Daemonica Preview

At a glance, Daemonica, from Meridian4, looks like top-down action RPG style hack n’ slash set at the scene of a medieval village that has been subject to a murder. However, while it may be easy to write this game off as another Diablo clone at first, further scrutiny will reveal some very cool investigation elements, as you delve deeper into the game’s storyline and discover the mystery surrounding the murder case and the killers responsible. Daemonica is an adventure game, albeit one with some action-RPG elements, even though they seldom come to the forefront.

In Daemonica, you will play as Nicholas Farepoynt, known as a Beast Hunter. Within the context of the game, Beast Hunters hunt down ‘human beasts’, basically the dregs of society: people like murderers, arsonists, and basically those deserving of some inflicted justice. Your current quest takes you to a small medieval England town, where a young girl has been brutally murdered, and you are given the job of hunting down her killer. However, more murders begin to occur, and the town as a whole gradually begins to lose its grip on reality.

While there are some action-RPG elements and a combat system in the game (and the top-down view reeks of games like Diablo and Baldur’s Gate), Daemonica still should be classified as an adventure game. The main focus is investigating, interviewing people and picking up clues get you moving along on your journey.

One interesting element to the investigation portion of the game is the fact that your character is a Haresh al-Dorem, or someone who can speak with the dead. As you progress with your investigation, you must not only interview the living in order to gain clues, but he also must channel the victims via a gateway. This gives you a great deal of insight to the murders and will help you a ton in your quest.

Daemonica gives you several ways to progress, and the somewhat non-linear fashion of the game is definitely welcomed. Townspeople (and even the dead) will react accordingly to the things you say, meaning that if you want to remain on their good side, then you’d better mind your tongue. Certain situations, where a fight may seem inevitable, can be circumvented with a wise approach to a conversation.

 Graphically, Daemonica isn’t marvelous, but does what it should. The character models are a tad simplistic, and the environments aren’t composed of that much in the way of details. However, the presentation is very clean and runs very smoothly.

The sound wasn’t quite complete in this build, but it did show some promise. The score was nicely done, and provided a lot of mood for the game, which can be very important in an adventure title. The voice acting wasn’t localized yet, (i.e. not in English), but sounded quite good nonetheless.

Daemonica is a different breed of adventure games, favoring a top-down view and some action-RPG elements, certainly more than most adventure gamers are used to. For those looking for something a little off the beaten path, Daemonica will launch at the end of this month.