Middle of the road fantasy action
The fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons has long been mined for video games, going back to the like of the original D&D and beyond. Demon Stone is one of the more recent additions to the rich selection of games and makes for an entertaining slice of fantasy action. This one thrusts players into the middle of an ancient conflict which started out as two mighty demons battled one another for supremacy but who ended up being trapped in the titular Demon Stone. However, three adventurers stumble across the stone and accidentally unleash the demons and which threatens to bring war to the land. Players take control of three heroes, a warrior, a sorcerer and a rogue, the classic D&D classes, and must set out to stop the evil before it is too late. What follows is an action-oriented RPG, with the player exploring and slaying their way through the Forgotten Realms, switching between the three characters at will. As usual, you can collect gold and other items, level up and all the other such things you associate with RPGs, while the combat is fast and furious, with a great focus on chaining combos. Demon Stone is a pretty solid, if somewhat uninspiring bit of hokum. The plot is the usual fantasy nonsense, and is mostly forgettable, with familiar characters who don't really linger in the memory. The gameplay is solid, with some enjoyable combat and exploration but again suffers from a sense of being overly familiar. Visually, the game is fairly lush, bringing the Forgotten Realms to life in decent fashion, but overall it struggles to rise above being merely middle of the road.
