Demons Roots

This is not a game for everyone, but it was definitely a game for me.
The gameplay isn't that complicated, with a lot of good strategies being easy to use to humiliate a majority of the game. There is some gameplay that is radically different, and it usually ends up being very exciting.
The plot?
The characters?
The writing?
To die for.
Seriously, if anything about the idea of an eroge about a demon girl trying to take over the world and the mishaps and friends she makes along the way appeals, with ideas of agency, freeedom, systemic issues...
Grab this.
Play it.
You wont regret it.

If you look at the tags of this Game, what would you expect? Or rather, what does your brain automatically assume? For the longest time I thought "ah well, Hentai tag? Must be low quality jerk off bait or have nothing to offer besides the porn elements". I have never been more wrong.
Demons Roots is a pretty good JRPG that excels in its story. I'd go as far as to say in terms of story it is better than 95% of RPGs I have played, making this an unexpected hidden gem in a spot most people wouldn't dare to look at. I think I never would've expected that a game with Hentai elements almost made me tear up a little and engaged me in its story throughout all of its 30 hours of playtime.
!!! Before continuing, there is one elephant in the room you NEED to pay attention to before playing. The game has an official, free patch that you have to download from the official Kagura Games website. This patch adds all the 18+ elements AND the second half of the game. Without the patch, the game will end halfway through. I... don't know why it is that way. So keep in mind to install the patch or the game will just stop halfway through. It is not an issue since it's easy to install, but I don't get why it is like that.
Don't worry, there is an option to turn off all the Hentai scenes if you don't want to see those. Most of them aren't important to the story with the exception of maybe two or three.
This review will not have any real spoilers. However, some parts will give you expectations when I talk about why the story was that enjoyable for me. And I personally think this game is best experienced completely blind, without specific expectations towards the story influencing you. So if you want that truly blind experience without too specific expectations, I will hide those parts of my review with a spoiler. For those who want more details what made that story so great, you can of course read those.
Speaking of spoilers... DO NOT LOOK AT THE STEAM PAGE TOO MUCH. the character section contains huge spoilers, at least for one specific character. I have no clue why they decided to do this, it's pretty stupid.
Story and characters
Demons Roots' main strength is, again, its story. While it starts of deceptively generic or at least not super interesting in the first 10-20%, it will consistently become very intriguing and engaging over its ~30-40 hours of content. I think I have never played a video game that had so many suprises in its story both from a narrative perspective and a meta perspective (you will know what I mean when you play the game). In general, the developer knew well how to play with your expectations. And even though it has many surprises, the story seldom feels forced, out of place or anything like that. The story is well crafted for the most part with a lot of emotional depth, well written and suprisingly mature themes, great narrative delivery and a good atmosphere. I'd stay the story isn't perfect, but exceptionally good compared to other RPGs.
However, there is one thing I think the game does absolutely perfect. And I really mean that I have never played a game that does this so well. And that is its pacing and the engagement factor in its story. Over all 30 hours the pacing was absolutely perfect. I was always engaged but never overwhelmed. It knew how to engage you in the story at a perfect pace while never feeling rushed. It keeps you intrigued all the time, throwing in just enough new elements, surprises and revelations to keep you engaged, making you think about the story and mysteries while wanting to know more. And you must consider, the game manages to do that perfect engagement and pacing over the span of 30 hours. I have never seen something like that. However, there are a few moments in the story that felt improvised on the spot, especially in the latter 20% of the game. Those moments don't hurt the story too much overall, but seeing that the dev managed to include most new story elements well without feeling forced or cheap for the majority, this is some criticism I can give. Also, one element is something I think didn't need to exist since it just adds unnecessary ambiguity and hurt the authenticity of the story a bit. I'm talking about the Aubade stuff and the shenanigans at the beginning of chapter 3 in general . But for the most part, it's great in my opinion. The world building is also really well done, although some areas would've needed some more attention.
Also, some minor detail I really liked: Optional dialogue is pretty good. Some characters give surprisingly many optional and interesting details about the world and its lore that aren't necessary for the story, but good to know.
The characters are also surprisingly good. You will see one character with an absolutely silly and ridiculous outfit, just for them to casually be one of the best written characters in the game. While not all characters are great, the most important characters are very well done. A few other characters are a bit lackluster or too gimmicky, but that is the exception. The most important characters always hit the mark. Most characters are important to the story and feel very well integrated, which is also a strength many Games don't have. It almost gave me A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones vibes as in how almost any introduced character has significance and a place in the story or at least influences it. This made the world truly feel alive and believable, like you are part of a complex and interesting world. Even some side characters are surprisingly good.
Gameplay
The gameplay is mediocre for a turn based RPG in my opinion, but it has some good elements. It's mostly standard but the characters have interesting kits, making most of them useful and different. I also liked the equipment for the most part. You will find equipment that will be useful for the entirety of the game, and building your characters depending on your foes was surprisingly fun.

