Gal Guardians: Demon Purge (NS) - Review

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Reviewer's Note: In early March 2023, developer Inti Creates changed this game's title from Grim Guardians to Gal Guardians due to a copyright claim.

If Konami was ever to recruit an indie studio to take over development duties on Castlevania, Japanese developer Inti Creates should absolutely be on the shortlist. For over two decades, the company has proven its proficiency with 2D action-platform games, first with Mega Man Zero and ZX, then with Azure Striker Gunvolt and Blaster Master Zero, and most recently with two titles directly inspired by Castlevania itself: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and its sequel Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. With the arrival of Gal Guardians: Demon Purge, another action-platformer in the vein of Castlevania, Inti Creates has only strengthened its case.

While Demon Purge conforms to the mechanical expectations of games like Castlevania and Bloodstained, its story is actually set in the universe of Gal*Gun, Inti Creates' fan service-y rail shooter series. Everything takes place at Sakurazaki Academy, which has been transformed into a huge Gothic castle infested by monsters and demons. Luckily for the students trapped inside, Sakurazaki Academy is home to Demon Hunter sisters Shinobu and Maya Kamizono, who arrive at the front gate just in time to witness the metamorphosis. They quickly decide to enter the castle grounds to rescue their schoolmates and unravel the mystery behind the academy's transformation.

Although Demon Purge stars two Gal*Gun protagonists, you can absolutely enjoy it knowing nothing about the latter franchise. The story is completely self-contained and lacks most of the lasciviousness of Gal*Gun. That said, fans of the rail shooter will be appeased, thanks to multiple cameos and references to earlier games. Indeed, it's impressive how Inti Creates has managed to create a title that will speak both to admirers of Castlevania-like games and fans of Gal*Gun. After all, to paraphrase the famous song from Sesame Street, "one of these things is not like the other."

Gameplay-wise, Demon Purge belongs to the same family tree as Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and its sequel, and Castlevania III before them. For anyone hoping for a back-tracking action-adventure in the spirit of Symphony of the Night and its spawn, now is the time for a wake-up call. Inti Creates' latest game is very much a stage-based action-platformer that lacks the interconnectedness of your typical Metroidvania. 

Demon Purge is not exactly linear, however. Just as it did with its Curse of the Moon titles, Inti Creates introduces many discrete levels and asks players to explore them multiple times to experience every branching path and secret. Several areas are inaccessible during your first run, so you'll have to return to the scene after earning a new sub-weapon. There's also a major twist half-way through the game that mandates players revisit completed stages to face off against clone bosses with more powerful strikes and new attack patterns. 

Unfortunately, with this gameplay loop there's simply no way to eliminate a nagging feeling of repetition; it's built into the fabric of the game. It's the main structural weakness of Demon Purge, just as it was with the Curse of the Moon adventures. The game would fare better either as a strictly linear affair or, more likely, a full-fledged Metroidvania with interconnected biomes and shortcuts. Currently, it sits in a somewhat uncomfortable middle ground between the two.

Now, to be fair, Inti Creates is able to provide plenty of surprises in previously-visited levels: new scenery, new monsters, and many secrets. As you explore the dustier corners of each stage, you'll find lost students, extra lives, and power-ups that grant additional health, increase max weapon points, boost bullet stock, etc. There's a lot of dopamine to be mined in Demon Purge, despite the tedium.

Earning that dopamine is more burdensome than necessary, however, due to the lack of an in-game map or tracker. The game grants players a compass that points in the direction of students, power-ups, and bosses, but it's vastly inferior to a grid-based map. In general, it's challenging to know where to go once you return to each level, and difficult to determine if you've found every secret. Going for 100% is harder than it has to be.

While Demon Purge displays more than a few similarities to the Curse of the Moon series, it would be misleading to describe it as Curse of the Moon 3. The game sets itself apart by way of a hub area of sorts, where rescued classmates & NPCs assemble and in some cases offer side-quests. More importantly, it distances itself from the older series though its moment-to-moment gameplay, which is silkier and less stiff. If Curse of the Moon is designed to feel like an NES game from 1990, then Demon Purge is inspired by modern action-platformers, including Inti Creates' own Azure Striker Gunvolt. It's easy to move both Shinobu and Maya, and you can make small micro-adjustment in mid-air — very useful for a game with knockback effects and bottomless pits. Inti Creates is known for tight and responsive 2D controls, and Demon Purge is no exception.

