Demonschool

I want to like this game, but honestly it just isn't fun. The story is not engaging, but I can easily overlook that if the core gameplay is interesting, but it isn't. I have seen people compare this to Into the Breach, and I understand why. But Into the Breach is SUCH a better game. The combat here is overly gimmicky, with no real room for creativity. It feels more like a puzzle than a tactical battle. That can work, as it did in Into the Breach, but here it all just feels tedious. I never enjoyed any of the combat, and with how much of it there is that is an obvious problem. It also doesn't help that each battle map is just a rectangle, and that massive numbers of enemies will routinely spawn. There are a small number of methods to winning each battle, and you just need to figure those out. Sound fun? For you it might be, but it was not for me.

The game starts strong but then doesn't really go anywhere. The combat is initially interesting, but there's too much of it, and development of new skills and abilities is very slow, turning it into a slog. Navigating the island feels like chores on a checklist; if the dialogue landed, that might be okay, but overall the plot plays it safe and the humor wasn't for me. As a fan of Persona (and Into The Breach), I wanted to like this game, but it's a No for me.

I thought I loved the game. Game is amazing... for a while. But pacing here in everything is very stretched. Story starts normal, but quick, and then has some tints of potential good routes. However, it takes too long to actually make progress. little stuff happens but don't really progress the story after the start very significantly. it takes too long for new chars and some of the starting ones are very dull. its ok to have 1 dull char, but a second one is a lot. I liked the mini interactions around the city, but some have many instances of "nothing happens", so yeah time lost because yes. And gameplay... I was sold on to this by into the breach, and yeah, the combat was fun... the first 10 times. combat is always same kind of objective, monsters don't differentiate too much, and your characters dont really progress in significant matters. I tried doing all sidequests and it was the same every time. the boss fights are very well presented and change it in soooome way, but they are very infrequent to actually strive to get to the next one (As all the battles in between are very samey). OST is amazing tho, no complaints there. visual style very good indeed even if i personally dont like the designs too much (But they work well). and the small emotes are a good touch.

Good Game, Has Lesbiabs

Intent was clearly in the right, but the sum of its whole is aggressively mediocre. I tried to see if it would ever hit and it never does. - It feels like the writer(s) were aware of their limitations and tried to compensate with comedy, this script is drowning in quips and cartoonish characterization. Very hard to get into a narrative driven story moving at glacier speed that not even the characters take seriously. The daily sim aspects are very shallow and should've been dropped in favor of a linear story. - Combat is the strongest suit, but system does not evolve enough over time to be engaging. Characters are limited in how they can be customized and movesets are not varied enough. Abilities you can research are not game changers whatsoever and are limited in how many you can obtain in a week. A smaller cast with more variety would've done a great service. Rewards for combat itself are not engaging, more skillpoints for abilities you have to wait to reserarch or money for more clubhouse cosmetics.

