Demonschool’s Semester Begins in 2023 on Consoles and PC

Written by Brandon Hofer on June 12, 2022

News: A new tactics RPG set in a school with an Italian horror films inspiration is headed your way next year.

Demonschool has just been shown off and is a school-life tactics RPG with hints of Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Italian horror cinema. That is quite the combination of things which means this should be a really interesting title. Demonschool will feature fast-paced, streamlined combat and will be available on pretty much every platform when it is released in 2023.

For freshman Faye, the last living heir to a long-forgotten family of demon hunters, school is nothing like it looks on the brochures. While her peers get to flirt through Freud and dabble in Dante, Faye and her new band of misfit friends get shunted toward supernatural investigations. A woman who lost her face? A summoning ritual in the cemetery? Mailer Daemons!? The underworld inches ever closer to the world of humanity.

Demonschool is a streamlined tactics game where movement equals action, decisions can be rewound, and speedy mechanics remove the genre’s traditional cruft. Plan each student’s moves at your leisure, then hit the action button and watch it all play out in devastating, character-based combos. Destin, a hot-blooded fighter, can knock foes forward into Namako’s debuffing dash, and damage dealers like Faye benefit from shrine keeper Knute’s helpful wards. Adjust strategies for monolithic bosses and unusual battlefields, bucking genre conventions. Unleash tide-turning special moves to keep the demons at bay—if they reach the back line, the human world is lost.

Each surreal encounter brings Faye and her friends closer to a dark conspiracy beyond their imagining, but thankfully, student life isn’t all bloodstained butterflies and dolls from hell. Live out an entire school semester, choosing what to study, who to befriend, and how much trust to share. Plan your team's class schedule to develop their skills and acquire over a dozen new allies through myriad side quests in a vibrant world of Giallo colors and lighting. Foster friendships or fiery romances between them all, strengthening combo attacks and elemental affinities and uncovering new endings. Explore extracurriculars in and around town with a darkly comedic cast of eccentrics.

Demonschool worships at the ritual altar of classic Italian horror films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, drenched in strange visuals and hellish grotesquery driven by a funky bassline that renders even the most horrific scenario irreverent. Its tactical battles evoke genre giants like Into the Breach, but fluid mechanics with fewer clicks and a generous planning phase make starting this class a cakewalk.

“We wanted to create a game with complete transparency while still allowing for mystery. You'll never have to guess at numbers or what does what,” said Brandon Sheffield, creative director of Necrosoft Games. “We hope the story carries you through to a positive vision for the future, and what is possible when like-minded individuals work together against a larger evil.”

Demonschool opens enrollment on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Steam Deck in 2023. Take a look at the trailer and tell us what you think. Are you interested in going back to school?