Demonicon

If I recall right, Demonicon was a pure impulse purchase for me: I saw a deep discount and the logo of the German tabletop RPG, The Dark Eye, which I had encountered before in the Blackguards games. And I suppose my backlog wasn't as lengthy as it is currently. Demonicon didn't turn out to be the worst experience ever but there's just not much of a reason to play it over something else.

Little known Dark Eye action RPG

The small amount of discussion there is around the game (released in 2013) is largely about the relationship between the protagonist Cairon and his sister Calandra. For a good while I wondered if the game was actually going to fully commit to having incest -- I thought it a real possibility given how the setting is dark fantasy. Demonicon sure likes to tease you with it and you can insert your opinion about it by deciding what Cairon does.

Choices hardly matter in the big picture though: the game flows the same way regardless of whom you side with along the way. You may be locked out of one of the endings depending on certain choices but by being good enough of a talker you can bypass even that.

The story is... quite passable actually. The opening cutscene has some gruesome demon summoning ritual and the plot revolves around its consequences and how Cairon and Calandra are related to it. However, before the finale Demonicon momentarily drops the ball in a serious manner. You get involved in an elongated effort in picking what sacraments the reformatted church of Borbaran (I think it was) will have. What does it matter if some imaginary religion has a sacrament of marriage or whatever? The chapter felt like filler before you get to the final boss fight.

Not the shallowest action RPG

Despite being single character, third person action instead of turn-based strategy (like Blackguards), Demonicon's implementation of The Dark Eye skill system was quite familiar to me -- not that I know anything about the original, actual rules. Still, upgrading stats and skills work the same way: you have to spend points four times on something before it gains a new rank that has an actual effect. Combat abilities seemed alike from what I recalled and spells have four ranks as well.

As I was playing the game on Steam -- on which I feel compelled to go for all achievements -- I ended up playing Demonicon through more than once. I'm almost certain that it is possible to make every non-combat skill check if you optimize your skill rank-ups: using your skills grants adventure points, essentially refunding your spent points over time. You also need to have a bit of luck getting the right bonus skill level granting items early on. (There is some randomness in loot drops.) There was only one skill check -- I think Medical 3 -- I couldn't make on my last run.

Magic abilities you can almost max out towards the end but for combat you're better off focusing on something. Lunge worked for me pretty well due to being fast and effective, especially so when combined with Demonic Aura and Icy Spear.

Lost in translation

I have noted that often times in RPGs made in Europe -- in countries where English is not the first language -- characters tend to have obscure titles you never encounter in American games. Like the leader of a certain order in this one is Metropolitan, which I've never heard being used like that. (Apparently it's an actual title in Christian Orthodox Church.) And what does "Every human - a mage." in the intro cinematic even mean? I don't think it's mage in the sense of being a spellcaster.

Also, I didn't notice any references or familiar names from the Blackguards games with the exception of a note mentioning Zurbaran, the patron saint of alchemists. I think that may very well be the same Zurbaran as one of your party members in Blackguards.