Demonschool

Demonschool is a turn-based tactical role-playing game (RPG) that bears some resemblance to the Persona series, Shin Megami Tensei and The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-. It combines school life with tactical combat, using a unique mechanic whereby movement equals action.

The main character is Faye, a university student who must face a supernatural threat amidst her lectures, clubs and everyday life. Players must help Faye and her misfit companions defeat monstrous creatures in the space between the human and demon worlds, all the while navigating university life on a mysterious island. While at the university, players can talk to a variety of people to deepen the story, study skills instead of using a classic level-up system, upgrade the clubhouse and build relationships with the other 14 characters. The choices players make determine who they get closer to, which can influence the game's endings.

The story is a blend of light horror, mystery and humour with coming-of-age elements. It is told through numerous side quests and distinctive character development. The style is often light-hearted, quirky and tongue-in-cheek. There are also numerous mini-games which, while not quite as sophisticated as those in Yakuza games, help to lighten up the gameplay.

In battles, the game centres on streamlined action and tactical positioning, incorporating a variety of combos and status effects. During the planning phase, players move their characters across an isometric grid. Many elements of tactical combat found in other games are simplified. For instance, rather than selecting an attack and then choosing an opponent, characters can simply run towards an opponent and the action is executed immediately. Units interact contextually with their environment. Enemies will be struck, objects will be moved, or the character will simply dash.

The team consists of up to four characters who share a pool of action points. The more points a character uses, the greater the cost of each subsequent action becomes, and the fewer points remain available. This encourages players to use all their characters rather than relying on one particularly strong one. The game also involves combos and elemental attacks that exploit enemy weaknesses.

During the planning phase, players can see how their opponents will react, enabling them to respond accordingly. They can also rewind actions during this phase. The aim is to optimise the fight before letting it run its course. After the planning phase comes the action phase, in which fights are resolved in a visually appealing manner. Fights are fast and intuitive, relying on clever combinations of the characters' different abilities. There is also an element of puzzle-solving, with quite a few fights to be fought.

“Demonschool wears its influences on its sleeve - the lighting and colors are influenced by vintage Italian horror, and the avatars are influenced by manga and illustration horror giants like Suehiro Maruo. We started from those visual touchstones while abiding by certain specific visual and hardware constraints in order to achieve a cohesive look and feel. Essentially, we conceptualized a fictional game console, and stuck to its hardware "rules" when making this game.” - Necrosoft Games

Demonschool was developed by Necrosoft Games, which is based in Oakland, California, but has members all over the world. The studio was founded on 10 October 2012 by Brandon Sheffield, who had previously worked in journalism.

Shortly after its foundation, Necrosoft Games signed a contract with Sony for PlayStation Mobile, releasing the games Gunhouse and Oh, Deer! there. The company later participated in a Microsoft Mobile programme, ported Gunhouse to Windows Phone and was selected for Google's inaugural indie game festival. It also experimented with various platforms, many of which were discontinued. In the meantime, the studio released Gunhouse on almost every platform, brought Oh, Deer! to PC and finally released the arcade game Gunsport on Stadia. In 2022, Hyper Gunsport was released as a "Super Turbo" sequel to the original Gunsport. The team then started working on Demonschool, with the original aim of releasing it in 2023. A total of ten people worked on the title.

The publisher is Ysbryd Games, founded in 2014, which has offices in the UK and Singapore. The company specialises in supporting indie developers, providing services ranging from funding and quality assurance to workflow optimisation, marketing and distribution. Notable titles published by Ysbryd Games include VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action and World of Horror.

Demonschool was released on 19 November 2025 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, as well as for PC. The game was originally scheduled for release on 3 September 2025. However, when the release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced, the publisher responded by postponing Demonschool, citing the following reasons, among others: “We have to remind ourselves that gaining visibility for Demonschool is our main goal. Thus, the Ysbryd team strongly believes we would not be doing Demonschool any favors by wading into waters we can clearly see are blood red. If the September period is going to be Silksong's moment, then we need to be elsewhere on the calendar to give Demonschool its own moment to be seen and talked about meaningfully.”

Conclusion

Demonschool impresses with its style, its clever tactical combat system, and its charismatic cast. With a little more refinement, this already strong game could be even better.

Features

• Innovative, fast-paced tactical combat system
• Stylish, charming presentation with a mix of horror, humour, and coming-of-age story
• Versatile gameplay, also thanks to mini-games and the relationship system