The Dark Eye: Demonicon

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

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  1. MrCash
    Nov 7, 2013
    9
    "Demonicon is a game with a lot of heart. Built on a solid well balanced combat system, the creators crafted a compelling narrative filled with interesting characters. The technical aspects do mar the vision, but the strength of the narrative and gameplay rise above these problems." -http://www.twinfinite.net- Can't say it better.
  2. Apoda
    Mar 13, 2016
    8
    Playing through the first hours of Demonicon, I felt a bit unpleasant. It all seemed pretty awkward. But, if you're not too unforgiving and you're willing to let the game show it's potential, it really turns out to be a well made rpg with a broad skill tree and a story that becomes more and more interesting towards the end.
  3. greywolf00
    Apr 11, 2015
    8
    If you're a fan of story driven RPGs this is worth a look. There are a fair amount of twists and the story tends to stay fairly interesting throughout. There's a lot of choice and consequence throughout, though the ending is a let down in this aspect.

    It uses The Dark Eye rule system (like Drakensang and Blackguards) which tends to make character progression and building quite fun and    If you're a fan of story driven RPGs this is worth a look. There are a fair amount of twists and the story tends to stay fairly interesting throughout. There's a lot of choice and consequence throughout, though the ending is a let down in this aspect.

    It uses The Dark Eye rule system (like Drakensang and Blackguards) which tends to make character progression and building quite fun and rewarding. There's a handful of normal stats and skills and you get rewarded for making potions, opening locks, identifying lore, collecting plants etc.

    It's an ARPG due to the action combat, which I hate, by it's far from the worst implementation I've ever played. I never found combat to be overly clunky or difficult and the story was good enough for me to push through to the end. I did find that spell points to use for improving spells being rewarded based on spell usage during a fight to be a nice feature.

    There are some annoyances worth mentioning though. Demonicon does seem like a budget title (though with very solid writing). It isn't a long game, taking me about 10 hours to complete the entire game plus all the side quests I could find. Levels are fairly railroady and there's limited exploration (think Dragon Age 2). There's also a limited number of game areas and one dungeon gets reused 4 times for different quests. There's also semi limited itemization (this is no Baldur's Gate, but a fry cry from say Of Orcs and Men). It also uses an auto save feature rather than save anywhere which can be quite annoying.

    Overall I enjoyed most of the experience and would pick up another RPG by the developer.    … Expand
  4. vdf
    Nov 26, 2013
    8
    This game is for you if you care more about a deep and interesting story than graphics and polish: Sure, the graphics are somewhat dated, and yes, there is technical glitches (which amounts to little more than nuisances with the upgrade), but the depth of the story and rpg elements more than make up for that. The sound is all-round acceptable and the skill system is novel and well balancedThis game is for you if you care more about a deep and interesting story than graphics and polish: Sure, the graphics are somewhat dated, and yes, there is technical glitches (which amounts to little more than nuisances with the upgrade), but the depth of the story and rpg elements more than make up for that. The sound is all-round acceptable and the skill system is novel and well balanced (you gain experience based on how much you use which abilities, not just the usual simple XP systems).

    All in all: Well worth the money.    … Expand
  5. 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 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 wellBarring 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    … Expand
  6. Representer
    Oct 30, 2013
    5
    I am interested in the Dark Eye universe and Demonicon sounded and looked like a Must Have. But the truth is that this game is hardly Dark Eye and much less a good RPG. This game lacks in a lot of areas, most annoying is the combat which just isn't really fun and responsive. If you compare Demonicon with the Witcher 2 the DSA RPG has a hard time justifying its Full Price.
    Things I didn't    I am interested in the Dark Eye universe and Demonicon sounded and looked like a Must Have. But the truth is that this game is hardly Dark Eye and much less a good RPG. This game lacks in a lot of areas, most annoying is the combat which just isn't really fun and responsive. If you compare Demonicon with the Witcher 2 the DSA RPG has a hard time justifying its Full Price.
    Things I didn't like is the whole "Look" of the game, which doesn't fit the atmospheric Dark Eye universe. It just fails to hit that tone. Also the whole story and presentation cannot compete with todays standards. It's sad because this game has potential, but the developers made the wrong decisions and quite frankly I think that they lack a serious portion of talent. Sorry to say that, but the things that are wrong with this game cannot just simply be explained with the usual "Sorry, we ran out of money".    … Expand
  7. ravenesse
    Oct 26, 2013
    3
    First of all and what annoys me most is: It's a console game. To me, RPGs and console don't work togeher, but that's personal taste.

