Developed By: Inti Creates
Published By: PQube
Category: Action
Release Date: 03.26.2025
Price: $29.99
*Game Download Code graciously provided for the purpose of review

Servants of the Dark is a sequel to 2023’s Demon Purge, which in turn is a Metroidvania spinoff of the popular Gal Gun franchise. I haven’t played any of the other games in the series but I was pretty interested in this one after seeing screenshots despite not being a huge fan of Metroidvania games. But was it a mistake?

The game follows Kirika and Masha, servants of Demon Lord Maxim. One day, the sisters return from a vacation to find that the castle has been attacked and everyone’s been murdered. But not really. Maxim has been reduced to a floating head that can be restored by finding his bones while his servants can be revived by finding their souls and bringing them back to their bodies.

This begins a grand adventure beyond the castle walls to restore Maxim and his servants and to defeat a rival Demon Lord. Once I was outside of the castle, I had a lot of fun with the gameplay. Masha uses a whip while Kirika uses guns. Both characters can use a variety of sub weapons as well as items that are unique to them. If you like the gameplay of most Metroidvanias, you’ll like this one because there’s never a shortage of enemies and the combat is fast-paced and fluid.

The fighting never felt boring but there were some points where the bosses felt a little bland and there were a few other issues that I’ll get into later. Many of the gameplay aspects are also locked near the start until you’ve done a little exploring.

For instance, whenever you find bones, you bring them back to the castle to level up. Doing so increases your stats and unlocks new abilities. Finding and reviving souls unlocks a variety of useful NPC’s at the castle, you just need to find them all first.

Beyond the core gameplay loop, there were a number of other aspects that I enjoyed. The characters themselves were great. I loved the designs and personalities of both Masha and Kirika, and Maxim had some great lines too. They’re even fully voiced in Japanese. Lastly, I really liked the overall art of the game and level design.

There’s a lot to like about the game but there’s also a lot that hurts the overall experience. My biggest peeve is with the abysmal fast travel system. For the first hour or so, your only method of fast travel are fountains that are one way only. They send you back to the castle but not the other way around. 

Later on, you unlock a character called Karon. She has boats scattered across the map that serve as fast travel points but it’s a very flawed mechanic. They’re almost useless because you need to find each one first and they’re very far apart. But the worst part is that you have to pay each time you use it. Traveling long distances is a nightmare at the start and a still-time-consuming but expensive endeavor later on.

Another complaint I had was with the unnecessary inventory management. You can get all sorts of sub weapons and other items from chests and monster drops but they add up quickly. Within an hour of playing I had a full inventory and dozens of duplicates that I had no need for. This is useful for certain tasks discarding large amounts and keeping your inventory organized is a pain.

My last big complaint is with how useless the map is sometimes. There’s no sense of direction, you get a flag that tells you where to go but the game leaves you in the dark when it comes to getting there. Sometimes you can even tell which map tile connects to a tile you haven’t been to yet.

There’s a lot that hinders the game but if you’re a fan of Gal Gun or Demon Purge, you’ll get some enjoyment out of it. The gameplay itself is solid and there’s something there for fans of the writing and franchise humor. For $30, the game is a bit pricey but you should be able to get more than twenty hours out of it.

7/10