The Dark Eye: Demonicon

 PC
  • Publisher: Kalypso
  • Release Date: Oct 24, 2013
Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 12
  3. Negative: 2 out of 12
  1. Hooked Gamers
    Oct 25, 2013
    73
    Despite its issues, The Dark Eye: Demonicon remains a fun adventure that, while lacking polish, is an enjoyable journey through The Dark Eye setting.
  2. GameStar
    Oct 25, 2013
    73
    If I had tried to play this in my spare time, I would have given up after a few hours. Until then it's just confusing. But as a tester I had to play on and later on it's much better, more diverse and a motivating story.
  3. RPG Fan
    Nov 26, 2013
    70
    Demonicon is ugly, awkward, and unknown, but it's still an average action RPG.
  5. Gaming Nexus
    Nov 15, 2013
    70
    There are some truly original elements in Demonicon's world and narrative that unfortunately are too brief and few overall. At its current price, The Dark Eye - Demonicon can only be recommended once it goes on sale or enters the bargain bin.
  6. PC Games
    Oct 25, 2013
    70
    The new action-RPG takes place in the classic Dark-Eye-Setting. The story is one of the best features in the game. Fans of the franchise will experience much lore. Especially the voice-acting guarantees a nice atmosphere. Unfortunately the gameplay itself and the overall presentation is not satisfying that much. Poor textures and lack of good animations comes along with a combat-system, that isn’t quite challenging.
  7. Riot Pixels
    Dec 13, 2013
    64
    Noumena Studios is very different from Bioware in everything, from scope and budget to storytelling.
  8. Hyper Magazine
    Dec 28, 2013
    60
    An engaging story and some good core mechanics hampered by some ugly design and repetitive, simplistic combat. [Jan 2014, p.66]
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  9. PC PowerPlay
    Nov 25, 2013
    60
    An interesting story brought low by rote combat and a rather uninspiring graphics engine. [December 2013, p.92]
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  10. Eurogamer Germany
    Oct 28, 2013
    60
    As an old pen and paper enthusiast, I got the feeling that this would have been a better fit as an expansive campaign for the 'real' Dark Eye. That's where it could have been something really special, something with more staying power than this okay, but ultimately forgettable RPG.
  11. GameWatcher
    Oct 25, 2013
    60
    Maybe hardcore Dark Eye fans will appreciate the lore and its place in the universe, but on its own it’s not a fantastic story, and it’s not a well-designed game either.
  12. Gameplanet
    Nov 8, 2013
    45
    Bland and unpolished, The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a generic and mediocre action role playing game that fails to fully embrace its source material, and therefore will ultimately leave the player unengaged and unfulfilled.
  13. 4P.de
    Oct 31, 2013
    39
    In times of The Witcher or Dark Souls this is hard to bear. The dialogue is below daily soap standards, the fighting system as superficial as any, visuals are outdated. This is gruesome.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 75 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 75
  3. Negative: 15 out of 75
  1. Infearno666
    Oct 26, 2013
    8
    Barring a few graphical glitches I found this to be an enjoyable, immersive RPG with a gripping story and enjoyable combat. The game does feelBarring a few graphical glitches I found this to be an enjoyable, immersive RPG with a gripping story and enjoyable combat. The game does feel a little rushed at times though as I get noticeable texture load lag on sudden camera angle changes epically in the cut scenes even running an oc'd I72600k with dual 7950's. That said though the story is this games main selling point, it is well paced with interesting characters and is deficiently worth a look for somebody who wants a good yarn. The gameplay on normal difficulty is a little on the easy side though so hardcore masochists may want to look elsewhere.

    Basically barring a slight lack of polish this is a very good game and hopefully the texture problems will be sorted out with a patch    … Full Review »
  2. ovrebekk
    Oct 26, 2013
    2
    Needing a quick RPG fix, and finding this on Steam, I automatically assumed this game was a new addition to the TDE: Drakensang series andNeeding a quick RPG fix, and finding this on Steam, I automatically assumed this game was a new addition to the TDE: Drakensang series and bought it without checking further. Very stupid move :(

    Expecting something akin to Drakensang starting this game was like getting a punch in the face.

