Grim Guardians: Demon Purge Reviews
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.
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.
Gal Guardians is a solid homage to a certain Castlevania game, but probably not the one most players are expecting based on the previews.
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.
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.
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.
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 a good action platformer that comes together remarkably well. Another score for Inti Creates’ catalogue of fun 2D platformers.
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.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is an enjoyable romp through a demon-infested castle.
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.
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.
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.
In most ways, Gal Guardians Demon Purge sticks very close to the retro-Castlevania template. The best parts of the game are those ideas and mechanics which add something new, like the swappable sisters with unique strengths. For those gamers tired of uber-challenging action platformers, Gal Guardians Demon Purge’s streamlined gameplay and accessible difficulty might be a welcome change, if not a particularly revelatory experience.
It took a long time for Grim Guardians: Demon Purge to grow on me but once it did, I became hooked thanks to its assortment of clever abilities and oodles of secrets to discover. So, if you long for the return of old-school Castlevania then I'm sure you'll enjoy this.
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge is a wonderful addition to the genre with lots of ideas taken from Iga-era games, while adding their own high impact gameplay into it.
Summing everything up, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a great game, one worthy of playing again and again, with its great soundtrack, responsive controls, the level of fun learning boss patterns, and completing the game 100% is a great accomplishment. In the words of Joe Bob, “4 stars, check it out!”.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge manages to play with the format of one of the great action platforming classics and show again their mastery of the genre. Though some details such as not having a map during gameplay can make the experience more confusing and tiring than it should have been, this is still easily recommended for those who like the genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Overall I had a blast with Grim Guardians: Demon Purge. The gameplay was very solid and a ton of fun. The writing here is great, and there are plenty of things here to keep fans of both Castlevania style games and Gal*Gun happy. My only real complaint is there is no way to pull up the castle map while in the stage. This makes looking for some of the hidden rooms more a pain than it should be. The game will take you around 8 hours to complete an ending. There are a three of these in total and some extra things to collect once the credits have rolled. I feel like this one is well worth the $24.99. It’s rare to find a game that would please these two very different fanbases, but this one will certainly do just that!