Demon Peak

About

Demon Peak is a single player action adventure game. It was developed by Kajak Games and was released on July 7, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Demon Peak is a 2D action-platformer Metroidvania, focused on close combat and movement abilities. Explore interconnected areas to discover abilities, powerups, and bosses, with hand-painted pixel art and a 30-minute soundtrack. This game is a student project filled with numerous abilities, enemies, and rooms for players to enjoy.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 304 reviews

music56 positive mentions

stability22 negative mentions

The game features beautiful pixel art and a nostalgic retro aesthetic reminiscent of classic Metroidvania titles.
Gameplay is fun and challenging, with a variety of unlockable powers and abilities that enhance exploration and combat.
The soundtrack is enjoyable and fits well with the game's atmosphere, adding to the overall experience.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with controls, enemy hit detection, and occasional crashes.
Level design can be confusing, with some areas lacking clear direction and a map, making navigation difficult.
Combat can feel unbalanced, with some enemies being overly aggressive and difficult to defeat, leading to frustration.

music
158 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
54%
11%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its nostalgic SNES-style and atmospheric qualities, while others find it repetitive, dull, or mismatched with the game's tone. Many agree that certain tracks loop too quickly or feel out of place, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, there are also positive mentions of specific tracks that enhance the gameplay, indicating that the soundtrack has potential but requires refinement.
- “The music is pretty good and makes a great atmosphere.”
- “The music and sound effects are top of their class and blend perfectly with the world.”
- “From the absolutely amazing music and sound effects to the art and design of the levels, this game oozes passion from the developers.”
- “The music is awful and bland, the way your character moves is weirdly stilted and glidey, the level design is boring, and the hit detection is all sorts of wonky.”
- “The music is only okay and not too memorable, and certain songs loop much too quickly.”
- “The music does not fit the game at all.”
graphics
80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
39%
4%
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their vibrant pixel art style and smooth animations, effectively capturing a retro aesthetic reminiscent of classic games. Many players appreciate the unique art direction and detailed environments, which enhance the overall immersive experience, despite some reports of graphical bugs and control issues. Overall, the visuals are considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “The graphics are slick, most of the time smooth animations along with great choice of colors, befitting the multiple areas you'll be going through.”
- “Demon Peak is a fun little metroidvania game that allows for a fun experience in a nice pixel graphic display, filled with color and vibrance.”
- “The graphics and enemy designs are all really sharp and look pretty good considering the size of the team working on it.”
- “Do not let that rating deter you from giving this game a shot. From my understanding, when this game was released, there were several bugs, such as maps that didn't work, save points which randomly teleported you around the map, unfinished textures, and other graphical bugs.”
- “I really like everything about this game aesthetically; however, like many of the other reviews have said, it's definitely not complete.”
- “The graphics are simple, yet effective and indicative of the dark atmosphere for the game.”
gameplay
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
62%
11%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its fluid mechanics and satisfying core experience, while others criticize the level design and repetitive nature of dying and platforming. Players noted that the game offers a challenging experience reminiscent of "souls-like" mechanics, but lacks the depth and balance in boss encounters and RPG elements. Overall, while the game has potential with its aesthetics and movement mechanics, many feel it falls short in execution, leading to a relatively short playtime and a sense of disappointment.
- “The gameplay feels very fluid and satisfying at its core.”
- “The gameplay is fun and challenging while consistently changing and adding mechanics for variety.”
- “The mechanics involved in dashing and jumping can become quite complex as you progress through the game.”
- “In the end, 90% of the gameplay is dying over and over and doing platforming with bad movement.”
- “I hope the developers come back and finish this game someday; the aesthetics, music, and visuals are top-notch, and it's surprisingly immersive for a 2D platformer, but it's a mess gameplay-wise.”
- “Apart from this, you can't really buy that many new attacks and the secrets are a little lackluster, but the game puts core gameplay over extending the playtime, which is admirable, but it makes it very disappointing when you've basically seen everything the game has to offer after 6 or so hours.”
story
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
71%
10%
The story in the game is largely considered minimal and forgettable, with many players noting a lack of lore and backstory. While some appreciate the ambiguity and focus on exploration, others feel that the narrative is shallow compared to other titles in the genre. Overall, if you're seeking a rich storyline, this game may not meet your expectations.