Speaking of Shinobu and Maya, controlling them is a treat. Not only do they move effortlessly around each level, but they boast many interesting offensive moves and gadgets. Shinobu is a long-range specialist whose default weapon is a punchy sub-machine gun. Throughout the adventure, she'll obtain several powerful sub-weapons, including grenades, mines, and a rocket launcher. One of her most useful sub-weapons is the grappling hook. Creative players will use it to pull enemies toward Shinobu and over ledges into oblivion. It's especially helpful in accessing hard-to-reach areas. 

Maya, conversely, is a close-quarters fighter with a basic three-hit combo. While she lacks the range of her sister, her attacks deal more damage. Maya's gadgets are less offensively-oriented and more focused on defense and exploration. Her unassuming umbrella sub-weapon is one of the most helpful. It performs double duty, providing Maya protection from hazards above and allowing her to slow her descent significantly. Some sub-weapons are less practical than others but, in the end, a lot of creativity and forethought went into the design and capabilities of both Kamizono sisters.

A lot of forethought also went into making the game enjoyable in both solo and local co-op modes. In fact, Demon Purge is eminently playable on your own or with a friend along for the ride. When playing solo, you can swap at will between both sisters, in order to take full advantage of their unique sub-weapons. While a little clumsier than simultaneous co-op, it allows for more tactical gameplay. Co-op, meanwhile, is entertaining in its own way, as long as you have an engaged partner. There's a neat feature where one player can turn into a "mascot" — essentially a floating effigy — and follow the other player through a particularly tricky area. Best of all, you can swap between 1-player and 2-player modes every time you load a save, meaning you won't be stuck with one style of play for the duration of your campaign.

How long that campaign lasts is ultimately up to you and how much extracurricular exploration you do, but you can expect to extract 8-10 hours from your first run-through — a solid number for an indie action-platformer. Once you finish the campaign on either the "casual" or "veteran" difficulty settings, you'll unlock "legend" hard mode and boss rush mode, which both add to the game's value proposition. Demon Purge also offers 30+ achievements to earn, several of them shrouded in secret. Moreover, the game supports three distinct endings. If you want to save all lost students, unlock every single achievement, and see every single conclusion, you can expect to spend a lot of time in the halls of Sakurazaki Academy. Overall, Inti Creates packed a lot of substance into this game.

Inti Creates also packed a lot of lovely pixel art into Demon Purge. Like the great majority of the studio's 2D action titles, the game looks great, with detailed characters, ghastly monsters, and fluid animations. A few backgrounds are uninspired and samey, but for the most part the game delivers on the visual front. Especially interesting are a handful of tiny details that add to the ambiance: reflections on polished floors, blood splatter on walls and furniture, and — coolest of all — a blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpse of the real-world school setting in the shadow of every screen-clearing super move. 

The music in Demon Purge, courtesy of Ippo Yamada and others, is a fitting complement for the game's morbid setting, demonic entities, and blood & gore. You could easily copy and paste the piano-heavy soundtrack into a Castlevania game and no one would be the wiser; it's that spooky, atmospheric, and catchy. The opening song "Castle Gates" will get stuck in your head for days. If there's a downside in the audio area, it's that Shinobu and Maya have a relatively limited set of catch phrases repeated ad nauseam.

With Gal Guardians: Demon Purge, Inti Creates has added to its already impressive resume of Castlevania-like titles. While not at the same level as Curse of the Moon 2, the game remains macabre, challenging, and packed with the action-platforming goodness that made Konami's Gothic franchise so popular. It's also clearly a product of Inti Creates, thanks to its tight movement, high replay value, and winsome pixelated graphics. 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. Konami, consider keeping Inti Creates on speed dial.

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