RPGM - Completed - Demons Roots [v1.03 + DLC] [Quick nail Aristocrat]

Demons Roots sets the bar pretty high and future developers will probably have to measure themselves against this game. And they definitely have a chance to do a lot better.
Demons Roots tells a stringent story and builds in a good portion of humour, despite the actually dark starting theme. The moral dilemma of the MC, when they do something good but their motives are completely misinterpreted, always makes you smile.
Where can one do better?
Many side tasks and secrets are difficult to solve without Google because there are too few clues. In a secret, for example, you walk across several maps and have to activate several stone pillars. But there are no real clues as to which side of the pillars you have to activate.

The clues in the bonus dungeon are also a shortcoming. You have to find keys, but sometimes you have to kill certain enemies to get them. Resurrection is scarce and if you attack the wrong enemy once, you can fail three levels later because of the one additional item you used up. Not bad in itself, if you didn't have to start the whole dungeon over again. At least an autosave every three levels would be helpful so that you don't get completely frustrated.

Despite all this, the game is playable even without this bonus content. Either through a little more grind to level up or to win the more challenging fights with the right tactics.

Well, if there is potential for improvement, there shouldn't really be 5 stars. But only 4 doesn't do the game justice either. My rating would be almost perfect.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

ahh finally this game is released !! really love with the plot and lore of the game.

PROS
+ Good story
+ Good CG art
+ Good gameplay mechanics
+ Good BMG
+ Good MC
+ Lot of costume
+ Good scene
+ Good OST

I would give 5/5

This is a 30-40 hour JRPG that comes with a couple of porn doujins baked into its sidequest/post game. If you approach it with that mindset, it's pretty good. The combat is a bit generic and it's easy to miss things that make it go much faster - weapon shops are relatively rare and it's easy to miss sidequests that give good equipment, and one character relies entirely on finding items for her scattered throughout the dungeons. If you don't find those items, she gets barely any skills, and is pretty useless.

But the game's writing is very strong - it's not *incredibly* deep, but it gets across its themes well and is pretty to the point for its length. I could easily imagine this same story taking 80 hours to tell instead. The characters are all likable, and there's some pretty funny lines.

That said, again, this is largely an RPG, and even taking it on that metric, the combat is nothing to write home about, and while the music's good, it feels like there's maybe 20-25 songs in the whole game. As good as the major boss theme is, you'll get tired of it by the end. So it's not flawless or anything.

In terms of the porn content, the content in the sidequest area is pretty forgettable, just a few generic scenes with minor variations. There's a bonus area you can go to after getting a game over that has better and more varied H content, but the scenes there are still fairly short, and it's all extremely dark content - BDSM, slavery, risk of death, some violence, etc. No outright gore, but it's pretty hardcore. If you're into that kind of thing, there's a decent amount there, but I still wouldn't recommend this game solely for the H content. And if you wanna see it, I'd recommend saving it for the late game, when you have all seven main party members.

So to go back to my main point - this is a 30-35 hour JRPG, SNES style, with some minor h content as a bonus. Think of it like if a download of FF6 came with a folder with a few hentai manga of it. If you approach it with that mindset, you'll probably enjoy it. If that doesn't interest you, this is a skip.

Before I played Black Souls, I thought porn games were just garbage you played for a quick fap.

Ever since i've browsed the internet for a game with a similar kind of dedication and soul that I got from Black souls.

This is one of them. the reason i took a star off is it dedicates itself to a RPG first rather then smut. Edit: actually screw it, 5 stars, don't care if it won't help you bust a nut, it's that good.

It feels like the people who made this really cared about it as a game first. Translation is also really good and must have been a lot of work because there is a lot of text.

Talking to the Dullahan after conquering the first nation had me laughing really hard. It is also not required and missable, so talk to people even when you don't need to.

Well, finished the game, and i have to say, IT IS ONE OF THE BEST STORIES I EVER SAW/PLAYED, the ones how have similar moved me, could be counted ON ONE HAND! Doesn't matter if Game or Series!

A good Game LONG (+30 Hrs Easily) with some utterly Boneheaded design choices (Lets Lock away your 2 BEST units for the end of chapter 4 up until you complete a series of stupid dungeons... One of which i might add... IS YOUR HEALER! AND THE OTHER YOUR TANK!)

So yeah...I recommend taking your time and stockpiling books/canned EXP (The game is fairly generous with them... but there are NUMEROUS points where stupid thoughtless design like I mentioned (and giving you level 1/Underleveled units as a replacement can and will fuck you over)

Outside the retarded bits (which you can work around with typically)... The gameplay and story are pretty good actually (with nothing feeling overly cheap in gameplay)

As for H rated content... Thats mixed in across the game (with most stuff differentiated based on area's your in... the extreme content typically being gated behind the "Bad end" dungeon (Slave internments camp... which is basically an extended bad end). Outside of that is mostly more vanilla/not depressing stuff.

