Demonschool Review

What is Demonschool?

Demonschool is part tactical RPG part Social Sim. You play as Faye, a new student arriving for the first time at a new school on a strange island. You’ll spend your days exploring town and the campus, getting into fights with demons and/or gangsters, and building relationships with your friends.

The game takes place over a 12-week period where you can choose how and where you would like to spend each day.

The game advertises that it has, “hints of Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Italian horror cinema.”

Fiendishly Funny

Let’s start with one of my favourite aspects of the game: the writing. I don’t mean the overall plot and story, but rather the moment to moment dialogue. The game is very funny. It had me chuckling out loud on a number of occasions at the quipping back and forth between the various characters.

a young man saying "No wings involved - my friend's cousin's uncle's cousin's wife said that if you go to the cemetery after dark a ghostly hand gives it to you."

It reminded me of the kind of jokes I’d make back and forth with my friends.

The tone overall is very unserious. The characters are all larger-than-life, some of them unbelievable as real people. Others are more grounded in a way that complement each other very well.

I think what makes it work is that the game treats them all earnestly. They never look through the screen and wink at the player as if to say, “haha yeah isn’t this crazy and weird??”

The first few minutes gave me the impression that the main character might be annoying, I won’t lie. But you very quickly realize she fits the vibe of the world perfectly. Her unending optimism and passion for her friends reminds of greatly of Luffy from One Piece.

The incidental conversations you overhear from randos in the school or on the street are also quite humorous. They clearly spent a lot of time writing lines and quips to reward the players who talk to everyone available.

a pensive skater saying: Hmm, I could totally grind on these tombstones. Is that disrecpectful?"

A Fiendish Plot

The main plot revolves around Faye who arrives on a strange island where she’s going to be going to school. There may or may not be demons afoot.

The strangest guys aren’t just the demons though. Rather, the weirdos are everyone else in town from the teachers to the people that live there. It’s very apparent that there is Something Going On here, and it will be up to you to uncover what that is as the game unfolds.

a male teacher with blue hair and a red tie looking nervous saying, "Hmm. That was not a good result."

You begin by getting assignments from your teacher to find cursed or possessed items and see where the journey takes you from there.

The game offers you a fun mystery, but it’s nothing overly intense or horrific. The plot itself never really pulled me in beyond a curiosity. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but it was more of a vehicle for you to experience the characters.

We Live In A Society

The social management aspects of Demonschool are similar to those of the Persona series, but not entirely the same.

I never found I was pressed for choice on what to spend my time doing. That’s because the game generously lets you do everything.

At any point you’re given a list of all the areas on the island you’ve uncovered and can freely travel between them. You’re welcome to do as many activities, side quests, and relationship activities as you’d like in a given day. Time only advances when you choose to proceed with the main plot.

Destin saying That's Right. In the lobby of the classroom.

This offers a much more laid back experience. I was never stressed about potentially missing something. For my taste, the Persona games offer almost too much choice. I will usually default to reading a guide to make sure I’m not missing anything crucial, which in turn causes me to eventually lose interest.

This will likely either be a positive or a negative depending on how much you like planning and consequences in your social sim games. I wanted to kick back at the end of the day with my weirdo friends and kick the butts of some demons, and this game offered that.

Also worth noting: The developers indicated in their pre-release notes that they will be limiting the relationship minigames to being done once a day. I think this is a good balance, as it did feel a bit like cheating to simply play the Karaoke minigame 10 times a day and max out all my relationships.

Is There a Fishing Minigame?

Yes

Can you Pet the Dog?

Yes

Quality of Student Life

Demonschool puts up almost zero barriers between you and engaging with it.

Navigating the town to see what you might like to do is as easy as 2 button presses.

Playing on Steam Deck, you can use the controls or the touch screen. I implemented a combination of both.

On the flip side, some activities you need to repeat over and over again amount to little more than travelling to a place, walking up to something, pressing A, and leaving.

Throwing coins into the fountain (one of the activities you can do constantly) did eventually grow old, but with the game allowing you to get it done in 15 seconds, it’s not so bad.

Faye to B2

The combat in this game is super satisfying. It takes the form of what is essentially an isometric chess board.

The goal of each combat is to kill a specified number of baddies, then get to the back of their side of the board to win.

You select which units you would like to use. They all have their own unique abilities. Some just attack, some swap positions with other units, some heal, etc. Each also has their own special move.

You then go into a “preparation” phase. You have a limited number of actions per turn which you can use to move your units around and take out the enemies. Once you have set all your moves, you end your turn and watch all your moves play out in all their animated glory.

a battlefield with "Planning Phase" text over top

It’s ultra satisfying to see the enemies explode into a geyser of blood when they die.

You can also rewind your turn at any point. This allows you to experiment with different tactics and different moves until you find what works. Your goal will generally be to work the layout of enemies as efficiently as possible to kill them in as few turns as possible.

I loved doing these fights, and I always got excited when a new battle would begin.

As you progress, the maps will have interactive elements, you’ll find new types of enemies, and encounter some grand boss fights.

The Vibes are Good

The visual style in Demonschool is simply wonderful.

Art direction and colour work in some areas are wallpaper worthy. The environments are also isometric and packed to the gills with lovely little details.

The animations are sharp and punchy. In particular, the transitions between the overworld and battle arenas are very cool. It’s almost like one world falls away to reveal the other.

town square with colourful buildings and a fountain in the middle.

The character portraits are fun and unique without being over-designed. Their visual language is such that you can tell what they will be like just by looking at them. The mark of a good character design.

The music also slaps. Even if you don’t play the game you should check out the soundtrack.

Conclusion

Demonschool is a really fun time with larger than life characters, great vibes, and some lite social aspects to scratch that itch if you have it. While there’s little pressure or urgency in the daily choices you need to make, and some activities get repetitive, the clever and downright funny writing will keep you going along.

Demonschool releases November 19th on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (Windows, Mac, and Linux).