ‘Demonschool’ Almost Gets An A+

Published by Ysbryd Games and developed by Necrosoft Games, Demonschool was one of my most anticipated indie games back when it was revealed in 2022. The mix of tactics gameplay, mixed with cartoonish horror and school sim elements, seemed like it’d be an easy A. Add in some extra credit with a charming art style and a fun cast of characters, and Demonschool is a joy to play. However, an overabundance of battles stifles pacing, and some annoying performance issues prevent it from being at the top of its class.  

Demonschool follows a young girl named Faye who arrives at a mysterious university island. With every passing week, students and teachers begin losing their memories, causing concern and suspicion. It also turns out that there’s an apocalypse on the horizon, and Faye must find a way to stop it within 9 weeks. It’s up to her to uncover the dark mysteries behind the school and why demonic entities are crawling all over the place.

Demonschool’s story isn’t scary by any means, and uses its horror elements in a lighthearted way by mixing in caricatures of Italian gangs and hooligans with 80s Japanese pompadour hairstyles. Demons and monsters lurk in every corner, but Demonschool feels more like an enjoyable sitcom rather than a horror game.

Demonschool isn’t scary; instead, it’s a sitcom. 

The gameplay is reminiscent of Shin Megami Tensei, Into the Breach, and older Persona games. Along with Faye, you can have three other party members join in battle on a grid. Each character has special abilities and movement to traverse around the battlefield and eliminate enemies.

You’ll also need to act within your limited Action Points (AP). You get eight per turn, and each unit’s AP cost rises if you want them to move more than once per turn. These limits force you to think ahead and consider all of your moves like a game of chess.

Some teammates can phase through entire rows of enemies, making them great for getting to the other side of the field quickly, while others can heal or buff. Demonschool does a great job of differentiating characters that have similar roles.

For example, the nerdy spellcaster Knute can both heal and increase a teammate’s attack power as long as they’re at full health—while the terminally online Ocean can’t buff allies but she has the most potent healing out of the entire roster, restoring 2 HP units instead of 1.

Demonschool creates unique characters even when they have similar roles.

What makes Demonschool’s combat stand out is that it feels like a puzzle. To get the highest score and earn all three Class Credits (points needed to unlock new skills), you’ll need to finish the battle within a certain number of turns and without losing any allies. This makes battles much more tactical in nature, instead of just having the objective being simply to wipe out all enemies.

Not only that, but to win the fight, you’ll need to reach an enemy kill minimum while also having an ally at the end of the stage to close the portal. Sometimes, the best way to win is to meet that threshold and close the portal immediately while ignoring all other enemies if you want to get the highest score.

However, you are awarded with if you surpass the kill minimum with extra Opals, which is the in-game currency needed to buy furniture and extra skills. It’s always satisfying to win a battle with more kills than I needed.

Battles are the core of the Demonschool gameplay loop.

When you’re outside of battles, you can explore the campus to your heart’s content. There are quite a few activities to do, like going to karaoke, and your options gradually open up as you progress. Eventually, Faye will be able to take friends to go cook or play individual mini-games. These are fun distractions for the main event, the bond events.

Once Faye’s friendship level is high enough, she can participate in more intimate hangouts with her teammates. The characters have vibrant personalities that, while some can be a bit overbearing like the aforementioned Ocean, they’re still very likable. The bodybuilder of the team, Ti, is a standout. Despite being a jacked gym girl, she has a soft heart that makes her the squad’s caretaker.

You can also take on fun side missions throughout campus. One had a forgetful old lady going around and saying that multiple men were her husband. It turned out her husband was already dead! It ended with her reconnecting with a friendly demon, who was in fact her husband.

Faye showed constraint and didn’t immediately fight it, showing how she’s grown so far and not jumping to conclusions. These side missions are also worth completing as you earn brand new skills.

Demonschool’s technical difficulty keeps it from being at the top of its class.

Demonschool’s main missions, objectives, and quests almost always end up culminating in a fight, which gets tiresome throughout the game’s gargantuan 40-50 hour campaign. Go to the next story beat? Battle. Done watching your bonding event with another character? Battle. It feels never-ending and really adds to the game’s overall bloated runtime.

I also ran into some glitches that froze my game or hard-crashed it. These would often happen at some of the most random times, and in some instances, specific attacks. During one fight, I caused too many enemies to blow up simultaneously, which sent me all the way back to the game’s start menu.

It was always this specific scenario as well. No matter how many times they replicate the same move, the same crash always occurs. It was frustrating since it was an easy way for me to wipe out multiple enemies with one attack and finish the battle in a set number of turns. Instead, I had to find an alternate way to do so.

Demonschool’s stylish presentation, clever tactical combat, and charismatic cast certainly make it into the honor roll. However, the seemingly nonstop battles and myriad of technical problems prevent it from being at the very top of its class. But for players who are willing to push through these issues, Demonschool offers a memorable semester.

Demonschool is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 | 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, and PC.