Demonschool

Devilishly moreish and hard to put down, only failed by performance snags and the absence of key quality-of-life features.

I yearn for more combat crunch, but, visually, Demonschool is deliciously excessive.

Demonschool is a lot of fun and provides a challenging, yet accessible strategic landscape. The mild horror elements pair well with the relaxed and somewhat goofy tone of the story, and the art style is well-suited to the late '90s setting.On the whole, Demonschool feels well-polished and thoughtfully constructed: a huge relief after the game's multiple delays!

Demonschool is clearly inspired by the horror hits of the early aughts, yet it produces a thrilling, inspired strategy game that stands on its own two devilish hooves.

If style and a novel approach to storytelling is what you're craving, Demonschool is worth the time commitment.

Quote not yet available

Demonschool is a surprisingly rich game for anyone who enjoys isometric RPGs with turn-based combat and a retro pixel art style. It features plenty of dialogue and battles, and it certainly doesn’t rush you through anything. Look forward to an above-average playtime, and you’ll also encounter some horror elements. If you want to take a break from the main storyline while playing, there are plenty of side activities, as well as sometimes absurd dark humor. Last but not least, the game is peppered with all sorts of pop culture references that connoisseurs are sure to appreciate. If you’re looking for something like Persona or Into the Breach and you love pixel art, you’ve come to the right place.

However, due to the game’s length (my playthrough took around 40 hours), even though I enjoyed the core foundation of combat, it does drag a bit on occasion due to the sheer number of fights you encounter. While Demonschool does give you plenty of characters and abilities to play with, as any RPG, once you settle on a team and kit them out properly, you’re gonna just use them whenever possible. The game does smartly force you to use certain characters in enough fights to force you to change your approach occasionally, which does prove to be a fun challenge especially when your party is split in certain stretches or the rare case where you’re controlling two teams in a fight, but it only does so much to keep battle fresh across 40 hours of play. It’s not a problem unique to Demonschool by any means — it’s a difficult challenge for any game that long — but it also cannot avoid it either.

Demonschool earns its diploma by blending Persona-style high-school drama with clever, tile-based battles that play more like brainteasing puzzles than traditional RPG grinds, making every fight feel like a chess match against hell itself

Demonschool is more than just another tactics RPG. It is a genre-bending lab experiment that succeeds because of its clear vision. By merging supernatural battles with university slice-of-life, it crafts an experience that’s strategic, emotional, and hilarious. The innovative combat system, witty writing, vibrant visuals, and killer soundtrack make it a standout indie release of 2025.