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Book of Demons

Book of Demons

Thing Trunk · released Dec 13, 2018

ActionAdventureCasualIndieRPG

Book of Demons is a Hack & Slash in which YOU decide the length of quests. Wield magic cards instead of weapons and slay the armies of darkness in the dungeons below the Old Cathedral. Save the terror-stricken Paperverse from the clutches of the Archdemon himself!

Steam page ↗OpenCritic ↗
84
VGC Score
·No trend datamedium confidence
86%
At launch
91%
Steam all-time
76%
Press
57%
Player sentiment
67%
Recent sentiment

Screenshots & trailers

Review sentiment over time

Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.

How this score was computed

The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.

ComponentPositiveQuality (0-100)Weight (pseudo-reviews)
Press reviews (OpenCritic)–7614
Creator reviews (1 tracked)–790
All-time Steam reviews91%851000
Metacritic user ratings––0
Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted)67%651
Calibration prior (typical game)–7250

Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 0 reviews sampled · 3 total reviews in window · weighted 0 up / 0 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →

Press & Creators reviews (33)

Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.

  • 75
    TheReviewGeekTheReviewGeek
    trust 79Dec 13, 2018

    “Book Of Demons is an action hack’n’slash RPG that gets almost everything right. Inspired by the original Diablo, Indie company Thing Trunk have put together the perfect love letter to that game, mixing a range of challenging enemies to boot with a well-implemented card deck system. Unfortunately, the game is let down by some clunky gameplay and an awkwardly convoluted UI that’ll likely make or break the experience for you.”

    read full review ↗
  • 50
    RPGamerRPGamer
    trust 74Jan 3, 2019

    “But the game, though having a clean and perfectly adequate presentation, doesn’t do very much to put its best foot forward to wow the player presentation-wise, and the finger-numbing clicky gameplay might be just a bit too underwhelming for some to ride this train all the way to its final stop.”

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    Nindie SpotlightNindie Spotlight
    trust 70Apr 30, 2020

    “Ever since Diablo hit the scene dungeon-crawling action RPG action has never been the same...”

    read full review ↗
  • 80
    Cubed3Cubed3
    trust 70Dec 26, 2020

    “Book of Demons takes Diablo's addictive gameplay (and visual style, music, story… and many more), and embellishes it with a set of cards that act as the abilities of your heroes. Thing Trunk's gem isn't a flawless one, sure, and the transition to the Switch removes one of its key components, which is the mouse, but this remains a pretty neat… err, card 'n' slasher that needs to be in the Switch library of every ARPG fan.”

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    PC InvasionPC Invasion
    trust 69Dec 13, 2018

    “Delightful, fun, quirky -- Book of Demons keeps you entertained as it provides a unique take on what Diablo and the ARPG genre provides. Unfortunately, it also becomes repetitive and aimless towards the end.”

    read full review ↗
  • 87
    neXGamneXGam
    trust 68Dec 30, 2018

    “I was really surprised how good and addictive the gameplay of Book of Demons is. If you're worried about just having a simple Diablo clone, then you're definitely wrong, because the game knows exactly where it sets its own accents, and yet it's motivating enough to keep you busy for a long time. For me clearly a must-buy and a very strong title, which is recommended to any action RPG fan!”

    read full review ↗
  • 95
    Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
    trust 67Jan 7, 2019

    “I would honestly saw that if you are a fan of Diablo, Torchlight, Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, Victor Vran, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, or any other number of Hack & Slash titles that have spawned from Blizzard's horror inspired Dungeon Crawler, Book of Demons is a must. Great gameplay, graphics, audio and plenty of jokes and tributes to go around, this Hack & Slash is worth it. With it also being the beginning, I'm looking forward to seeing what Thing Trunk come up with next.”

    read full review ↗
  • 80
    SECTOR.skSECTOR.sk
    trust 66Dec 21, 2018

    “Great Diablo tribute and parody with unique game system and cards in cute Paperverse.”

    read full review ↗
  • 96
    BazimagBazimag
    trust 65Dec 14, 2018

    “A Truly immersive spectacular dungeon crawler that is both a tribute to Diablo and a masterpiece standing on its own, truly worth its price with the insane amount of content and play time it will give, I can see myself putting +hundred hours easily in this, it really is so vast with all the features that it feels like a miniverse of its own, absolutely recommending it to anyone who wants a very deep and challenging dungeon crawler game and is into this gameplay style, you cant go wrong with this.”