    So there's a savepoint system, which means that I'm not able to save when I want. (Seriously?) The gameplay feels like Dragon Age light-and-slow. It's called an 'action RPG', but the combat animations are way too slow to make me feel any action. The    First of all and what annoys me most is: It's a console game. To me, RPGs and console don't work togeher, but that's personal taste.

    So there's a savepoint system, which means that I'm not able to save when I want. (Seriously?)

    The gameplay feels like Dragon Age light-and-slow. It's called an 'action RPG', but the combat animations are way too slow to make me feel any action.
    The whole interface looks exactly like the 'Game of Thrones'-RPG... only without the 'save game' option.

    Also I've got a problem with the resolution adaption. I play on 1920x1080, which is not that unusual, is it?
    The ingame graphics are okay (means: I didn't expect more), but when I need to read something in the inventory, the text is really blurry, which makes me a little dizzy.

    The story... well... maybe I'll find my way into it but I'm not that hooked at the moment. I just don't get in touch with the main character.    … Expand
  8. RagingPanda
    Nov 15, 2013
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand 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.    … Expand
  9. 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 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    Needing 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.    … Expand
  10. Sariden
    Nov 2, 2013
    5
    The game is mediocre in just about every respect. It reminds me of NwN2 in a lot of ways, with most of the content feeling as though it was rushed in at the last minute: dialog that doesn't seem stitched together properly, odd decision trees that don't seem to make sense half the time, Gothic 1 style animations, a story that has potential but falls woefully short, and way too much backThe game is mediocre in just about every respect. It reminds me of NwN2 in a lot of ways, with most of the content feeling as though it was rushed in at the last minute: dialog that doesn't seem stitched together properly, odd decision trees that don't seem to make sense half the time, Gothic 1 style animations, a story that has potential but falls woefully short, and way too much back tracking reminiscent of DA2.

    All in all the game was disappointing. I can live with dated graphics/mechanics, but where an indie game needs to shine is the story line. Demonicon had the framework for a solid, distracting rpg, but failed to follow through.

