Demeo is a relatively new turn-based strategy game for tabletop that takes place in a post apocalyptic future. The game is set in the premise that humanity has been destroyed by a comet, and the few survivors have established a new society in the remains of a building. You, as the ruler of this new society, must gather supplies, manage the populace, and build up your army to fend off against the hordes of mutants roaming the wastes. The single player campaign is very challenging, and you can choose to play on easy, normal, or hard mode. There is also a multiplayer campaign that follows the same general premise, but you and your opponent face off in a 1 vs. 1 battle.
Demeo has been on the market for a few years now and is a premium tabletop game designed to be played in the standing up format.
I’ve read a lot of reviews of VR games, and while I’ve found many to be very good, none have captured the imagination quite like Demeo. The game is a top-down shooter, which looks and plays like a classic 8-bit arcade game – but the premise is that you’re controlling a giant mech, shooting enemies in a 3D world. The game is a VR game demo, which uses the Oculus Rift headset with Touch controllers to give you the third dimension.
Demeo is a tabletop action RPG that puts you with up to three other players in a co-op battle against pint-sized foes of all makes and models. The basement setting and Monster Manual-esque modules suggest a very in-depth D&D style gameplay experience, but it’s more akin to a more casual turn-based strategy game set in randomized dungeons. It offers a good opportunity to get back into playing board games with friends in a time when it’s not always the smartest idea to do so IRL, but I question whether Demeo has gone far enough to really utilize the full gamut of VR’s immersive possibilities.
Details about the demeo:
Oculus Quest and SteamVR are both available. The film will be released on May 6th, 2021. Price: $30 Developer: Resolution Quest 2 – crossplay with SteamVR is the subject of this review.
Gameplay
Demeo has a multiplayer mode where you may play with up to three friends or strangers, as well as a single player skirmish mode where you can practice your tactics. The goal of the game is to team up with one of four heroes to go through three dungeons and kill the final monster. Because you only have two action points each round, you must choose carefully whether to move or use an ability card to fight, heal, or hide.
Demeo just has one game module at the moment, dubbed “The Black Sarcophagus,” but being a roguelite strategy game, it has randomization of dungeon layout, ability cards, and map entrance and exit points. Resolution Games has announced that the second module, entitled “Realm of the Rat King,” will be released sometime in Summer 2021. Demeo will also get free post-release upgrades that will feature new locations, opponents, and ability cards.
Anyway, if you want a fast and dirty tutorial on how to play Demeo, Resolution does a good job of presenting everything in the brief overview video below.
First and foremost, Demeo is a capable tabletop game that strikes a lot of the right notes. Despite the fact that it only has one especially tough difficulty level, it impresses with its excellent visual refinement, well-balanced combat mechanics, and the potential to bring VR players together in a virtual environment for a night of safe and enjoyable entertainment—that latter point should not be overlooked. It also has just enough complexity for anybody to pick up and play, due to the randomness of ability cards and dungeon structure, and provides hours of playtime.
When I say it’s unforgiving, I mean you’ll have to beat up on ‘The Black Sarcophagus’ a few times before you find the sweet spot of excellent group communication, mastering all hero skills, and identifying the variety of opponents lurking about so you know how to attack and who to go for first. You’ll also need a lot of luck, patience for restarts, and insight into which cards make the most sense to keep and utilize to eventually beat the finale monster. I conquered ‘The Black Sarcophagus’ module in just under an hour on my quickest playing, which doesn’t include a couple hours of failures previously.
Both monster and hero powers seem nicely balanced, with monsters having the upper hand due to their ability to construct enemy-spawning nests, thereby making the assault near-infinite if you believe you can simply remain put. On the other hand, if you move too fast or if one of your party members chooses to Leroy Jenkins through a door without consulting the rest of the group, you may find up with more villains than you can manage. As a result, communication is crucial to surviving and progressing to the next dungeon.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll just say it. Demeo is a board game that I like playing. It’s a well-made game that, with a few minor flaws, can sit alongside any other board game you’d play with friends on a Friday night. It’s free of needless fluff, but it’s also not very innovative in terms of virtual reality. It left me wanting more when it came to its execution as a native VR game. I was hoping for more VR-specific elements to distinguish it different from comparable games played on a conventional monitor, but I’ll get into that in the Immersion section below.