All in all a good game... (Just... save up on books and dont get to salty when the game pulls its bullshit)

Beating the game in ~33 hours I can say this is definitely a story game first before it is a H game, now that's not neccessarily a bad thing its just what any person is in the mood for. The H scenes also aren't bad by any means of the standard just a little outdated imo for 2023 standards if you're playing this game now.

Really rich story and honestly glad I finished this game despite wanting to go in for the faps

Extremely gameplay-heavy, with lots of dialogue, and frequent battles. Even after skipping everything I could, it still took me way longer than I would have liked to reach the end. The CG was pretty good for the most part, minus one character. I ended up finishing the game just to unlock the gallery, but in the end, I don't really feel like it was worth the effort.

it feels strange rating this 2/5 but hear me out.

yes the game is a really well made quality game to porn game standards. rich story lots of characters, etc... but the porn in there is so rare that there is no reason to rate it according to porn game standards.

so if this was an actual game on steam without any porn, this game would be a mediocre less than average game, with a very boring gameplay which nobody would play and would have "mixed" ratings but more negative. yes it has some spin on the cliché stories that now you are playing on the demon's side and it's a bit unique story, but the text is childish, boring, uncreative, the funny bits lack creativity too, you would start yawning after 1h and either stop playing or get through it forcefully due to the interesting premise of demons taking over humans.

there are 2 reasons you play it: because you expect the porn "any second now"

and because compared to other porn games yes it has quality world building and stuff... but what use is world building if there is no porn in it. the reason other porn games have no world building because they focus on the porn aspect. if they focused on "world building" instead of porn then other adult games would have better stories too... but focusing on world building without any porn is tbh quite stupid. because without the porn to carry this game, as a steam game it would be garbage from the many little problems it has.

the first H-scene you see after 3hours... and even that is a still image. no animation, only text, quite boring as well. honestly for a game in f95, it should be given 1/5. but since it's a strange unique change of pace by playing an "actual" game, people get confused that it's "good" just because they rate the story according to porn game standards but since the porn is nearly nonexistant, that's a mistake.

so overall, play any other steam game with similar playstyle and you will have more fun because it will be less boring... and if you wanna play a porn game with story, or just want a quick fap, then avoid this 100%

so i don'T recommend this to anybody. if you are really bored then it's a refreshing change of pace among so much porn, so i guess that is why it's not 1/5 but 2/5

def recommend the game, as many said there are 2 area for the majority of H-scene the fuckingdom (a dungeon unlocked at some point of the story) and the warning dungeon (bad end option in the game over screen)

thankfully the game is not hard on you for losing a battle as if you lose you have the option to retry the battle with your current health and mana on the start of the fight or going to a checkpoint which is a certain point before you enter the fight (example being at the beginning of the dungeon or before the boss room),

don't need to say much about the quality of worldbuilding and story since so many people already said it better than me lol

This is one of the "They don't make games like this these days" kind of game. The game focus on developing the world, story and character more than majority of generic H-JRPG out there. Required 30-35hrs, So don't expect a quick fap at the first 1 hours.
The H content is unique, most of it contain in 2 areas: A fetish theme park and the slave dungeon, you can always visit it anytime. Outside of that, there is far and few during the story.
The combat is barebone generic, but the grind is actually not that bad, so it is keep entertaining me "enough" to finish the game.
Overall, this is a masterpiece for this genre (RPG maker game) easily top 10 on this site.
P/S: I brought the game for real on Steam to support the developers, totally worth it.

I came here for the porn but stayed for the story. It was really surprising how interested I actually got in the game and found the characters really fun. Although the gameplay isn't anything unique, it was the entire plot and story that made me want to continue on.

This is an incredibly good JRPG, and a mediocre hentai game. Its story and characters are very unique and compelling, reminiscent of the Rance series, specially Rance X, with a little twist to make it more interesting.

Gameplay is challenging and addicting if you're a fan of fast turn based games, and there's a lot to explore, as well as side dungeons and quests, which sums up more than 30 hours of good, traditional RPG.

As for the music, that's where Demon Roots really shines, with a lot of excellent tracks by former AliceSoft composer Shade that take much inspiration on his previous works.

Everybody agree that Demons Roots H content is scarce and not that interesting for an H game, and half of it is very dark (me being a vanilla guy) but, if you're willing to open your mind to the experience of a genuinely good RPG despite its lack of H content (or all those terrible tags), you sure won't be disappointed.

Really conflicted with this one. Like the below review, I also agree giving it more like a 3.5.

It's one of the higher quality games I've seen as far as graphics and presentation goes, a lot of glitter and sparkle. But the actual guts of the game are lacking.

If you just want a *game* then it's a good 4 star material. Writing and plot is a solid "good" but nothing ground breaking. Combat is also good, but again nothing ground breaking.

I came to 3 stars just cause I'm weighing it for the nature of f95zone - porn games. If this is what you want, well... I was disappointed. The game is pretty much 0% sexual for the first hour, and after it finally broke and started showing some r18 material I got the impression is was far and few inbetween and not well integrated into the game.

I may keep playing it anyway though. It offers some unique perspective due to the protagonist's nature and you get some silly interactions with demons seldom seen in other similar games.

