Grim Guardians Demon Purge or rather Gal Guardians Demon Purge as it is now called is an action-fest Castlevania-like game from Inti Creates. Does it succeed at the formula though and is it worth checking out?
The answer to the above question is a resounding yes and this is because of multiple things that fans of the genre have grown to love and enjoy.
Sisters on a mission
One day when walking back home from school, sisters Shinobu and Maya Kamizono are sucked into an alternate dimension. The sisters find themselves in front of a demonic alternate version of their school and it’s up to them to save the day.
Gal Guardians Demon Purge knows this is a trope and the game makes fun of this quite often throughout with the dialogue between the sisters being filled with jokes and comedic content.
The game innovates on the tried and trusted traditional Castlevania formula by allowing you to instantly swap between two characters. These of course being the sisters themselves. Maya is arguably more powerful than her sister Shinobu since Maya has access to a melee weapon – A scythe to be specific and she really knows how to use it.
The downside to playing as Maya though is the fact that she has less health than her sister. Shinobu’s weapon is a semi-automatic machine gun. Yeah… That escalated quickly right?
Gal Guardians Demon Purge’s writing also plays into the fact that there’s some cliche story aspects here but it’s done in a really good way that isn’t overbearing or too much. The focus of the game lies with its excellent platforming gameplay. Some conversations between characters can be contrastingly lighthearted despite the fact that the game features a lot of blood and gore, especially when slicing through enemies. For the most part though, the story is quite throwaway and just serves as a way to propel the gameplay forward.
Gal Guardians Demon Purge features around 15 hours of gameplay, depending on how good you are at Castlevania-esque titles. There’s quite a lot of trial and error that will go on in the game though and there are a few times where you may want to throw your controller at the wall in frustration but this is largely due to your own mistakes .Gal Guardians Demon Purge isn’t exactly hard but there are some areas in the game where a slight mishap while platforming can cost you dearly.
Maya and Shinobu work in tandem with each other and if one of them loses all their health, you’ll automatically swap over to the other at a checkpoint and will have to revive your sister that’s been defeated. There is a bit of downtime here which can become quite frustrating and annoying and if this was streamlined a bit more, it would alleviate much of the frustration of traversing areas again just to revive your alternate character.
Purge everything!
Maya and Shinobu also have a “Purge” attack which combines both of their abilities and unleashes an extremely strong attack that does massive damage to enemies on screen. Gal Guardians Demon Purge is at its core, a Castlevania-esque title and draws a lot of inspiration from the old Castlevania games.
If you enjoyed those games, you will definitely enjoy Gal Guardians Demon Purge. Boss battles are also quite good here and present enough of a challenge to players much like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Graphically, the game looks fine with a retro aesthetic to it. It could have been spruced up to look a bit more modern but alas, this wasn’t the case here.
The soundtrack of the game is fine with nothing truly spectacular or stand out. Expect plenty of piano and orchestral pieces though with an upbeat vibe that plays right into the action on screen. There’s both English and Japanese voice acting in the game and you can swap between the two depending on your personal tastes. Either voice track was fine despite the limited amount of voiced lines in the story.
Final Verdict
Overall, Gal Guardians Demon Purge is a solid Castlevania-like game. It may frustrate some gamers who lack patience but for those who enjoy this particular genre of 2D platforming action adventuring, it will be a treat. Gal Guardians Demon Purge therefore gets a solid recommendation with the caveat being that it could have used a bit more refinement and polish in some aspects, especially the difficulty, enemy balancing and the revival system. Inti Creates are known for making enjoyable 2D side-scroll action platformers and this is no exception.
Gal Guardians Demon Purge Trailer
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