Immersion
I enjoy Demeo because of its obvious execution and purpose as a tabletop game; I only wish there was a better reason for it to be in VR rather than on a flatscreen. As a result, it will appear on conventional PC displays at some time, which may be the most telling hint as to why it is built the way it is.
But allow me to take a step back for a moment. Everything at Demeo is oozing with flair, even the cool nostalgia-soaked basement, which has a perfectly ’80s vibe. Character models and animations may be a lot of fun to watch if you get near enough to the action—which you can accomplish by ‘stretching’ the environment with both motion controllers. It has a Star Wars-style HoloChess feel to it.
When it comes to actually playing, going so close to examine opponents and heroes alike is pretty useless. You’ll probably end up disregarding most of those really nice features after you’ve gotten into the game and toggled the ability to see the environment at a 45-degree angle tilt to avoid straining your neck from continuously gazing below.
To avoid the inevitable neck pain, your motion controller becomes glorified laser pointers to pick and move pieces, and it essentially becomes a game you could play on conventional displays. It’s simply too difficult to pick up a single piece from a cluster, and hand models grasp objects in an odd way to make it seem like the logical first option.
That begs the question: what does Demeo offer to virtual reality that a game on a conventional display can’t? The answer is a resounding no. I was expecting to see additional VR-specific game features, such as skill-based interludes, opportunities for roleplaying, or anything else that would draw me further into the game; being able to shrink down to almost the size of a character isn’t quite enough.
I discovered that playing Demeo relies less on your capacity to see your other players and more on your ability to communicate with one another without looking at each other, with the odd gesture. Even yet, in multiplayer mode, pointing is abstracted by emphasizing an air sketching tool that you may utilize to clearly express where you want to go next.
Despite avatar accoutrements (along with several dice and character themes), it’s obvious that Demeo places a lower priority on player-to-player interactions. I simply wish there was a better purpose for a player-to-player link in Demeo, such as being able to send them anything they may need or desire.
Comfort
It’s no laughing matter when it comes to neck comfort. The human neck was not designed to bear uneven weights for extended periods of time, and stress damage is a genuine possibility. You may fortunately tilt the table by a configurable degree if you want to obtain a complete front-facing bird’s eye perspective of the action without jeopardizing immersion. If you plan on playing for more than an hour, I strongly advise you to do so. This is true even if the Elite Battery Strap on the Quest 2 helps to balance the headset’s weight.
You can play with a natural perspective of the table if you stay seated, but you’ll definitely want to walk about a lot to obtain better angles. This is accomplished by grasping the whole environment with a single motion controller, which is quite pleasant. Resizing the environment by ‘stretching’ it with both hands may be unpleasant at first, but as long as you aren’t flying about and resizing frequently, you should have a really pleasant gaming experience.
Demeo is a game of strategy, deception and misdirection. You are an assassin sworn to protect the guild from enemies. You will have to lie, cheat, and steal your way to victory. The game is played on a large grid, which is divided into 12 zones. Each zone is accessible by a different colored route (red, green, and blue), and all routes converge on the Guild, which is where all players must gather to decide the winner. Read more about demeo vr reddit and let us know what you think.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Demeo good solo?
Demeo is a good solo class.
Does Demeo require VR?
Demeo is a VR game that requires the use of a headset.
How long does it take to play Demeo?
It takes about 20 minutes to play Demeo.
Related Tags
This article broadly covered the following related topics:
- demeo classes
- demeo without vr
- demeo cross buy
- oculus demeo
- demeo vr reddit
