Demon Gaze: Oops, I'm in love again

Aaah, dungeon crawlers sweet. Every time I get roughed up by a game too handholding and patronizing for my taste, I can run back to you and luxuriate in the gaming freedom I so crave. Praise all dungeon crawlers!

That being said, I've not been running that often to first-person dungeon crawlers, since Demon Gaze is only the second of them I'm playing. The first was Class of Heroes on the PSP; and although I'm forever grateful to that game for having introduced me to that new favourite subgenre of mine and had a decent amount of fun with it, it cannot hold a candle to the awesomeness of Demon Gaze.

So, where to start? Maybe with the specs of my run: I've been playing for roughly ten hours now, ten hours so engrossing that they feel like two hours at most. I've captured four demons so far, namely Comet, Mars, Chronos and Hermes, and I am well on my way to capture my fifth. And last but not least, I'm playing Solo. You didn't expect less from me, did you?

I'm glad to be able to say that Demon Gaze is a game that totally lived up to my expectations, and even gloriously exceeded them. And that's saying something, because for some reason, I had sky-high expectations regarding that game before playing it, as well as very positive feelings towards it. The only thing I was really not fond of was the appearance of the main character, with his odd eye and "look-how-edgy-and-tenebrous-I-am" looks; although these attributes are justified by the storyline, they were a little too cliché for my taste. But the game pleasantly surprised me by allowing me to choose between no less than 45 character models for my main character, males as well as females. Because indeed, should your thirst for fan-service be unquenchable, you can choose a female avatar—even though your main character is supposed to be male and always referred to as such. Even more peculiar, you can switch avatars whenever you want during your playthrough, should you get bored of staring constantly at the same non-animated character model. Oh, well. We've seen weirder premises in Japanese games, I guess.

Since I'm mentioning fan-service, it's worth noting that despite having been marketed as a fan-servicy proposition, Demon Gaze is quite tame when it comes to actual fan-servicy content. There is surprisingly little eye-candy to oggle at: sure, everybody is showing a fair amount of skin, males and females alike, but this skin display really doesn't feel exploitative, nor is it beyond the boundaries of what you would expect from your average fantasy setting. And despite what the promotion material seemed to imply, you don't spend your time fighting half-naked demon girls, but rather giant frogs, poisonous mushrooms and flying rats—in a nutshell, your average fantasy roster, with the usual colour palettes changes. Anyone who buys this game for its supposed fan-service is in for a sore disappointment, let me tell you that.

Another pleasant surprise was the atmosphere. The official art had led me to expect a somewhat dark and gritty game, but this is actually the exact opposite: Demon Gaze gives off a warm, welcoming, nearly comfy vibe. The inn that serves as headquarters really feels like home, with its cosy rooms and lively staff, and the dungeons have a soothing quality that makes the roaming intensely pleasurable and the brutal difficulty of the game much more palatable.

Demon Gaze surpassed my wildest expectations when it comes to accommodating a Solo Run. The implicit rule regarding such endeavours is that if a game allows you to proceed with the main character alone, then a Solo Run is indeed doable in said game; however, not all soloable games are equally indulgent once you start venturing forth as a lone ranger. Class of Heroes was not exactly making soloing easy, while Dragon Quest IX seemed to have been made for soloing—and Demon Gaze also belongs to that latter category. The game contains so many solo run-friendly features that I actually fail to understand why the option to assemble a party was put at all in the game, except as a nod or concession to old-school dungeon-crawling gameplay mechanics. There are pieces of equipment that allow the main character to learn precious skills belonging to other classes, such as slashing a whole row of foes at once, and the demons are more than fit to replace any party member when Boss Time comes. Granted, you can summon only one demon at a time, you cannot control their actions and they can be used only for a fixed number of turns, but they still get the job done beautifully, providing that you choose the right demon for the right battle. The money balance also becomes much more manageable when you only have one party member to attend to, and you can afford to pamper said only party member by decking him out in the best weapons and gear available. Isn't life sweet? A strange but most useful design choice is the one regarding Healing Staves: although they cannot be equipped by the main character, they can be kept in the inventory and used to heal yourself through the Item Menu. There seems to be no limit to the number of uses, and this is a delightfully expedient way to heal yourself free of charge. I have no idea if this is a glitch of sorts or a conscious design choice, but it sure is convenient for a solo runner.

Last but not least, the dungeon-crawling itself is stellar. The game offers everything you could wish for and more when it comes to roaming: frequent save points in dungeons, gear that regenerates health while walking, steady drops from monsters, treasure maps with coordinates, useful abilities that help you find secret doors or protect you from hazard floors, auto-drawing maps, and even an amazing Auto-move function that lets you select any point on an already explored map and takes you there, saving you some time and button-pushing. It doesn't get any smoother and slicker than that, really. Cherry on the cake, the dungeons are quite gorgeous (in the Vita "budget" acception of the word, that is) and the soundtrack more than decent.

By the time I finished writing this post, I captured fifth demon Neptune and I'm now joyously marching on towards the next demon in line. I should also be strong enough to defeat the Mimic in Star Curtain now, so I will give it a try and hope that I get a good drop for all my efforts. I'm getting more smitten with the game by the hour, and there will undoubtedly be more posts about it! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!