Book of Demons

Book of Demons is rather brilliant in its own small way. It strips the Diablo formula to its bare essentials without sacrificing any of its appeal. In some ways, it even improves on Blizzard’s series. If you’re a busy adult pining for your 90s gaming heyday, Book of Demons is a must play, but really, everyone ought to give it a shot. This deceptively addictive dungeon crawl is worth getting fired up about.

A dungeon-crawler that contains an addictive card game element as the crux of its gameplay design while making the experience as easy as possible for the player to stay focused on creative elements of the game.

Book of Demons introduces a unique card-based skill system and a sense of humor to the stuck-in-its-ways ARPG genre. It has plenty of tricks in its dungeon to keep you on your toes, but gives you ample ways to form your own strategy. With three distinct classes and an endlessly replayable quest, you can get lost in Book of Demons’ papercut dungeon for quite a while.

Book of Demons is a fun Diablo-like game, but some of the mechanics might be a turnoff for others. Movement is locked to set paths while enemies are free to roam around and there is no equipment as cards represent spells, items, and artifacts in the game. That said, there is still quite a bit to like about Book of Demons as there is a good amount of strategy to employ if you want to survive. However, the price tag might be a bit much given the restrictions some of the mechanics place on you.

A highly addictive hack’n’slash with great art direction and many small but really good gameplay ideas. The developers wear their inspirations on their sleeve, so you can almost hear the game shout “Yes, this is Diablo! Yup, it’s Tristram! Don’t pretend you don’t remember!”. [02/2019, p.36]

Although I was initially unsure about it, Book of Demons turned into another pleasant indie surprise. It’s beautifully stylized, you can easily adjust its scope to fit your schedule and the challenge is appropriately set.

Book of Demons, with its wonderful game design and inventive, is an hack’n’slash that respects the time of the player. It’s ironic, fun to play, and challenging. The card system is solid: we hope to see it improved in future "Return 2 Games" installments.

Book of Demons is an approachable, addictive action-RPG with a few new ideas but overall, an admirably lean approach that doesn’t allow feature-creep or overly ambitious design muddy the fun. Distinguished by its paper book aesthetic and player-friendly mechanics, Book of Demons is thin on story and level-by-level lacks variety but the ability to determine the length of each play session means that it won’t overstay its welcome.

'90s-inspired card-building hack 'n' slasher Book of Demons is far from a perfect game. That's not the sad thing about it, though. The sad thing is that it could certainly be perfect if the developer used the full potential of this fine take on action-RPGs. Having said that, fans of the genre should definitely give it a look, if only to taste what is a labour of love that just so happens to also be technically sound.

Book of Demons is designed from the ground up to be an accessible, lighter take on the classic ARPG. And it manages to do so without being dumbed down, or too simplistic that it’s not fun. In short, it aimed to pay homage to Diablo but instead has gracefully made its own impact on a crowded genre.

Book of Demons sets a fantastic foundation for the next tale in the Paperverse.

I’ve touched on the art style, but it really is gorgeous and unique, with paper outlines and great visuals. This, combined with the Flexisphere, which understands the limitations of modern gamers’ time better than any game I’ve seen, and with its streamlined mechanics and entertaining deck-building system, Book of Demons is definitely worth checking out. It’s got a few issues to work on, sure, but that’s what the next six games in the Paperverse are for, right?

Book of Demons has some good ideas which often are well implemented, but in certain situations Diablo's inspiration becomes a cage a bit too narrow.

A nice hack and slash game with the beautiful art style and solid combat. But the card system doesn't balance decently and it makes the long-term experience boring.

We’ve enjoyed Book of Demons, and it definitely does something different and fun, but we’re missing that little something for it to truly shine.

Book of Demons certainly lacks in variability, and it's easy to fall into a habit. For those looking for a greater challenge, the roguelike mode can add spice as players enter a leaderboard on first death and can permanently die if they're short on funds, but this doesn't entirely solve the issue of repetition. The first of seven planned titles, Thing Trunk has a lifetime of work ahead of them, and I'm eager to see what other unique treasures they create.

Book of Demons is a fun romp, though it’s not as engrossing and captivating as other, more "serious" action/RPGs.

This is one hybrid genre piece that's ever so difficult to put down. [March 2019, p.116]

Book of Demons is a big tribute to Diablo.

Delightful, fun, quirky -- Book of Demons keeps you entertained as it provides a unique take on what Diablo and the ARPG genre provides. Unfortunately, it also becomes repetitive and aimless towards the end.

Book of Demons brings pen and paper and action mechanics to the Diablo style gameplay system. It's unique approach to time management on quests gives a lot to the game for those of us with limited time. If you're a Diablo fan looking for a change of scenery, you might find Book of Demons to be right up your alley!.

Book of Demons is a game that manages, albeit with some difficulty, to welcome the players little accustomed to the genre towards hours of healthy hack 'n' slash shear-devils.

A decent attempt at a paper version of simplistic Diablo, which, however, suffers from slight repetitiveness and relative shortness. But still, it is worth a try. [Issue#292]

As a clicker/dungeon crawler hybrid, Book of Demons could become a very effective draw on smartphones, but focusing on it during extended PC play-sessions exposes how fundamentally shallow it really is.

The constant gratification of loot and bite-size gameplay chunks of Book of Demons make it inherently easy and gratifying to pick up and play — a good first step for this ambitious undertaking. But the game, though having a clean and perfectly adequate presentation, doesn’t do very much to put its best foot forward to wow the player presentation-wise, and the finger-numbing clicky gameplay might be just a bit too underwhelming for some to ride this train all the way to its final stop.

Book of Demons is hard to recommend to either casual and hardcore players. Instead of being a simpler dungeon crawling experience that newcomers could enjoy, it’s instead bland and unintuitive. You’re better off trying out already established ARPGs, while waiting for the upcoming releases of Diablo IV and Torchlight III that are looking to offer far more interesting gameplay.