- “Demon Peak is a pretty good Metroidvania game, but it’s now time for the story.”
- “I just started playing Demon Peak, and I really enjoyed the design and fast-moving mechanics, as well as having a very well-detailed environment and story. It would be great to see this game ported over for the PS4 in the near future.”
- “You can tell early on while exploring the levels, whether it be a platform just out of reach or a strange-looking wall, that you'll be retreading areas (for better or for worse, I don't mind) with new abilities to unlock the next part of the story once you can 'use the mist.'”
- “There really isn't much of a story, nor much lore or backstory to research.”
- “If you're looking for a story, you won't find it here.”
- “Honestly, there's not a lot of story to be had in the game and that's fine, because it would probably be dumb and just get in the way anyway.”
stability
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, including issues like wall clipping, freezing, and inconsistent enemy difficulty, which significantly detracts from the overall experience. While some players report minimal impact from these issues, many recommend avoiding the game until it receives substantial patches to address its stability problems. Overall, the current state of stability is considered poor, with frequent technical issues reported by users.
- “The game is still buggy as hell in 2021.”
- “However, I have found several bugs in the game; wall glitches, a freeze here or there, and the directionless feel you get; especially early on, has an unforgiving difficulty spike.”
- “But the game has so many bugs, glitches, and issues, that I wouldn't recommend buying it as it is now until they patch the things wrong with it.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
37%
25%
The game's replayability is criticized for being limited, with players noting the absence of multiple difficulty levels and a new game plus mode that offers little variation from the base game. This has led to disappointment among users who expected more engaging late-game content and replay value.
- “Infinitely replayable (or almost).”
- “The game offers a wealth of content that keeps drawing me back for more.”
- “Each playthrough feels fresh due to the variety of choices and outcomes.”
- “My biggest gripe about this game is the lack of replayability and late game content, with there only being 1 difficulty and New Game Plus being identical to the base game apart from keeping your upgrades.”
- “I am a little bit angry at the developers because they pushed a balancing update and did not change New Game Plus difficulty (there goes all that replay value).”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
37%
13%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised, with captivating music and effective graphics that contribute to a dark and immersive experience. Players are drawn in by the well-designed creatures and enemies, making it difficult to stop playing. Overall, the combination of sound and visual elements creates a compelling environment that enhances the challenging gameplay.
- “The music and atmosphere of the levels are the first things that capture you, and with the wonderful creature and enemy designs, this is a hard game to put down.”
- “The graphics are simple, yet effective and indicative of the dark atmosphere of the game.”
- “I still choose to recommend the game for its great controller, atmosphere, and challenging, Souls-like setting.”
- “The graphics are simple, yet effective and indicative of the dark atmosphere for the game.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding amusement in the negative reviews and quirky elements, such as the comical music and absurd background art. While some aspects may be unintentionally funny, others appreciate the game's attempt at humor, suggesting it resonates well with those who enjoy lighthearted moments. Overall, the humor adds a layer of enjoyment, even if it isn't consistently effective.
- “Some of the negative reviews are rather hilarious: 'you can cheese the enemies with normal attacks'... yeah, and?”
- “The music in the starting level made me laugh though.”
- “There was also a pretty ridiculously bad background of a skeleton which made me laugh and I sent a picture to all my friends.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the small game world and limited enemy variety, which exacerbates the repetitive nature of encounters. The absence of nearby save points during boss fights further contributes to the frustration, making the experience feel unnecessarily drawn out.
- “What made it worse is the boss was nowhere near a save point; it just became tedious.”
- “The game world itself is pretty small, but I think that if it were a lot larger, the lack of variety with enemies would have just made the game seem tedious.”
- “What made it worse is the boss was nowhere near a save point; it just became tedious.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game faced significant performance issues and bugs at launch, but by 2020, many players reported a smooth experience with no problems encountered during gameplay.
- “It seems that there were a lot of performance issues and bugs in this game on release; however, as of 2020, I just beat the game and had no issues whatsoever.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by the intense and often frustrating encounters with major bosses, where players experience a mix of exhilaration and despair due to inconsistent mechanics that can lead to sudden defeat. This unpredictability adds to the emotional stakes of the battles, making victories feel hard-earned and losses particularly disheartening.