Demeo is a fast-paced multiplayer adventure with tabletop themes, providing players with a challenging combat experience requiring excellent strategy.
Demoo: PC Edition is a multiplayer fighting game built around tabletop elements similar to Dungeons & Dragons. Developed and published by Resolution Games, players can create a party of up to four characters, select classes, and battle through a multi-tiered dungeon using special abilities and melee attacks. Although the game is perfect for those who like to explore dungeons, Demoo currently lacks the narrative elements that appeal to many when joining tabletop-style PC games. However, short matches are perfect for those who don’t have time for a traditional match. J&D campaign.
Currently, players can choose between three campaigns in Demoo, with plans for more campaigns to be released in the coming months. Each match is made up of three levels, including two dungeon puzzles and a boss level, and lasts about two hours. To progress through dungeons, players take turns performing movement, attack, item, and spell actions. The game board uses mechanics familiar to tabletop players like move distance, attack range, and terrain bonuses and penalties. These mechanics affect classes differently, making each element a critical factor when planning turns.
Currently, there are five classes that players can select when setting up a game in Demoo. Hunter and Wizard both offer ranged attacks, while Guardian is good for close combat. The Bard and Assassin are versatile for ranged and close attacks, but are less likely to survive heavy blows. As in a Dungeons & Dragons game, players will want to select a good skill balance when choosing classes, as poor party composition can create frustrating challenges once the campaign kicks off. All classes have 10 health, with the main difference between each option being special attacks and skill cards.
One of the most important mechanisms of Demoo is the ability players gain by opening chests, filling the card gauge, or buying cards between levels with coins. Depending on the selected class, players will have access to specific options. While most cards will be discarded after use, some classes will have a reusable card that can be used once per turn. For example, wizards have a “spell slot” similar to Dungeons & Dragons Wizards which allows them to use a ranged spell each turn. While some cards will require an action to use, others like potions are considered a “bonus action”, and will not penalize players who need to heal but also want to move or attack an enemy. However, card draw rates can be inconsistent, making access to important abilities largely based on chance.
As the progression through each of Demeo’s Campaign levels are challenging and encourage teamwork between party members, there are a few issues with combat that can make gameplay difficult. While the first dungeon is often filled with medium-difficulty enemies, those challenge ratings increase dramatically in the second dungeon and boss levels. While to be expected, player characters do not receive buffs to help balance increased attack damage and enemy health. The final boss often has around 50 health, while player characters stay at 10 health and have limited resources to heal themselves. A system that adds five hit points to each character for each level completed would balance the difficulty level and make boss fights more enjoyable.
Demoo also fights bugs when players move their character game piece or roll the game’s large dice to hit enemies. Like rolling a D20 in Dungeons & Dragons, players will roll a dice after using a card skill or melee attack. The die has a single sword for a normal hit, two swords for a critical hit, and a skull for a miss. However, the roll can often feel unclear when it lands on the board, with double swords registering as a miss instead of a critical hit. Additionally, the ratio of hits to misses seems inconsistent, with players getting more misses than hits at certain levels. Another issue affects players when moving character pieces onto objects such as chests or health fountains, where the piece falls on a tile on either side, wasting a player’s action.
While Demoo is a great choice for those who enjoy cooperative combat, multiplayer dungeon crawls, and J&D-Inspired settings, this game may not be the best choice for those who love storytelling and custom characters. Currently, Demooit is campaigns don’t contain an overarching story, which can make many sessions feel repetitive. Players are also unable to customize their characters, which makes adventures less personal and immersive. Because those who play J&D often get attached to their characters and the story they unfold, this could be a setback for fans of role-playing games and lore-based plots. Despite this, Demoo is perfect for scratching a dungeon itch and is great for those who want to connect with friends in a tabletop setting, but don’t have time for a full campaign. With fixes to fix issues and balance difficulty, Demoo will be a great option for anyone who wants to experience a short action-packed adventure with friends.
Demeo: PC Edition releases for PC via Steam on April 7, 2022. Screen Rant received a Stream PC code for the purposes of this review.
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