Demon Lord Reincarnation

I played this game a lot in 2025 and picked it as my game of the year when me and my friends were sharing our year in gaming! I was initially interested because I had heard a little bit about [spoiler] the twist at the end of the game, which was basically made for me as a researcher of game monsters. I wasn't disappointed and I've thought about it a lot since! [/spoiler]. I played Dragon Ruins first, by the same developer, as my introduction to the genre, but it was DLR that really got me into it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2929540/Dragon_Ruins/ If you end up trying it yourself, I highly recommend drawing out your own maps on some graph paper or something, rather than using a digital alternative, it added a lot to the game, and I kind of love the maps that I was left with after I finished playing! If you get the game, READ THE MANUAL!!! It's part of the experience, and you'll be lost without it. I really enjoy games developed by solo devs or small teams like this. Having played other games from Graverobber Foundation, you can feel the love for the genre (which is infectious).

I absolutely love the aesthetic but the gameplay kinda blows

This game is awesome! Honestly, I'd love to see this get a new installation

Fun mapping and I hear there's a neat twist later in, but this combat system is the worst. It's hard to tell what damage type skills will do or what enemies are weak to vs your character just whiffing a blow, it's hard to know what damage skills you'll get or what classes are even usable, and any stat gains your characters get are wiped out by scaling up the number of enemies in encounters.

I really wanted to like this game as the overall vibe and soundtrack fascinates me but i quickly realized that fights are heavily RNG based, your chars die very often and youre also ending up in these healing-fight encounter circles and thats just not a very fun experience after all.

I do not like this as much as the Dragon Ruins games, especially the 2nd one. This predates them and this is a good early attempt at what those later games were able to do. Some of what is lacking here has been fixed in those later games. If you are a fan of Wizardry-like dungeon crawlers, go with the Dragon Ruins games. However, if you love those and want to see what led to their creation, this may pique your curiosity and worth a look. But I would wait for a sale. I think the price is a bit too steep for what you get compared to the other games, which are just a few dollars more. Dragon Ruins II is, by far, the best bang for your buck.