Demonschool Review

School's out for summon.

Demonschool is a breath of fresh air. I know how that sounds, all things considered. Your first look at it will likely conjure some fairly specific comparisons to games like Persona (2, especially) or shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Those comparisons are lofty in the minds of many as both are beloved franchises that have stood the test of time, but Demonschool comports itself in some key ways that allows it to distinguish itself from those 90’s paragons, while also coming out favorably.

Publisher: Ysbryd Games

Developer: Necrosoft Games

Platform: Played on PC

Availability: Released November 19, 2025 on Windows PC (Steam), PS4/5, and Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.

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First and foremost, I think Demonschool might be the most relaxing tactical RPG I’ve ever played. Perhaps not the most expected outcome for a horror-inspired tactical RPG, but everything just comes across as so free-flowing. There’s no guessing or hoping involved in plotting out your day. With no timers, you’re never feeling like you’re on the clock, or driven by a need for efficiency — you can simply do as much or as little as you want. Spending the days doing mini-games or character quests never limits what you can achieve.

There are two distinct ways in which you spend the bulk of your time on Hemsk Island: exploring the town and combat. Exploration is mechanically simple, as each self-contained zone is chosen from a list-like menu, and is small in scope, taking no more than a few seconds to explore fully on any given day. These forays into the island are supported and enhanced by Demonschool’s phenomenal soundtrack. It’s no surprise that it is full of electronic influences and heavy synth beats given Necrosoft’s track record, but I actually stopped in my tracks the first time I got the freedom to explore the town and the music kicked in.

The zones are densely packed with a multitude of NPCs, each with their own personality. Over time, the locales and inhabitants shift, with different people in the zones at varying times of day, days of the week, or during specific story beats; new mini-games reveal themselves throughout the course of the game, as well, such as fishing and cooking games. This really helps the school and island feel a bit more alive. Rather than a static thing for you to engage with, it’s a place. A place full of humor, and quirks, and even sorrow. 

While the game and setting are mostly played for laughs with very few moments of sobriety in between the zany antics of your eclectic crew, I do find myself thinking about some specific interactions had with NPCs throughout the game — perhaps even more so than the story proper. One of the key elements of the story is that most normal people are losing their memory of the supernatural events they find themselves in. So while things go off the rails each and every night, the NPCs continue on as if nothing was amiss. Early on in the game I came across a man who expressed great joy at being a father of 6 children. Only four were standing next to him. Much of the dialogue straddles the line between explicit and absurd, and yet I felt a tinge of sadness immediately. Were they lost to demons and he simply forgot? Are the others at home? Is this man just stupid? As a father myself it hurt my heart. To lose something so important only to turn around and forget it is such a miserable fate that I almost cannot bear to think about it. As the game progressed, those numbers continued to dwindle. Moments like this are rare, but I think there’s a real humanity to the people that makes the ongoing events of the plot all the more tragic, in a way.

So stylish.

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The combat makes up the other major facet of gameplay, and it has quickly endeared itself to me. Combat is a grid-based tactical slaughterhouse, where your positioning and planning will be the key to your success. Each of the characters, including your enemies, have their own characteristics, such as pushing back enemies when they attack, pulling people forward, or area effects. Broken down into “planning” and “action” phases, you’re goal is to use your abilities to plan your actions and position yourself and your enemies in a way in which you can eliminate a specific number of foes in the allotted number of turns, then seal the battlefield off by running to the end of the enemies’ zone. 

Fights is quite simple, but the amount of freedom given to the player is deceptively deep. While each character only has two moves, normal attack and special, customization options allow the player to tailor their party to various needs and playstyles and can dramatically change the way each character interacts with enemies. For example, normally a healer can only heal teammates and can’t travel through enemies or attack, but there are abilities that allow them to pass through enemies, or even debuff foes by interacting with them. The way you line up enemies on the small battle grid does remind me a bit of a game like Radiant Historia, where shifting and stacking your enemies was essential to success.

That level of planning is less essential here, as the fights are mostly a cakewalk, especially since you can make real-time corrections with the rewind feature. Much like the rest of the game, there’s no need to obsess with efficiency. As long as you come out of the fight alive, you get to move on. Despite my own predilections, knowing that I was not bound to such exacting performance was a relief in itself and a huge weight off my shoulders.

Once the planning is done, you then move on to the action phase, which functions as a moving scene that displays the effects of your turn actions. This phase is incredibly satisfying to watch as characters dance and weave around the battlefield, leaving havoc in their wake. Combination attacks make glyphs appear to destroy your foes, demons explode into fountains of blood or pools of poison, and the sounds of your foes being mashed into dust fill the air. Once you’ve had your turn, the demons then act and try to kill you. It’s flashy, grotesque, and mesmerizing.

Much like the rest of the game, there’s no need to obsess with efficiency. As long as you come out of the fight alive, you get to move on.

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It’s hard to talk about Demonschool without referencing the other other titles that have inspired it. The humor is reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in tone and it shares some setting similarities as well by taking place in a school. The more obvious and stronger comparison is Persona, matching the aesthetics of Persona 2 with an isometric view of the fields as you navigate the world. Even the calendar and town listings share similarities to other titles in the Persona series, such as Persona 3 Portable. The horror elements draw inspiration from or pay homage to films such as The Ring and The Cube, and so on. It's all very 90s by design, but rather than just living in those shadows, Demonschool embraces them and carves its own path. 

Its visual style is full of bright, bold colors that make each room or scene pop. The character portraits are distinct and striking, utilizing thick lines and emotive posing to express each character’s distinct personality. It has a nearly surreal vibe to it, as if you were watching a neon dream of some half-remembered day long ago. Much of the visual style is jarring in a good way. Those aforementioned colors often clash, and the 2D models don’t always fit neatly onto the 3D backgrounds. But every bit of detail, down to the gridsquares of the battlefield, gives it a retrowave look and feel, overwhelming the senses with energy.

Energy feels like an important word as it relates to Demonschool. With the game being so focused on its irreverent humor and style, it is easy to see how it might wear out its welcome, and veer into more juvenile or boring writing traps. I suspect for many it will feel that way. The main cast is one-note, the combat is not crunchy enough to satisfy more tactically-minded players, and the plot itself is a bit routine. Despite these pitfalls, I’ve come away with a strong appreciation for what Demonschool does. It's exciting, and stylish, and a hell of a lot of fun to play; it has great energy.

Verdict

Demonschool is stylish and irreverent. Grotesque foes are contrasted by the bright hues and neon stylings akin to a retrowave album cover, and the shifting electronic soundscape enhances the mood in any given scene. There are some minor pitfalls in terms of battle difficulty, but there’s enough depth and visual flair to keep things interesting. Demonschool is positively bursting with heart and energy.

Image Credits: Necrosoft Games and Ysbryd Games

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from the publisher.