HELLISHLY GOOD

DEMONSCHOOL is difficult to put down

- Mollie Taylor

Inside me there are two wolves - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Persona - so it’s hard for me to resist howling when ’90s high schoolers kick demon tail in between quizzes and making out with each other. The way Demonschool weaves apocalyptic vibes with tactics-based combat brought out the beast.

Faye's a self-proclaimed demon hunter on her way to enrol in a school on the mysterious Hemsk Island. Why? Because the apocalypse is coming and the island promises to be a veritable hub of demon activity. Which it is.

Demonschool operates on an explore-talk-fight loop: main story quests advance the day, with each segment broken up by a fight. Each new day brings new NPCs to talk to, or party members begging for karaoke to advance their friendship (aka future makeout prospect) meter.

Island exploration does a ton for worldbuilding, sprinkling in juicy lore; a man who remembers an ever-decreasing number of his children, or a shrine that gets chattier the more I visit.