Demonschool came out in November of 2025, several months ago and I put off buying it because I had already bought so many games just beforehand. Well, I finally purchased it a couple weeks ago and I’m having a blast!

On the surface it’s a tactics game, but it’s more puzzley than that, more like Into the Breach by Subset Games, who are also known for the fantastic FTL: Faster Than Light. Which is to say, it plays a bit more like chess (I guess, I don’t know chess tbh) than say the Final Fantasy Tactics series. Battles play in two phases: setup phase and the execution phase. During setup you can move and attack with your full party and you will see the consequences of your actions: which enemies you’re damaging, by how much, whether they die, whether your party takes damage, and anything else. And then if something doesn’t go right you can undo your actions in order, even all the way back to the start of turn if you desire, and try something else entirely until you feel like you’re making the best choices. Most enemies are straightforward and their behavior is described when you highlight over them (e.g. how far they move and their attack logic). Enemies with projectiles or incoming area of effect attacks are always labeled on the map tiles so you can always anticipate everything that will happen. This does not make the game easy, at all. Positioning and damage types matter a lot and there’s often situations where you just can’t avoid getting damaged. You’re also challenged to beat a certain amount of enemies within a set amount of turns each battle. This just seems to give you better money rewards, but otherwise I haven’t found a downside to not completing a battle perfectly.

Outside of battles you can pop between different areas of the island you’re on and talk to NPCs and do various activities that open up over time. Side quests are also encountered this way. You choose each location from a menu and once you’re there it’s a single screen you walk around. There’s not much overworld action going on here if we’re being honest, but I find that the character writing and the story more than make up for it. You play as Faye, a young, college-aged demon hunter, last of her family. The game opens on a boat to an island where she will be going to school. Once on the island, we find out quickly that things are just weird and the place is lousy with demons and that’s exactly why Faye is there. Early on you meet your first party member and you’re shortly introduced to two more. I believe I’m coming up on a story point where more party members will be joining my team, but I can’t say for certain yet! I’m only fifteen hours in and I’ve been taking my time doing every side quest and checking every corner. The characters are super well written and a lot of fun. No one feels flat and everyone feels unique. I think I’m about half way through so the story hasn’t fully unfolded yet, but I’ve been intrigued enough by the mystery and occult stuff.

Visually the game looks a lot like a PS1 or Saturn game though most of what I read centers the Saturn as inspiration. It’s a gorgeous, blocky look with sharp and colorful lighting. The sky boxes have a gorgeous dither to them that really set the atmosphere perfectly. Audibly, I can feel a certain SEGAness in the music. Some of the tracks remind me a lot of musical elements of Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast and GameCube. That’s honestly my earliest meaningful experience with SEGA games so I can’t really speak to the soundscape of Saturn games.

Another reason I took so long to start this game is I was hoping it’d go on sale. It did not. It has been worth the full price. Now time to get back to it in between checking on my Pokémon in Pokémon Pokopia.