Videogame Review: ‘Demonschool’ – A Kooky ‘Persona’-Like Tactics RPG That Needs More Depth

Demonschool, a highly anticipated school-life tactics RPG with hints of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, has finally released after numerous delays. From developer Necrosoft Games, this title has some really interesting ideas, characters, and story beats, but ends up barely scraping the surface of all it might have to offer.

On a mysterious Island hosting a dubiously prestigious school, young student Faye, who comes from a long line of demon hunters, is pulled into mysteries and dark dealings – which she frankly enjoys. Quickly and forcibly pulling allies together Faye and her team have to complete assignments focused on occult and demonic events while trying to survive and learn the secrets of the Island.

Much like the Persona games, there is a weekly schedule and there are day/night cycles. But they are very loosely represented and don’t have the same element of choice as they do in those games. Once the Island is opened up you can explore, fish, play karaoke, and cook whenever you want.

This looseness also means the events can be spammed. When playing mini-games you can level up your friendship with allies when available. This can be done over and over, so if leveling is possible you can play karaoke, or a simple word search game, over and over till the capped level is reached.

This also shows the limits of the interactions with allies. There is specific dialogue at key points, and they all have some minor quests, like getting VHS tapes or stopping spam email. But this aspect is relatively shallow. Eventually romance can be unlocked, which triggers a lovely screen, but aside from some slight buddy/attack improvements, the friendship aspect is unfortunately relatively thin.

While the world and school life are not as deep and nuanced as I would have hoped, the story is so kooky and over-the-top it was actually a true joy to experience, with students disappearing, teachers manipulating students to solve mysteries, and gangsters running the Island and secretly possessing students and raising demons.

What’s most absurd, and actually kind of amazing, is that most everyone on the Island doesn’t really see what’s happening; only people attuned to demon-hunting can see what is truly there. So the crazy possessions, battles, monsters, and blood-soaked alternate dimensions are ignored by the rest of the Island. That leaves Faye, her team, and their rivals from school as all the Island has to save it from doom.

The story leads to the main meat of the game, which is the combat. This is a cause-and-effect turn-based game. Faye and whichever three companions she chooses go first, choosing attacks, movements, and powers. Once planning is done, the combat plays out automatically, with enemies attacking afterwards.

At first this could be overwhelming, but the small battlefields, clear paths, and small party make the combat actually really fun to trigger and experience. Special attacks get charged, and skills like stunning and healing can be leveraged to safely clear the battlefield. Universally, a set number of enemies need to be defeated before the exit is revealed and the battle ends.

The battle system ends up being quick to pick up. But it takes some skill and planning to not only survive, but do so within a set amount of turns in order to get maximum bonuses from the battle. By the end of Demonschool I faced literally hundreds of these battles and they did get slightly dull eventually. Thankfully new characters and boss encounters pepped it up a bit.

To assist in battle, skills get awarded for milestones, defeating side quests, and as rewards from some of the mini-games, and can be bought from an odd merchant you discover during the story. These skills need to be researched, which takes some waiting, but the characters can be equipped with them once they’re unlocked.

There is no cosmetics systems for the players, but their hideout can get redesigned by themes or additional items to add to the environment. This is a completely neutral change with no functionality.

The game has a really interesting look and feel, with characters who are quirky, well portrayed, and all have distinct personalities. It’s a purely text-driven game with no voiceovers, but the audio and music are well implemented and add to the experience.

I enjoyed my time with Demonschool and came to like Faye, Namako, Mercy, and the rest of the squad as I battled hordes of demons and possessed students. But I wished there was more – more of the social side of the game, more of the school sim, more combat variety. The game is a fun experience, don’t get me wrong, but the setting was so good I just wanted more depth.

Demonschool is out November 19 for PC via Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 1|2. We were given a Steam key by the publisher for review purposes.