King Thosgar has been quietly building his army deep in the bowels of the earth for centuries. Now he is ready to ride forth and plunge the world into darkness. Are you ready to defend it?
No? I don’t think King Thosgar cares. He is coming anyway!
Demons Tier+ is the third instalment of the Diabolical Mind Trilogy ( Xenon Valkyrie+ and Riddled Corpses EX) from developer Diabolical Mind. Whilst this is only my first foray into the trilogy I will definitely going back to the other two. But that is spoiling this review lets crack on.
Story
Thosgar, a hated king, attracted by the sorceress & demonic rituals, was consumed by his hatred & a fearsome urges, he then turned into a dark & diabolical being. Destroying almost all of humanity & flooding the world of monsters. All this was remembered as legend until peace returned eventually… A Thousand years later, a mysterious pit has appeared in the village after a huge earthquake where a dark & evil aura emanated from…
Shortly after this pit emerges our intrepid heroes set off to the sleepy village in question in order to investigate (hero code for slay everything) what this mysterious pit holds.
Upon arriving it seems some excitable villagers have already thrown a rope into the pit and already descended into its encapsulating darkness. Why did they do this? Maybe it was an effort to become a hero to the village? Some young lad showing off to a young girl he likes? Maybe they are just bloody dumb and thought they were better than the professionals?
You know the type, we all have an uncle who thinks he is great at DIY but ends up costing more when you get an actual tradesman out! Anyway I digress…
Gameplay
Demon’s Tier+ begins with you arriving at the village. On your first run of the pit ( don’t worry there will be many) you play as the Knight. Other characters such as the Wizard, Archer, Cleric, Berserk and Assassin can be unlocked by spending D-tokens (we will get to them in a bit)
There are two other characters to unlock by finishing tier 1 and tier 2 of the pit but at the time of writing this review the furthest I have got is the final floor of tier 1, I bottled it and haven’t got that far since.
As you begin your run in the pit tier one consists of 15 floors. These floors are either procedurally generated dungeons or a boss battle.
Each dungeon is simple enough. Complete the mission (kill all enemies, open all chest etc) and get to the exit within 5 mins or the reaper will appear and kill you!
You earn D-tokens for every enemy you kill and the deeper you go the more you earn. Just one problem you die and you drop them all and only have one attempt to get back to that floor and recover your tokens.
This gives you the endless dilemma of play it safe, grab a big chunk of D-tokens, return to the village and level up weapons, buy items, unlock new characters or continue forward in the hope of more and more wealth?
Oh, and remember those villagers that jumped into the whole before you arrived? They have been captured and are locked up in cages throughout the levels. If you remembered to buy some silver keys with your D-tokens you can unlock the cage and free the villager. They will then stand by your side and fire at whatever you fire at.
you also get a massive D-token bonus at the end of each level for each villager you have. Most villagers I have had in my party at any time is 3. I have no idea how big your party can get.
Speaking of end of level. At the end of each level, you can use any gold collected to upgrade stats such as health, defence, speed, attack etc. You might as well blow everything you earn on stats because whether you die or leave the dungeon of your own volition you lose all your gold and upgrades.
Actual Gameplay in the dungeon is as smooth as you would expect a twin-stick shooter to be. It is nothing impressive but again isn’t really anything to complain about either. Demon’s Tier+ does a solid job with the controls. I just wish you could map the skill button to R2 instead of square.
Graphics
Demon’s Tier+ has a cute pixel art style going on. The dungeons remind me a lot of my younger days playing gauntlet. A vast array of monsters that are easily identifiable from each other and a nice ranging cast of heroes.
That being said I will never understand when the Assasin and wizard need to have breasts as big as they are. It is moronic and every time they pop up on screen they look ridiculous.
The best way to play Demon’s tier+ without a doubt is to hop into the settings and turn the CRT screen effect on. It improves the nostalgic feel of Demon’s Tier+ immeasurably.
Conclusion
Demon’s Tier+ is an absolute gem of a gem. One that you will adore, rage at and hate yourself for those times you bottled it and ran home clutching your D-tokens.
Nothing is spectacular in Demon’s Tier+ but every little bit of the game is done to a decent enough standard that makes for a game that is more than the sum of it parts.
A wonderful twin-stick shooter, A dark and disturbing storyline and a wonderful stroll down nostalgia lane.
Priced at Just £7.99 on PSN and £7.19 on steam Demons Tier+ is an absolute must-buy! Now excuse me I am off to complete the first tier of that dammed pit. I won’t bottle it this time I swear…
Overall Score – 8/10
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