Selamlar, Son zamanlarda daha ilk dakikalarından atmosferiyle beni bu kadar hızlı içine çeken, "burada bir şeyler ters gidiyor" hissini anında yaşatan bir oyun pek yoktu ortalarda.. Dışarıdan görsellerine şöyle bir bakınca klasik, basit bir piksel oyun sanabilirsiniz ama o tekinsiz havanın ve taktiksel savaşların insanı nasıl içine çektiğini oyuna girince çok daha iyi anlıyorsunuz :) O eski retro tarzı koruyup, üzerine bu kadar modern ve karanlık bir tat katmayı başardıkları için geliştirici ekibi gerçekten tebrik etmek lazım. [table] [tr] [h1][th]OYNANIŞ VE SAVAŞ MEKANİKLERİ[/th][/h1] [/tr] [/table] Dünya keşfi ile savaş arenası arasındaki geçişler tek kelimeyle çok hoş ve akıcı tasarlanmış. Oyun ilk savaşta bizi doğrudan bir öğretici (tutorial) ile karşılıyor ve savaş mekaniklerini, karakterlerin kendine has özelliklerini yormadan öğretiyor. Ekipteki her karakterin savaş içinde kullanabileceği farklı temel ve özel güçleri var; kimi şifacı (healer) rolünü üstlenirken, kimi toplu katliam yapabiliyor, kimi de tek hedef üzerinde yıkıcı hasarlar bırakabiliyor. Oyunun ilerleyişi zaman dilimleri (Sabah, Öğlen, Akşam, Gece) ve gün/hafta döngüsü üzerine kurulu. Ana görevler tarafımıza haftalık periyotlarla veriliyor; hafta boyunca bu görevlerde ilerleme kaydedip haftanın sonunda görevi nihayete erdiriyorsunuz. Bu sürecin içini dolduran ve tekrara düşmeyen çeşitli günlük/haftalık rutin yan görevler de oynanışı sürekli taze tutuyor. Sıra tabanlı savaş mekaniklerine parantez açmak gerek; bu savaşlar genel olarak epey uzun sürüyor. Savaş içerisinde sizden belirli sayıda düşmanı yok etmeniz isteniyor; sonrasında ise haritanın en sonuna herhangi bir karakterinizle ulaşıp portal açarak savaşı sonlandırıyorsunuz. Bu durum kulağa ilk başta çok can sıkıcı gelmeyebilir ancak oyunu 70 saat deneyimlemiş biri olarak söyleyebilirim ki, bir süre sonra oldukça bunaltıcı bir noktaya gelebiliyor. Özellikle bazı savaşlar ve maalesef 1-2 boss fight, sırf içeriği uzatmak ve sündürmek için araya sıkıştırılmış gibi hissettiriyor; insanı bıktırıp çileden çıkartabiliyor. Fakat burada geliştiricilerin hayat kurtaran harika bir detayı var: Bir savaşta başarısız olduğunuzda oyun size "Yeniden Dene" seçeneğinin hemen yanında "Atla" (Skip) seçeneğini de sunuyor ve bu imkân boss savaşlarında bile geçerli. Yani taktiksel kapışmalardan keyif almayan ya da o an geçmekte zorlanan oyuncular için hikayeden kopmadan devam etme şansı tanınmış. Sırf bu oyuncu dostu hamle bile ayrıca tebriği hak ediyor. [table] [tr] [h1][th]DÜNYA, KEŞİF VE YETENEKLER[/th][/h1] [/tr] [/table] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3785318019 Oyunun haritası hikayede ilerledikçe parça parça açılıyor ve her yeni mekânda erişebileceğimiz farklı aktivitelerle karşılaşıyoruz. Bu süreçte takım arkadaşlarınızla olan ilişkilerinizi geliştirebiliyor, seviye atladıkça o karakterin arka plan hikayesini ve aranızdaki bağın ilerleyişini görebiliyorsunuz. Yetenek ağacı sistemi ise oldukça ilginç bir yapıya sahip. Skiller genellikle yan görevler aracılığıyla ağaca ekleniyor ancak bunları doğrudan kullanamıyorsunuz. Yetenekleri aktif etmek için özel bir kaynak harcamanız ve kalitesine bağlı olarak 2 veya 3 karakteri bu iş için atamanız gerekiyor. Karakterlerin yeteneği öğrenmesi zaman alıyor ve erken aşamada (early game) hem kaynak hem de karakter sayısı kısıtlı olduğu için "her şeyi bir anda açayım" mantığı işlemiyor. Bu sistem oyuna güzel ve dengeli bir taktiksel yönetim katmanı eklemiş. [table] [tr] [h1][th]HİKAYE[/th][/h1] [/tr] [/table] Hikayemiz, ana karakterimiz Faye'in bir adaya okul için gelmesiyle başlıyor. Kendisinin bir İblis Avcısı (Demon Hunter) olduğunu iddia eden Faye ile yolculuk ettiğimiz gemide Namako adında biriyle tanışıp ufak bir kaynaşma faslı yaşıyoruz. Ancak adaya adım atar atmaz bir şeylerin tuhaf olduğu yüzümüze çarpıyor. Gemiden iner inmez gangster/mafya kılıklı sert adamlar isimleri okuyup insanları sağa sola ayırmaya, farklı sıralara sokmaya başlıyor. Faye'in bu duruma itiraz etmesiyle de ilk sıra tabanlı savaşımız patlak veriyor. Adada geçirdiğiniz her dakika, her saniye bir şeylerin ters gittiği hissi yakanızı bırakmıyor. O tekinsizlik, boş bulunduğunuz bir anda nereden geldiğini bilmediğiniz bir su damlasının yüzünüze düşmesi gibi minik ama ürpertici detaylarla oyuncuya çok başarılı bir şekilde hissettiriliyor. [table] [tr] [h1][th]GRAFİK VE TEKNİK DURUM[/th][/h1] [/tr] [/table] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3788378221 Demonschool’un görsel dünyasına adım attığınızda, sizi basit bir retro piksel oyunundan çok daha fazlası karşılıyor. Geliştirici ekip, klasik 2D piksel karakter tasarımlarını, modern ve detaylı 3D mekanlarla harmanlayarak kusursuz bir 2.5D derinlik yaratmayı başarmış. Savaş alanındaki bu katmanlı yapı, nostaljik taktiksel RYO hissini korurken aynı zamanda mekana boyut ve canlılık kazandırıyor. Oyunun sanat yönetimi, 60'lar ve 70'lerin İtalyan Giallo korku sinemasına açık bir aşk mektubu niteliğinde. Karanlık, tekinsiz ve kasvetli ortamlar; ekranda aniden patlayan rahatsız edici ama bir o kadar da stilize neon renklerle bölünerek harika bir görsel tezat oluşturuyor. Grotesk iblis tasarımları ve stilize şiddet unsurları, bu canlı renk paleti sayesinde oyunun karanlık temasını hafifçe kırarak atmosfere tuhaf, enerjik bir hava katıyor. İşin teknik boyutuna baktığımızda, dinamik ışıklandırmanın ve gölgelendirmelerin savaş alanına katkısı takdire şayan. Piksel karakterlerin üzerine düşen modern ışık huzmeleri ve çevresel yansımalar, taktiksel grid haritasındaki mekansal okunabilirliği hiçbir şekilde bozmadan harika bir görsellik sunuyor. Özellikle derin, mutlak siyahların ve parlayan neon efektlerin iç içe geçtiği bu gotik yapı, OLED panelli ekranlarda deneyimlendiğinde renklerin adeta ekrandan taşmasını sağlayarak görsel şöleni zirveye taşıyor. Özetle Demonschool, retro-modern illüzyonu ustalıkla kullanarak sadece mekanikleriyle değil, cesur ve akılda kalıcı sanat tasarımıyla da öne çıkmayı başarıyor. [table] [tr] [h1][th]SES VE MÜZİK[/th][/h1] [/tr] [/table] Oyun bolca keyifli müziğe sahip, atmosferi destekleme konusunda oldukça başarılılar. Ses efektleri ise ne çok zengin ne de yetersiz; hatırı sayılır bir ortalamada işini yapıyor. Ancak diyaloglar tamamen yazı tabanlı, herhangi bir seslendirme bulunmuyor. Ekranda bol bol okumanız gereken metin var ve ne yazık ki oyunun Türkçe dil desteği yok. Bol metinli bir oyun olduğu için bu durum, dil bilmeyen oyuncuların hikayeyi ve atmosferi takip etmesini zorlaştırabilir. [table] [tr] [th]Kriter[/th] [th]Değerlendirme[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Oynanış & Savaş Mekanikleri[/td] [td]85/100[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Hikaye & Sunum[/td] [td]80/100[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Grafik & Atmosfer[/td] [td]90/100[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ses & Müzik[/td] [td]70/100[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]GENEL KARAR[/th] [th]82/100[/th] [/tr] [/table] İyi eğlenceler :)

