The Dark Eye Demonicon Review

The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a fantasy-themed role-playing game for the Microsoft Windows, and is published by Kalypso Media and developed in-house by Noumena Studios.The game features the original ruleset and game world of The Dark Eye series.

The German RPG, “The Dark Eye” is popular, it even has more games sold than Dungeons & Dragons. There’s an abundance of lore to pull from, and in the intro cinematic for the game does nothing but douse you in it, hoping you’ll soak it in like a sponge. But does this cult-hit translate well for Demonicon to be a popular RPG franchise? Almost.

The Wonderful 101 received generally positive reviews, but failed to meet sales expectations. In February 2020, PlatinumGames announced a remastered version for Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4, financed through crowdfunding, with a planned release in May 2020. The wonderful 101 sales tax.

Demonicon starts off promising, as it dumps you, Cairon, into a dark, cavernous dungeon with deathly traps laid out, hellish creatures that wish to kill you, and your sister, Calandra’s life at stake. You start out with basic sword and no abilities, and over the course of the first hour, mechanics and abilities unlock, giving you a subtle tutorial that help ease you into the world you’ve so quickly entered.

As you kill monsters, you’ll earn AP, which are Adventure Points. Collect enough, and you’ll be able to purchase traits. It’s certainly a change from earning XP and then knowing you’ve earned a level where you must spent a skill point. It doesn’t take long to get used to the changes. You’ll be awarded Gifts (GP) to put towards talents for your ice blast and other powers as you earn them or purchase them. Regardless of how it all works, it’s still very much an RPG and your progression will have you grow stronger and powerful.

Attacks are initially fast, but once you make contact, it slows down for flair, but when chaining melee attacks, feels slow and laborious as everything appears to be moving at half-speed. It would be better if every final hit slowed down for effect.

Combat is fluid and gives you a combo counter, requiring a lot of rolling in order to dodge attacks to maintain your health. But the combo earns essence which can be used to cast magic. Combos also keep you from death. And after several hours of gameplay, you begin to feel yourself improve both as a player and by enhancing your character to levels of badassery.

Hard choices befall Cairon pretty often, and the consequences of either action rarely have a good outcome that you can be satisfied with. But these are your choices, and must live with them. It gives cause to replay the game and make difference choices. The story takes many twists and turns, with an early choice to pursue an incestuous relationship with your sister or not.

The save system, for an RPG leaves a lot to be desired. There are only checkpoints to rely on. Die in a lengthy battle, or by a surprise trap, you could be reset as much as 10 minutes back. It’s an inconveniance, but isn’t a total letdown, but more control in when and where you choose to save should be left to the player.

The story’s CGI and storybook cinematics are the star of the show. Telling a wonderful tale and pretty good voice acting to accompany it. Whereas the in-game dialogue is stilted and character animations are stiff with weak writing and voice acting to go along with it.

The game’s artistic design provides lavish locations, but are brought down by a drab color palette. The way a pure white spotlight casts onto the area when using blood magic gives a look of divine intervention, despite the nether-influences of these powers. Demonicon holds a steady 60fps framerate quite easily and never dips.

Demonicon has a lot of potential, drawing from The Dark Eye leaves room for sequels and improvements on the core mechanics that makes this title standout. As it stands as a solitary title, cannot be recommended at full price. It’s far from broken, in fact it works and plays well, but it isn’t a very polished game. Over the course of 20+ hours, it definitely gets its hooks into you, but those hooks tend to get annoying and you’ll want to be done before you see the credits roll.

A Steam code was provided by PR for review purposes

'Demonicon looks like a solid Western-style RPG with plenty of content and a focus on the single player experience, which is appreciated in an age of multiplayer.' From Kalypso comes a third person action RPG in the narrative tradition of BioWare's latest titles. The single-player game is based on the 'Dark Eye' pen-and-paper universe popular in Europe. Demonicon takes place on one continent from the Dark Eye realm, a place infested with demons, plague, and all manner of noxious happenings, making human life difficult and harrowing. The street-smart Cairon is one such human, and his life is about to become even more difficult when a demonic power awakens within him and his beloved sister. Unfortunately, Demonicon wasn't playable at this year's E3, as the build was still very early and unfinished, but we were able to see some gameplay. This is a story-centric RPG with everything one has come to expect from Western developed RPGs.

Levels branch away from a central hub town full of talkative NPCs and shops, and each level offers some mix of combat, exploration, and story development. The protagonist earns experience with every kill and uses it to obtain new weapon skills and magic abilities.

Kalypso has taken a simple approach to combat, removing flourishes and slowly-filling bars with an emphasis on fluid chains of attacks. Careful timing of blows balanced with parries, blocks, and magic demon skills rewards players with more experience and higher damage. Cairon becomes increasingly demonic as the game progresses, and this will be reflected in both skills and appearance. The most impressive aspect of Demonicon discussed at the show must be the degree of choice and consequence in the narrative.

We were given an extended example of one such decision, and the repercussions of this one choice were comprehensive. The decision involved a cannibal bound to 20 hostages by sinister blood magic. Killing the bastard might seem the obvious answer, but not when he takes his hostages with him into the underworld should he perish. Releasing the cannibal saves civilians, but allows him to continue his heinous crimes.

Missing persons posters appear throughout the hub town as a result, and I imagine there are rewards for saving the innocent lives. We were shown the other path, however, and the results were impressive. Shrines of mourning dotted the hub town for those lost in the tragedy, and the cannibal himself rotted away in the town square, displayed for all to gawk at. The death of 20 citizens didn't go unnoticed, however, and angry widows chastised Cairon for his choice. We were told the harassment goes even farther later, when Cairon discovers a dead cat nailed to his door. The extent of consequences is exciting, and Kalypso promises plenty of tough choices as well, many in that morally ambiguous area being championed in recent RPGs.

Demonicon looks like a solid Western-style RPG with plenty of content and a focus on the single player experience, which is appreciated in an age of multiplayer. Those looking for another action filled, choice-driven Western RPG should keep a dark eye open for updates.© 2012 Kalypso Media Group, Noumena Studios. All rights reserved. © 1998—2020 RPGFan Media, LLC.