Book of Demons Review

Every time you load up Book of Demons, you’re greeted with an opening cinematic introducing Return 2 Games, billed by the developers as a series of ‘original mid-core titles, inspired by the early golden days of PC gaming’. Book of Demons is the first entry in this series, and it certainly brings a unique spin on the action RPG genre. As the first taste of what Return 2 Games has to offer though, I can’t say I’m particularly interested in what’s to come.

Book of Demons really wears its inspiration on its sleeve, copying most of Diablo’s story and setting. The Archdemon and his army are trying to free themselves from their prison below an old cathedral. To slay him, you must go through many floors of demons, fighting the occasional Diablo ‘inspired’ boss along the way. Frankly, most of what is here is just a watered-down retelling of Blizzard’s classic ARPG, coming across as a rip-off rather than just a tribute.



It’s odd that the developers decided to so blatantly copy another game’s story, as its gameplay is unlike any other ARPG out there. Book of Demons aims to simplify many aspects of the genre, in an attempt to make it more accessible to newcomers. This is evident right from the get go, as you roam through the first floor of the dungeon. For starters, instead of being able to freely explore in all directions, movement is restricted by pathways. You choose which way to go at crossroads, but for the most part you’ll just be slowly walking along towards the next encounter.

You’re at least given a little more freedom when it comes to attacking enemies. Basic attacks are done by clicking on an enemy, and certain enemies have shields that must be destroyed first by clicking on a separate shield icon. Some skills can also be interrupted by holding down left click on their casting circles. As you can probably tell, the left mouse button is used for many things in Book of Demons, so the fact that you can hold down the mouse for certain actions instead is appreciated.



Aside from the constant clicking, you’ll also be using a variety of items and skills. These take the form of cards that you can find throughout the dungeon, and can only be used when added to your deck. Rather than being a proper deck building system like in actual card games, in Book of Demons it’s mostly just for show. Think of the deck as a hotbar, where instead of only equipping skills and potions, you also place your equipment. Accessories, armour, skills and items all take up the same slots in your deck, so you must strike a balance between each type of card.

While this system does allow for a different take on the typical loot grind of other ARPGs, it comes with a major downside: a lack of interesting gear. There’s only a limited number of cards, even if you take into account the different rarities of each one. There’s never the same sense of satisfaction that comes from finding a unique weapon or armour piece like in other games. Even the legendary versions of cards end up being boring for how rare they are, offering only minor differences from their lower tier counterparts.

On top of this, the moment to moment gameplay of Book of Demons is just not very interesting. The aforementioned limited movement makes exploration clunky, especially when you’re being attacked from a hard to reach location. It doesn’t help that many enemies have projectiles that are awkward to dodge on the linear pathways, leading to a sense of frustration early on until you gain cards that can help you jump or teleport around.

In general, the attempt to simplify this style of gameplay only ends up making things less understandable when the game gets more chaotic later on. When a swarm of enemies are approaching you, trying to target the right one is cumbersome. If you take into account the shield mechanic, fire and ice enemies, poison enemies that explode on death, and a bunch of other enemy types and gimmicks, what was initially a simple ARPG becomes a slow, unintuitive mess.

Even Book of Demons’ papercraft art style holds back gameplay. Characters and enemies have limited animations, so it can often be hard to tell why you’re taking damage from enemies. It also has the knock-on effect of making your own attacks feel weak in comparison to the flashy combat of most other ARPGs. This is especially true of the warrior, whose melee focused gameplay doesn’t mesh well with the visual style the game is going for.