Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Strategy RPG, Retro, Isometric, Turn-Based, High School

Way back before the largely stylish Persona and Metaphor role-playing games, Atlus had humbler beginnings in the mid-90s PlayStation gaming era with its slew of isometric and first-person view JRPGs. Specifically, the first two Persona games were presented in 2D and had turn-based battles up the wazoo, while also splicing in high school teen drama that captivated fans back then; a niche group, but still a solid mark in JRPG history because Atlus dared to be different even then.

Indie developer Necrosoft clearly loved that era of JRPGing, as its latest game Demonschool is clearly an on-the-nose tribute to that era of PS1 gaming, not to mention a few others like old-school anime and horror tropes. Thankfully, this homage comes with quality-of-life upgrades and a nifty puzzle-like turn-based strategy combat system spliced in with higher learning circulating the college setting our heroes are in.

Bad Education

You start the game as Faye, one of the few students who are selected to study in a university set on the mysterious Hemsk Island. In just a short span, you’re fighting gangsters, possessed students, and demons while juggling schoolwork and completing out-there assignments usually involved with demon summoning-related hijinxes. See, Faye comes from a long line of demon hunters, and the pals she meet along the way have connections to the spirit world trade: ass-kicking, divination, all that jazz.

Battles feature both Planning and Action phases. You choose & confirm your actions and skills in the Planning phase, then see them play out in real-time in the Action phase. You can re-do and reset the Planning phase of your turn many times as you want, but once it’s confirmed and it plays out, you cannot go back to that and have to press forward in a new turn (unless you restart the entire battle).

After School Special

The world would be better off with more indie JRPG fares like Demonschool. Straight to the point, fun and punchy turn-based combat, fun characters & narrative, defined aesthetic and look, and not long in the tooth. Even without the flairs and pizzaz of its current inspirations that up their presentation game (since they have near-infinite budgets), don’t count Demonschool out of the JRPG races; it’s a hotpot of Giallo/horror/90s anime that screams “good time”, even if you’re not a fan of the Go Nagai sideburns overabundance. Which I personally dig.

Demonschool is basically a retro Atlus JRPG entry with all of the style and substance, with a unique-yet-eye-catching premise, quirky characters, and fast-paced turn-based combat that stimulates your grey matter a bit more than usual.

Final Score: 90/100

Review copy provided by publisher.