Book of Demons

Book of Demons

released on Dec 13, 2018

Book of Demons

released on Dec 13, 2018

Book of Demons is a deck-building hack and slash adventure, with a dark theme reminiscent of classics of the PC ARPG genre.


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This game was interesting.
Imagine Diablo 1 but with a clicker/hack 'n slash hybrid battle system, a card system which is the equivalent of skills, and a more limited area you can move in during the levels themselves.

In practice, I felt like it both worked and didn't.
As a big plus, this games has some nice QoL features - it notifies you if you missed something, meaning you can 100% a run down to the most little of things, deciding the pace of exploration and that way dividing the game into as big or bite sized of pieces as you want, and a quick exit from a level if you've collected everything, thus saving a bit of time.

The card system though, I wasn't the biggest fan of. It's random what sort of cards you'll get and I felt like having a regular RPG skill system with the possibility of branching paths would have worked better. Having to constantly go back up after finishing a level to identify a card just to end up with many extra copies that couldn't be used was annoying.

The enemy variety noticeably dries up around the half way point, making the game, even if you can still romp through it, a bit of a slog.
The last stretch of the game is also kinda weird. Levels become far smaller and more linear, enemies are numerous, and you can't escape and dodge them as much as before, making you also rely a lot more often on health potions. The sudden difficulty spikes becomes overwhelming, for lack of a better word.

An overall decent game with some interesting ideas and nice QoL features, but the lack of enemy variety in the second half and the card system brought it down in my eyes.

He dudado si recomendarlo o no, pero creo que iré a por el no. Es cierto que es bonito y tiene una serie de cartas que, sin hacer sinergias, son interesantes de usar, pero es que no es divertido. Osea, el combate consiste en poner el ratón por encima de los enemigos mientras estos te cosen a tortas y solo te puedes mover por estrechos pasillos en una dirección u otra. A más bajes, más enemigos. Lo mejor que puedes hacer es ponerte cosas para regenerar vida y tanquear, porque si pretendes esquivar, date por muerto. Combate aburrido, movimiento claramente insuficiente... Y aun así me lo he acabado con un personaje. Quería ver el final, pero lo he hecho por pura gula, el hambre se me pasó al poco de empezar. Una pena, pero creo que no puedo recomendarlo.

decent rogue like
fun for the time it lasts
which isn't much

I feel like I was scammed by this game describing itself as a hack and slash. I don't think I would want to recommend it to anyone but I respect the bold design choices.

Book off Demons is a really interesting design. Hack and slash gameplay distilled down so far that it almost resembles something else entirely. Every floor of the dungeon has a track along the floor and your character can only walk backwards and forward along that floor, and you attack by.. clicking and holding on a nearby enemy. It's almost absurd. Yet it has mechanical depth which comes from the range of spells and abilities you pick up as you progress, and the variety in the enemy design that changes exactly how you need to click on particular enemies to take them out. Combine that with general strategy both in your build and the combat, and you've got an unusual game that just works really well. On top of all that the game is conceptually very strong with a really neat visual style holding it all together. Book of Demons is well worth playing.