PAX West Spotlight: Demonschool

By Rae

Demonschool sounded like a distinct experience from the start – an RPG inspired by manga and 70s Italian horror, this upcoming title from Necrosoft Games combines spooky storylines with turn-based combat and a friendship leveling system to build your relationships along the way.

One of the main draws for me when it comes to Demonschool is its emphasis on spooky, creepy horror – the dev and I both apparently are of the same feeling when it comes to enjoying horror without wanting to be scared, running in a panic down a hallway away from monsters. The storylines shown in the demo are creepy and uncomfortable – possessed students, a father found in the cemetery acting strangely, demons inviting the unaware to abandoned schools late at night…

Playing as Faye, you’ll lead a ragtag group of misfits to solve some mysteries and explore a mysterious island while navigating school life and fighting demons – it’s a tall order, but a very fun one.

I found the combat in Demonschool to be surprisingly difficult, though toward the end of the demo I was enjoying trying to figure out what I could do better. As it turns out, the difficulty is being tuned, so hopefully in a later demo we can get an idea for how it will play. Difficulty aside, I enjoyed the turn-based system, which lets you plan out the moves for your whole party before you take your turn.

Demonschool looks to be a promising horror-comedy RPG with some fun dialogue and a relationship system that lets you create deep bonds with your teammates.

You can find it on the floor if you’re at PAX West, or wishlist it on Steam now!