Demigod Review

Fast-paced, competitive multiplayer strategy is not often found outside traditional real-time strategy titles. Though it's an RTS in a broad sense of the term, Demigod plays nothing like the Warcrafts or Command & Conquers of the world.

Inspired in part by the successful Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients, Demigod asks players to shape an ongoing war through the use of a single unit (though some demigods have access to a handful of lesser minions). Every so often, AI armies spawn and run toward each other. It's up to the player-controlled demigods to upset the balance between these evenly matched forces. A single blow is enough to fell most troops, and unleashing a special attack often slaughters an entire wave in an instant.

Players have three resources to manage: money, experience, and time. Money is gained over time and by dropping demigods. Experience is earned by stomping on opposing grunts. Time is more complicated – deciding where your talents are most needed, staying on the battlefield instead of retreating to a base for healing, and making good use of teleportation all contribute to an involving strategy layer.

Players evolve their demigods by buying items and assigning skill points. The game is well ­balanced; each of the eight unique demigods has multiple viable builds that can be tweaked any number of ways. Multiple paths of improvement encompass damage, defense, regeneration, movement debuffs, silences, and death explosions. The Queen of Thorns, for example, can be an army destroying area-effect powerhouse, a building-crushing siege engine, or a powerful support unit that focuses on damage mitigation and map control – but not all at the same time. Global upgrades to buildings and grunts are also available. Experimenting with the myriad combinations of spells and items, especially when you start looking into team composition and ­inter-demigod synergies, is a deep and compelling metagame.

Though the basic gameplay is entertaining, the polish is uneven. Larger demigods often occlude smaller units, forcing you to mess with the camera to select what you want. The UI lacks crucial feedback for minion-using demigods, like how many of each summon are active and their current status.

The otherwise solid AI for computer-controlled demigods becomes predictable quickly, and single-player consists solely of customizable skirmishes (or sets of skirmishes) with almost no persistence between matches. Offline play does not have the staying power gamers rightfully expect out of a modern strategy title.

Demigod is a solid implementation of a unique concept. When you find a good team online and coordinate advanced build synergies and tactics, it's amazing. The game should have good legs in multiplayer, but I wouldn't recommend spending the $40 if you're not planning on taking it online.