Table top action RPG’s have made something of a splash in VR since the advent of Ship of Tales on the PSVR and Tabletop Simulator on Steam. Harking back to the halcyon days when games were played with dice, cards, tiny figurines and bucket loads of imagination, it seems that this once endangered genre is experiencing something of a revival in the 20’s. With this thought in mind it came as no surprise to hear that Stockholm-based developers, Resolution Games (those of Angry Birds Isle of Pigs VR fame) have finally uncovered their virtual reality RPG dungeon crawler, Demeo. Yes, you read that right, a dungeon crawler in VR. The story underpinning Demeo is a simple one to grasp; a dark force has seized control of the underworld in Demeo and it’s your task to battle the hordes of hell and plunder as much loot as you can in the process.
To aid you in your noble cause you can play co-op with three other friends or strangers. The trick to taming Demeo is to communicate as much as possible with your team mates so you can coordinate your strategy. The fact that Demeo offers this ability to play online with mates is a huge bonus as parts of the world are still struggling to shrug off the devastating effects of the pandemic. In the case that you fancy playing by yourself, Demeo offers a single player skirmish mode that you can use to sharpen up your skills and familiarise yourself with the idiosyncrasies of the game. In skirmish mode, you get to create your own war party made up of a very formidable Guardian, a Sorcerer / Mage who casts spells, a very sneaky Assassin and a Hunter who’s weapon of choice is a bow and arrow.
The game starts off with you in a suitably 80s’ looking basement complete with book shelf, dartboard, a non-descript old school gaming console in one corner of the room and what looks like a Commodore 128 PC in the other. The basement is dominated by a huge table that constitutes the playing area for your campaigns. In order to play you use your Quest controllers as pointers, picking up and placing your units.
With each turn you also get to roll a dice which will determine how powerful your attacks are and you can choose special attacks and abilities from cards that are visible on your right wrist. You can make the table top larger or smaller – or even rotate it around – by pinching and zooming. Graphically Demeo is incredibly polished and even when you zoom in so your figurines are the size of your hand, the attention to detail is exemplary. It’s worth adding that if you’re not entirely sure how to game works, Resolution Games have also added a D&D style in-game manual that you can consult whenever you feel you’re getting stuck.
Although the single player skirmish mode only has (at this point) a single campaign, a module called The Black Sarcophagus, it will take you a fair while to work your way through it. The reason for this is because Demeo is tough. How tough? Think of a grizzly bear armed with a flick knife and you’re in the right ball park. Honestly, you will die. A lot. And, as there’s no save option, the moment everyone in your party dies, you have little choice than to grit your teeth, mumble a soft curse or prayer and dive back in for another attempt. On our test run play though, it took me just over two hours to complete the skirmish level. And that’s not counting the half a dozen times I tried, died and reset. As a side note, it’s a shame that Resolution opted to only offer the single unforgiving difficulty level as there are probably some gamers who might get frustrated at watching their party getting wiped out by demons and monsters time and time again. For anyone who perseveres – or simply relishes a dungeon crawling challenge – the feeling of making it through the level and finally beating the final boss character is a sweet pleasure that has to be savoured. As I made my way through the final exit, I’m not ashamed to admit that I actually punched the air and shouted out loud ‘Gotcha!’ At this point our startled dog ran off yelping and we haven’t seen him since. Oh well… But back to the game. Demeo also offers randomised maps with different enemies and exits which ensures you’re unlikely to ever play the same map twice. Excellent. Like many table top VR games, Demeo works well in VR but does little in the way of offering a revolutionary experience.
The basement setting is pure nostalgia but once you get into the meat and potatoes of the game, you quickly realise that this game could work just as well on an old-style flat screen. During some of the game play, the VR actually made it harder to see what was going on as you have to grasp the table with your controllers and move it around so you get a better view point. That minor niggle aside, Demeo is a challenging and yet accessible dungeon crawling experience. The fact that it offers randomised maps and the ability to play with friends online guarantees countless hours of game play. Highly recommended.
9 out of 10
Win a free Oculus Quest code for Demeo
Answer this simple question: Name one other game developed by Resolution Games. Answers to: editor@thesussexnewspaper.com
Please use ‘ Demeo Competition’ in the subject line of your email A winning entry will be chosen by the editor. Competition ends on Monday May 24th 2021.