TLDR; I recommend the game and want the devs to do another but the pacing is really bad leading to combat fatigue and uninteresting party members and world. I just want to preface this with how excited I was for this games release. I followed the devs on twitter and they made a pretty cool game. When this game dropped I came straight home from my afternoon class, bought it instantly, and hopped on stream. I also 100% the game and got all the achievements. The game starts off really strong. Faye is a fantastic designed character. The next couple party members you meet are super well designed and fun. I also really like that the whole cast are adults and the School they go to is a college (what we wish for with persona). You get to hang out with these people in persona fashion although time does not pass which is fine ! The town is pretty vibrant and npcs all have different dialogues they say throughout the day. There are activities you can do around town like fishing, cooking, karaoke, and beetle racing. The OST also is fantastic and some of the strongest songs are the vintage sounding tracks. The combat is like Into the Breach mixed with Persona cut ins and Toribash. When I first saw the combat I was like WOW this is fun. Characters all have different archetypes and tasks they accomplish. There are healers, bruisers, assassins, pullers, buffers, you name it. I would say the combat is more of a puzzle rather than full on combat as you do not gain exp and you never really get much stronger in the game. So then what are my issues with this game? Man. The Pacing. The pacing of this game is some of the worst I have ever seen in a game. It makes One Piece anime pacing look normal. The game's structure is basically Persona-ish. You start the week off on a Monday. Each day is broken up to Morning, Evening, Night (Maybe Afternoon as well but now I'm not so sure). That's fine. The big issue is throughout the game you will see a minimum of one battle at a time (it can be up to 2 or 3 and im not even including side quests). So that means you will talk to a character, story happens, battle, time moves forward (sometimes battle, battle, then time moves forward). What happens here is you do this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (Friday concluding in a big boss fight). You also have the Weekend which is just one day and one time of day. So that means you have multiple fights a day for a full week and the main issue arises is the combat doesn't ever speed up. I play old rpgs all the time (SMT, DQ, FF, PS, Trails) and you can normally get stronger and buy equipment. Here this doesn't happen. So sometimes fights can be up to 8 minutes+ at a time. Imagine in SMT if you ran into a battle and you HAVE to fight it and the fights are always long. It becomes so tedious that every time a battle came up after about 5-6 weeks of gameplay I would sigh. Then factor in side quests and bonds where they are really just battles. Many of the sidequests and bonds are very uninspired. You don't learn much about characters or the island and its people through them. The earlier ones are a bit better but later on it will legit be "Man I want a sandwich" and then a demon shows up going "Sandwiiiiiichh" and then you fight. Those don't pass the time and sometimes it can be time consuming. You do this over and over and over, sometimes multiple times a day every single day legit up until the final day of the game. I bought the game on release and finished it on September 5th, 2026. The pacing was so bad It kept putting me off from playing it for months at a time. I don't know if this is a writing issue (I have issues with the writing itself as well) but the pacing just makes me roll my eyes the further I got into the game. It felt like the devs actively were stopping me from completing the game. The writing itself is pretty lackluster with any twists and plot progression being pretty predictable. The comedy was giggly at best in the beginning but later on I barely found anything funny. One of the antagonists get settled so quickly and the final boss was insanely easy. You also really do not get to learn much about MOST of your party members. Knute you learn a lot about but some of the party members whole bond stories are literally "Cheese" or "Cooking" or "Reading". What makes Persona a bit less tedious is that most of these bonds actually say things about what is happening in their life or their past or their futures. This game says NOTHING. These characters right away talk about how they have a crush on you (or Faye does them) and its 3 hang outs each with a fight each time then it ends in a kiss or a hug or something. EVERY SINGLE PARTY MEMBER? There is maybe 2-3 that aren't interested in Faye. Having 0 consequences and every single member not acknowledging that ongoing polyamory just makes the whole bond system feel really shallow and empty. It just feels like you just work your way to a kiss and that's it. Overall I do recommend this game and I hope we see a Demonschool 2 or something similar. I think this game is aesthetically fantastic and has the chance to be a power house indie series but the pacing needs to be sorted. The town needs far more interesting things to do with npcs that actually give some information about the world. The combat needs a way to speed up or feel rewarding after hours of playing the game. Sidequests need to actually be fun rather than pointless dialogue that leads to a fight with often times NO reward. I would like activities like jobs and better feeling progression for combat. I want to feel like the characters are as strong as they say they are. Pacing, Writing, and Character Progression are the weakest parts and I am confident the devs will be able to do better next time.