    The UI is laughable compared to that of the Drakensang games. Whereas the game itself scales to any resolution, the UI is really low res. Gone are the nice, efficient inventory system of Drakensang, and instead we get the typical list inventory obligatory for any multi platform game (consoles, apparently, can not render grids). Being able to save manually is obviously not supported, as consoles don't support this either.

    The RPG system has been dumbed down pretty much across the board, and you have less of everything in terms of skills, abilities, spells and item stats.
    The combat and overall gameplay has been dumbed down as well, but to be honest I didn't play it very long so maybe it picks up after a while...

    The graphics are on par with Drakensang at best, but since this was released 4 years later that is not very impressive.

    To summarize, I don't know why they bothered with a PC version at all. They actually did include more than a dozen video options, but that seems to be the only change they made for the PC version aside from reassigning the keys. With all the brilliant RPG's available on PC I simply don't see why anyone would get this game, unless they sink to my level of incompetency and buy it without reading the reviews.

    On a console this game might be a decent effort, and I am sure it compares more favorably to the games available there, but if you are a PC gamer I would much rather get the old Drakensang games, or one of the decent new RPG's like Witcher 2 or Skyrim.    … Full Review »
  3. RagingPanda
    Nov 15, 2013
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Look, I like Germany. Schnitzel, Emmanuel Kant, Wagner's Ring Cycle, Albrecht Durer, Octoberfest, the contributions of the German culture are significant. The Dark Eye: Demonicon however, makes one fact abundantly clear: German RPGs are insane. And I don't mean quirky or bogged down by nuances of culture which fail to translate, but full blown bat straight jacket crazy. I am speaking of the narrative itself, a storyline which consists of a steady stream of atrocities, delivered in narration and dialog which fluctuates between hilarious and horrendous. I am not going to warn you of spoilers, because nothing I could say could conceivably spoil this game further. A short list of the classy content you will be exposed to: incest (multiple counts), necrophilia prostitution, Cannibalism, orphan mutilation, burning children alive, using a woman as rape bait to distract a man you are framing for heretical crimes (who you've never met), and a demonic tree beneath which hookers leave their infants to be tortured by a nightmare demon because it keeps them quiet. I'm not making any of that up.
    In Demonicon, an RPG, you play a set character. You do not create or customize your characters appearance, choose a class, or roll for stats. You are Cairon, Demonicon's Commander Shepard inspired all-purpose, almost hero.The game starts by letting you know two things: Your sister is missing in a dark mountain dungeon and you want to have sex with your sister. Your only choice is how MUCH you want to have sex with your sister., and whether you act on this impulse. Thirty seconds in and the game is slapping you with incest. That is the kind of game Demonicon is. When most games are trying to teach you to use your dodge skill and attack by killing some rats, this game is forcing you to mentally recover from the very clear fact that you want to bone your sibling. The combat by the by, is painfully paced, and stutters and staggers in the graphic engine equivalent of epilepsy. This freak out also occurs when detecting traps, and let me assure you it is not my PC, as I have been running Battlefield 4 on Ultra high settings with no stutter whatsoever. Demonicon is not ugly, but it looks like it came out circa 2006 in terms of texture and lighting, and contains embarrassingly rough set pieces and completely static skies. And if a game is sufficiently ambitious in scope, I can forgive a lack of polish, but this is not the case. There are four locations in the game, none of which are very large: the town of Warrunk, the swamp, the mountain caves and an end game temple. None of the areas are very large, and the game feels incredibly small and confining, exacerbated by the fact that you retread the same maps multiple times, facing exactly the same enemies (I think there are about a dozen enemy types, and I may be over shooting).
    The skills and combat tree system are interesting, interesting enough that I finished an otherwise almost unplayable game. I am earnestly interested in The Dark Eye as an RPG system, and curious what a Skyrim or Neverwinter Nights style game set in its world would be like. Demonicon is tragically lacking in ambition, and comes across as weak storytelling, poorly executed graphics and a clunky combat system. There are shining moments of amusement when Cairon's voice actor says exactly what you are thinking, expressing incredulity, disgust and bemusement at the world around him, but whether or not that warrants playing a game this riddled with failures is up to you.    … Full Review »
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