    If you're desperate for any semblance of an RPG like experience, give it a shot when it hits for 80% off. Otherwise, don't bother. Go back and play the Piranha Bytes games.    … Expand
  11. Likeyou
    Oct 25, 2013
    3
    The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a bad adapted game. Its textures, the ambience, the characters details and the menues are a bad example for what can happen to a game quickly released on more then 1 plattform. You can feel the deadline, the short time invested for the Pc adaption while playing.
    The story and the decisions you experience are just mediocre.
    The leveldesign is very poor. I have    The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a bad adapted game. Its textures, the ambience, the characters details and the menues are a bad example for what can happen to a game quickly released on more then 1 plattform. You can feel the deadline, the short time invested for the Pc adaption while playing.
    The story and the decisions you experience are just mediocre.
    The leveldesign is very poor. I have seen better ones in Dragon Age Origins or Gothic 2.
    Dont get me wrong. The game is not that bad at all, but it is never worth over 15 dolars. Save your money till there is a good sale at steam.
    The game is very action based. Hardcorefans really shoul wait cuz of that with the purchase too.
    Bad work Kalypso. I am not impressed.    … Expand
  12. galstaff
    Oct 30, 2013
    5
    The game is boring early on, but it gets better toward the mid-game. Nice sound and music, but bad graphics. Combat is not particularly fun, the hero is quite unresponsive.
  13. Valko
    Jul 2, 2014
    7
    First impression was like I was playing a game in 2007 year :-)
    Oldy graphics, bad saving system, but I like RPG and plot and char system looks rather nice.
  14. DuskSnare
    Nov 2, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game looked pretty good, but one would think it was on a tight budget when playing. I did notice a fairly high amount of graphical glitches, but I still kept playing. I did get really annoyed by the main character you played as on multiple occasions because he just always seemed to be so mad. I was also annoyed how the game kept pushing the brother-sister romance on you and the only way to deny her was to be a jerk, and even then the game still seemed to think you loved her. One other think that annoyed me was how your sister looked like she has plastic surgery and wore tons and tons of make-up, yet they're in a world with plague, demons, and death. The choices in the games were medicore and they rarely made it hard to decide out of the TWO choices (and the choices were usually something like Jerk or Super Jerk). Anyway, besides the ton of annoyances I had with the characters and story, I was impressed a bit by the fighting. It wasn't completely mindless clicking, although I was annoyed by the slow down every time on a special attack. Anyway, the ending of the game was... okay. I did like how they finally recognized that I wasn't interested in the sister, but sadly I had to be mean and cold (as she said) just to turn her down. I could go on and on about the annoyances, but I'll end my review here.… Expand
  15. The_Ommadawn
    Nov 19, 2013
    8
    I bought this even though the reviews didn't give it a strong backing. I'm only a few hours in and have experienced its limitations and its potential. The combat is different and growing on me. It seems sluggish (at first) but it's intentional as it gives the player time to decide to dodge/cast a spell/throw a dagger. It's not a hack and slash and more chess-like with what move to makeI bought this even though the reviews didn't give it a strong backing. I'm only a few hours in and have experienced its limitations and its potential. The combat is different and growing on me. It seems sluggish (at first) but it's intentional as it gives the player time to decide to dodge/cast a spell/throw a dagger. It's not a hack and slash and more chess-like with what move to make next. The story is dark and the first few themes/quests set the tone for a grim experience. The game is also FULLY voice acted and the English actors are excellent. The skill(s) tree has depth and I keep questioning my point allocation for future events. There is much to consider when leveling up. The game could do with a bit more optimising as I felt the FPS in the city/towns needs tightening up. Apart from that, I'm really enjoying Demonicon. If I were to grade it, I'd say 7.5 out of 10 if comparing it to other, similar polished RPG's (rounded up to an 8). I look forward to completing the game and the sequel(s).… Expand
  16. femmefatal
    Mar 11, 2014
    1
    For an 8 year old that likes rpg games this might entertain them for the better part of the day, but, you better have something else ready for them to play in the afternoon or be prepared for them entertaining you. lol Bring back the days of Diablo II or Bioware's games. Today's rpgs are just not up to par with the greats of the past.
  17. Tuivel
    Feb 21, 2014
    8
    Graphics are pretty but a bit "static" (no moving grass/branches etc). The "stop-and-go" like combat seems choppy/buggy at first until you realize it's a feature and get used to it. The automatic savepoints seem to be placed in such a way as to cause maximum frustration on intention. One of my machines hat a graphical glitch with the sky textures.

    Still i enjoy the game very much and    Graphics are pretty but a bit "static" (no moving grass/branches etc). The "stop-and-go" like combat seems choppy/buggy at first until you realize it's a feature and get used to it. The automatic savepoints seem to be placed in such a way as to cause maximum frustration on intention. One of my machines hat a graphical glitch with the sky textures.

    Still i enjoy the game very much and have almost reached the end without getting bored so far. Atmosphere and story are good. The voice acting is everywhere, and most of it is done rather well. Once i got used to combat i found it much more tactical than usual hack-and-slash style fighting. At least on hard mode you have to time attacks/skills/dogding/healing to survive. The nice selection of non-combat skills is fun and usefull but not game changing/breaking. Your decisions and dialogue choices actually impact the storyline.

    To sum it up. The games not perfect, but i (a long time DSA fan/player) found it to be a lot of good fun.    … Expand
  18. Esfar
    Dec 13, 2013
    8
    Well one thing for sure this game certainly does not deserve a zero mark... You have to play at least 2 chapters to like this... however this game certainly has its own hare of glitches but over all this was certainly a smooth and enjoyable ride...The story is the most strongest part of this game...graphics, game play,sound all deserve average 7 mark and story should get a solid 10.
  19. Sabatasso
    Dec 23, 2013
    3
    This game looked cool and I was excited to try out this one. Normally, expectations is negative because it usually leads to disappointments and this game didn't disappoint in that regard, if you catch my drift.

    Well, the combat was extremely weird.. didn't feel good at all. Slow, sluggish and wasn't particularly well made at all. Enemies seemed rather dull and sluggish as well, as they    This game looked cool and I was excited to try out this one. Normally, expectations is negative because it usually leads to disappointments and this game didn't disappoint in that regard, if you catch my drift.

    Well, the combat was extremely weird.. didn't feel good at all. Slow, sluggish and wasn't particularly well made at all. Enemies seemed rather dull and sluggish as well, as they seemed to wait for your attacks to finish before they tried anything sinister so unless you missed the combat rhythm, you can practically slay an army of dumbly idle and waiting foes.