This is a very fun and interesting tactial RPG with solid writing and battle design. I like the artstyle and the music and I am excited for the DLC. It ran very well on steam deck and its options menu lets your tailor alot which is nice. I did every sidequest possible which sort of burned me out towards the end, but I like that because I spent alot of the early to midgame fights trying to do fights in the games "turn limit" (ie: if you do this fight in 3 turns, you are rewarded with extra currency) meant that I had a extreme excess and could relax more during the latter half of the games fights, even if I would still aim for the turn limits as the more puzzle coded fights were engaging. If i had to nitpick, I would love a world inwhich i was encouraged to mix and match teamates more, as beyind getting some very cute dialogue ( I believe thats how it works) between characters if they do battle together a couple of times, I think more Incentivisation to do so would be cool as I had a very strong wombo from nearly the start that only really alternated one teamate in for some fights that could clear alot of them within turn limits with excess demon's killed. recommend.

It's not the best game I've played, it's not the worst. It kinda lives in limbo at the truest meaning of a 6.5-7/10 game. In terms of how interesting it is, for both gameplay and story, I liken it to a Game Boy Advance game. It's not the best of anything, but because of its weird space in limbo, I genuinely love it. I've played it off and on since release at a very nice pace and it's intriguing enough to keep going. I'd say it's worth the money and time too. It plays like a portable version of Persona 2 meets a "what if Mega Man Battle Network was turn based". Genuinely I don't think there's been a moment I've played the game where I've been bored. It's not an award winner, but I'll be damned if I don't find someone to talk to about the game in some way shape or form.