World Of Demons Game Review
From one samurai game to another, here I am again with another interesting title. If you can’t get enough of heroes with swords, and the Japanese Ink Art kind of graphics, you may want to try this game for a change.
First, the official introduction to World of Demons:
The award-winning Japanese developer PlatinumGames presents a new exciting combat action World of Demons.
Known for action games for consoles and PC, including the Bayonetta series, PlatinumGames invites players to immerse themselves in the fantastic and diverse world of yokai – supernatural creatures and spirits from Japanese folklore.
You have to become a samurai leading an army of youkai comrades-in-arms to victory over evil. The game is set in beautiful landscapes in the style of traditional Japanese art and ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Along the way, you’ll meet samurai allies and a variety of yokai with unique skills and combos. As you expand your arsenal of combat skills, you will defeat the enemies that get in your way and eventually face the fearsome Shuten-Doji, the lord of all oni demons.
Sharpen your blade as the tale of the samurai is about to begin!
PlatinumGames Inc is a Japanese game developer based in Osaka, Japan. My experience with Japanese (at least those that made it into the English version) are either based on a popular anime franchise (Example, Gundam Breaker 3), or cultural driven themes. And based more info about this game, it seems that some point it was suspended as PlatinumGames wanted to “start from scratch” and rebuild the game from ground up since announced in 2018 as a free to play mobile game. Too bad now you’d need an Apple Arcade subscription to play it, and at time of writing it is not available on any other platforms other than Apple.
World of Demons was released on April 2, 2021, and in case you are wondering why you have not heard of this game before, it’s probably because not many gamers were keen on talking about it. On their website, they published specific guideline for streamers and content creators that want to feature this game on their channels that could have scared off many casual gamers from doing an independent review of it with the fear of being at the wrong end of copyright law. We have seen this happen with Nintendo Titles in particular, so it is not strange for the average gamer to be cautious about it.
Or it could just simply be an issue of timing, as it was launched during the height of the pandemic with very little room for entertainment news. But I am happy to at least talk about it and give a well deserves playthrough at least.
Jump To The Juicy Bits:
- Story
- Gameplay
- Graphics
- Sound and Music
- Summary
- Watch Me Play World Of Demons Apple Arcade Game
- More Information About World Of Demons
- Is World Of Demons free?
- Can You Play World Of Demons on PC?
- Can I Play World Of Demons With A Controller?
- How Do I Get That Treasure Behind The Large Boulders?
- How Do I Get That Treasure On Top Of That High Archway?
- How Do I Upgrade My Yokais? They Are Pretty Weak.
- I Need a List of Yokai Merge Art Combinations.
Story
The introduction story sequence has a very “Once Upon a Time” StoryBook telling style that makes it endearing and sets the tone quite nicely.
So in World of Demons, you go through the story of Onimaru on his path of revenge against the King Of Oni for some reason (this is the part where I’m still playing to get the full story) but along the way you’ll probably meet up 3 others who will join you on your search for clues on where to find him.
Without giving too much away, our in-game character heroes find themselves somehow linked to the world of Oni and Yokai whether consciously or unconsciously, while they seek revenge and truth of their circumstances. As each new character is introduced in separate game chapters, it is easy to invest a bit more in the character itself through the character conversations.
It’s been a while since a game of this genre actually takes effort in using storytelling to encourage players to at least finish the story chapters. As I managed to playthrough World of Demons’ Chapters 1-3 so far, the funny quips and moments between our heroes and yokai’s were too many to count, and each brings a different perspective to how aspects of Japanese culture sees Yokai as protectors, benefactors, or symbols of peace and fertility.
Script writing of each NPC has been so far quite enjoyable and made me laugh as sometimes the humor can be quite crude (the eyeball monster tops the joke so far for me).
Gameplay
In World of Demons, game play is split into Chapters or Story Areas, followed by subquests to either introduce you to new ways to beat the level, or challenges that test your skills and yokai creature command. It’s pretty fun to play and you can use it to test different strategies.
Although it has a “rock paper and scissors” style when choosing Weapons and Minions to travel with you. Each level has a distinct type of demons that you have to face, and choosing the right weapon and yokai companion is key to passing the Area.
Playing with Element Advantages is always a good strategy as you can focus on spending Yokai Gems and Money earned from the levels on the right upgrades early on.
Of course, as you unlock more Samurais to help you in your quest in World of Demons, you can level them up the more you use them in the game. By getting more experience and unlocking more of the story, you will be bestowed with skills that can greatly enhance your combat skills.
Not just that, everytime you beat an area in the World of Demons, you’ll have a chance to recruit some yokai companions. In terms of linearity in the game, you may get a fixed set and type of yokai in each area to defeat, but the yokai skills you may end up collecting and use in a battle may change in sequence. Although this is not exactly roguelike, the variation does keep every replay of the area interesting.
Wanyudo (wheel demon) has been my favorite so far as it is more of a “single path charge ahead” fire burn attack that works quite well for crowd control. The Karakasa (umbrella demon) is more of a shooter style and perfect for single targets. There are also Yokai that has support effects that boost your attack or heal, but you have to experiment a bit to get the best match to your play style.
The minions you bring in game can perform Merge Arts, and depending on the combination it can create a very unique battle synergy against the stronger demons that you encounter. My personal favorite is the Santaro + Water Kappa combination and its really cool when you see them in action.
