Demoniaca: Everlasting Night (2019)

When weighing up the terrible controls, frustrating gameplay and predilection for box based torment, I can honestly say the tenner you could spend on Demoniaca: Everlasting Night would be better used to start a fire.

A gothic Metroidvania that uses fighting games systems in its combat. It's poor execution is plagued with repetitive audio/visuals and poorly balanced difficulty

Demoniaca: Everlasting Night has good ideas in a genre that's already solid but fails to make them work in a way that contributes positively to the experience. The theme is cool, the story is a good headstart but the way is filled with slip-ups on gameplay, visual effects and lacking mechanics, points that would be necessary for it to really leave a lasting impression. It's a game that could have been very good but doesn't hit the mark.

I really wanted to like Demoniaca: Everlasting Night. I fought hard to let the game prove itself to me. But it needs a lot more balancing and retooling before I can recommend it to anybody other than the most diehard Metroidvania fan. If you can somehow look past the game’s many flaws, it might be worth buying on a sale. Otherwise, I’d just pass on this disappointing Gothic adventure.

Demoniaca has several great ideas and cool concepts. Unfortunately, too many of these ideas don't reach the refinement needed to work as well as it needs to. Cool boss fights and aesthetics carry the day, but clunkiness between bosses keep it from getting close to its potential. Demoniaca has its charms, but it won't replace any staples in the Metroidvania genre.