Normal battles are mostly pretty boring unfortunately. Luckily, you see enemies on the map and they have field of view where they can spot you. You can avoid many enemies like that if you don't want to fight that much.
The difficulty starts of fairly easy and gets to a normal but engaging level eventually. It isn't super hard, but there are some fights where you have to think more about what you are doing and take care of your equipment.
The game is more linear, but there are some exploration elements and some optional content and areas for you to engage in. I thought the optional stuff was alright and rewarding, but nothing too special. There are also many secrets which were kind of fun to find. Also has some treasure hunting elements.
I wish the game would've let you explored more of the countries you visit. Sometimes you only visit the cities or some specific areas, which is kind of a bummer. But it's not a big deal I think.
visuals & music
The game is made by one person. Unfortunately this reflects in its visuals. There are a lot of stock RPGmaker sprites and graphics, as well as royalty free music. But the game has some tracks of its own which is nice. The visuals the dev made themselves are fine. The music is alright for the most part, doing its job well. The soundtrack isn't something to write home about, but there are some good tracks here and there that improve the atmosphere and feeling well.
So yeah, that's the end of this long review! No conclusion since I basically did that at the beginning. I didn't expect to enjoy the game as much as I did, and if you don't mind the turn based combat and love story focused Games, I highly recommend you to check it out!
And of course, DON'T forget to download and install the patch if you decide to play. it is absolutely necessary.

one of the greatest stories in the industry.
the fact that this was done in rpg maker makes it that much more impressive
peak in every sense of the word

This game is, without exaggeration, one of my favorite recent JRPGs period.
Despite many games that need an uncensor patch, Demons Roots angles for a more serious and dark story that would fit fairly well alongside many games without its adult baggage. It tackles serious themes and takes the player on an emotional rollercoaster, pulling them into the depths and allows them to linger on their feelings for minutes onto hours, before pulling them to peaks that would not be possible without. The cast is consistently entertaining, and it's heartwarming to see everyone grow into close friendships, especially at the true ending.
My only criticisms are in its overreliance on RPGMaker assets. This is an excellent game that many will inevitably pass up due to the assumption that it is low-effort shovelware. I myself had that assumption when I first saw it, and it took me 4 separate recommendations across multiple friend groups to commit to playing this game. And now that I have, I am so glad that I did.

This game is a masterpiece. The emotional impact and engagement with the characters was on par with the very best JPRG. I thought I was buying a simple, silly erogo but what I received after many hours of playtime was an experience that ranked up with FF7 or Persona 4. I sat for 10 minutes at the final screen after clearing the game, listening to the ending music and thinking how sad it was that my time with these wonderful characters was finished.

The adult content is not over-the-top, and I thought added to character development well (afterall, its a violent fantasy world, it wouldn't be normal for it to be prudish). Its really pretty amazing this was made in RPGMaker. Some of the 2D sprites were generic (although all the main/reoccuring characters were very good). The music was great. I hope someone publishes Kings Exit on Steam soon!

def one of the best games ive played. the story was an emotional roller coaster. like most jrpgs there are very few hard fights but the bosses still feel really fun to fight. the pacing of game is really good, i never felt like i was under leveled while playing. although I would personally recommend using a guide while playing since theres so many hidden items along with a few easily missable bosses.
overall 10/10 peak game

Demons Roots is an absolute masterpiece, an epic story in a world filled with details
I've never seen an indie game with such intricate story, unforgettable characters and expansive world building. I've played some with one, maybe two, but not all three at this level. Just look at my playtime, I only played it once, but I enjoyed every minute exploring the world it has to offer, bountiful in interactions.
Without spoiling much, I will say that the main story is about the oppressed fighting against insurmountable tyranny to reclaim their freedom and peace. HOWEVER, this conflict has several layers and twists, with a history spawning over a thousand years. On her journey to save demonkind from extinction, Deathpolca, the protagonist, meets all kinds of people and cultures. Along this arduous journey, she makes many new allies, some of whom she's been bound by fate with for longer than she remembers. Each of her close allies has a tragic past that is explored in depth.
Beware, things get crazy at times, in many different ways. It must have taken an actual genius to be able to fit everything together into such an elaborate fantastic epic so seamlessly, without making it unbelievable. Oh boy, those magic school delinquents... and that ultrabeast chase into the ca****. Don't even get me started with ******, or the dungeon.
The writing style is clear and does a great job at expressing the character's emotions, without sounding superfluous or bombastic, and boy, there's a lot to read! The game also uses a lot of effects and sprite animations alongside the characters' portraits to complement the storytelling, and especially those splash arts! I was genuinely impressed by their ingenuity the first time I saw some of them. It also features an original soundtrack, and the many environments all feel unique; I wouldn't be able to tell if they've used original assets or just did an amazing job at decorating the scenes, but you can tell that the devs have put A LOT of care and skill into the making of this game.
The gameplay never strays away from the story. We don't have side quests in this game, we have side stories! The combat is a fleshed out traditional JRPG one with a twist: While you can only have up to 4 characters on the field at any given time, you can swap then in and out each turn. Each character has their own role in combat, and you can specialize them to some extent using gear (e.g. evasion vs defense tank, multi-attack vs MP regen), though they can only wear gear that makes sense for them, for immersion reasons (No heavy steel plate mage girl allowed - I mean, she doesn't even have legs).
I seriously cannot recommend this game enough. If you like fantasy, dark, heartfelt, philosophical, political or drama stories, or just anime in general, Demons Roots will be an unforgettable, one of a kind experience.
I also highly recommend everyone to use the R18 patch from the publisher, as the game already has its own R18 toggle which you get asked about at the start. The censored version might remove more than needed (e.g. Ange has a reason for wearing the bikini armor, okay!?).