Video Games

Demeo Review – IGN

The pen and paper game is a bit like Murphy’s Law. When young enthusiasts reach an age where they can fully comprehend the intricate rules of Dungeons & Dragons and other equally complex tabletop RPGs like Cyberpunk 2020, age and wit rarely replace games. It is inevitable. With a busy work schedule and a busy personal life, staying consistent with RPGs can be a challenge. In stark contrast, Demeo captures many of his D&D’s most enjoyable conventions (strategic turn-based combat, deep character classes, a massive animal tale of goblins and ghouls, etc.) and becomes instantly captivating. narrowing them down to a condensed digital format. The result is an infinitely replayable, widely accessible, easy-to-learn (but hard-to-master) tabletop that’s equally comfortable on VR headsets like the new PlayStation VR2 and the portable Meta Quest 2. The game inspired by is complete. Just like any other gaming PC.

Up to 4 players can join the same session at any given time. It spans many VR and non-VR platforms (Nintendo Switch and Xbox are notable) thanks to its wide cross-play support, and apart from a few bugs like characters getting stuck in geometry, Worst case is refusal to move, but it’s all pretty seamless. And when things don’t go your way, Demeo’s versatility allows you to take on up to four strangers online in Quickplay mode, gather established tabletop companions in private rooms, or skirmish mode.

Five visually diverse campaigns are divided into three floors each, each with a final quest until you face area bosses such as the eerie Elf Queen and the deadly Serpent King on the third and final floor. It’s getting harder than stuff. For convenience, it may take him about 30 minutes to an hour to complete each floor. one piece.

It all takes place on a simulated game board with miniatures and tile-based terrain that evokes the feeling of playing a game within a game. You’re influencing a fantasy setting instead of moving entirely to a fantasy setting. For this purpose, DeMeo’s basement kitsch works particularly well.

It feels like you are relaxing and playing at a friend’s house.


It doesn’t have a complicated storyline, but each campaign comes with an interactive pamphlet that tells you about area bosses, different monster types (with their strengths and weaknesses), and some general explanations of what’s going on. Learn more about storytelling tips. That Demeo always sticks to its most basic basics, like his one-off pen-and-paper campaigns you might find in a game store (or in the depths of an internet forum) , and not needing a human is great. The Dungeon Master who runs the show.

The gameplay may look like an isometric CRPG like Divinity: Original Sin 2 or Baldur’s Gate from a distance, but don’t get confused. Thanks to the intelligent monster AI, numerous status-altering spells, movement-deterring group attacks, and smart use of chokepoints keep players on alert at all times. This is much more of a tactical board game than an RPG.

Each of the seven playable classes consists of a dynamic, ever-rotating set of powerful abilities unlocked by randomly generated decks of cards. Defeating monsters gradually refills his card meter until a new card is drawn, but it’s slow enough to make you wonder when to unleash your best abilities. However, it’s a little disappointing that each character you can use in your party is completely pre-made with a name and everything. is. This means that your character doesn’t make permanent progress through a series of extended series of quests and adventures.

You and others can drop right into an ongoing session and pick a character.


This may seem like an oversimplification, but the main benefit is that you or someone else can quickly drop by an ongoing session to pick up a character and… that’s it. You don’t need to know the rules to play, the rest is up to your combination of skill, strategy and destiny. Like its tabletop counterpart, Demeo is governed by a dice-rolling system, but is more compact and has three potential outcomes. Attacks or spells work as intended when the dice hit her one sword, and critical hits occur when the dice hit. May hit teammates with two swords or when you miss and land on the skull.

Things are kept clean by the fact that each character gets two action points per round. Unleashing a unique ability usually requires 1 Action Point. But it’s nice that some cards like Health His potions are treated like free actions that don’t use any points at all. Demeo’s initiative system is also very simple. Monsters and players move in alternating rounds, and you can comfortably view everyone’s movement order on your right wrist in VR. It’s also smooth to pick up the character and place it wherever you want when moving or attacking, and the card deck system is stylishly represented by a literal deck held in the left hand. It’s cool that you can use any ability in your deck by grabbing a card and dropping it on the map.

Each campaign is themed with different creatures with different tactics, but DeMeo’s monster encounters are consistently challenging without being overwhelmed right away, and the tense, turn-based combat is the perfect match for any campaign. It tends to be unpredictable even when played in. It deals 3 points of damage, but combat often tilts in favor of the Dungeon Master’s minions over the player. But given that it takes him at most three hours to complete each campaign from beginning to end, losing is no big deal. Even if your party is wiped out before you beat the final boss, it’s a nice consolation prize to get at least a little bit of progress XP at the end of the floor.

It’s no big deal if you lose.


You can save at the end of the floor (while talking to the card merchant) if you get bored or distracted, but it’s frustrating not being able to save in the middle of the floor if reality calls in the middle. , if you forget to save before exiting in the middle of the game, you will lose all experience gained for account progression if you simply die. This makes sense as an incentive to keep people from quitting in the middle of an online session, but I didn’t see and feel where things were going in the single player skirmish mode. He missed too many opportunities to earn XP. It’s like finding your way out of danger at the last minute or waiting for your party to be wiped out.

That said, Demeo’s satisfyingly asymmetric combat encounters can feel like a tug-of-war during tense moments. You can often stay tight enough to think carefully about each move, but there are some odd cards and if you have the patience and creativity to figure something out, the options are endless. is never completely left out. Demeo’s rich interaction between classes only shines when the odds are highest against your party, a level of nuance rarely seen in true RPGs. there is.

For example, Barbarians have a grappling hook that can be used once per round, allowing them to quickly move to distant tiles, bring enemies closer, and capture elemental traps (such as exploding oil pots) as projectiles. You can use his next turn. This is a party of four barbarians that can move quickly across the map in groups, attacking enemies with wave after wave of elemental traps, including poison and fire traps that extend each other’s effectiveness, and quickly It means leaving together. This is a significantly different strategy than what a party containing 1 nimble barbarian, 1 dastardly assassin, 1 tanky guardian, and 1 courageous bard can sustain, with each class having its own set of skills. , creating a range of strategic possibilities.

In VR, you have very fine control over your camera.


Admittedly, the camera can be a little finicky. This was especially true when he approached Demeo from outside his VR headset on both PS5 and Windows. The map geometry often obscured important details, and navigating the map wasn’t as intuitive as I’d hoped. Grabbing the world with both hands and stretching and rotating it to get a closer look at the board always felt natural, but it always felt like I was moving it and changing the angle. You can also zoom in on the board if you want to see the miniatures up close. I also appreciate the level of detail that developer Resolution Games has placed in his Demeo’s colorful zones (such as the desert village of Izteria), and while standing directly inside them in VR, everything is Retained.

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