    The animations are so bad that it's almost comical.. the PC is stiff, rigid and awkward while "exploring" and while it is slightly better during combat it wasn't particularly impressive there either.

    If you are really starved on action RPG's you might wanna give this one a chance but I'd rather spend quality time with a bad friend than trying to carve some enjoyment out of this mess.

    The story is OK so if the combat wasn't so extremely poorly made, I'd suffer through everything else just to see it through.    … Expand
  20. Neravarine
    Feb 12, 2014
    7
    Demonicon is also part of Dark eye, but unlike most new dark eye games it is not developed by Deadelic, which is a bit strange, game itself is average rpg with good storyline, you have multiple choices which influence the storyline but autosave system is god damn annoying.
  21. Paulystan
    Jun 2, 2014
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. At best the game play is average. The graphics are okay. The general plot is not bad but underdeveloped. The voice acting is not exactly top notch. All in all just fro that, there are much better games out there that would score higher and this game wouldn't be worth more than $10.

    However, I am extremely sorry that I bought it at all because it is a sick and disturbing game. Incest as a romantic option?!? Sick. Having an option that is basically 1- kill evil murdering guy but condemn people to horrific death or 2- save people from horrific death and let evil murdering guy go to start his evil and murder again, is just plain madness. This game is a desperate attempt to be edgy and mystical dark in a genre of lots of games trying so painfully hard to do the 'every choice counts' thing. The problem is it is just evil and twisted and to use a word 'immoral'. I wish I had not bought it and I think the writer needs to have a mental assessment.    … Expand
  22. Squam1936
    Dec 10, 2015
    9
    I'm a sucker for a good story so it is needless to say that this game got to me. Overall a very good RPG, i recommend this game to everyone who wants to be a part of a great story. I would say for me it was love at first site. Check it out, and see for your self. http://torrentsgames.net/pc/demonicon-pc.html
  23. PortalToH3LL
    Dec 16, 2018
    8
    For me, this is a good game with a good storyline. Not enough weapons, armor. So-so pumping. Graphics - average. Beautiful in the game only the plot, it makes the game playful and interesting.
  24. Turin_Vidsmidr
    Nov 13, 2019
    7
    Story 65% - the bastard of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic & Baldur's Gate 2. Only 2 different main endings, the path may differ. No F button.
    World Building and Design 45% - lacking areas, boring, generic medieval, though bugless, barely any NPCs around, underpopulated areas.
    Quests 45% - short and boring quests, meaningless in regard of the main story, wasted a lot of potential.    Story 65% - the bastard of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic & Baldur's Gate 2. Only 2 different main endings, the path may differ. No F button.
    World Building and Design 45% - lacking areas, boring, generic medieval, though bugless, barely any NPCs around, underpopulated areas.
    Quests 45% - short and boring quests, meaningless in regard of the main story, wasted a lot of potential.
    Gameplay Mechanics 65% - combat is good, bugless. Bosses show caring, good design, gotta use your brain. Some puzzles lack the clues.
    Character Building 70% - good for such a Hack&Slash adventure RPG. Can effect some choices and looting. Nothing radical.
    Time and Replayability 55% - got 22 Hours carefully watching all scenes, pondering dialogue choices, being as thorough as possible, relaxed.
    Graphics 70% - decent, considering its age and budget. Liked the daytime shadows. Textures are sometimes ugly.
    Music and Sound 75% - surprisingly epic, sometimes sounds like Two Steps from Hell. Not enough soundtrack variety though. Effects are okay.

    65% - it's an okay oneshot but don't expect anything great. I guess if you know the world of The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) you'll appreciate the lore, story and characters more.
    … Expand
  25. PenetratorGod
    Aug 28, 2023
    0
    Probably the game with the worst graphics I've ever seen. Don't be fooled by the fact that the game was released in 2013. Even in the early 2000s, you won't find a game that looks this bad. Gameplay is just as bad as the graphics. Story is incredibly mediocre. It looks like a game that should never have been developed. Even installing it was a waste of time.

Critic Reviews

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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. 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]
  2. Riot Pixels
    Dec 13, 2013
    64
    Noumena Studios is very different from Bioware in everything, from scope and budget to storytelling.
    Read full review
  3. RPG Fan
    Nov 26, 2013
    70
    Demonicon is ugly, awkward, and unknown, but it's still an average action RPG.
    Read full review
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