Developed By: Necrosoft Games
Published By: Ysbryd Games
Category: RPG
Release Date: 11.19.25
Price: $24.99
*Game Download Code graciously provided for the purpose of review
Demonschool is a game that I’ve been wanting to play for a very long time. I’ve known about the game and have been excited for it for nearly three years, and I had the opportunity to try it out six months ago at PAX. The demo I tried then had a tough learning curve and the game suffered from a few delays, but that never dulled my excitement.
Demonschool is a strategy RPG that follows a group of college students as they traverse across both the human and demon realms. The game also utilizes a unique time based mechanic that is different from other RPG’s that I have played. I didn’t personally care much for the mechanics, but the mix of school life and demon hunting old school Persona vibes and I was all for that.
On paper, the combat seems pretty simple and straightforward, but in practice, it’s actually tougher than it looks. Every turn you’re given a number of action points to do whatever you want and you can split those actions however you want amongst your party members. Each character has a different style so you need to carefully plan your mix of movement, attacks, specials, sidesteps, and combos. The planning phase helps with this.
Unlike most SRPG’s your attacks don’t really take place in real time. During the planning phase, you lay out all the actions you want to do. If you make a mistake, you can rewind time and try again because nothing is set in stone until you end the planning phase. Once this phase is done, all the actions done by you and the enemies are completed at once. Then the planning phase begins again.
Once you complete your objective for a battle, you can end the battle immediately, even if you haven’t defeated all the enemies. I was constantly forgetting to take advantage of the rewind mechanism, and that caused me to lose a lot of battles. Rewinding time is a very important aspect of the game because there’s lots of trial and error involved. If you fully take advantage of this mechanic, the gameplay becomes intuitive and fun, and winning feels more rewarding.
The game follows Faye as she enrolls in a college on a mysterious island. When we first meet her, she appears to know a lot about demons, much to the annoyance of her classmates. We learn pretty early on that she comes from a family of demon hunters. At the start of the game, Faye and her newest friend Namako are tasked with finding a haunted VHS tape and we learn that there’s a lot of suspicious activity taking place on the island and in the school.
During the first few hours, players will learn so much about both the characters and the world, and that was my favorite aspect of the game. Faye is such a cool character and she can get really unhinged at times, especially when she’s talking about demons. Then you have Destin and Knute, who are perfect examples of classic 80’s and 90’s characters.
The characters are great, their dialogue and interactions are fun, and the story is genuinely interesting. The battles were really hard for me at times, but I was constantly invested in how the story was unfolding and how the characters were growing. I even loved all the random interactions with characters across the island. Many NPC’s had random lines that were interesting, and who doesn’t love petting a dog?
Couple that with some great music and an art style that I loved, and Demonschool becomes a solid package. For $24.99, Demonschool is a really good game if you can get past the difficulty curve. There were times where I had to restart a battle two or three times, but it felt rewarding when I finally won. But like I mentioned before, the combat wasn’t even my favorite aspect of the game. Demonschool constantly felt like a mix between old-school Persona and Stranger Things thanks to its world building, characters, sound design, and art. I think a lot of people will enjoy that.
5/5
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