Demon Sword: Incubus review

Demon Sword: Incubus offers two draws: generous level promotions, or with an optional patch applied, some amusing sex scenes. Neither of these things elevate this monotonous effort where enemy attacks become increasingly annoying.

Steadily, eroge (or erotic games) are making their way onto Steam. But Valve’s prudish stance typically means that publishers are pushing bowdlerized versions of their titles onto the platform. To restore a game’s lasciviousness, players can download and install a ‘patch’. It’s never required, but the procedure can re-establish some of the appeal of the original release.

Download Brianode’s Demon Sword: Incubus from Steam’s servers and find a fairly mundane hack-and-slash. A brief prologue sets things up succinctly, as Amila, the daughter of a feudal lord, faces a procession of monsters advancing toward her kingdom. After the loss of her father and a significant portion of her army, the protagonist’s last hope rests in wielding a possessed blade. But tragically, Demon Sword doesn’t do much with the set-up. While the plot hints at Amila being controlled by the mysterious weapon, there’s no exploration of a Smeagol/Gollum tension.

Thrust, Slash, and uh, Photon?

But the blade does endow Amila with a powerful moveset. She begins her trek across an overworld map with a rudimentary ranged magical attack (incongruously called “photons”) and a basic four-hit combo. But every time the lead levels up, she earns points that can distributed into eight stats and thirty different skills. The latter involve players entering Street Fighter II-style inputs. A downward quarter circle in conjunction with a button performs the “Angel Halo” which acts like Guile’s “Somersault Kick”.

But as much as a I tried to master Incubus’ inputs, I never achieved Street Fighter-like consistency. Some of the issue is rooted in Demon Sword’s controls. The game isn’t completely unresponsive but timing definitely is finicky. On the upside, you can remap special attacks to different keys or buttons. Ideally, the game would make this clearer. On the subject of clarity, the game says you can skip previously played sections of stages, but I never figured out how.

Losing the Will to Fight

Like most brawler’s on-screen positioning is essential for success. With a lofty double-jump, Amila can leap away from besieging beasts and attack aerial adversaries. But when an off-screen foe tosses projectiles at you, it can really mess up your rhythm. On the upside, the heroine carries a large shield and with a downward press on the controller, she can reduce and or even effectively avert an incoming attack.

As Amila grows more robust, her opposition also becomes more resilient, but also more irritating. Across the game’s four difficulty levels, there’s a comprehensive range of challenge. ‘Easy’ reduces the challenge level so that anyone can persevere while “Hell” is an extremely suitable descriptor. But across each difficulty settings, enemies gradually attempt to grapple you. This requires you to wiggle out of their hold or use a sluggishly recharging special attack. After tackling about twelve nodes on the game’s map (there are 22 in all), I became fatigued by Incubus’ combat, hoping to button mash my way to the conclusion.

Sword, Shield, and Skimpy Clothing

Fortunately, there are several small upsides to Amila’s journey. Enemy variety is pleasing, with diminutive rat-looking creatures armed with daggers, harpies, as well as giant bears and maybe zombie gorillas foes. Bosses offer additional variety, both aesthetically and mechanically, as you battle a dividing slime, a large leviathan, or magic-using humanoids. But don’t expect to vigilantly observe their attack patterns. Most of the game’s heavyweights succumb to spamming a single attack.

With the R-18 patch installed, defeat has its benefits. As Amila’s health bar shrinks, her clothes gradually break off. Let her approach being knocked out and she’ll fight in the nude, her shield offering just a hint of modesty. When she is knocked down, she lays on the ground and monsters will have their way with her. Yes, some effort went into the different positions and approaches adversaries employ, building up to a gush of bodily fluids. It’s definitely more comical than sexy. And if you’re looking for additional laughs, the game’s gallery permits players to stage their own orgy. Honestly, role-playing as an adult video director was marginally more fun than hacking away at the game’s opponents.

Demon Sword: Incubus was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.