    read full review ↗
  • 40
    GameGrinGameGrin
    trust 65Apr 30, 2020

    “Book of Demons is hard to recommend to either casual and hardcore players. Instead of being a simpler dungeon crawling experience that newcomers could enjoy, it's instead bland and unintuitive. You're better off trying out already established ARPGs, while waiting for the upcoming releases of Diablo IV and Torchlight III that are looking to offer far more interesting gameplay.”

    read full review ↗
  • 75
    GamerskyGamersky
    trust 64Jan 23, 2018

    “A nice hack and slash game with the beautiful art style and solid combat. But the card system doesn't balance decently and it makes the long-term experience boring.”

    read full review ↗
  • 80
    Bloody DisgustingBloody Disgusting
    trust 64Dec 13, 2018

    “Book of Demons does interesting things with a genre dominated by stat-heavy grind titles with furious clicking/button mashing. The majority of the busywork is abolished in favor of ease of use and it’s honestly quite refreshing. As mentioned before, the setup of Book of Demons really could make it an accessible way into the genre for those not familiar with it/enthused by it, and for seasoned dungeon crawler fans it offers up something of a respite from the usual formula.”

    read full review ↗

…and 21 more tracked reviews.

Patch history

  1. Hellcard Bundle and 1.0 release soon!
    Jan 16, 2024
  2. Czech language and Steam Deck update!
    Dec 21, 2022
  3. Languages and Bugfixes Update
    Apr 19, 2022
  4. The October Update!
    Oct 21, 2021
  5. Mid 2021 Update: why is making games such a lengthy process?
    Aug 11, 2021
  6. Developer update
    Apr 4, 2020
  7. Developer update
    Apr 4, 2020
  8. March update has been served!
    Mar 9, 2020
  9. Dynamic music update!
    Jan 16, 2020significant · resets scoring window
  10. Korean & Bulgarian language update!
    Nov 21, 2019
  11. 🔥UPDATE🔥Mini-challenge mode!
    Jul 24, 2019significant · resets scoring window
  12. Introducing Card Sets!
    Jun 5, 2019significant · resets scoring window
  13. Speedrun to the Cook!!!
    Apr 15, 2019significant · resets scoring window
  14. Electrifying Bosses Update
    Mar 13, 2019significant · resets scoring window
  15. Online Battles timed event is live!
    Feb 6, 2019significant · resets scoring window
  16. Book of Demons January update!
    Jan 24, 2019significant · resets scoring window
  17. Happy New Year update!
    Dec 31, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  18. IndieDB Editor's Choice: Best Singleplayer of 2018
    Dec 23, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  19. Demons are out of Early Access! Woohoo!
    Dec 13, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  20. Dungeons & Streamers free DLC
    Nov 28, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  21. Release date is set to 13th Dec!
    Nov 7, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  22. Destructible columns update
    Oct 29, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  23. Mac version is live! Along with bugfixes and stuff.
    Oct 11, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  24. Major sound and voices update!
    Sep 6, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  25. Quest mastering and the new Archdemon quest!
    Jul 18, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  26. Book of German and Turkish Demons
    May 17, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  27. Community translations and Minimap Update!
    Apr 23, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  28. Performance update
    Mar 6, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  29. Performance update
    Mar 6, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  30. Cursed Sarcophagi and spatial sound now live!
    Feb 22, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  31. Cursed Sarcophagi and spatial sound now live!
    Feb 22, 2018significant · resets scoring window
  32. The Rogue Update
    Dec 11, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  33. The Rogue Update
    Dec 11, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  34. Razer Chroma & more
    Oct 24, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  35. September Developer Log
    Sep 7, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  36. September Developer Log
    Sep 7, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  37. The Last Big Update Before the Rogue
    Aug 7, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  38. The Last Big Update Before the Rogue
    Aug 7, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  39. This update and beyond
    May 11, 2017significant · resets scoring window
  40. This update and beyond
    May 11, 2017significant · resets scoring window

…and 8 earlier patch announcements.