Demigod Review

Demigod is an RTS/RPG hybrid published by Stardock (the guys who brought us Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations) and developed by Gas Powered Games (they guys who did Supreme Commander). Aside from having a slight learning curve, Demigod is very entertaining and challenging. It reminds me a little of Dawn of War II and Diablo in that you point and click where you want to go and then level up. That’s a bit of an oversimplification because Demigod can be as deep a game as you want it to be. More on that later.

From the opening cinematic I was hooked. You learn the back story of Demigod from an announcer/narrator that sounds like Christopher Lee in Lord of the Rings (it’s not him though). The menu is easy to navigate and has a nice design. The single player mode features either a tournament (which is like a campaign) or skirmish. I have not tried multiplayer yet, but that mode does require online activation for any updates (via Impulse). I already had an Impulse account, so registering was easy. I hear that no other DRM is present in the game.

The bulk of my experience with Demigod comes from the tournament. The point of the tournament is to determine which Demigod will ascend to God status. You get to choose from 8 different Demigods, each with their own set of characteristics (four Generals and four Assassins). I chose the Rook, which is the large walking castle on the cover of the box. He carries a huge mace that can destroy structures and take out other Demigods. He’s slow moving but packs a wallop.

Gameplay for the most part involves you controlling only your Demigod. You are surrounded by your minions in battle, but you don’t really control them. Depending on which Demigod you choose you might be able to issue some commands to a few minions, but that’s about it. The game essentially has you lumbering around the map taking strategic points and killing various minions and Demigods. As you do this, you gain XP and gold. As you gain XP and gold, you level up and can purchase various upgrades and use favor points to increase your skills. As you battle your way through the 8 or 9 contests you rack up points. The Demigod with the most points at the end wins the tournament and becomes a god.

The interesting thing about Demigod is that all the leveling up you do during a contest (in real time) doesn’t carry over to the next contest. You basically have to start over again. I was a little disappointed by this. I spend time leveling up and increasing my skills only to lose it all at the next battle. I’m not sure how this works in the multiplayer component, but it would have been nice to develop my Demigod over the course of the tournament. A small complaint.

Graphically, Demigod is a treat. The level design is beautiful and all the characters are very detailed. Battlefields take the shape of various platforms in a fantasy realm surrounded by water falls, mist, and blue sky. Colors are pastel and illuminated by bright sunlight. You can zoom in on a particular character or zoom all the way out and see the entire map. Gorgeous.

My system specs allow me to run this game at 1920×1200 resolution on a 24″ monitor. You would do well to have a multicore processor and at least a couple gigs of ram. I’ve got a Q6600 @ 3.0ghz, 4gb or ram, 8800gt, and Windows XP 32bit. I can run everything on high with 2x AA and vsync on. Smooth frame rate, no glitches.

Hybrids seem to be the rage these days, and Demigod contains all that is good in an RTS and an RPG. Even if you’re a purist I think you will find Demigod engaging.