Grim Guardians: Demon Purge Reviews
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a great-looking 2D platformer that feels just like a Castlevania game. With entertaining characters, and the ability to swap the main characters on the fly. Can get repetitive seeing the same enemies constantly respawning and lack of animated story, it is a solid title overall.
For Castlevania-like fans, those who have enjoyed past Inti Creates titles, and anyone who enjoys a light-hearted adventure with tough gameplay cannot go wrong with Grim Guardians: Demon Purge.
For Metroidvania fans and lovers of Inti Creates' works, Grim Guardians certainly does enough to please. Getting to grips with combat negotiations and levelling up your weaponry brings with it a sense of reward and progression, and it's enjoyable to backtrack for secrets. It's not quite on the level of Curse of the Moon, its closest relative, but it's not far off - and the sibling switching idea is at least novel and fun to work with. Gory, spritely, and occasionally creatively inspired, it hits all the right notes, just sometimes in a little too sparse a manner to be considered overwhelmingly compelling.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is an enjoyable romp through a demon-infested castle.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is Inti Creates at its safest, working in a genre it is most comfortable with. That’s not a criticism, given how talented the developer is at this stuff. If you enjoy the older Castlevania games, you’re going to love this. At the same time, as confident as this production is, it’s hard not to wish that the team at Inti Creates had pushed themselves a little further for this outing. It’s just a little too safe for broader appeal beyond its main niche.
Despite being technically competent, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge fails by playing too safe in certain aspects, leaning too much on its inspirations, and also by not paying attention to simple and basic things expected from the genre. In the end, it delivers an average and unimpressive experience.
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Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a good action platformer that comes together remarkably well. Another score for Inti Creates’ catalogue of fun 2D platformers.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a good snack for people who enjoy Inti Creates titles, the Bloodstained: Circle of the Moon spin-offs, or games that are Metroidvania-adjacent.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is overall a fun and concise experience. It is by no means perfect, especially if you’re a fan of previous Inti Creates games and you have a certain level of expectation.
While the game's poor sign-posting and insistence on replaying levels inevitably introduces a feeling of tedium, it doesn't undo the good things Demon Purge is able to achieve in mechanics, controls, content, and art.
While Grim Guardians Demon purge has a few issues, it does scratch that itch for a Castlevania style experience. The game play is fun, the artwork is solid and it doesn't take it self too seriously.
Gal Guardians is a solid homage to a certain Castlevania game, but probably not the one most players are expecting based on the previews.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is flawed in a lot of the ways it sells itself on. As a Metroidvania, it’s a really weak attempt, but as an Arcade Action Platformer it’s astounding. It just didn’t lean into one or the other enough. If you’re not a fan of Gal*Gun, most of it will go over your head, but fans may love this. Though as an entire package it just does okay.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a mediocre Metroidvania through and through. It starts with a solid foundation but lacks the kind of all-around refinement and conceptualising to be taken seriously. There's some fun to be had here, but it's not worth the price of admission.
For now, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge comes highly recommended. It may be the best Castlevania in years at heart, but it’s also unmistakably its own distinct thing, too, rather than simply being a slavish recreation of a Konami classic. Its solid gameplay, well-crafted mechanics and interesting structure all show that there’s still very much a place for classic 2D side-scrolling action in today’s video game market, and I sincerely hope it ends up a big success.