Demonschool is a Great Tactical RPG

Demonschool is one of the games I was looking forward to from last year. The release slipped past me, and I ended up playing it a few months after it was released. From what I remember of the demo, the graphics are great, but the gameplay was a little awkward.

This is the first indie game I’m going to play for 2026, and I’m hoping it will be good. This is a tactical RPG that looks like it took some inspiration from Persona or the Shin Megami series. It has a cool art style and a fun story.

There is something about this game that I didn’t like right away. As I’ve played this game, I found that I don’t like the combat that much. Hopefully, it will grow on me as I continue to play it. Since this is a tactical RPG, combat really is the meat of the game, and if it isn’t fun, then the rest of the game is going to suffer.

I’m hoping this will be better as I learn how to play. There are a lot of things in it that I enjoy. Let’s get into it more and see what it has to offer.

TLDR: Great Graphics and Story.

Narrative

The game follows a group of college students who are attending a university on a remote island. There are some weird things about this place. The school seems very strange, and the people on the island are rather odd. Also, there are gangsters on the island, which is an odd twist.

The main characters are Faye and Namako. Faye is a demon hunter and comes from a family of other demon hunters. Namako is just a college student who doesn’t want anything to do with all the craziness that is going on.

This game takes place in a modern setting or in the 1990s. That means you’ll be fighting with your fists instead of swords. Since this game leans into the occult, some items are more closely associated with that stuff. Right, this takes place before the year 2000, which feels like many games from the 1990s, where they were all set in 1999, and something catastrophic was going to happen.

There are ten weeks before the apocalypse. Each week has you doing something for school, which has you fight a demon at the end of the week. It is a cool setup for something like this. There is also a lot of comedy in this game, as none of the characters take this story seriously.

I like the story quite a bit. It is nice that the story isn’t taken seriously by most of the characters. There is something sinister about the school and the island, which you slowly learn about over the course of the game. It is a solid setup for a story.

Gameplay

I really want to like the gameplay more than I do. It takes some time to get used to it, and I don’t like it as much as other Tactical games that I’ve played. Demonschoot has some good ideas, and it does try something different, but I prefer the gameplay in games like Unicorn Overlord, Banner of the Maid, and Fell Seal.

Some of your characters are damage dealers, and others are support characters. The game calls these pushers and pullers, I think. I don’t mind not having defined classes since the characters do have different abilities and skills.

As you get more party members, the combat gets much better. It is easier to set up combos, and you’ll get characters with different skills. I’m really glad that I stuck with it, because it is more fun than I was expecting.

All of your characters are created for you. This isn’t uncommon with tactical RPGs, but I would’ve liked to recruit some random characters to my party. This might’ve been odd given the setting, but there is a way to make it work without losing the narrative.

In some ways, the game reminds me of a simplified version of X-COM. Your characters don’t have a progression system, and you only have a few hit points. This is something that I don’t like, but I’m willing to give it a chance. Your characters don’t gain experience, but you can improve Faye’s relationship with them.

Demonschool is a fun game. The gameplay is different enough from other games to make it stand out. As I learned how to play the game, I found it to be a fun tactical game. I would’ve liked more complex battles outside of the boss fights, but the regular encounters were fun.

Visuals

The graphics look very good. I like the enemy and character sprites, the town looks great, and the battle screen is nice. Things get creepier as the game goes on, which is very cool! The boss characters also look awesome!

I really like the sprites in this game. The humans, demons, and bosses all look excellent. I love how the enemies get creepier as the game goes on, and how the bosses get bigger, and the fights are more complex.

The battle screens look good, but they feel too small. You’re teleported to an in-between space, which has a cool transition. There aren’t too many sprites on the screen, but it still looks too small for me. This becomes more apparent when you’re fighting a boss. It just feels like you don’t have enough space.

The town looks a little creepy. There are other locations as well, which also look creepy. This island looks like a rundown little town where something like this would happen in a horror movie.

The graphics are my favorite part of this game. It looks really cool! There are a few minor things with the graphics that I wish were better, but they aren’t really worth mentioning.

8/10. I’m not totally sold on the gameplay, but it is a lot of fun to see what combos you can make. There is something to this that makes me want to keep playing. The graphics and the story are great! I love that this game doesn’t take itself seriously.

Pros

• Great Graphics
• Wonderful Story
• I like the comedy in the dialogue
• I love the characters

Cons

Lack of a progression system

I’m not sold on the combat

Conclusion

Demonschool is a complicated game for me. I really wanted to like this game more than I did, but a few things were holding it back from being really great. It was a little long, and I didn’t like the combat as much as I thought I would. If there had been more of a point to the battles, then I might’ve enjoyed it more.

The minigames were a little annoying at times. I don’t mind having optional minigames, but they have to be fun. Being forced into them from time to time isn’t something I like.

I like the story and the graphics. The main characters were fun, and the setting created some funny moments. I really like the graphics and the call-backs to the 1990s. It does overstay its welcome a bit. This is one of those cases where the game can be shortened by 10 hours, and I would’ve liked it more.

Demonschool is a fun game. If you were hoping for something closer to Final Fantasy Tactics combined with Persona, then you’ll be a little disappointed by a lack of RPG features. I recomend going into it with an open mind and give the game some time because it is a great game.

If you liked this post, please check out my other indie game reviews. Such as Arcadian Atlas or Banner of the Maid.