The 3 stars is maybe a bit harsh, but 3.5 isn't an option. As RPGM games go it's had more effort put into it than most, there's a fair amount of unique sprites and the maps are fairly detailed. Sadly the same amount of care wasn't put into the combat which is stock standard, don't expect anything more complicated than occasionally having to use healing in boss fights.

There's been a lot of praise for the writing but honestly I can't see it, it's just the stock RPG story of defeat the demon king but flipped on it's head, now you're the demons defeating the evil human empire. There's a bit of playing around with moral ambiguity but it's really not that deep.

As for the sex content, what's there is alright but it's not intergrated at all. Feels tacked on to lure people in rather than a focus.

TLDR: 3.5, more effort than just using stock RPGM assets and ok writing but nothing especially extraordinary.

Demons Roots is a hentai game. However, to use a saying dreaded by some members of the community, it is game first and porn second. In this case, however, this isn't a wholly negative thing, since the story this game wants to tell absolutely slaps you in the face and drinks up your tears of joy and sadness.

To talk a bit about the porn content - there is quite a lot of it, however it is mostly optional - either consensual sex in a giant porn theme park, rape if you let your party members be captured and do nothing to help them, and some more brutal stuff if you enter the non-canon bad end dungeon.

Now that we've got past that, let's get to the meat of the game - the story. It is one of the best ones I've had the pleasure of playing, and the cast of characters is extremely diverse, with everyone having their own unique personality, circumstances, and motivations. The dungeons and maps contain such a huge amount of interactables, hidden passages, and secret rooms that even with a guide you might miss some of them.

The combat, while not being the most groundbreaking thing ever, still has enemies with certain strengths and weaknesses, characters that fill in a specific role in your party and requiring strategy to utilize to their fullest, a ton of equipment, bonus ultra hard bosses and ultimate moves for the main cast.

All in all, Demons Roots is an RPG you should most definitely not sleep on. Give it a shot, you might just get hooked.

I thought my friend was pulling my leg when he compared the story-writing of this game to Rance X (arguable one of the longest & greatest VN-made game ever) but from a 'demons' perspective and boiiiiii, he wasn't joking. Thanks, buddy!

Background/Intro
One of the things that immediately stood out about Demons Roots is the intriguing and well-written story. Basically, The game takes place in a fantasy world where the player takes on the role of a demon, tasked with navigating a complex political landscape and making difficult moral choices. The game's story is rich and nuanced, with well-developed characters and unexpected twists and turns that will keep you at the edge of the seat from start to finish.

Graphics are so top of the art too — you can see it by the screenshot itself. What about H scenes? Don't worry, it's like a cherry on top and there are plenty to go around.

For the curious, Demon Roots has at least approx. 20 - 30 hours-ish of content with all the side activities.

Gameplay & features
The gameplay in Demons Roots features a traditional turn-based combat system, with a variety of classes and abilities for the player to choose from. To complement this, there are variety of side-quests which serve to flesh out the world and deepen the player's understanding of the story. All in all, it’s a solid game.

The game features:

• Comprehensive Story Mode — self-explanatory; allows players to fully explore the game's story and characters.
• Alternatively, you can choose Cinematic mode where all the HCG/events will unlock at the end, allowing you to have your first play-through to your own liking.

Hentai is an extra for this conquest story - This is a story driven game
This is a story about war and conquest after all but there are multiple artworks and scenes that will keep you horndogs horny. You get rewarded for failures & even reaching the bad end so it's not the end of the world! IIRC, there will be options to return to certain locations and avoid content you don't wanna see.

Characters are made with love. You'll agree that Deathpolca is impossible to dislike when you play the game. What about the other girls? Rest assured, they all have a nicely done backstories.

Conclusion
Demons Roots is a truly unique and innovative RPG that offers a refreshing take on the traditional RPG formula by allowing players to experience the story from the perspective of the "bad guys".

The game's well-written story, engaging gameplay, and beautiful graphics make it a must-play for any fans of the genre. I would highly recommend…. No, THIS IS A MUST PLAY GAME to anyone looking for a fresh and exciting RPG experience (until you can read Rance X in english).

TL;Dr for those who are allergic to essays:
- STORY DRIVEN gameplay; well-written & engaging gameplay
- Experience the story from ‘Bad guys’ i.e. Demons perspective
- Bloody nice artworks, sprites and even CGs
- You gets lewd CGs even for bad ends/losing so it’s a bloody win-win in the end
- 20 – 30 hours of contents (incl. side-quests)
- MUST PLAY for those who enjoys a well-written story & fun gameplay

For a hentai game it isn't great. It feels mostly tacked on (even in the option you can skip the R18 parts) and is a rape-on-lost style where for the most part you will have to go out of your way to lose to get it. For a game, well it's not that great either. it is a standard RPGM game with no special mechanics and can get very dull unless you want to know more of what happens.

The good thing the game has going for it is the art, music, and writing. However, the writing isn't amazing enough for me to stick around.

I would at least recommend trying it out for the story to see if it clicks but if you are coming in expecting hentai, it would be a waste of time for you.