In terms of level design in World of Demons, everything takes place on a map with areas of “confrontation” with demons, and sometimes if you are lucky you’ll find treasures littered around. There are also special puzzles that require a specific type of yokai element to unlock, so don’t be surprised that you might want to revisit an area just to get 100% completion.
To all my completionist friends out there, I know how you feel when you bring the wrong type of yokai and it happens a lot especially the first time you explore a new area.
I love hidden areas as sometimes it is locked behind a barrier that requires you to unlock with keys that are only dropped by very strong monsters. And that fortune cat demon (a Calico) loves to drop useful materials for your upgrades (if you are fast enough to beat them).
The Gilded Cave is something like a Bonus Area where you can speed up the collection of certain materials but it requires Soulstones to unlock. You can get Soulstones either by completing in game trophies or complete subquest trials. And guess what, you can also reset the trials and earn them again if you managed to reach a high enough level. So this sort of enhances a bit more of replay for those of you who would want to max out your character / weapon levels.
Control wise, in World of Demons, although most of the time movement keys are the standard WASD buttons, you’ll find that there are instances where certain minion skills allow you to use the same keys to “fine tune” your targeting. Optionally, if you are planning to use a Dualshock 3 Controller to play the game, you’ll need to install a fix on your Mac.
Graphics
The graphics in World of Demons are reminiscent of Okami (Wii) and Muramasa The Demon Blade (Wii), with a striking traditional Japanese art style with visually stunning environments, characters and yokai designs. That’s what got me hooked and curious as to how the game plays out for real.
Every cut from your character creates that little rush of accomplishment and minimal blood is spilled in this one, despite being samurai themed. However, do take note that depending on your visual preference, some scenes depicting hell can be a little extreme for kiddos (don’t worry it’s just plenty of red lava, skulls and fire), and since you’d have to deal with weird demons in game, it’s part of the package!
The visuals bring to life many elements from Japanese mythology in an immersive way, and coupled with very good storytelling and dialogue makes it a joy to read and voiceover myself too! I love doing voice overs for this one as I make my game recordings.
And I have to say it would really look good on a bigger screen like a Living Room TV, as the art style is pretty attention grabbing and pops up more due to the slightly darker color palette.
Do remember to check out the Yokai Compendium as it has all the Yokai you have unlocked in game. It reminds me of the sticker books we had when I was young, but of course you get access to the 3D model and the artwork view of your favorite demons in World Of Demons.
Sound and Music
Sound effects were made with a clever combination of japanese instruments and flipping page effects which made it feel so much more storybook like in the overall sense of the game.
The World of Demons In Game Music quality is really exceptionally good for an Arcade game, and it is written and composed by Naofumi Harada / Hiroshi Yamaguchi. You might detect familiarity to its traditional Japanese music roots as Yamaguchi also written the music for 2006’s Okami, followed by Bayonetta, Anarchy Reigns and Star Fox Zero.
You can even listen to the World Of Demons Soundtrack on Spotify if you are away from the game.
A good quality soundtrack does take the attention away from World of Demon’s repetitive level structure. And considered quite lavish (for a mobile game standard) to have such quality background music. In fact sometimes I’d leave it playing just to enjoy the tunes while I work and come back to it during my in between short breaks.
Summary
Initially during the first 30 minutes of play it sure doesn’t feel like a mobile game, but it does slowly sink in as you can feel the difference in level difficulty and you’ll eventually need to grind a little for some Yokai Gems and Money for upgrades.
I haven’t personally finished World of Demons story mode yet, however from how I see it the subquests functions as the “replayability” hook that might convince you to come back and play (and your Samurai’s can be leveled up until Level 50).
But for now, I am quite entertained by the relatively good storytelling, the Samurai Heroes & Yokai banter that at the very least invested in completing the game at some point. Stay tuned to my YouTube Channel I’ll be recording my progress there for sure.
If you are keen on another game similar in art style like Okami or Muramasa The Demon Blade, give this game a try, you’ll be pleased by the visuals and music at the very least.
Download it from Apple App Store
Official Website: https://www.platinumgames.com/games/world-of-demons
Watch Me Play World Of Demons Apple Arcade Game
More Information About World Of Demons
(This section may contain spoilers, read it at your own risk)
Is World Of Demons free?
No, World of Demons is available only on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV through Apple Arcade. Monthly subscription is $4.99/month.
Can You Play World Of Demons on PC?
No, this app is available only on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.
Can I Play World Of Demons With A Controller?
Yes you can. And if you are like who wants to try to use a DualShock 3 Controller with a Mac, you’ll probably need to install this fix to get it running nicely on World of Demons.
https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/files/7524025/ds3activate.zip
How Do I Get That Treasure Behind The Large Boulders?
Use a Yokai that has explosion ability, or you can use Samurai Dohzen in World of Demons to smash the boulders with his Mace.
How Do I Get That Treasure On Top Of That High Archway?
Use a Yokai that has wind ability. Activate it and point to the treasure, you’ll be able to get it if it hits.
How Do I Upgrade My Yokais? They Are Pretty Weak.
You can play the Gilded Cave mode to get more money, or unlock more Trophies for more Yokai Gems. You might also want to see whether they have any Merge Arts with another Yokai as upgrading them individually can get quite expensive and you’ll probably need to choose carefully your best combination.
I Need a List of Yokai Merge Art Combinations.
(Me Too!)
I found this list on reddit. Feel free to experiment it on World of Demons.
