PAX East 2023:Hands-On With Demonschool

At PAX East this year I was able to schedule an appointment to get hands on time at the Ysbryd Games booth to see their upcoming game, Demonschool. Demonschool is a game that has tactical elements as well as RPG elements. It also allows the player to go to school and attempt to perform sidequests/missions. That being said, there are plenty of locations to explore so make sure you check out everything.As I mentioned earlier, the game has tactical elements in the battles but they are streamlined. What I mean by that is the action portion of battles is sped up. You will have four party members in battle and you can move them all/attack with them all in the same phase. Setting up your attack is simple and then all you need to do is press the action button to start. If you make a mistake, you can rewind the turn and set things up again; this time the way you want to.

Faye and her friends will come across all kinds of paranormal activity at their school. You might just get that advantage in battle by checking out a side quest so make sure you check things out thoroughly. You can also get closer to your friends and those relationships could benefit you in the long run.Our party fought a giant skeleton monster during the demo and it was pretty challenging. It was tough to figure out how to set up a strategy that would allow our team to win. You can set up combo attacks when you have two party members in the same area and these combo attacks are pretty strong. You also have special attacks in your arsenal and those are pretty strong as well. Each party member has a different special attack so figure out which ones are better. You’ll be able to attack with all four special attacks on the same turn if their gages are full but just remember to activate it.

Different battles might have different victory conditions. During the demo, after you defeat the skeleton monster, all you had to do was get one party member to the victory tile. At the end of a tough battle, you might only have one character left and hopefully, you’ll be able to achieve the victory condition.The combat system will take a little getting used to as there are aspects that are different from other tactical strategy games. You have an AP gage that tells you how many times you can do something during your turn. You can move or attack during your turn but sidestepping won’t cost AP. Figuring out which spots are free will help you survive in battle.

Different party members have different abilities that will come in handy during tough battles. Knute is the healer so you’ll want to keep him alive. Destin, the jock meathead, can push enemies forward and Namako can dash into things to debuff them.

Just because it’s a demonschool doesn’t mean you can’t live your best life at school. Make friends with whoever you want, go on side quests to gain new allies or strengthen the bonds you already have. Friendships and love will go a long way in battle so you will definitely want to pursue relationships. The game has an interesting art style as well that looks to combine old school NES in battle with anime for cut scenes and school life.

Now every year I get to stop by the Ysbryd Games booth I ask one important question. That question is “when is N1RV Ann-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action coming out?” For another year, the answer to that question was basically when it’s ready. I have been waiting for N1RV Ann-A ever since I played it at PAX East quite some time ago. Fingers crossed that N1RV Ann-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action will come out soon but until then Demonschool should be enough to tide us over.

©Ysbryd Games/Necrosoft Games